Brief Pastel Timelapse Video

Why All This Energy? (Beyonce, The Police and The Panthers Part Four) (contains graphic language)

By now you're asking yourself  "Why so much energy on this ONE event?"

My response would be: Something's in the air, and it's not just that funky weed smoke I keep smelling in public nowadays. We have been witnessing a sociopolitical climate change that I feel intensified during 9/11 and Obama's Presidential elections. These are just two telltale events that conservatives use as fuel to recruit new believers and as they say "Take back America" in this war of ideas between conservatives and liberals, although the War on Ideas in America can go back to 1925 with the Daniel Scopes trial.

Today in America attention is being directed to 2.5 to 3 percent of the population who identify themselves as Muslims, being demonized and accused of attempting to take over this nation and "Islamicize" it, whatever the hell that means.  Using "terrorist" attacks, alleging plots of biological terrorism that has been trumped recently by the events in Flint, Michigan, and the latest boogeyman, or in this case a boogeygroup with an English acronym and a mysterious khalifah as a pretext to demonize and ban a lifestyle that has very little if anything to do with those who don't ascribe themselves to being Muslims in the first place.  It should be strongly noted that forcing people to adhere to a law when they don't believe in the way of life is nothing short of foolish, if not flat out stupid, and there is nothing in the Holy Qur'an to support this idea anyway.

Yet we hear of the big, bad, radical Muslim, severing heads on the internet, calling to a distorted definition of jihad, blowing up him or herself and for some strange reason publicize their intent to kill, maim and destroy, in an effort to Islamicize the entire globe, starting with America, whether anybody likes it or not. This scare tactic then becomes fuel for the likes of conservatives Donald Trump, Dr. Ben Carson, and any other conservative to use to rally America and the rest of the so-called free world to rid this menace. So now so-called patriots stand outside mosques, armed with weapons because of a claim, without looking deeply into the evidence, and asking who really benefits from such terrorists attacks?

Never mind the growing liberalization of America, especially in the areas of marriage, family, morals, something conservatives always pride themselves on. Never mind the abortion issue, the rise of feminism, the prevalence of pornography and the harmful effects, the fact that 20,000 people die annually from alcohol related issues, and the same sex marraige victory in the Supreme Court in which one conservative voted in favor. Never mind the secularization of America, and the growth of atheism. Nope, Islam is Public Enemy No. 1 here.

SO WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH BEYONCE'?

Simple. Since the movie Birth of A Nation, Blacks have always been portrayed as savage-like creatures, who if freed with wreak havoc on such a "blessed" nation, especially on White women. This technique was used to justify the creation of a White group, claiming to adhere to the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Holy Bible, to keep the "savages" in line. It was eye-candy for racists who had never perceived Blacks as human beings in the first place, even if White men in Black face were used to get their point across.

And since that time any attempts made to either intergrate, assimilate or simply receive justice and self-determination in this society by and for Black people has been deemed as subversive, and detrimental to this nation by conservatives. Go figure. The demonization of the Black Panther Party by certain agencies serves as a reminder that America's melting pot and social status quo never meant to include Black people, regardless of certain "concessions" made in all spheres of American culture.

Rudy Giuliani exposed himself in criticizing Beyonce's Super Bowl performance by proclaiming what he saw as an attack on police by women in provocative getup, gyrating to a song proclaimed to be a Black pride anthem, sung by a self-proclaimed "bitch-slaying" feminist, which includes certain graphic sexual lyrics like;

When he f*** me good, I take his a** to Red Lobster, because I slay
If he hit it right, I might take him on a flight on my chopper, because I slay


Wow...How could Giuliani or anyone see an attack on police with a song like Formation is beyond me.  A video of a Black woman seductively sprawled on top of a sinking police vehicle is by no means revolutionary nor empowering to me, nor is a child in a black hoodie defiantly dancing in front of cops, who eventually raise their hands in submission does anything for me either. If anyone found that threatening, my belief is that they'll buy anything.

