It’s been a whirl and I've seen the mountaintop, although I ain’t exactly been there. Seven weeks, massive colleges… love it. February 28th was my first time hitting ALASKA. John G picked me up on a 39 degree day, and they say I brought the heat. After being in more than 40 countries and going through 3 passports, this was my first time in Alaska. Of course I looked around at the terrain like a deer in the woods, hearing stories about tsunamis, the fastest tides on the continent; the fault that Anchorage sits upon; the quake in 1964; the tent towns under Mt McKinley polluted by sewage; and the fact that you can get lost and never found again on the outskirts. It was offset by the beauty, the summer solstice coming (20 hours of daylight in the summer), and the salmon and halibut in abundance. They had this smoked salmon jerky that was off the frame, and a box is being sent to me as I speak.

I was also scheduled at the UNIVERSITY of TEXAS, and instead of a lecture I was the host of a DEF POETRY JAM held at the school, jam-packed and accented with performances by JSON CARNEY, TAYLOR MALI, LYNNE PROCOPE and MAYDA DELVALLE… they were awesome… MIKE HENRY, who’s in charge of the NATIONAL SLAM NETWORK, was giving the lowdown on this national emerging scene.

The UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN WASHINGTON was interesting... riding thru SPOKANE, seeing it sit in a valley tripped me out. 

CLARK ATLANTA… at a panel where I was joined by NATHAN McCALL, DR MIKE ERIC DYSON, MUSIQ SOULCHILD and others, discussion of this film about the middle passage riveted the young eyes and minds checking out the screen. The crowd was so amped afterwards that it reaffirms the notion of getting a more diverse curriculum into the school systems in America.  

AIRPLANE SECURITY… well it’s almost automatic that I take my boots off in the airport, but two airports, KC and SPOKANE, have got to have the oldest, most anal peeps doin that job. I swear it’s always at least a15 minute transition for me every time. I make sure my socks are clean with no holes in them.

DISCREPANCY… I'd like to clear this up. I’m such a big fan of the rap music game, but when someone asks me about a pertinent issue regarding it, I’m usually straight forward treating it like a sport. In the latest issue of GEAR magazine, which by the way dedicated the issue to hip hop, I got myself caught up in a spoken word, webbed quadrangle.

First I was asked about this whole NAS-JAY-Z thing. My answer as to who was better was offset by giving it to Jig, hands down, because he dominated 4 out of 4 areas... music, objective, visual and entertainment. It was only in the entertainment area that he beat NAS out, no contest. I was just down on NAS because this was an area where JAY-Z made the effort to get in front of, and work his fanbase. I didn’t run into too many cats who had witnessed a NAS performance. Thus, I categorized this as being ‘paid and full’, and nothing gets me more ticked than an artist that doesn’t perform in front of his fans.

So, after hearing about the STILLMATIC TOUR, I take back my statements, apologize and give it to NAS because now he’s going head to head with JAY-Z, getting in front of his fanbase, making himself ‘touchable’. Studios, videos and hype can get financed by record companies who primarily don’t, and have never given a damn about the artform. But performance takes an effort, and I don’t really care how good NAS performs, as long as he tries... that’s what entertainment is all about, it ain’t new to rap.

Which brings me to the other two cats. I was giving JAY-Z credit for trying, I wasn’t judging his performance. I especially was giving him credit for coming out alive after DMX, who hands down is the most exciting, energetic performer in the major rap game. In the magazine I gave him credit for going head to head with DMX, ‘whipping ass,’ but on the crowd together, not DMX individually, which by the way is impossible from my eyes… nuff said. Support the STILLMATIC TOUR coming to a city near you… 

THE MIDDLEMAN… really, as I mentioned recently, I don’t have issues with bathing suit wearing video chicks, I'm just saying that in many cases they’re the reason cats are peepin the video. I’m just saying that the record companies need to give them some of these deals… cut out the middleman literally. The worlds first virtual rap squad THE IMPOSSEBULLS are addressing this in a ditty called ‘CUT OUT THE MIDDLEMAN’.

MEMORY BLOCK… nowadays the main thing holding me back from some new performances, and doing new recordings like FINE ARTS MILITIA, is memory block. There’s such a matrix of words and verses that I have to recall, so it’s a task to memorize. At least I don’t suffer from writers block…

OUTKAST'S PRE-GRAMMY PARTY in LA was indeed a cool sight, and was better outside than inside. I don’t understand some of these bouncer cats at the door who were basically saying that they’d let girls enter in exchange for phone numbers and possible sex. Has game reduced itself to those Neanderthal tactics… for a party?

GRAMMYS… I was in SPOKANE speaking at EW when I heard about the GRAMS and ALICIA KEYES sweeping the market. I saw INDIA ARIE in ATL airport and we talked briefly about how I was a fan of her dad, former ABA-NBA player RALPH SIMPSON. It surprised her that I knew, but I told her, I go back. Next we talked about JOHN MELLENCAMP, and she said she was kinda taken aback by his opinions. Since we’re both featured on his latest record, CUTTING HEADS, she thought this was a common point to talk about during our train ride to baggage claim.

