“Self-Destruction”will never be played without a gang of laughs from my family. There’s a whole story behind the song that we will never forget. Although I cringe then laugh whenever I hear it, it’s a really dear song that will always hold special memories for me. Outside of my personal ordeal with it, I love that line where D-Nice says “Stop the violence and kick the science.” All we wanted when that song was released was a conscious brother giving us the business, especially if he was looking good while doing it. Sound knowledge and good advice – things we tend to ignore depending on who is delivering the message. It’s like the elderly man in the neighborhood who always has a story to tell. You know the one. He’s probably a war vet with thirty grandkids he’s helped to provide for. Despite the fact that he is probably written off by many because of his appearance or age, he has hella’ knowledge. The kind of knowledge only a “lived-through it” soul can attest to. The good stuff. He’s traveled to more countries than you even knew existed and can charm the crown off a queen. His words, however, have fallen on deaf ears. 

 Nowadays, we only listen to polished pearls and glorified gents who have a lot to say about how we should live our lives. No matter what they say or how they say it, we eagerly listen as they throw around overused and overrated sayings that we hashtag for months on end. We take their words as the gospel because even though their words can be hurtful and insulting, they sound trendy and usually make people laugh. Why are we okay with “personalities” using insults and buzz words to put us in our places? We are so eager to scream out “preach”, even though we feel like someone just took a dump on us.

PAUSE. Check Yourself, Girl! You can’t “drop gems” if they are wrapped in insults. If what you have to offer is foul, then nine times out of ten the impact will be shitty. What purpose does that serve? The last time I checked, “dropping gems” meant giving knowledge. Somehow, we’ve been led to believe that the truth we see is golden. Somewhere, someone told us that we’re supposed to go around telling people the “truth” about themselves, even if it hurts. What makes our beliefs about someone the absolute truth? To add, why is everything someone has to offer presented in a way that makes others feel small? Some of us are just big. We live big lives. We have big personalities, big hearts, make big accomplishments and extend big arms to others. We don’t need people chipping away at our “bigness” to help them grow. If your platform serves to belittle others as a way to climb to the top, you have some growing to do. This thought that others must shrink in order for us to become giants is absurd.

 Some of those shiny, golden nuggets are not right for our collections. They most certainly don’t always add to our enlightenment. After all, is it expertise they are serving or Pop Rocks in disguise, giving initial excitement that fizzles into nothingness?  Trends are great. So are power lines and buzz words. Here’s the thing. If you feel nothing but dogged after reading them, turn the page or keep scrolling. We should be looking to empower and be empowered. There’s no room for anything else.