But some concern also goes to those who took this as something positive for Black people, that a feminist who would tell "bitches" to bow down, would promote hetero Black male figures that are now being dragged across the coals by Black liberals in some of the most disgusting ways is even more troubling for me.

Yep...Something's in the air...

But going back to Rudy, it seems he has a history of histrionics, creating or contributing to contrived events garnered to grab attention, such as the convoluted display of heroism during the 9/11 event. His constantly appearing in front of the cameras, posing to give off commands during rescue efforts, and his "take charge attitude" and "sincerity" won him the Time Magazine Person of the Year Award in 2001. Boy, you gotta give it up for propaganda.

The media circus that surrounded this event is just one of many ways some groups use to engineer consent to spread further injustice on an unknowning, unaware or unconcerned community of people, many who are either too preoccupied with frivolity or too uneducated to figure out what's in store for them. The recent repealling of key parts of the voting rights act of 1965, combined with the rise of right-wing militias, and the acquittals of the likes of George Zimmerman, Darren Wilson, the Charleston, South Carolina shootings and others in the deaths of unarmed Black people indicate that things don't seem to look very bright for people of color in the United States in the near future, regardless of who takes the Presidency in this year's election.





Beyonce's Bogus Black Power tribute being criticized and protested by some shows that certain sectors of the American public will read into anything as some form of justification to take America back to its' early years. When people of color were held captive in chains and enslaved. But why would the liberal media take this event and broadcast and parade it as such is even more puzzling.

Now I'm really beginning to understand the meaning behind this recent plethora of slave movies.

Just like those Prophet Muhammad cartoon drawing contests.




Yep...Something's afoul in the air here... and it ain't just the weed smoke.

Bamboozled: Spike Lee and the Case of Bad Timing... Part One

Yep...Spike, you've done it again.


You've continually managed to somehow stir up some type of controversy surrounding your releasing of new movies. This time it's packaged in the satirical movie entitled Chiraq. Drama and hype never ceases to be too far behind when your movies hit theaters, not the type of drama that would have some afraid to go see the movie out of fear that violence would erupt, such as some had suspected when the movie Do The Right Thing premiered. I saw the special edition DVD, which contained interviews at the Cannes Film Festival. I saw the "concern" of some Whites, especially the White woman who asked why did you show Malcolm X's statements about using violence to defend oneself when attacked first, as opposed to Dr. King's call for nonviolence. I think you handled that question in excellent fashion.

But in this movie Chiraq, I am forced to voice my concern and confusion over the approach of this film. This film is supposed to be a "satire", which the average homie or street dude on the corner may not fully understand what's going on. But I understand fully.

See, I am a Muslim, and I'm ever-watchful of the backlash against Muslims due to propaganda, especially the "events" that took place in France over the Charlie Hebdo issue, as well as the shootings in Garland, Texas, which supposedly took place over a Prophet Muhammad cartoon drawing contest, which was mysteriously devised by Pam Gellar and Geert Wilders, two non-Muslims who are notorious for stirring up anti-Muslim sentiments, and hiding them under pseudonyms of "free-speech" or in the case of Charlie Hebdo "satire". I am fully aware that satire is used to ridicule a particular individual, group, institution, or belief, using slick humor. I'm also aware that it is used as a form of subversion in an attempt to bring down such entities and ideologies.

Which is why I'm very confused as to why would you take this approach in addressing the violence in Chicago, especially in lieu of the proliferation of the Black feminist movement, and their "gynocentric" view of the world, which renders man, especially Black men in this case, as inept, belligerent, incompetent beings who only understands violence, sex, and money, having very little or no intellect at all, and proving incapable of having any positive impact in society, whether from a societal, or familial point of view.

