Not Drugs – Art, Graffiti, Music and Culture for the Almost Grown-Up

Just dug on this while I was at work.  Letters from Weezy will be at WWW.WEEZYTHANXYOU.COM

I consider him one of the top 10 of all time.  Say what you will, but Weezy F. being locked up only hurts hip hop in the long run.

Stay up.

“During my prison stint, I want my fans to know I love you. I want all of you to know that I appreciate all the mail I get, and this is my way of saying thank you. The F is for Family, Friends, and Fans.

Love. Live. Life. Proceed. Progress. That’s who I am and who I’ll always be. You see, we’re all living on borrowed time, so I’m not worried about this situation. Life happens quick. The more time you spend contemplating what you should have done…you lose valuable time planning what you can and will do. Trying to tear down the past prohibits you from building up your future. So for my time here, my physical will be confined to the yard. My love and my spirit, however, know no boundaries.

I’m in good spirits man, for real. My kids race through my mind all day. They know they were created with love, so love is how their life will be defined. I just hope my love and adoration for them provides a temporary bandage on a wound I unknowingly inflicted on them.

Real soon, you can catch me blogging for ESPN again thank you espn for not letting my passion for sports perish. I work out a lot because it helps pass the time. I read the Bible everyday. Jail didn’t make me find God, He’s always been there. They can lock me up, but my spirit and my love can never be confined to prison walls.

But this isn’t all about me, you are the reason for this letter. It’s because of you Rebirth went gold when critics aborted it. It’s because of you Young Money is and will always be a movement. If the weight of the world is on your shoulders, I beg of you, place it on mine. That’s the least I could do for you, after all you have sacrificed for me. If I could, I’d write each one of you back. Because of this, my team and I have created a website where you can view my letters. Each week I’ll answer as many questions as I possibly can.

Mia Edwards (Southern California) – I wish you nothing but the best for you. Earning your Masters in Library and Information Science is beautiful. I’ll keep you in mind whenever I decide to do an autobiography on my life.

Kelly Holloman (Brooklyn) – I still remember your letter. You have a great spirit. Thank you for the words and being a real fan. I love you.

Nurris Terrero (New York) – Your letter was so thoughtful and sincere. The way you worded everything left me in awe. Please send suggestions on books I should read. I look forward to checking them out.

For real, this will be the best way we can communicate for the coming months. The same way yall miss me, I miss yall, only 100 times more. To those who hate. Hate is only a form love that hasn’t found a way to express itself logically. Keep sending the letters and I promise keep responding. Thank YOU, thank YOU, thank YOU. No matter what they do to erase me, my love for you will always be permanent. Remember that. Take care. God bless.

Give me the patience that I need
To keep my piece of mind,
And with life’s cares, I hope, Dear God,
Some happiness to find.
Give me the courage to face life`s trials
and not to from troubles run.
let me keep this thought in mind.
“Thy Will,” not “Mine,” be done.

- “Pray”

Right now if I had to pick the biggest star in comedy it’s easily Zach Galifianakis, which is funny because he deserves what he’s gotten but is the type of guy who doesn’t want it. If I had to pick the biggest up-and-comer I’d probably go with Donald Glover. The dude is fresh, stylin’, versatile and hopefully still on the rise.  I say hopefully because he’s still got a ways to go.  I’d love to see him get a hit movie or two before we officially dub him hot shit, though it doesn’t hurt to have people like Tina Fey in his corner (he wrote for her on 30 Rock before landing the part of Troy on Community).

But who’s next? Which comic’s name is gonna be rolling off the tongues of all the young dames and dudes in the not-too-distant future? I work at a comedy club so a lot of names are always on my radar. Personally I love this guy Nick Thune. I’d be impressed if you’ve heard of him because he’s not on TV or in movies a lot but his stand up is legit. He’s like a younger, better looking Mitch Hedberg without the whole awkward, druggie, dying young style to him. I saw this performance back in January and I was on the floor.  I’ve seen him perform with and without the guitar and while the act works both ways there’s just something about the strumming that juxtaposes a certain drama with his ridiculousness that makes everything just come together seamlessly for me.

You can also peep his album “Thick Noon“.

So Chatroulette is clearly the next big thing in the world of all things webby.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s not facebook or twitter, but it’s big and it’ll be around for a little while.  Why?  Because of people who find awesome things to do with it like using it to perform, be funny, make movies or play games with people (or just fuck around).  Obviously not everyone has a webcam and most people don’t have the patience for penises and weirdos to go back to Chatroulette more than once or twice.  But as long as people are doing brilliant stuff like Ben Fold’s did when he took a cue from this guy and improvised songs on chatroulette in front of a crowd of 2,000 in North Carolina, it’ll stick around for a while.

As for what’s next in the world of new media…well if I knew that for sure I’d be a millionaire.  One thing I do know is that everything’s getting more and more mobile.  I just got on foursquare the other day.  It’s essentially a game you play with your friends in which you check into the places you go to and earn points and badges.  Sounds kinda lame and a little big-brother-freaky, I know BUT it’s still new.  Imagine if you add advertising to that.  You’re trying to decide which bar to hop to next with your friends when you get an alert on your phone saying something like, “Hey, you’re just a block away from Bar X, head in now and show them this message and you’ll get a free shot.  You lucky dog you.”  Now that’s a big brother I can buddy up to.  I’m not saying that foursquare is the next twitter (far from it) but keep an eye out for that sort of technology to become a part of your everyday life.

