On Hip Hop

In my lifetime (29 yrs) Hip Hop has become popular music. From the streets of New York, to my hometown of Compton, from down south, to 8 mile, Hip Hop has evolved into an American musical revolution. It has become the soundtrack to the lives of my generation. 

I'm Skylar, entrepreneur, comedian, and writer. Hip Hop has been a part of me all my life. I grew up in the Compton/Watts area of California. There, if you weren't my parents age Hip Hop is/was king. Specifically for me and my friends Gangster Rap. Until this day I still enjoy the hard hitting sounds of N.W.A, the melodies and flows of Nate Dog and Warren G, and yes Snoop Dog. I cant get the image of his first album cover out of my head. He was a dog in a hat that was grabbing a female dogs butt while she was going into a dog house. I digress, my passion for Hip Hop began with Gangster Rap, but as I got older my taste for the art form began to expand. 

In junior high I began to get into Timbaland and Magoo and Missy (Still mad at Timbaland for making me like that One Republic song. No, No, No, Timbo, It's to late to apologize.) , Too Short, Puff-Daddy and The Family (I loved my Lil Kim poster and if you ever get to meet me , ask me to sing Mo Money Mo Problems.) The Hot Boys (Guess which members new music I enjoy today.) Tupac (Loved him as birdie in Above The Rim.), Jay Z (In his throwback, not a tailored suit. I still do enjoy tailored suit Jigga.) and of course Busta Rhymes (He's the reason my drink at bars is Covasier. Sorry Puff, I'm not a Ciroc guy.) At this point I was rocking a Penny Hardaway throw back, with my blue glasses and jordans, with my silver Superman piece and cubic zirconium bling, while I constantly sprayed my s-curl flat top. image I know in retrospect, but back then I thought I looked. clean. High school was some of the same, but a bit different, but my love for Hip Hop stayed constant.

Hip Hop music and culture for me in High School kicked into high gear. The allure of girls became too strong and Hip Hop is nothing but cool and attractive to the ladies. So I shaved my head; I figured it worked for Jordan and Tyrese. Got a workers permit so I can buy excessive amounts of FUBU, Sean Jean, Rockawear, Jordans, and South Pole. My favorite being South Pole, because they used a lot of blue. (If you are wondering what my obsession with was, take the last part of my first name and chop it off.) Another new hip hop phenomena occurred, which was the absence of shirts. You either had to wave it above your head like Pete Pablo, or stuff it in the back of your pants like The Ruff Riders and ride around. I was OK with this, because at that point I played Football. So I was in this constant loop of buying expensive clothes only to take them off and wave them around my head. Driving in high-school was a big thing. I couldn't afford a 64 Impala on Dubs, but I could afford a 76 Cadillac Coupe-deville on 10's. In the words of Method Man and Red Man, "I know I keep em clean though." My friends and I were not riding dirty to the Carson Mall like the Game, but they did envy me up until the point they had to push my car. Either because the lack of gas money or I didn't warm it up enough. But that was OK because we were still fly. 

On Horses

Let me begin this post by saying that horses are beautiful and majestic. They are not as awesome as Unicorns or Pegasus, but they are a close third. Brief side note; If their are more than one Pegasus would it be Pegasi or Pegasuss. I go with Pegasi. In any case, horses are wonderful creatures. Now, take this next statement in the spirit in which it was intended. SCREW HORSES AND THE PEOPLE WHO RIDE THEM!


I walk my dog in the Oakland hills almost everyday. Signs are posted that say pick up your dog poop or you will get a ticket.  A little further in you will find a park ranger who informs you that you need to pick up your dog poop. Even further in you will find a sign that says death to all ye ol'e non dog poop picker-upers. The sign was written in old English in order to reinforce that this law has been around forever. Which of course could only exist in modern times. Meanwhile, horses pave a layer of crap on the walking path. Mountains and mountains of horse feces prevent Dojo and I from having a hurdle free morning walk.

