Mar 15, 2007

Ides of March


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ps: some of the links to the posts have been taken down already :(
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On March 15, 2006 Marazzmatazz came to be and so began the 1 year blog project that was born out of a desire to share, to inspire, to confront, to engage and to reflect how I relate to others, them to me and issues that confound me daily.

Today, exactly one year later, this blog ceases to be.

In retrospect, it's been a great and worthwhile experience for me. It’s been one year of inspiration from so many people, each day for that one year. Not many people who landed on this little corner of my world completely comprehended the intricacy and intimacy in the posts and as a last token of appreciation, am going to walk you through the labyrinth that was Marazzmatazz.

It all began with the Debut on March 15, 2006.

Intending to create a design oriented blog to share my art and design works, but my expressionist side quickly had the better part of me. I penned Serenity in Truth and Letting Go, both relating to the romantic surgery i was going thru at that time. But depicted in poetic prose how love in my life shifts like dragonflies on flight. Slowly over a stretch of time, these posts intertwined into The Question of Hitchin' and if anyone could step up to the Marriage Vacancy, it meant they were fitted with most answers to the 21 Questions. I was ready for this new love. Date You seemed a natural start point.

Dream Come True, Another Dream Come True and We're On Fire explored issues of Letting Go and/or being patient in love. I soul searched when love didn't make sense no more. They eventually lead to the Complexities Series as i came to read the fine lines between situations i was in and began exploring their essence.

Then I found my forbidden love, Gbaby and thru her I burnt as fiercely as a supernova. She inspired GBaby, Gotta Be (Gb), Hikkies for Life, Mia Kwa Mia, mazalicias (to test her attachment), Brink of Your Love, Penzi Hili, Blak Cinderella, Niko Nawe, face the truth and Napagawa.

Yes, yes, so mazalicias! was a hoax; it’s a sample of what Photoshop can do! Arigi and Co. didn’t fall for this! This piece was duo-inspired by Gbaby and 5d.

This blog project was about exploring the truths that elude us daily. Truths like what really cut on 911. Am constantly trying hard to escape from this collective unconsciousness of media-orchastrated theatrics. Y’know, the CNNs, the Reuters. Is it real? What is real? What is truth? Do they matter? If they do, why? And to whom? I guess if you don’t try to sieve the truth from all this junk we are daily bombarded with, you’ll just be another dumb processor. Ati Saddam had WMDs……..
It was about questioning the things we absorb just from skimming the surface, like the Najivunia campaign. It was about absorbing the art and passions in my life, thru the Visual Poetic Weekends. It was about ripping words into lines into poetry.

It was about going back to square one when I thought I was taking some things for granted and so I let these thoughts in Little Things Mean Alot, Little Things Revisited get me back in track. You know the lessons taught to us by Boyz II Men. These two posts together with Romance for Dummies were inspired by my very special friend for the longest time, Tati.

There were many events in this blog, from WSF, to the countless WAPIs to the Concours, to the DCI. It was such fun exposing such going ons to y’all, I guess that’s one bit am gonna really miss. It felt kinda like reporting, kinda like educating.

Admittedly, Chase of the Ex was a below-the-belt at my ex. No regrets! It’s a climax of the blog project that revolved so much on the year me and her were faded most. From serenity in truth when it started to the chase of the ex, you'd think someone would learn a few. But would i be Bitter ama Betta?, maybe it ain't worth it, y’know? That maybe became a fact. And regardless of all these shit I went thru, I kept aiming Above the Rim. I learnt to let go, Press Delete and in between met Gb who blessed me with her mere presence. That post on ex might have been Uncouth, but when you've had enuff lemons and are waiting for the mango, you better be willing to face the truth, be real with yourself so that you can rebirth like the Phoenix. You’ve gotta live and learn (joe public!).

Aissa, my former Bosslady was a Princess Encounter and after she left, I wrote C'est La Vie. She’s one in a million. Word!

I used to think of past loves and why it seemed subsequent ones were becoming duller and duller and wrote Pixel Love of coz inspired by an old flame, R. And so are many other thoughts across the blog. I should have done a Swedish collabo with you!

Some dude I met on the way home one night inspired The Babel Tower Effect whilst he was busy conversing to me in Greek (yes literally) and I was responding in Sheng! We didn’t get anywhere!

In Case You Forgot was intended as a two-edged sword, depending on how you viewed it, it talked of love, but it was also about the glorious past of Islam.

SweetSoul was for my large-hearted and beautiful Aunt Mianda.

The Spider in the Complexities Series and Kwa Shina na Shida was for my Great Grandma.

Mocha! and the one and only Bartholomew/DJ Fisher/Muzungu! inspired Surfacescan. Whist i rediscovered DJ Fisher on Mocha!'s blog, it inspired Press Delete immediately after coz I related to what she was going thru during that time.

Ndesanjo, Akiey and Maitha inspired Vikongwe Vya Blogu! together with many mashairi across the blog. Representing Kiswahili to the fullest – msilale!

Kooko inspired Delectable and 911 : An Afterthought

Sue inspired Massage In a Bottle, teaser and co-wrote dream of you

Mshairi inspired Mshairi Holla! and her style infused into some of the poetry i write now.

Blessing in disguise and Constant State of Unfulfilled Desire were inspired by various unmentioned entities J.

The late Dedan Kimathi inspired 44 Years Later!!

Date You was inspired by Nyaiyaki - she didn't know, until a hint hit her.

Wangari and Wangari inspired Say What? and Unbloggable respectively.

Nur inspired Adrenalin

Ghetto Langu was inspired by Bongo Flava

Amina inspired Alpenglow.

