starting with nahymsa: what you're saying is equivalent to saying "there's no reason to check for bambaataa or cold crush or kurtis blow or KRS-ONE or rakim because you can develop your flow, style, lyricism and approach by listening to mos def, common, kweli.... see the flaws in your argument? YOU may not like shakespeare, YOU (not just nahymsa, also k_orr and anybody else) may feel that he uses a dead form of english, that's YOUR opinion and YOU have a right to it. now, i love toni morrison, she's my favorite contemporary author. but shakespeare would write her into a corner, and what's more, joyce would write them both 6 feet under. overstand?

k_orr: i'm not knocking your feelings on this, but i don't consider these people my enemies. shit, i really LIKED some of my english teachers. seriously, you think they teach you calculus to brainwash you? did they brainwash me in 12th grade AP english by reading alexander pope, albert camus, shakespeare, chinua achebe, franz kafka, toni morrison, etc. etc.? no, these are things i value. non-european, non-western values are no less significant than european and western ones. but the reverse is true as well. as english speakers we can't afford to reject shakespeare simply because he's not politically correct. we can't throw keats aside because he didn't write anything regarding racial or social injustice. from some of the things i've heard on this site, you'd think every high school english class did a unit on "Mein Kampf."

janey, i think you've got the right idea here in your picasso analogy. to excel at anything, you must draw on all influences. i mean, who will have a stronger grounding in literary form and potency: someone who studies toni morrison, or someone who studies shakespeare AND toni morrison???

http://www.greatergood.com (hit two in one now)

i held out, but i finally put an IM in my sig. me and steve talking isht about biz markie:
Gigfog: He scares me alot
Gigfog: he's like king kong
Xkrh1X: LOL
Xkrh1X: you're fucked up
Gigfog: I saw him at the hotel with a biz markie sweater on LOL
Gigfog: I was like "why wear a sweater with your name on it?"
Xkrh1X: in case he forgets
Xkrh1X: lol
Gigfog: HAHAHAHa
Gigfog: just in case he gets lost..the police can contact his owner
Xkrh1X: yeah, you didn't see, but it has his address and a contact number on the back
Gigfog: hAHAHA
Xkrh1X: "if found, please call..."
Gigfog: and his proof of rabies vaccination?
Xkrh1X: LOL
Gigfog: man I am mean
Gigfog: LOL
Xkrh1X: yeah, you also may have just made my signature
Xkrh1X: lol

Stevelover and the purple Tubber: confusing freestyle suckas into a three-count pin

"Where the F*CK is my purse icon??????"