We submit for your approval...

"They" say do what you love and you never work a day in your life. Well, "they" can fuck off!!!

Okay, that feels better. Hello again, true believers. (Paul, Justin, Jess, Desiree, what's up!?!) It's been a long time, I shouldn't have left you, but fate usually has other ideas.

So it's the 2nd week of March. Now's as good a time as any to start the 2011 edition of Chronicles of a Broke Rapper. (Yes, I am fully on CPT time.) To bring you up to speed, it only took three months to break just about all of my New Year's resolutions. The album is behind schedule, which means shows are a no-go. You don't really wanna set up a gig with no merchandise.

However, emo bullshit aside, musically the group is knocking shit out of the Milky Way. I'm back among the gainfully employed and I'm beginning to feel like Sumatyme from the days of old.

Hip-hop has even taken a turn away from the manic Bieber-fever that seems to have swept over our top MCs. (Yes, Kanye and Raekwon, I'm looking at you... respectfully, of course.)

The City of Angels has been very eye-opening for your resident lyricist. The amount of talent in my neighborhood on any given day is staggering. Which is balanced out nicely by the fact that most of the people out here act like the blind leading the half-retarded. It's all champagne and caviar until the bill shows. But my goal for the year is to keep my rhymes up, head down, heart open, and coffers full. Between us, I still don't really fit in anywhere. (You would think that after 28 years, I'd be used to it.) But artists here are falling all over themselves to stand out so I suppose we can put that one in the "win" column as well.

I'm chipping away at my personal issues. With the help of my better half, I feel like I'm catching on to the roles of the game of life. While I still have the skills of a top procrastinator, being a stranger in a foreign land has truly helped me be honest with my shortcomings. One thing I've envied about my brother from another is that X has always been able to transfer anything that's going on in his head on to wax. Seven years later and many songs behind me, being truly open has never been a strong suit of mine. On a personal level, I feel this (combined with an unhealthy dose of self-sabotage) is keeping me from being the artist I know I can be.

So, my friends, we are going all the way back to basics. I'm stripping my artistic self down to the bare bones and rebuilding, prize fighter style. The new motto is "from the underground up" and we are going to start with this offering. Thanks for sticking with us.

Peace.