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Large Up Dub Gabriel, for asking me to bring to you my personal top-ten of 2008! It’s the first time I have compiled a list like this, so bear with me. I related the items to my lyrics, so at least you can see some consistency of character. Hopefully you’ll find some info you can use to enhance your happiness, dammit 
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10 ) Flip Video
I know this little camera has been out for a while… but I got mine this year. Because of what it can do in low light alone, Flip Video deserves it’s own article from me.
It features not only a direct USB interface into your computer, and it has its own software embedded, which will help you to easily upload your videos to You-tube… immediately.
It has some kind of motion stabilization that stands up to even the most vigorous movement, giving you a crystal clear image of the evenings’ festivities (or morning, or afternoon).
It’s also very easy to erase when girls change their minds, and get to talking afterwards about how they don’t want to be known as groupies, even after you’ve PROMISED them BOTH, REPEATEDLY that the video is only for YOUR personal enjoyment.well I’ll stop there….
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MC ZULU Lyrical Reference: “Darling”
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9 ) TMZ
I remember catching an interview with Bob Wall…… (WHO??) Bob Wall… an article entitled “Bruce Lee’s Favorite White Boy”. This is the guy who appeared as the ‘heavy’ in pretty much all of Bruce Lee’s films. Anyway after reading more about him, I remember him being asked if he was ever jealous of the success that Bruce or Chuck Norris attained.
His answer was as real as it gets to me, and opened my eyes…
All I can do is paraphrase tho, because I took my own meaning from it:
[It all has to do with your definition of success, because it comes at a price. If I go to a martial arts convention, people will recognize me as having been there WITH the greatest.. I get the respect I feel I deserve, professionally.. but no one bothers me at restaurants with my family, because I'm not THAT famous. Both Bruce and Chuck have paid very high prices for their success.]
Every time I see TMZ papparazzi chasing down even the Z-Listers in tinseltown, and then a Britney Spears cannot even go to lunch, I remember Bob Wall. It makes me thankful for the success / and the LACK of success I have had. I want it all, but on my own terms, so I maintain a distinct separation between MC ZULU and Dominique Rowland.
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MC ZULU Lyrical Reference: “Cop That”
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8 ) Dark Knight (Heath Ledger)
So what’s the big deal? He played the Joker…right?…. This startling characterization of JUST the type of psychopath you would NEVER want to deal with, has been blamed, in certain circles for Heath Ledger’s self-destructive behavior; and ultimately his death.
It is said, that in confronting the character he faced many of his own personal demons, and they did him in.
Heath Ledger’s Joker is someone who you cannot scare away with intimidation. He will call your bluff at every step, just to see where it leads. He thrives on being an agent of chaos, and what’s worse… if any of us were to ever lose enough, we would become JUST LIKE him…
There are many ‘Jokers’ in this world, and no such thing as Batman. This is why you were terrified while watching him. Oddly enough, the one person I think who could follow Heath Ledger, now that he’s gone, would be Jack Nicholson (the previous Joker)…. Jack has always had what it takes, but we weren’t ready for that level of realism in 1989.
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MC ZULU Lyrical Reference: “Go Ballistic”
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7 ) Twitter
Twitter in my opinion, is something that can be called a mini-blog. I am sure someone is throwing that term around somewhere, but it’s true. It starts out by asking you the innocuous question… “What Are You Doing?”… Naturally you may start out by answering that question. (I started with None Of Your G*Damn Business, and erased it.lol).. but before you know it, you’ll be: Quoting great minds / Coming up with quotes from your OWN great mind / Thinking out loud / Answering random questions, or even taking notes for future articles / songs you plan to write.etc.
You only have 140 characters to do it in. Twitter works because generally all we have time for are the highlights and headlines.
People who would like to know what’s on your mind… but don’t have time for the long version can “follow” your messages. Each time you send out a message it gives a small insight, as to who you really are.
Follow Me! www.Twitter.com/mczulu
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MC ZULU Lyrical Reference: “Exhibition Virtue”
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6 ) Santogold / M.I.A. / Rhianna
For me, peculiar talent usually wins out over mundane perfection. No one could confuse the singing of these three bad azz chicas with anyting remotely resembling conventional.
- M.I.A. repeats her verses a lot, like Mike Jones… or, as a real student of music would note, any given Delta Blues hero.
- Rhianna does not leave her 1.5-octave range, no matter what the occasion, but her style and voice are unmistakable.
- Santogold is the most accomplished of the three, writing/singing, but what on Earth is that noise at the beginning of “Creator”?
These ladies are a perfect example to me, and the rest of the world… that it is OK to experiment, and be who YOU are. The world does NOT need you to come along and do what has already been done. When you learn to shine as only YOU can, your race / age / background / religion / etc. will no longer matter. People will love you. I think Rhianna may have learned some of that from Grace Jones.. who I always thought was all-the-way-LIVE.