The idea of using an old Greek comedy of women banning the coochie in order to increase the peace among warring factions is befuddling to say the least.  In this case of Chiraq, you are using women, whom for some strange reason are "empowered" to withhold sex from their combative significants as some sort of protest without asking the question why would such "intelligent" soul sistas would even skooch the coochie to such men who harbor self-destructive behavior in the first place is perplexing! Talk about paradoxical!

TO BE CONTINUED....

Angel Ayes and Quwwa discuss Bill Cosby/Cliff Huxtable Ebony Magazine cover.

Check Out Current Events Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with AngelAyes on BlogTalkRadio with AngelAyes on BlogTalkRadio

X'd Out Again? My opinions on the recent Malcolm X controversies.

Peace all, Let's skip the chit chat and let's get down to business, OK? First my apologies for what may seem to many to be a late blog, seeing that we are now living in the age where "news" is trendy, and people are now given the impression that things work in a vacuum, or at least are considered "isolated". I assure you although this bit of "news" is about a few weeks old, it all ties into a much bigger picture. And allthough I thought of speaking frankly about Nicki Minaj's song Lookin' Ass Nigga, I hesitated much, one because of my procrastination, but also because I witness more "knee jerk" reactions when news hits the air nowadays. We tend to take the little information we feel we know, and then comment right away based on what we have at that moment. I for one think this is planned by the main press. However, if there is anything that 9/11 has taught us, especially for those who do not believe the official story, is to research, research, research before coming to conclusions that affect the masses of people.

The controversy surrounding Nicki Minaj's song with the Malcolm X picture is one of many attempts to distort the name and the legacy of the late Al-Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz, better know as Malcolm X. Although she supposedly apologized and removed the image, stating that this was a conversation piece and was not the official first song off the album, it still poses as a marketing tactic that Michael Lindstrom, author of Brandwashed: Tricks Companies Use To Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us To Buy, says that Calvin Klein used in 1995 when it pulled its controversial ad after an uproar from the public, and even the federal government.  In his opinion it really didn't matter that CK apologized and pulled the ad , because the controversy surrounding it and the attention it garnered was the main focus. It didn't adversely affect CK's bottom line in the end, and I don't think this incident will affect Nicki's bottom line either, seeing that many who were disgusted with the song and image most likely don't buy her work to begin with, and not to mention it won't affect the sponsorship she gets from "old money." Her target audience probably doesn't know a thing about Malcolm and what he stood for, nor the background behind the image. But I'll discuss that issue later.

 How many of us remember what happened around the same time of this controversy? You know In Queens, NY? The issue involving the teacher who barred her students from writing any reports about Malcolm because she thought that he was a bad man? How many of us who may have heard or read the article noticed that the elementary teacher who made the remarks was nowhere to be mentioned by name in ANY ARTICLE? Nor was the teacher even interviewed by any media who covered the story? Doesn't that sound strange to you, that the accused is not mentioned nor interviewed as to why they would make such remarks?

Many people have forgotten so quickly about the book Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, a book written by Manning Marable, a book that caused so much controversy because of its claims that Malcolm had a homosexual encounter in his hustler day, as well as allegations of having a tumultous marriage life with Betty Shabazz, especially with his busy schedule, among other claims. I didn't read the book at all after hearing what some of the book entails, simply because I didn't believe that I wanted to read a so called definitive book entitled A Life of Reinvention about a man who died in 1965, only to have supposed stark revelations 45-46 years AFTER his death? I don't think it would've taken the American press THAT LONG to dig up dirt on such an important figure.

And to think this book won a Pulitzer Prize in 2012, despite the criticism received from his children and close associates? So who's really behind this?

Well deeper research brings up a figure by the name of Wendy Wolf, a self proclaimed progressive who is the editor and publisher of Viking Books, who went on a tour touting this book and the supposed craftsmanship of a writer such as Manning Marable. However after listening to her make statements about Malcolm's "native" intelligence, and her own admission that she did not read the book in its' entirety due to the fact that it "scared" her, one must ask oneself would a person publish a book which castes a good light on a man that they practically can't stand?

