Last Night I Had A Talk With God

Last night I talked to God.

And I asked, "Lord, how come you placed some many fukk'd up people around me?"

And He said, "Because I wanted to you see what I want you NOT to be."

And I asked, "Well... Geesh... couldn't you have shown it to me in a movie, or put it in a book?"

And He said, "No. Because I wanted you to really look."

And I asked, "Well... when will this bs ever end?"

And He said, "Probably never my friend?"

And I said, "Well... that doesn't seem to be fair. What makes you think that I'll follow through?"

And He said, "Because I've also placed some great ones around you too. And there's no doubt in my mind that you'll know what to do."

-Kato Hammond - 2012

Sister of Soul

Sitting by the window - catching some breeze.

My girly made a drink to set my mind at ease.

She knows how to treat a man with her special touch.

And that's one of the reasons why I love her so much.

She's an Ebony Queen whom I raise to her throne.

I'm where I am today, because she's my back bone.

She's a devastating beauty sister of gold.

When God made this cutie, He broke the mold.

You see, all the times I'm lost, she finds my way.

I feel the way I feel about her every day.

The way I feel about her, no other man will know.

So, I dedicate this time to the sister of soul.

God has created a special treat for us.

So, to the brothers, this mission is a must.

We've gotta keep going - keep our heads to the sky.

Keep the soul flowing - I'm telling you why.

Cause if we start to turn our backs on the sister of soul,

They have no other alternative, but to go

to the other side where they're sure to feel pain.

The brothers with the strength, please help the lame.

We've got to stick together until this mission is done.

One for all, and all for one.

Collectively in a race to survive.

Grab their hand, keep the family alive.

The sister of soul should not be treated like shit.

So, keep it in your mind.  Don't you ever forget.

Share the hopes and let the family grow.

And let's dedicate this time to the sister of soul.

-Kato Hammond
© Copyright 1994

Give a Man a Fish...

"Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day.  But if you help that man make a fishing rod, show him where the fish are located and teach him how to catch them, not only have you equipped him with all the essentials of being able to eat for a lifetime, but you've also given him the foundational platform so that he has the ability of passing that grounding information on to the next man. And so on.  And so on.  And before you know it, the whole community will be eating for a lifetime as well."
-Kato Hammond

Music - My Escapism

Music.  I love Music.  I thank God for the creation of it.  The fact that when times are rough, I can drift into it as my source of escapism and for that moment everything just disappears as I glide into the moment of the song.  And depending on which song it is, I simply slip on my earphones, close my eyes and instantly drift into a moment of time my life where I remember smiling.

For example, listening on the song "Too Close" by Next instantly takes me back to a moment with my daughter Tamasha, who was only about 4 years old at the time.  There was just the two of us in the car.  I was driving and of course she was riding. When the song began playing on the radio, she suddenly began singing along with the chorus.  It was the first time that I've ever heard her sing to a song played on the radio, and even more, I was astonished at how she knew the words.  It was a moment of my realization of just how much she was growing into music herself.

Listening to the song "Is She The Reason" by Destiny's Child instantly take me back to a moment during a heavy snow storm.  I was driving home from work at the time and traffic was tremendously backed up. Before I left work, I had borrowed that CD Destiny Fulfilled from a co-worker. And being in that backed up traffic actually allowed me to listen to the entire CD.  Before then, I had never really paid too much attention to Destiny's Child's music, so I really didn't know much about them.  The entire CD actually soothed me while sitting in traffic to the point where I actually realized how that entire CD actually tells a story from the very first song to the very last song, and I was actually captivated about it.  Especially in the song "Is She The Reason", where I totally became entranced by Michelle Williams' unique vocal style.

Denise Williams' "Free"  takes me back 35 years to when I was in the 6th grade.  I was my first house party.  But not only that, it was also my very first slow drag dance with a girl.  :-)

Teena Marie's "Dear Lover"  takes me back to my high school years, where a high school sweetheart of mine had such a soothing singing voice and used to sing this one to me all the time.

Maze featuring Frankie Beverly's "Reaching Down Inside"  takes me back to when I was 19 years old.  I had just moved out of my parents home and was living in a spot right off of 8th & H Street, NE DC.  I would walk and catch the bus to work every day with Maze's "Can't Stop The Love" Tape LP rockin all day long in my walkman.

Ne Yo's "Miss Independent"  was a song that I used to hear all the time during the era when I had packed up and relocated to an entirely knew location.  And every time I hear the very opening groove of the song, I'm instantly right back there.

Both Train's "Hey Soul Sister"  and BoB's "Nothin On You"  instantly takes to when I first got my Mustang (The Spidey Mobile), and how I would just drive to the scenery of Ida Lee Park, lay my seat back, and just chill with the music playing.

There are hundreds and hundreds of songs that take me to all sorts of places throughout my life that I smile upon, and I could go on and on with this hours and hours and days and days.  But I guess that point that I'm trying to make is that it's really hard to know what kind of state I would be in right now if had not been for God's creation of music.  I have no idea.  I don't drink.  I don't do drugs.  Music is my escapism.  So now, if you would just excuse me for a moment, I think I'll toss on my headphones, lay my head back, and zone into some "Devotion" .