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MC ZULU Lyrical Reference: “Dear John”
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5 ) Gods & Robots (DJ C & ZULU)
…because in life, you’re either one or the other.
If ever there were an underground, outlaw music success story… For me, it would be God & Robots.
A: Take a bunch of acappellas, put them on your site for free, and let producers from around the world do what ever the hell they want to do with them..
B: Get one of your popular DJ friends to combine them somehow, into a continuous mix.
C: Give it away: http://tinyurl.com/gods-robots
In the future, some of these producers will be earmarked to place their “NEW SOUND” behind one or more of the current Mickey Mouse Club alumni; but this project will hearken back to the days when each of their respective genres broke ground without actually having had a ‘NAME’…. or the encumberances therein.
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MC ZULU Lyrical Reference: “Roll With Us”
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4 ) Bloggers
Before XLR8R Magazine…. The mainstream press would not touch MC ZULU with a ten foot pole.. Oh SURE, I got many anonymous features in publications, behind any given producer, who would take MY concept of a song… TITLE / LYRICS etc, and present it to the magazine as if he were responsible for the entire composite… Or maybe it’s just that publications take little stock in the “Random Reggae Guy”.. because all we do is chat recycled, mindless lyrics, which only have party-time significance….. right?
BLOGGERS to the rescue – I will tell you all that changed, with a blog called ‘Fat Planet’ out of Australia… and I don’t want anyone to forget that. I always remember the things people do (please see above… XLR8R). Bloggers are the ones who took the Gods & Robots concept to a level where mainstream magazines and newspapers would be willing to see what I was all about.
I have done many interviews as of late & I’ll definitely be keeping you posted as they get published, but any story of MY success, started in the blogosphere.
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MC ZULU Lyrical Reference: “Spread The Word”
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3 ) Cheap Sunglasses
I am, hands down, The Undisputed KING of Cheap Sunglasses… It’s as if I were some sort of government drone, programmed to purchase copies of “Catcher In The Rye”. I can barely resist the call of the circular sunglass display case, at any given, back alley gas station; but the stands in the malls, with the beautiful Ethiopian / Israeli / Arabic girls…….. ???? Wherever you come from…… being in the presence of such alluring, exotic beauty leaves me absolutely powerless.
I have amassed an unprecedented quantity of no-name eye accessories, rivalling the shoe collection of Imelda Marcos.
For what it’s worth, I have one or two full-priced, retail-quality frames, but what do you get for the extra $400.00? Do they call for help when you misplace them? Do they move out of the way when you are about to sit on them? No they just leave you with that empty feeling… Damn… With all that cash, I could have MADE IT RAIN on some foreign-born beauty, at the Sunglass Shack.
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MC ZULU Lyrical Reference: “BodyWork”
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2 ) Transparency Regarding The Political Process
You cannot really ever trust a politician, no matter what side of the aisle they come from. The one thing that can be trusted however, is for the political process to erode into a complete circus. On November 4th The United States did more than elect their first African American president. They demonstrated that the politics of exclusion no longer apply.
People are no longer blindly accepting rhetorical conviction as if it were convincing rhetoric. THAT is the change which has come to America, and the rest of the world… The VERY NEXT MONTH would yield the arrest of a sitting governor. Said governor attempted to sell the Senate seat vacated by the President-Elect. He was also RECORDED attempting to shake down EVERYONE, from the world’s richest man, to the guy who runs the local childrens’ hospital….
Greece, The BIRTHPLACE of modern day Democracy erupted in violence and looting, because of police brutality. People are becoming too well-informed, and they are not giving bureaucracy a blank check any longer. Governments will respond either by tempering their corruption, or instituting an autocratic lockdown. I suppose we’ll find out.
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MC ZULU Lyrical Reference: “It’s My World” and “Ransom The Senator”
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1 ) My Fake Caucasian Accent
Nothing says “Get Your Ass In Gear” like having a dissatisfied white guy on the line. He’s not coming to kick your ass for demonstrating poor customer service skills..no no…, HIS next call will be to your MANAGER, then DISTRICT Manager, then the Board Of Directors….
Should he feel dissatisfied with THOSE results, he will pen a strongly worded letter to his congressman, making sure you don’t get hired in that same STATE….ever. You’ll be left wondering if this guy actually has anything ELSE to be doing with his damned time…and you may have a valid point… but you will also be {{AZZ – OUT – Of – A – JOB}}. Now I have a distinct way of saying “Good AfterNeewwn” which can convey all the above.
Call it reverse-psychological act-right. I knew it was official, when I bought investment property talking that way. They would have never ‘Sold A Dyamn TING To De I-mon’…. but they were ALL TOO HAPPY when I spoke like: “Okie Dokie…. Whadda Ya Say We Put This Thing Ta Bed?”…. They almost had a heart attack when I came to the closing.lol
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MC ZULU Lyrical Reference: “Truthfully”
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# 1 2009 greeting comes from my friend Derrick:
“Live well. Be well. May the best of last year be worst of this year. Rise.”