 By now if you're still reading this, you're probably thinking "ok, another person claiming conspiracy" and to each it's own. I just think something smells fishy when one recollects the recent events and put them together. Why is this man hated so? Why is there an attempt to either distort the name and what he stood for, or at least neutralize his influence, which one can bear witness when one looks at the number people he influenced from the former members of the Nation of Islam to the international love he gets from within and outside the Muslim World, the white Muslims who point to his autobiography as a major influence in their becoming Muslim, to the ever growing love and support from the Hip Hop Community?

But I have an even more pressing question. In light of the events that's going on in America, with gentrification all over the place, the growing discontent for America's first Black President, the killing, miseducation, disenfranchisement and incarceration of Black people, especially Black Men beyond the likes of Trayvon, Oscar and Jordan, with the drone strikes and security breaches and invasion of privacy going on in a global fashion, why do we see these sporadic attacks on a man who's been dead for 49 years? Why would an unnamed teacher seek to dissaude their students from writing about such a figure if old people are supposed to be "irrelevant"? Or are they really sporadic? Are they controlled in the press as to what, when and how we receive such information?

 Is it because he represents a  dramatic transformation from hustler to a well respected world figure for human rights and self sufficiency, instead of a figurehead that's controlled by old money and corporations, who seeks to intergrate with a society who feels and teaches the inherent inferiority of Blacks? Is it because he saw the false empathy from White Liberals, and made many statements against the likes of them, for example in an open roundtable he made this statement in 1961:

  Most of your white liberals who profess to love Negroes and who profess to be pushing for this integration thing, they themselves live as a rule in lily-white neighborhoods and sometimes they’re the first ones to put the FOR SALE sign on their door when a Negro who has fallen for this integration thing moves into their neighborhood. I think that it’s very hypocritical today for me as a black man and the white man to sit down with each other and pro fess that there is a great deal of love between us. 

  Or another statement: ...no the Jews are the ones who usually represent themselves as white liberals. More so probably than any other segment of this society. Now if the Jews are genuinely liberal and they want to help the Negro, then they should show the Negro how to use the same kind of strategy and tactics to solve his problem that they used to solve their problems. And you’ll find that all over this country, wherever the Jews have been segregated and Jim Crowed, they haven’t sat in, they haven’t been sittin’ or Freedom Riders, they usually go and use the economic weapon. They bought Atlantic City, and now they can go there. They bought Miami Beach and now they can go there.

  Or another statement: We see masses of Black people who are thoroughly fed up with the deceit of the so-called white liberals, or the white so-called liberals. White liberals who have posed as our friends, white liberals who have been eager to point out what the white man in the South is doing to our people there, while they themselves are doing the same thing to us here in the North.

Why isn't he projected as an example for all of the young Black hustlers as a vehicle for transformation and reformation? Why do we have to keep hearing Dr. King's speeches about I have a dream, which was about intergration, and not about Black people's quest for justice, human rights and independence? Is intergration going to make these young men pull up their pants, start respecting their elders and become more responsible, and not lead lives that will either have them in prison or dead? I think not.

Or, do we really want to see transformation or reformation among young Black men or in the Black community? That's my real question.... www.qartworks.com

Recent Works/Events

Peace all, It's been a trying season so far, and one filled with many obstacles and many lessons. It's made me change my approach on many subjects, and develop some insight on how to deal with the public, especially in the Social Media age, where minds, behavior and attitudes are shaped and reshaped, subtle nuances are made, and ideologies are formed or reinterpreted. In any event, it's made me start thinking of ways that I can make my presentations online a lot more fluid and easier, but without having to lose very intergral parts of my belief and expression. This blog is very short, but I'm introducing a page on my website that allows people to view my recent works online, as well as keep up with any events that may come along. To view the official first installment of my Events/Recent Works page, please click on the link http://www.realquwwa.com/events.html I will keep you updated on the latest of recent works and apparel available for viewing and for sale. Take care all and God Bless!

