Commodities

This barn burner began before the days of Nat Turner
The original talent scouts Tubman and Sojourner
The truth/discovered on asphalt playgrounds
Prodigies with skills that are profound
Pro bound/calculatin' assets before their signed for
Find more often that fate evens the score
Agents/drowning in the pool/waiting to be freed
Owners ain't concerned/ with the pedigree of the breed
Trades of young bucks for bucks
Used to wearin' cutoffs
Got button-up shirts on tuck
Once hung from trees
Now we hang from rims
As the light dims in the arena
So goes the lights in our dome
As we try to make this house a home

Chorus
Our feet, shuffle to keep up with the hustle
Our legs, carry the weight/however great
Our arms, raise 'em up over our temples
Our hands, grasp  for pleasures/however simple
Commodities are still what we are today
The difference is the price that they're willing to pay

AbsoluteVenus
A.K.A.
Hale's Angel
© 2005

Middle Passage

they envy me
cause my mind is free
i flow over shit i ain't supposed to be
can't crate me in
cause i dig so deep in 'em
underground to the other side of the world
a slave to the rhythm
slinging bales of rhymes from my lips
nursing the weak from my bossum
one in the womb, two on my hips
moving at a swift clip, sinking ships, cause i go overboard
cargo holds contain the souls of the rest of the hoard
dredging down deep til i hit a surge
30,000 leagues under, tales told in a dirge

AbsoluteVenus
A.K.A.
Hale's Angel
© 2011

"Beware"

(1st Verse)
We the people who nurtured nations
Have been enslaved and impoverished for generations
Street and book taught educations
Cause us to be ministers of misinformation
So we look to each other for knowledge
An unaccredited college
Funded by illegal activity
What's quite evidentiary
Quite elementary
Is free enterprise never goes without penalty
The goal is to raise seeds that don't catch cases
But carry brief ones
Caused by separations of fathers and sons
Dads trapped in the prisons of their minds
Are freed by the sons on the cellblock supplyin' the dimes

(Chorus Repeat x2)
Beware, oh Brother beware, don't you listen to the words
Cause things ain't what they seem
Keep your eyes on the prize
Forget American dreams

(2nd Verse)
Matriarchal communities | equal faces drained of beauty
Holdin' households together with duct tape and plastic covers
Over-seasoned food contributing to ulcers
It's the soul we seek
Yet it's ill we speak
Can't turn the other cheek
Cause switchin' is for faggots
Homophobes claim their straight
But wear rainbow-colored jackets
Self-hatred displayed in many forms
Black relations dictated by social norms
Whose agenda you fittin' into?
Create your own constitution
Rock the foundation of this grand 'ole institution
How to solve the problem has become quite confusin'
Forget the equation, work toward a solution

(Chorus Repeat x2)

(3rd Verse)
We are united negroes without college funds
Frat boys pay dues
To paddle asses of their dunns
Color-struck brothers are fading from black
Stuck on lighter pigments
Pink toes and flatbacks
Stuffed into Levi's 501's | blues | yeah i got em
The priority for minorities is to get on the come up
Not how our hair, cars, and crossed over n*ggas get done up
Ain't no one ups
No extra lives in this creation
This operation | must push | for a coalition with more ambition
To uplift us all
Know the consequences | heed the final call
Or divided we stand
United we fall

(Chorus Repeat x4)

AbsoluteVenus
A.K.A.
Hale's Angel
© 1997

"Faith"

Testing our faith / the cross / they keep burning it
The truth is clear / they keep twisting and turning it
a tourniquet / squeezing bloodlines of wounded men
running red across the earth / blackens / when it leaves the skin
flushing out the hue / changing black to blue
democratically deciding the demise of you
bi-partisan politics
buying parts of filthy pigs
feeding chemicals to ya kids
smoking death through menthol cigs
so you finally figured out / that this shit is rigged
where’s ya faith now? found the nation while doin a bid
prophesying ancient lessons for practical application
calculating the equation / to achieve your salvation
when it’s all said and done / the solution is one
cause the soul is from which your redemption comes

AbsoluteVenus
A.K.A.
Hale's Angel
© 2011

Breakfast Fare

diced apples, dried cranberries, phyllo dough, melted butter, and sugar. voila strudel.

Phyllo Dough is delicate, but forgiving. Even if you tear it, slather it with melted butter and all is well again. It is so versatile that I have filled it with everything from savory teriyaki chicken to topping a berry cobbler with it.

Try cooking with it, phyllo dough brings buttery, flaky goodness to any baked dish.