10 Things I Wrote About You | Volume 3

Intentional Ignorance, Jay-Z Creating a Spark in Library Visitation, The Wire, and More

“I just heard about what happened in Alabama,” my mom says during a phone call we had last weekend. “One of my co-workers just started talking to me about it, she assumed I knew, and I was like, huh? Then she showed me the video.”

I chuckled a little, but I was laughing with her, not at her. “You know what,” I started, “Good for you. I say ‘good for you’ because you were still able to go on with your life not knowing that this significant event in pop culture took place. You went to work, you took care of whatever business you needed to take care of, and you being unaware of this event had zero impact on the outcome of your week.”

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Several months ago I listened to an episode of the Reading the Room, a podcast hosted by Jaylen Lopez, and he was speaking with Esther Yi, author of the debut novel Y/N. During their conversation Esther mentioned how she is intentionally “out of touch,” and her intent hasn’t left me since she said it. I’ve speculated on the ways that her being out of touch could have served as an advantage to her. She successfully published her debut novel and has no social media that I am aware of. I’ve speculated about what could serve as a distraction for her since she doesn’t have social media distracting her the way that the rest of us do.

Hearing her talk about intentionally being out of touch made me think of Robert Jones Jr., my brother from another mother, deleting his large social media platforms last year.

It made my existing desire to delete my social media platforms increase.

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Intentional Ignorance is a concept I learned from The Unsold Mindset (Colin Coggins & Garrett Brown, Harper Business, 2023), and although the concept was introduced to me within the purview of selling I have since had trial and error whle attempting at apply it to life. More specifically, social media.

There is a person I want to become and goals that I want to reach, and to become that person who achieve those goals I have to tap into a level of focus, attentiveness, and potentially obsession that is completely and utterly foreign to me as of this writing. It is a level of focus, attentiveness, and potential obsession that, from my estimation, lies on another level of being intentionally out of touch &/or intentionally ignorant that is also completely and utterly foreign to me.

The truth is, I don't need to know of &/or engage with all of the content from places like The Shade Room, Culture Millennials, or ESPN. I don’t need to know of &/or engage in all of the reels that I scroll past or are sent to me. Being intentionally out of touch or intentionally ignorant, whatever you want to call it, makes it so we value our focus, attention, and potential obsessions as the commodities they are so we can allocate them to the people, and things that we value most.

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10 Things I Wrote About You

1. Jay-Z Sparks Boost in Public Library Memberships.

Inspiration is the greatest superpower that humans have, and Jay-Z has inspired an increase in library accounts. The Brooklyn Public Library and Roc Nation collaborated to create 13 limited edition library cards that feature the artwork from Jay-Z’s albums. It has resulted in 14,000 new library accounts at BPL so far. The library cards are available to all residents of New York (until later this month). You can collect all thirteen editions, but only one will be activated.

Is this a huge score for book culture or for those looking to list a collector’s item for sale on Ebay?

2. Hip-Hop's 50th Birthday.

If I told you that I didn’t love Hip-Hop I’d be lying. If I told you that there are certain Hip-Hop artists, who are mostly from a certain era, that I want to hear from or listen to then I would be telling the truth. A sad truth in a way since I remember having a conversation with a dear friend, years ago, telling her that I never wanted to become the old man who doesn’t like the newer generation’s music. At the “old age” of 33 I have become that old man. Thankfully my generation is still active.

3. Complex's Top 50 NYC Rappers List.

I might not like New York City, but I won’t hate on New York City for giving us Hip-Hop. Complex did a cool thing by putting out a list of the 50 Best New York Rappers of All Time, Ranked, to celebrate Hip-Hop’s 50th birthday last weekend. A list was a welcome sight for me as I tend to appreciate the discourse that lists like this can create. I also appreciate the inspirational powers a list like this creates, because I figure it’s a matter of time before another interpretation of the 50 Best New York Rappers of All Time.