Red Tails Tribute/Staff Sgt. Hogues Part 1

Peace all, here is the first part of the beautiful tribute to Staff Sgt. Hogues that I was able to put on my Youtube channel. It was a very emotional and educational event for all ages and walks of life. You can view the rest on my Youtube channel, as well as viewing the photos of the event and the memorial piece I painted on my website. Just click on the link http://www.realquwwa.com/red_tails.html I hope to be back soon with more news and blogs, but in the meantime, enjoy and take care!

The Laying of the Hands Part TOO!!!

Peace all!!!!

Just a few pictures to show you my lack of blogging was not due to laziness!!!




That's right peeps, Q was working on a master plan to make things accessible to the public. Some may look at this as straying away from my art, but I don't think so. I think it enhances my art, knowing that I can be versatile with my expression, beit art, prints, or wearable art. I'm being very careful in choosing my words here, trying to avoid using the word FASHION...which is another way of saying TREND...I want all of my work to be relevant, however have a sense of durability, something that I think is sorely lacking in much of today's culture. Everything is all about the NOW...I think they call it Instant Gratification...LOL



Anyway The Hands On Experiment is something that resembles my approach to art and how I handle my affairs, and it lets me have fun too! This is one of the reasons I decided to remove my Zazzle and Etsy Accounts, although I think I still may be a member of these sites...I think...LOL...It was important for me to learn the ins and outs of creating and distributing my own work. I looked at Zazzle as an opportunity to spread my wings and offer some work to a wider audience, but after looking at who really benefits from these "partnerships" I took it upon myself to make a HANDS ON APPROACH in my ventures, not saying I would not like to partner up, but it should be for the best of both sides, and I didn't see that in Zazzle...I actually think I know how a rapper feels now, to have all of his hard work distributed worldwide and not see a decent percentage of royaties for it...

With Etsy I liked the handmade approach, but it began to get too crafty for me, and plus the idea of communicating with other Etsy members seemed to be too cumbersome, and time consuming, taking away from a lot of other things, and the competing to get front page notoriety and treasures made me tired. I saw some of my Etsy friends complain about not getting enough exposure, people haggling over the prices, which I loathe...So I put together my webbie together...Yeah there is a lot of hard work promoting, advertising, etc. etc. etc, but I like knowing the ins and outs of my work...Becoming more personally involved...The Hands On Approach....DIG?



Available soon on http://realquwwa.com

America Continues To Eat Its Young....

Peace All......


This is one of my favorite interviews, coming from Dick Gregory, speaking about the harsh treatment of the youth that are into hip hop culture. I couldn't explain it any better. It exposes the cowardliness of those so called Black community leaders and parents who seem to have left the Black Youth in the lurch, to be eaten by this cannibalistic, dog eat dog system. It also gives us insight on what the Black Race is really trying to achieve, are we trying to achieve true justice, or just trying to get a piece of the pie?

Malcolm X (El Hajj Malik El Shabazz) warned the people in his classic autobiography that the most dangerous person is the ghetto hustler, because of his image, which shows him as one defiant of all civic laws, while those who accuse and attack have yet to give any solutions rather than stand, sit, and sing songs that do nothing to remedy this vicious cycle. I have become a firm believer that evil does not exist as a result of its might, for evil has no true might, but where there is a lack of true righteousness and justice, evil will take root and spread. And this is something that starts with the heart, not with flimsy pieces of paper with so called laws that separates gender, race, class, nationalities and so forth.

This is also why I feel that a Black man as a President of the United States does nothing but give those who championed for "Civil Rights" more ammo to abandon these youth, by actually believing that this was some big momentous victory for the Black Race, and belittle the other movements that took a more aggressive stance to get freedom and justice. We seem to have forgotten terms like tokenism and how colonial powers used people of the oppressed to keep them oppressed, but that's another story altogether. I hope you enjoy. I sure did.