The Monthly Cypher Begins

This is the first of the Rhetorical Artz Online Cypher series that will be happening once a month. Tracksploitation's JCT45 has offered the first beat from their epic mixtape titled Apotheosis (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TLHX3lngCk). 

You can get the beat here:http://soundcloud.com/tracksploitation/the-apotheosis-of-you

Finding an inner way

  As I reflect on my path today, I find myself better able to distinguish what I have done in the past that was coming from the inside, and what I have done that was coming from the outside. Coming from the outside has been these expectations to do things a certain way(spiritually, intellectually, professionally, and artistically) that have cajoled me to push myself in directions(by choice) that did not match up with where I was in those given present moments. As a result, many projects that I have started have came out unfinished. The few projects that were implemented and completed felt forced and unnatural. 
I thought it often had to do with my ideas being incomplete. But I now see that is not completely the case(As a type that I just have to laugh. For I am completely understanding and making peace with my own incompleteness in this moment in time). I now recognize that it wasn't that my ideas were incomplete as much as it was that I was incomplete in my pursuit of them. 

  For one to fully express themselves, it is not enough for what they are expressing to be essentially who they are, but the way and energy in which they express it must also represent who they are at the essence. In the spirit of application, I am now coming into an integrated understanding of a) what I want to express at the core of me, b) how I best express it, and  c) the condition I need to be in and/or the energy I need to bring in order to fully express it. 

  What it is, how to do it, and the condition it needs to be done in: These are the 3 elements to expressing the essence of who you are. Without them in tact, one is farther from their real self, and closer to the unreal identity often illustrated and encourage by the world around us. Let us come into being us. 

The Movement Continues...
- Rhetorical Artz 

First Tracks of the Bur Words Campaign is Out!!!!

Both the Song and Spoken Word Poem for the first week of the Bur Word Campaign are now out on reverberation. I will keep all of you updated on where else you will be able to find them at. I will also be sure to let all those who are either living or visiting in the Pittsburgh area know where they can find me performing @ this week.


The Movement Continues...
- Rhetorical Artz

The Help Buld Better Communities Campaign

Friends, Family, and those who know me,

Some of you may have heard the quote that says "it takes a village to raise a child." I believe that this quote needs to be taken a step further. For it takes a village to not only raise a child, but to sustain a family, as well as offer a sense of security, significance, and belonging to people of all ages. We can see this in the people in this world who turn out to be healthy, happy, and successful in their own right. In these types of people you will almost always find a host of other individuals who had a hand at raising, influencing, and impacting them for the better. These individuals form a village around the person that allows them to truly tap into their potential as people, while being made to feel that they have the potential of which to even be tapped into.

Yet that village seems hard to see in everyday life. We all seem to have so many issues that have not been worked through, goals that have not been reached, and needs that have not been met that it's difficult to even conceive of a village scenario such as the one I'm proposing. To be honest, there are not nearly as many villages out there- with the virtues that I am speaking of- as there should be. Yet in that lies a huge opportunity; the opportunity to create one yourself.

I am in the fortunate position to be working for a company that pays me to do just that. The companies name is Whos Your Brother. The mission of the company is to essentially help people help people in their communities WITHOUT exchanging money. This is done using a website(which does not cost you anything to sign up to) that facilitates the process. On the website you will find both people who have an array of needs (tutoring, food, clothes, advice, books, etc) as well as people who use their talents, resources, and a bit of their time to provide for those needs.

The ironic thing about these two types of people on the site is that they turn out to be one in the same. For the people who have needs, also can provide for the needs of others. My jobs is to connect these two type of people together(Starting on the site and ending off the site, in person) and in the process of doing so help them to see that the two people(the one helping and the one being help) , are in fact, the same type of person; one who has both needs they require help in order to remedy and ways to met the needs of others using their own gifts, talents, resources, and time.

Imagine entire neighborhoods, college campuses, cities, even countries of people who could go right next door to either get whatever is it they need or- through their neighbor- get connected to where they can go to have their needs met. This is the world that Whos Your Brother -along with myself- wish to create. But it must first starts with me, and it must first starts with you.

I will be working in both the Hill District and Duquesne University to begin the building of this type of community, and I need your help to do it. Whether you live in those areas or not, if this is the type of community you would wish to create and live in, then join me in this effort by signing up to WYB @ www.whosyourbrother.com(It's free!) and putting in my referral code (Z8ZY317X5). Together I truly believe we can make this type of community a reality!