It's not the horses fault. I blame the owners. They are either oblivious or just plain inconsiderate. They can't bring a poop bag. I mean, they would not have to carry it like the disgruntled masses of dog owners. They could sit on your proverbial high horse and have your horse lug around its own poop. By making everyone pick up their animal friends poop, we can create crap free trails.

My dream of poop free trails will never happen. The pro horse lobby will not allow it. That is why I have devised a plan to get back at horse riders and park rangers. I'm going to start riding my elephant on the trail. He will poop on the park ranger and horse riders as they walk along the trail. We will spew mountains and mountains of crap until we build a Berlin Wall of poop. That wall will remain on the trail and will begin my anti horse poop revolution.    

On Socializing Streaming Content

I have been in love with the idea of online streaming content since 2005. My love affair with entrepreneurship began with a business I called TV Smack. It combined a social platform with streaming TV shows. After a year of research and writing I finally finished a full 30 page business plan with awesome graphs and charts. When I shopped it around to VC's, I don't think many people got the idea. This was before Hulu and when Netflix began streaming content. After rejection after rejection, I put it away and never thought I would revisit it again. 

It wasn't until I was listening to one of my favorite Podcast (TWIST), that my old idea came rushing over me again. When I get cool ideas I start pacing and then I instantly start surfing the net in order to figure out ways to implement them. That very day I bought a domain name and a Ning website. (Side note: I am not a programmer, so I use whatever tool I need to get started. My real vision is nothing like a Ning site, but I need a MVP.) My goal was to build a simple Ning website and fill it with undervalued content. (EX: TV piolits, short run TV series, and old made for TV movies) What I didn't know is that acquiring that content would lead me into a wall of various TV companies Vice Presidents whom have no idea who I should talk to. To be fair I may have reached the wrong people. My content acquisition plan was to Google search VP's and then cold call them. In any case I was back pounding the pavement and again enduring rejection after rejection.


As I was about to send an introduction email. It donned on me that maybe the reason everyone doesn't understand it is that they think of social in terms of networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, Path, etc. What I think of when I think of social, I think of social drivers. I know it was a mistake to write a long introduction email and I probably will not get a reply, but I had to express myself. The email was as follows:

It is my belief that online streaming content should be social. Many companies such as Netflix and Hulu have not pursued the social aspects of streaming content. I think their focus on acquiring premium content has blinded them to the opportunities that exist in the social realm. By "Social" I do not mean the traditional since of shoving a bunch of videos into a Facebook like website. Nor am I suggesting user generated content like YouTube. What I am suggesting is a platform that creates social solutions for professional streaming content that use's drivers as catalyst for social engagement. The 3 drivers I have identified are brand, celebrity and nostalgia. The first 2 may seem obvious, but you can go in various directions in driving user engagement. The most obvious direction to go in is to identify the most popular brand or celebrity content (Premium Content) and stream it on your platform. Most content distributors employ this model Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, YouTube, and the majority of other streaming content distributors. This model in my belief is the wrong way to go. It drives up the cost of popular content and make licensing cost untenable. Also, it does not give you the type of users that drive engagement. What I say is screw the premium content. Give me the long bereft celebrities and brands of yesteryear that small pockets of individuals have heard of. Within these small tranches of users you will find passionate people. These people not only watch the content, but blog about the content, they tell their friends that they should watch the content, they form groups dedicated to that content, and are content evangelist. Unlike premium content evangelist, many of the evangelist of the obscure have more of an incentive to get others on board with what they love, due to the fact that what they love is obscure. I argue that a collection of more obscure content is worth more than a collection of premium content. (With the exception of popular franchises.) Nostalgia lends itself to content discovery. Watching older content takes users back to a time and place. Even if it is content users have not seen before. It is almost as disposable as most premium content, but it has the chance of brand revitalization. Where most premium content falls off a steep cliff after its first 6 months. In summary the old obscure content is cheaper, drives user engagement, and opens up a variety of revenue streams. Telebeast seeks to fill this void within online streaming content. It will change they way the world engages content. I have attached my business plan and notes. I look forward to hearing from you. 

