ON POINT GUARD

With all of the work that my husband & eye do to get ahead in this industry, it's nice to be recognized for the effort from someone, at some time - no matter how casual. ALL PRAISE TO THE CREATOR. For us, the work that we put is not solely for the purpose of feeding ourselves digestive nourishment, but as a debt to our artistic nature and a primary sacrifice to our God-body.

Oriana lee has been fortunate to put a great many years in the game. My hands have touched nearly every aspect. My husband has been a recording artist since 1991 - when he first appeared on Me Phi Me's debut album, so let me assure you: he is no punk when it comes to the rules and regulations. Nah...this is real. Us, together - forget about it! When it comes to bizness, we rely on Maat for complete guidance. The rest just happens in a cohesive fashion. Roughly 99.999 percent of the time.

So those who know, don't usually step to us wrong. Some folks actually chose not to deal with us at all simply because they know what it is. Then there's those who just have such a blatant lack of respect for the game that they force us to lay down our goon hand. They don't understand it coming from the mind- spitting it from the heart. They want to see that you have the ability to act a fool. We both severely dislike this "necessary evil" strategy, because we usually end up feeling out of character and wishing "it didn't even have to go down like that".

Really. Confrontation has frustrated me since childhood. Some who might know me might say that's moot, but it's really the truth. Shame the devil. Fact is that an early age confrontation became a mild habit that eye learned from the women in my family. This is to say nothing bad of them because my grandmother and mother were a dope team, but they were as many Black American women who have been beat down repeatedly by this system. Proud, loud and demanding. Moving confrontation was a key tool for emotional survival. The need to confront does not stem from an ugly place in this instance, but a familiarly fearful one. It becomes a survival skill.

Dwight and I have finally come to overstand that being on top in the entertainment industry means having to deal with people referring to you as an asshole out of context due to their lack of understanding. This epiphany is most uplifting, while still a crushing realization for a pair of kids from the ghetto who saw Hiphop as a surefire path away from the struggle.

Never mind. So long as the top assholes do feel the point.

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