Each year The Roots put a picnic in Philly with a whole bunch of artists. Not Drugs’ loyal/#1 fan TShea went last year and said it was down right bananas. The Roots teamed up with Public Enemy to throw down some down right filthy renditions of tracks off of It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. So here’s ? himself tellin us who’s playin this year, and what bonkers collab The Roots have in the works.

My name is Chris Winn, and I love to argue.

Sometimes it’s a legitimate dispute. Other times I wind up making facts based on Wikipedia articles I altered moments prior to prove a point. What? That can’t be true.

Either way, it’s all about the internet, and children. And by children I mean high school students who were recently sold on the idea that college makes life better (financially, socially, education too) due to the fine work of a former collegemate, Cornell Woodson (high five on future development Cornell).

Seventeen high school seniors Cornell currently teaches are heading off to college next fall, and as most soon-to-be-undergrads find out, there’s a vital necessity to being in college: a computer.

This is where we, I, you, and people even beyond Not Drugs’ consideration come in.

Throw a little in the pot. Donation Link.

No really, come on. Most of the people that read this website are either recent college grads, or still in school. You all know the importance of computers, the internet, Wikipedia, Facebook, Google, NotDrugs, and this right here,is kind of a meta-example of the internetz power: Donation of the power of the internet to future college students.

Everybody’s rather broke nowadays, but think of this as a keg party fundraiser minus the future hangover.

Here’s the cup: Donate.

And here’s the entertainment:

Philanthrapy,

Winn

Not Drugs makes a point to have fun at all costs. This following post, I wish could be a typical “what’s up in the world of Not Drugs and how can I, the reader, be involved”, but it’s not. But please, continue to follow.

Preemo on the left, Guru on the right.

Guru, half of one of the greatest Hip Hop duos ever, recently went into a coma due to cardiac arrest (he’s 43 years and has never experienced heart problems before). He’s all ready undergone surgery and is said to be stable, yet still in a coma. As a hip hop head, it sucks to hear someone so young, who still is puttin out album after album (as a solo artist), come under such a horrible condition. But it gets worse.

Today, a video was put on the internet by Guru’s nephew, about the truth behind what’s going on with Guru, and his health. There’s nothing sketchy about the reasoning behind what happened to him (at least not yet; no one is disclosing that information), but what’s sketchy is who is declaring what’s happening to Guru while he is in this coma. His family is currently not allowed to see and not allowed to even know what is going on with Guru (they literally know as much as you and I do, reading from the same internet sources you and I read). Watch the video below and tell me this situation isn’t totally fucked up (It’s a 10 minute video, but give the time for this).

Obviously more will leak about this story in the coming days, but right now, how do you not feel for Guru’s family? I hope this gets settled soon. And we should all collectively hope Guru makes it through.

Peace and love and hope.

Dwb.

Oh, dip.  When’s the last time you heard somebody say “Oh, dip”?

Mine was in 8th grade when I was the first to cop(behind my mom’s back) Dr. Dre’s album, “2001“.  The situation went something like this:

Friend: What’s up, man?

Williams: Not much, man.  Yo, I just got Dr. Dre’s “2001“.

Friend: No way!  Your parents let you but that?

Williams:  Nah, man.  I downloaded it off this thing called (insert early 2000s downloading site here).

Friend: Ohhhhhhhh, dip!

Anyway,  Not Drugs is on the up and up for full internet destruction.  In other words, we got us a game plan.  It’s not written down or anything, but a plan is a plan, kids.  And we’ve never had one before…it’s a BIG deal.

So, if you get a chance head to it HERE. Check out our shit.

And please, please send us some feed back if you think it’s cool…or if you don’t.  I’ll gladly send you a note back telling you what I think of you.

One.

Vicariously announced through slightly less clandestine urban artist Mr. Brainwash, Banksy will be debuting a film entitled “Exit Through the Gift Shop” this Spring.

Spray paintin, law breaking, foulin up, runnin away, mischief–it all seems to be captured in this 85 minute reel of excitement.

Watch the preview:

The official page is banksyfilms.com.

And don’t forget to catch Mr. Brainwash’s exhibit at an as of yet undisclosed location in the NYC meatpacking district on Valentine’s Day.

The Dreamer.

I’ve never hid the fact that I love Black people.  Naturally I was pissed that I had to work today on this the holiest of all Black holidays.  However, today I learned the true power of Martin Luther King Day as an MLK miracle occurred.  I was privy enough to interview black comedy legend Paul Mooney today at a taping of The Supreme Court of Comedy.

Oddly enough I was just admiring some of Mr. Mooney’s handiwork as I prepared a special video for the holiday today.  He almost immediately didn’t hesitate to tell me that, “I’m not white,” insinuating that there’s some color somewhere in my bloodline.  I told him that was the nicest thing anybody had said to me all day and continued on to ask him some wiseass questions about his performance as a defense attorney and cracked a joke about the plaintiff that he thought was funny and said he would have used it had I told it to him before the show.  Anyways, here’s a brilliant joke from Paul Mooney and a few extras that’ll treat you to some laughs on this glorious day of civil celebration.

…With a little rap battle between Lupe Fiasco and KRSOne:

Oh the Christmas Spirit couldn’t be stronger;
Dwb.