"For me, insanity is super sanity. The normal is psychotic. Normal means lack of imagination, lack of creativity." Jean Dubuffet

Label me insane.

On Cool songs by artist you dislike

One of my favorite Podcast is the Adam Carrola Podcast. It is an awesome podcast from one of my favorite comedians. On the Podcast he was discussing his disgust with Rod Stewart's music. He explained while Rod Stewart has good songs, the good ones are written by someone else. For example, "The First Cut Is The Deepest" was written by Cat Stevens ( Now Usef Islam). I'm not sure about his assessment of Rod Stewart's music because I do enjoy "Maggie May", but he does have a point. A while back I found myself enjoying a song that I was sure I should dislike. I would listen to my local radio station and every time One Republics "Apologize" would come on, I couldn't turn away. After listening to the song over and over again I finally decided to do some research. What I found was that the song was a Timbaland track. Timbaland is one of my favorite artist. He produced songs for Magoo, Missy Elliot, Aaliyah, etc. So, I was taken aback by the fact that my favorite artist sucked me into being a One Republican. It was classic bait and switch. This would totally be OK if it did not spur me to listen to more One Republic songs. I thought maybe it was not just Timbaland, but they were a good band as well. It turned out only to be the Timbaland beat. One Republic took away 3:52 min of my life. I found their song "Secrets", lets just say it should have stayed that way. After that horrific experience all I can say is "You got me this time Mr. Timbaland. I wont let you make a monkey out of me again!" 

On The Future of Mobile Technology

This may sound strange, but the state of mobile technology seems dated to me. Smart phones and other devices are still cool. My main issue with them is that they seem to be stuck in hand held technologies. Also, tablets seem like they have been around for a long time. Current tablets remind me of very efficient Palm Pilots. My compliments to Apple for bringing tablets full circle. They are a great company and I have loved many of their products, but it is possibly Google who owns the future. Project Glass seems to be the future of mobile technology. The following are my suggestions for the mobile device of the future. By combining a few technologies that exist today a more mobile platform can be created. My goal is to provide ideas based on what currently exist. It is up to you to imagine what the use cases may be. Today I write science fiction!

The mobile device of the future should combine 4 parts glasses (Google Project Glass), blue tooth, rings (Think Kinect or Wii technology), and the cloud.

Glasses: The glasses should consist of projection film, left/right forward/backward rolling pin cameras, and a manual on off switch. It should allow you to view/interact with both your virtual and physical world.  I don't think a company should sell just their pair of mobile glasses. Glasses choices are driven by fashion, so a better thing to do would be to retrofit preexisting glasses with a companies mobile technology.

Blue Tooth: The glasses and Bluetooth are one unit connected by a series of flexible wires. Bluetooth technology is pretty straight forward. You want to be able to make phone calls, as well as issue commands to your glasses. This Bluetooth may be a bit larger than your typical device. Your ear would be the place that shoulders the load for much of the systems that power your mobile device.

Rings: A wireless ring on each hand should help with hand recognition. You should be able to swipe and move things on your virtual desktop. Made of silicon and powered by a rechargeable watch battery; these rings will make your virtual interactions more precise.

Cloud: The mobile platform of the future will have an extremely stripped down OS. Much of your information will be stored on cloud services.

What do you think? It's pretty simple. Now lets go out there and build it! Maybe I will. Now where did I place my duct tape.

On Mr. Peanut

On my way to buy some Halloween candy I spotted a can of Planters honey-roasted peanuts. Those things are tasty and very addictive. So, of course I had to buy them. After starring at the can while I stood in the checkout line, I became curious about Mr. Peanuts fashion choices. Why a top hat and a monocle. No one wears these things anymore. I guess because hes over 106 years old at least. Like many old people he is set in his ways. Even so, these were odd fashion choices in his youth. I know Lincoln wore a top hat to make himself look even taller and monocles seemed to be a sign of wealth in early 20th century England. Mr. Peanut wears both, taking cues from both Lincoln and the British.With my appetite now craving more Mr. Peanut information. I turned to the one place that knows all about him, the internet. The information I found was both illuminating and changed everything I thought I knew about the elusive nut.