4. 2023 Basketball Hall of Fame Inductees

Pau Gasol - Underrated; The second best player on Lakers teams that went to 3 straight NBA Finals and won two.

Dirk Nowitzki - 30,000 career points and a game-changing power forward who made his NBA Championship against the Heatles is a rich flex. 

Gregg Popovich - The greatest coach of all time?

Tony Parker - One of the fastest guys in the league for years whose resume is more impressive than you’d think.

Dwyane Wade - Easily the third best shooting guard of all time and the greatest Heat player ever. 3 titles and someone who always thrived in his various roles.

5. Anthony Joshua vs. Deontay Wilder in Winter 2023?

A fight that fans have wanted to see for years is Anthony Joshua vs Deontay Wilder. Two heavyweights who remained undefeated for a long time before Joshua lost to Anthony Ruiz & Oleksandr Usyk (twice), and before Wilder went 0-2-1 in his trilogy with Tyson Fury. Anthony Joshua (23-3) and Deontay Wilder (43-2-1) have both knocked out Robert Helenius (32-5) within the last 12 months, and it appears that they are on a collision course to a fight set in Saudi Arabia in January or February. These two fighting each other and making big bank will be huge for the sport.

6. Traveling Down in the Hole Again

I abandon podcasts just like I abandon books. It’s not because I don’t love them, its because I don’t make the quality time for all of them in a manner I deem fitting. Thankfully some podcasts, like some books, call you back because they’re not done with you. The Wire: Way Down in the Hole, a Ringer podcast where Jemele Hill and Van Lathan Jr. recap every episode of my favorite television show of all time, decided it wasn’t finished with me, and I’ve been having a heavenly experience with my best friends since we reunited 4 episodes ago.

7. Bozoma Saint John on Diary of a CEO

The Diary of a CEO, a spectacular podcast hosted by Steven Bartlett, is one that I am inspired by when it comes to curating a list of guests that make for a show that provides a real impact on its listeners and viewers. The excellent episode featuring Bozoma Saint John, marketing extraordinaire and recent author of The Urgent Life, covered, among many topics, taking a red pen to a Spike Lee script as a receptionist, and making her late ex-husband, who was white, read Song of Solomon before dating her, and why she is proud of being selfish.

8. The Chi: Season 6, Episode 2; Mo Douda, Mo Problems

Shadow & Act reported that The Chi broke records with their Season 6 debut, and they built on that momentum with a solid second episode that explored Providing, Leveling Up & older brothers who are more father than sibling. Emmett (Jacob Latimore) and Douda, (Curtiss Cook) form the most uncomfortable dynamic in this episode as Douda, who has become an investor, mentor, & father figure for Emmett, continues to pressure him into living up to HIS idea of a boss. Emmett has to figure out the cost of being the boss he wants to be and whether or not he can afford it.

9. The Chi: Season 2, Episode 3; House Party

Episode 3 of Season 6 transitioned into the theme of minding other people’s business. Jada (Yolanda Ross) tries scouting men at a house party for her single friend Tracy (Tai Davis). Emmett and Keisha (Birgundi Baker) run into old friends who make sure they aren’t simping, or who are inquiring about how much their rent (which is actually a mortgage) is on their new home. Jamal (Vic Mensa) is also seen advising his younger sister Lynae (Zaria Imani Primer) against dating street niggas. The bricks being laid on the foundation of Season 6’s forthcoming tragedies continue to intrigue.

10. Winning Time: Season 2, Episode 2; The Magic is Back

In the Season 2 Premiere of Winning Time we saw the Lakers reckon with the return of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, fresh off of a closeout victory in the 1980 NBA Finals that didn’t require his services. Early into the 1981 season Magic Johnson injures his knee, and episode 2 picks up with the Lakers wondering if HE should now continue to sit out since they are doing fabulous without him. The “what have you done for me lately” mindset that dominates sports is on full display as we find out whether or not the 1981 Lakers will become repeat champs.