Peace, Love, and Brotherhood
- Adam Keene aka Rhetorical Artz
A Rescuer and Advocate of Whos Your Brother

Upcoming Project Announcement: The Bur Words Campaign

"Empty your cup so that it may be filled; become devoid to gain totality."
— Bruce Lee

I know it has been a while since I have posted anything. For those who follow this blog I am sorry about that, but I have needed to step away from blogging for a while. I believe that the best blogs are the ones that express how one is personality living life. So I'd say that it's kind of important that one is living life in order to blog(just my opinion). That is just what I have been doing, and I can tell you that I now have a ton of stories to share with you all. However... I'm not going to share those right now! I'm unfortunately gonna have to hold off until September for those stories to be shared, and speaking of September...

I am working on a project that will start then which I 'm definitely and completely pumped about. The reason I'm so excited about this project is 3-tiered.

For the past few years I have been creating a lot of stuff(poems, raps, stories, quotes, etc) that I have not been able to figure out how to fully spread around. At the same time, I have a couple creative endeavors that I want to get started on, yet I have all of this art sitting in the basement of my notebooks, Google documents, and in my own head that has been screaming to be released. While you would think that notebooks and Google documents wouldn't be able to make much noise, you'd be surprised how loud they can be in your mind. It also doesn't help that all the people around me who know me and have been exposed to my art keep asking me the question "so when are you performing" or "where can I go to hear or see more?" In addition to this, their are some creative folks out there that I have been dying to collaborate with.
Sooooooooo, I figured that in order to a) fully focus my energies on the creative endeavors I desire to focus on, b) give what I've previously created the spotlight it deserves, and c) reach out to the artist and other talented people that have wanted to work with that I would have do something to hit 3 birds with one stone.

So here's my really big stone.

From the month of SeptemBUR to decemBUR I will be the starting a 4 month project that I call BUR WORDS. Every week I will, at the least, be releasing a song, a spoken word piece, and a straight-up story of sorts via online and in live performances around the Pittsburgh area. Whether you are a supporter of my art, a potential collaborator on the project, or both I'll be looking for your help. I am seeking visual artist, emcees, poets, producers, audio and/or visual recording engineers, photographers, dancers, musicians, and last but not least A STREET TEAM TO SPREAD THE WORD!

If your interested in helping with the project in any of these areas, please contact me @ rhetoricalartz@gmaill.com or hit me up on Facebook, and I will send you more details on how you can participate in the project. I can't wait for this project to start!

The Movement Continues...
- Rhetorical Artz

I'll let this speak for itself

The Movement Continues...
- Rhetorical Artz

Rhetorical Artz- Sewer Slang

It's time to get rid of the sewer slang in hip-hop. That's the mission.

The Movement Continues...
- Rhetorical Artz

Hold on to your dreams

I have been out of college for over a month now, and I can tell you that it has been an interesting experience. I spent my senior year in college, focusing on both my storytelling performance group(Speak Life Storytellers) and my own storytelling endeavor as Rhetorical Artz. I guess had this whole idea in my head that once I graduated that things would just take off; that the seeds that I had been planting, and all the time I put into my storytelling craft- via spoken word, rapping, and pure storytelling- would immediately burst through the surface and begin taking on the world by storm.

It hasn't worked out that way.

Since graduating, I have spent a month planning, and preparing storytelling material for both myself (as Rhetorical Artz) and Speak Life Storytellers. It has not been easy doing this without making any income, but it has been a well needed learning experience. A friend of mine told me that art does not like to be pushed and I agree. However, I am coming to learn that while art does not like to be pushed it does appreciate being approached authentically.

That is precisely what I thought I was doing. Yet, as I have been "doing that" I have come across some very interesting discoveries about the importance of working with your dreams. For through I have been seemingly approaching my art, I have been openly pushing around my dreams- the most beautiful piece of artwork that I have within me- and have been allowing the thoughts of others to push my dreams around as well. My dreams response to all the pushing has been a simple one: "If you and everyone else keeps pushing me around, I will stop working with you all together."

It becomes important when aiming to make a dream become reality, that we give it the respect, patience, and the love and care that it deserves. To do that, I have recently begun to treat my dreams like I would treat a person I was in conversation with. When I am having a meaningful conversation with someone, I give them time to express themselves, show that I care about what they are saying, and allow whatever is meant to be said in the conversation to emerge. I am attentive to what is being said; making sure that my mind, body, and spirit are present in the conversation. Walking with your dreams into reality is no different. You must be attentive to it, otherwise you will not hear it when it tells you that it is ready to be released into the world.

How attentive have you been in the conversations with your dreams?

The Movement Continues...
- Rhetorical Artz