What people don't know is that Mr. Peanut is a British transplant. He has always been in the protein business, being first cousin to the Wellingtons. Due to a drought at his families estate in the province of worchestire, his families Hazelnut business was left in ruins. So much so, Mr. Peanuts father died in debtors prison. He, his mother and 2 sisters were forced to live with the Wellingtons. Mr. Peanut, who's real name is P.B.J Hazelnut III, vowed to rebuild his families business. He tried to get a loan from his wealthy Uncle H.R Wellington, but all of his money was tied up in his business. Wellington was in an intense battle for Britain's dinner tables with the Earl of Sandwich. Being of entrepreneurial stock and longing to restore his families name P.B.J. decided to board a ship to America in search of better opportunities.

Once he landed in New York P.B.J took a job in a hat factory in the garment district. This began his lifelong obsession with what he called toperwear. In the Spring of 1900 P.B.J received a letter from his Mother. On her deathbed she informed him that he was in fact adopted. That she and his father P.B.J Hazelnut II found him at an orphanage in Virginia. No longer being able to conceive after the birth of their two daughters, the Hazelnuts desperately wanted a boy. This was also a practical thing to do at the time, since estate rights were less than equitable for women. Another reason for them adopting an American baby could have been to protect their standing in British society. No one knows exactly why they adopted young P.B.J. Devastated by his mothers death P.B.J began to rethink his life. Much of his time had been spent at parties and events where he could showcase his multitude of hats. He began to become serious about starting his own nut business.

With the $20 he had saved he rented a horse drawn carriage and bought 20 pounds of peanuts. Peanuts being the preferred nut in America at the time. He decided it would be more lucrative to sell. Also, hazelnuts were extremely expensive. His family was the worlds largest hazelnut provider. After they went under hazelnut prices went through the roof. P.B.J's door to door peanut sales company soon became the dominant nut provider in the New York nut scene. So much so people referred to him as Mr. Peanut. Being the savvy business man that he his. P.B.J Hazelnut III legally changed his name to Mr. Peanut. As his business success took off, in the fall of 1905 tragedy struck Mr. Peanut. He was involved in a carriage accident that crushed his right orbital socket and broke his left femur. This tragic accident led to his use of a monocle and cane until this very day. Nevertheless, he was not deterred from his quest to become the king of nuts. His company has grown into the dominant nut provider of today. They now sell, cashews, peanuts, almonds, walnuts, and even hazelnuts. It is reported that now Mr. Peanut is a billionaire, he has since bought back his families estate. I tried to contact Mr. Peanut at his headquarters in Suffolk Virginia, but I was unable to get him to verify these facts. Still an aficionado of fine toperwear; Mr. Peanut is now a philanthropist and toast of the Virginia social scene. At an undisclosed age of over 100 he is still nuts about nuts, one tough nut to crack, and at a time when it was nuts to sell nuts, he proved that like his father P.B.J Hazelnut II, the acorn does not fall far from the tree.

On Feng Shui

This is really my fountain.

Feng Shui to me has never been very important. It was only until I was talking to a friend about decorating his girlfriends apartment that I realized I have been Feng Shuing all along. At first I had a general idea of what Feng Shui was, I knew it had something to do with earth, water, and fire, but I had no idea what the core principles were. So, like any modern curious person I checked Wikipedia. Hopefully all of the facts were right, but I found it had a deeper spiritual meaning. Thus, I decided to look for ways to Feng Shui my bedroom. I don't have much in my bedroom and as a dude I take pride in the fact that the focal point of the room is my 42 inch TV. What I found was shocking. It filled me with the spirit of Feng Shui. I have a all in one Feng Shui machine! My fountain (Water) in my bedroom has copper pipes (Metal), rocks (Earth), an electrical light (Fire), and sand dollars I got from the beach. Hopefully that adds points. It seems I have been basking in the glow of Feng Shuiness for years. Maybe I am still getting the concept wrong; if I am I blame Wikipedia.