I told her that I thought it was admirable for a white, middle America cat to address the ‘N’ word. She thought that it was opportunistic and offset by his ways. The difference is that I overstand that there’s gonna be folks with different opinions. Regardless, I’m not gonna let anyone beyond myself sway my mind, and we can still break bread even if we’re fighting or juxtaposed. Human nature is all over the place, you just gotta be strong and hold yours.

JOHN MELLANCAMP, KYLE JASON and I talked for a few hours, before, during and after the session, and we agreed and disagreed throughout. After it was done we made some cool art that shared an opinion we did have, and that is Amerikkka flipping the word ‘nigger’ into a term of love is foolish to say the least. Done.

Still, as the train didn’t appear to be running my daughters and I walked off heading to baggage. As soon as we left, it was fixed and rolled past us. By the time we got to baggage claim INDIA ARIE was gone... I wanted to say we appreciate her and good luck. She shouldn’t worry about anything, if CLIVE DAVIS was president of her company he would’ve bought her something too. ROCK THE VOTE... the pre-Grammy party was at the HOUSE OF BLUES and I ran into DESTINYS CHILD who were receiving a PATRICK LIPPERT award. All three of them gave me a hug and MICHELLE, the newest member, told me that her dad digs me to death… nowadays, I get that a lot. MUSIQ SOULCHILD’S dad is cool peeps too… outta PHILLY now relocated in the ATL…

Q-TIP on the cover of JAZZTIMES, real cool. JAMAAL THE ABSTRACT, I support his never ending experiments with connecting his musical and lyrical soul as an artist.

JOHN Q... for real, DENZEL is unintentionally derailing all notions of acting being an easy thing. I couldn’t even look at the screen in some cases knowing that there would be waterfalls rollin from my dzome…

HANK SHOCKLEE’S HEADSHOP… once a month legendary producer HANK SHOCKLEE throws an open mike gig at the UNION STATION club in LONG ISLAND. These events are growing as we speak. HANK invited yours truly to host the latest one this past Friday, March 15th… eventually these performances will be streamed on www.bringthenoise.com radio, with mp3s available in parts via www.rapstation.com and singles available at www.slamjamz.com. We’ll keep you posted…

PIONEER DJ 1000S for all of you vinyl cats... this is truly gonna knock digging into the past and bring CD re-issues out even further. DJ LORD and GARY G WIZ are two examples of cats I know who are blown back by these digital CD turntables. DJ JOHNNY JUICE says that they can still be upgraded to another level… ask him questions daily on the ENEMY BOARD right here at publicenemy.com.

Once again my organizational skills so far this year have been way off, trying to condense my ELEMENTAL and HIP HOP CONNECTION monthly pieces into one in a timely manner. GRIFF and myself are sharing space writing four pieces a month for ROLLING OUT, as well as structuring the book imprint OFFDA, set to launch summer 2002. That’s writing-wise.

Recording-wise, I’m finishing up PE’s ‘REVOLVERLUTION’ for SLAM/KOCH offline, and organizing the final touches on www.slamjamz.com for the worldwide story of the album being put together virtually. Organizing the staff of SLAM has been a tremendous help, whose 50 person virtual staff selected the four remix winners from across the planet. Plus, A&R duties are being handled by SHAWN CARTER outta PITTSBURGH shawnc@slamjamz.com , additional compiling by CDOC the Warhammer cdoc@slamjamz.com, liner notes by joshsam@slamjamz.co m from the UK and artwork handled by MIKE GREGORIE mgee@slamjamz.com in MAINE, whose heading up the virtual art department. This is the story of this record, how the ENEMY BOARD has morphed from audience to participants, contributing to a parallel industry... from home.

oldschool76@slamj amz.com has assumed the helm of SUITCASE RADIO’s when the S#IT HITS THE FANS show. Stay tuned for a new address to submit material for airplay. Still, I've pushed back the re-launching of my BEATS,RHYMES, and LIFE news show to APRIL possibly running it in conjunction with XM satellite radio once a month... look out. It looks like alliances with artistdirect.com and www.rapstation.com, xmradio.com and www.bringthenoise.com, and www.slamjamz.com and the newly retooled www.napster.com will bring much flow to this musicalcyberplanet indeed.

While in DC, I lobbied at the capitol with the CREATIVE COALITION on raising the national budget for the arts. BILLY BALDWIN, GIANCARLO ESPOSITO, HECTOR ELIZONDO and myself were among a crew trying to convince more congressmen to increase the budget so that schools can give the youth a fabric to truly understand the music and art that compels them daily. Without education of the arts within the school system, there is a void to be filled by corporations who solely look at the youth as consumers of art. If you have programs in sports to better the potential of a young persons understanding of life, then why not music and the arts, something that more people are into than ever before, more than sports itself. It was worth it… the highlight to me was an unnamed congresswoman who spilled the beans on how the politicians are just playing with the public, the spending of social security money in lieu of national security was one of them. It was scary and funny at the same time as she dropped dime…

Last but not least, at the time of this piece I've just finished up speaking at WEST CHESTER UNIVERSITY in PA… they were one of the most together units I've witnessed in all my years of collegiate speaking. I wish all of them well... the school brings 35 speakers a year, and the speakers program is an important aspect of the University….

Next t-dome I’ve got book lists, top 5s, and more galore as the fog is clearing in my schedule. Peep me over at www.slamjamz.com where my partipation in this years Internet Expo has leant some important dialogue to the cause… Gone.