All in all, there were many others who fuelled the blog project. Mo amin, Mr. Softcity, terri, nya, mbua, jq, Acolyte, msanii_xl, bankelele, mental. Thank you all.

A whole cycle of posts from Eight Cow Wife to We're On Fire had subtle but hinting connotations on my different relationships. If you’re curious, yes, the Dream Come True and so did the next Dream, albeit with a funky twist…haha!

After all, this project was Creative Expression with dozes of Reality. Something Mr. Softcity fuelled.

As for myself, its time to redirect my creative energies to other projects, so adios amigos!

Breaker, Breaker One, the GZA blogging out from Nairobi, Kenya. Keep it real y’all – and much Love!


Live, Learn, Love.

Marazzmatazz.
Ides of March, 2007

Mar 13, 2007

Poetic Visual Weekend V

Hey All,
This weekend was a blast, i've never seen such raw talent burst out in the open in kenya as i did in this WAPI themed Haki. There was a freestyle rap battle between different MCs but the cut-throat one was Kama vs Ojijo and damn, talent isn't even the word. These two cats are on an entirely different level. Word!
Graff as usual was represented with Bankslave, Uhuru, Swift and Esien doing their thing. i was impressed by Swift's do this time round, he switched from can to brush and the results were outstanding.
The t-shirt designs have also escalated to a new level - dude came up with Biggie/Tupac/Akon shirts airbrushed! Perfection on a tee! It's like wearing original artwork! My boy Alvin of Urbanphunk is one blazing creative right now, his apprarel are one of the things i don't bargain while buying. Yes, that hot!
Also, since the ides of march is approaching fast, i thought i'd share some of my previous paintings out here, they are Sunbath, Solitude, African Elephant and Blak Beauty.
visualpoetic weekend out!


















Mar 12, 2007

Complexities VI – Her v/s Her

I don’t jua if any of you jamaz have landed into a situation such as this. Am sure some of you have. Tricky though.

You’re tight buddies with a mama. So tite infact you vybe like daily. She’d call on you, be on the phone until both your ears get hot. You’d call her and before you realize all the credit you put the same day kwishad.

Now there ain’t nothing going on between the two of you. Really. Its juz plain old friendship bordering on soul-mates. But to the outside eye, that’s not what it looks like; they can’t see you’re just friends.

The chic’s jama gets agitated by the mere mention of your name and your chic on the other divide feels “cheated” coz somehow there’s a level you connect with the other that you don’t with her.

Progressively, things get abit tangled up. You can feel the pressure from both sides. The other jama now wants to know what you’re about making daily rounds on his territory, and your chic now wants a clear indication if it’s her or her! Ides of March is approaching fast.

What do you do? Do you stay loyal to your friend (and its one of those soul-mates combinations) to the detriment of your relationship or you let go of it? What’s more, how do you start letting go? And can you let go even if this friendship is your relationship’s guiding light – y’know when things aren’t so rosy that side, your friend is the one who puts them back in perspective and makes the whole experience somewhat manageable?

Mar 7, 2007

Complexities V – The Twist: Does Trust Exist?

The future diplomat, Spyce, Akiey and Agiasi, nice responses. However, there's still some ticking inside that trust that needs cleaning.

Hypothetical situation. You’re in a relationship, deeply in love, whatever you construe love to be. Yes, 3000ft deep you see. You can’t see, hear nor think of nothing else. Then one day she comes to you and pours the "am expecting" truth on you. Right there, you know that you've been a bad, bad boy but chances are 80% its yours. You know that 80/20 rule is applied everywhere!

Problem though is you can't keep shaking the myriads of 20% other possibilities. Your thoughts are spinning to all those tiny little messages she used to get from these other "entities", to the times you had beef and you split for like a month or more, to the moments when your trust got tested. They are all now weighing down on you.

She's still right there waiting for your reaction which admittedly is hard to fake and forever slow to come. You manage a "heeeeey, wow" in between thoughts of "...what was his name..." The tricky bit is that your reaction isn't half convincing and it shakes the very foundation of both your trusts.

Remember those Powers of Men quotes? .... A man has the power to make a woman feel like a woman and the turn around and make her wish she wasn't born? Or a man has the power to make a woman feel loved, appreciated beyond and yet turn around and make her feel rejected and torn.....

If you were the mama, tell me, where does it go from here?

Mar 6, 2007

Complexities IV – Does Trust Exist?

Hypothetical situation. You’re in a relationship, deeply in love, whatever you construe love to be. Yes, 3000ft deep you see. You can’t see, hear nor think of nothing else. She comes to you one day and says she thinks she’s about to become a mother. You heard right, coz your head spins, a mother to whom? Did she say think? How is it possible? From where? You are lost in questions and as they progress, a clear trail of doubt(s) begins to emerge. You think of all those moments and still wonder how it could be. You have even forgotten she’s staring blankly at you waiting for whatever people wait for at moments like this. Approval, joviality, caution, or the worst, rejection. She even mentions it’s you, but you didn’t hear that bit…or you chose not to hear it.

Now jamaz, put yourself in such a predicament (at least it would be if it happened to me). What would you say as your reacting words? Or how would you react to such a bold and finalizing statement, “It’s You”. And mamaz, if it was you saying that to a jamaa, how would you be expecting him to react? I might be wrong but I reckon the majority of you will be expecting approval in terms of joy, some form of support. Well, educate me!

I ask ‘coz I thought about it and concluded if I was caught in such a situation, then it would be the most single defining moment of my relationship’s trust. And depending on how we both handle it......