On this day four years ago I published my first blog post
and entered the blogisphere. I want to use this post to look at how far In the
Mix has come. You know how sitcoms have clip episodes where the main characters
reflect on events that happened in past episodes? Well, this is something like
that. First things first I have to thank two people who have been very
important to this blog: Dilia Suggs and Dario Phillippe. Without them we
wouldn’t be here. If it weren’t for Dilia there would be no Mix. If it weren’t
for Dario, the Mix would’ve stopped two years ago.
I was a junior in high school when I started blogging. I met
Dilia at this daycare where I volunteered. She knew I was an aspiring
screenwriter and she flipped out on me for not having a blog. She said it was a
good way for me to get my stuff out there and network. I had plenty of time on
my hands so I figured why not. Dario saved my blog by telling me to keep writing when I was about to give up. This was around the time of the Farewell post. One of the last things Brother Dario spoke to me about was my blog. He said “That blog of yours… I want you to build it up. Build it up. Build it up.” I told him I was on the verge of deleting the whole thing and he told me to keep at it. Something about that really stuck with me. He saw something in it that I couldn’t see. I saw it as a failed public diary with no fans. He saw potential. I don’t know if I’ve reached that potential yet or if I ever did but I’m glad I took his advice.
At first I treated my blog like a vlog and I wrote like I
was talking to people who actually cared enough to leave comments and stuff. When I first started blogging I was on blog.com. My website there has been deleted ever since I moved to blogspot. My first post ever was White Girl Wonderland. Eddie and I were having a conversation about white girls and the question was raised about where in the U.S. are the finest ones. I was expecting an active comment section with people repping their home states. Did I get that? NOPE. But that didn’t stop me. My next post asked if there will ever be a black James Bond. I proposed Idris Elba play the role and have Olivia Wilde be the Bond Girl. This was before the reports of Elba possibly being the next Bond came out and when I saw that I felt like a prophet. Actually, a lot of the things I predicted or wished for in my end of the year posts ended up happening. Kobe retired and Kate Upton found a man. It didn’t happen when I hoped for but it did eventually happen. And you best believe I sleep like a baby knowing Kobe’s finally retired now. Now if only the Lakers could stop playing on Christmas, that would be golden. I’m still waiting on that Friday movie with Chris Tucker and I would love to see a movie like Harlem Nights made for this generation. Kevin Hart, Chappelle, Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock would definitely star it in. Maybe I could write the script for it one day.
The end of the year wishlists were something I got from
Nikbagtv. He used to have a vlog on YouTube where he ranted on mostly hip hop
related topics. He would made bold predictions at the end of every year. I
never enjoyed talk out of my you-know-what so I just wished for things instead.
I like Year in Review articles and figured I should give my take on the events
that have passed. I continued that trend and tried to make it more interesting
with the 2015 Extravaganza. With that I also wanted to collaborate with
friends. In my perfect world, blogging would be more of an actual community
thing. like me, Eddie, Andre and Kali writing in a office with our on cubicles and
whatnot, sharing ideas and bouncing off of each other. We’d have our own
website. I guess that already does exist with the Buzzfeeds and Elite Daily’s
of the world though. But still, I’d like to be a part of something like that.
I really wanted to do
something weekly for the readers to be able to look forward to. That’s why I
did the Why I Love You Wednesdays. I also thought it would discipline me to
write regularly. The reception was lukewarm and I sort of figured that I
wouldn’t have enough interesting topics to express my love for every week. On the Why I Love You for GKMC I called Kendrick Lamar the
Luke Skywalker of Hip Hop. I don’t know if that’s the best comparison but it
got my point across. I can’t remember but I guess prior to 2013, I was growing
tired of mainstream hip hop’s radio appeal. That’s why I said it was currently
in hibernation. That was my first album review ever. I still have issues when
talking about the music because I don’t know many musical terms hence the “bass
hums” and “pimp whistle.” Just
for kicks I might resurrect Why I Love You Wednesdays and dedicate them to
Lemonade, Applebees and Chicken Tender Subs.
I was the most active in 2013 by far. 46 posts? Jeez! That
may not sound like a lot in 365 days, but compared to my numbers in the years
since then, it is. Back then I didn’t care as much about making sure the post
was perfect. I just said what I felt and hoped to bring out a discussion. I was
like a trap rapper. I just created work and released it without even trying to
perfect anything or consider timing. I didn’t even know I posted four blog
posts in one day. On September 25th I came back from hiatus and
followed it with three posts as well as the Return post. My first hiatus was
because I was getting tired of not getting any kind of traffic. Mostly because
the comment section was weak (still is).
The 2K rants were one of the most fun to write. (It's actually funny that I thrashed 2K considering that I started out expressing my love for 2K in the first Why I Love You Wednesday.) The main
reason being they were the easiest and were written the fastest. After getting
cheated by the game, instead doing what I usually do which is throw the
controller and swear, I calmly put the remote down and started typing. Writing
those posts was like doing a scene or a monologue in one take. In less than 30
minutes I typed 1000 words expressing my frustration with the game. In all seriousness,
2K13-15 are really bad. Sometimes I wish I could play the game in front of the
developers so they could see the stupidity that their consumers have to endure
and maybe they’ll feel a little bad for making us pay $60 for broken games. Another
favorite of mine had to be my rant on What a Time to be Alive. My friend Marco told me he was waiting for a blog post
to see what I had to say about the mixtape. That was probably the first time I
ever jumped out of whatever I was doing and started typing. It meant a lot to
me that someone actually anticipated my response to something. Thanks, Marco.
Thirst Responsibly is another favorite of mine, as I'm sure you all know. Deion's Got a Girlfriend, or as I like to call it, The Sunshine Post, will always have a special place in my heart (love you, babe. Happy birthday, Kyana!) In the four years that I have been bloggin I'm happy that I have written more things that make me smile when I re-read them than cringe. There are a number of cringe worthy posts I've written. There are also some things I had to take down because Mama Sainvil didn't approve.
This blog has given me an avenue to express myself and give my takes on pop culture phenomena that I may or may not agree with. I believe it’s also made me a better writer. That’s all I could ever ask. I didn’t start blogging with hopes of getting paid or becoming famous. I have enough pressure consistently updating this blog and writing for the school paper. What I'm most proud of and am humbled by is you guys. All of you who tell me about how you read my blog and the readers out there who I haven't met in person, you all motivate me to keep doing this. Thank you, Dilia, for telling me to blog. Thank you, Dario, for telling me to keep going. Thank you, Eddie, for being half of DudeFresh and creating great things. Thank you, Andre, for the continuing motivation and the laughs your blog bring me. Thank you, Kali, for showing me what success on blogs looks like and for collaborating on the extravaganza. Thank you, Mom, for always reading. Thank you, Sunshine, for reading every single post when we first started talking. The list goes on and on. To anyone who wasn't mentioned and feels offended, please don't take it personal.
Thank you to all who've inspired and motivated me. Here's to four years and more Mix to come!
