I Miss You, I Love You.

The Creative Bay

If you are like me and sometimes think that the creative well of Bay Area music has dried up, you can thank GiGs for having a flow wet enough to restore confidence in the local Hip-Hop scene. When I first opened up the YouTube video I had no idea what to expect, but it didn't take more than the first bar to figure out that bruh was something special. His delivery is unique and is undoubtedly defined by his Oakland swag. From the changes in tempo to the melodic breaks in his rhythm, it's clear that even though he is young, GiGs has become incredibly familiar with expressing himself through rhymes. 

What makes this upcoming artist exceptionally special is the way he has fine tuned his creative process to be able to deliver unexpectedly cleaver metaphors off top similar to a guy name Dwayne. This means when he says, "this where I let my mind expand", he means it because he uses rap as more of an extension of thought and emotion rather than simply just words on paper spewed out on a track. I have no doubts that if GiGs is smart about his career and he is as driven as he appears to be in his other videos, this guy will be up next. For now, I'll be listening to the slumpers he already has (namely "Tranzparent" and "Arrogant") and I highly recommend that you do the same. Sky is the limit for this one and this is my Freshman of the Year. Nuff said.

Consumer America

If the title of this post doesn't make you shiver alone, the astronomical price of Ray Ban glasses should. Are you willing to pay $125 to look like everyone else? No sir not me. I don't even want to know what the profit margin looks like for those shits, but the bruhs at Knockaround are all over this issue. It does not cost $125 to make Ray Bans, and its damn sure not that expensive to find good looking sunglasses. Coming from a blogger's perspective, the folks at Knockaround get it and don't charge you up the ass for a quality pair of glasses in order to make extreme profits. I also think Knockaround looks and sounds way flyer than Ray Ban, so stand out a little and save yourself some dough simultaneously. Please refrain from buying the Tortoise Shells, though because your boy just copped :).

Dueces

Keep Walking

Needless to say, there are a myriad of important lessons to be learned from an any spring break, some involving more alcohol and promiscuity than others, but necessary ones nonetheless. Mine happened to be pretty unique and it was nothing what I expected. I think to anyone, an unmapped walk through the San Diego badlands to get to a mythical oasis called the Devil's Punch Bowl sounds like a pretty daunting task; however, an elevated desire to make memories and an O of Mary Jane's flowers will get a group of guys to do some pretty wild shit. I'm not gonna lie, when I set foot on that trail and my boy told me he had no idea where we were going, I wanted to turn back more than anything else (honestly, would you walk through that shit?). I couldn't be happier that I stayed on the path that day.

One place where I thought beauty could never exist turned out to be one of the most scenic hikes I have ever taken part in. Up close, it was very hard to see anything of beauty that caught my attention (other than this big ass plant and Ryan's ridiculous outfit of course), but in the distance, all of the individual entities were consolidated into rolling hills that looked like they were painted for the backdrop of a Clint Eastwood movie. Knowing that we had to walk over or around three of these hills soon became a secondary thought, as I was totally belittled by the scenery around me. I am a city slicker by nature, so this was a departure for me and although at times I was uncertain whether we were over the Mexican boarder or not, I kept walking along.

Now, if you want to know where this place is you're going to have to ask the homie Kyle Bonacum because I have no clue where we started our trek into nothingness, but I highly recommend that you don't cheat and embark on a quest of your own. What we found is one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever taken in, I mean it really deserves a super slow motion, panoramic Planet Earth type shot to really do it justice (but my iPhone shall suffice). I'm sure you can judge for yourself so I won't waste words on description, but the point is to not take a damn thing at face value because there is almost always something better when you dig to the core. If you're anything like me and think about giving up sometimes when you think that whatever you are about to try for isn't worth it, it probably is and perseverance is most often your best alternative. I know what some of you are thinking, but don't be a smart ass and apply what I'm saying to all sorts of arbitrary situations. When you are in doubt however, heed these words and keep fucking grinding and if you don't find your oasis you will undoubtedly discover something beautiful along the way. Oh, and sorry for the wait.