Wednesday, March 30, 2011

We Get it in Ohio

Bull Penners I'm back!
The Eff you mean you ain't notice I was gone. Stop lyin' to yaself.

Lol, Nah but for real for those of ya who weren't in the know Buddy had a show to do with his (now also my) people "The Empire" in Ohio. Originally it was supposed to be BXL and myself. However they couldn't make it out. So Mylez felt that I should still go and decided to also invite D (Deascent) to roll with us.
I was excited since I first heard anything about the trip, if you didn't know I love road trips. I love planes more but a road trip for me is a beautiful scenic escape from reality regardless of how brief in time. So I packed my bags and got ready to hit the road. I met my brothers here at my house we hit the train station and our voyage began around 8:45pm on Friday night.

We reached Ohio at around 3:15pmSaturday afternoon. The trip was coo... I'm lyin' that shit was crazy! Lol but we made it safe and my mans Hot Handz came and get us at the Greyhound terminal. So the first order of business was FOOD! We got some gyros by the house and then headed to the crib to eat and to get the feeling of the bus off our backs. That's when we met The Empire: Dos, Payne, Demari, and Jus were all there. The crib was dope, real nice house, and it reminded me of my or Reg's crib, it's the hangout, the Empire Headquarters. Come through chill, Record in the DOPE ass studio they have downstairs in the basement, or whatever else.
So we chilled for a lil while before we started to get ready for the evening's festivities. "The Empire Livin' Concert Series"at the A&R Music Bar which is in the Arena district in Ohio I believe. Correct me if I'm wrong ya. But yeah, around 9ish we headed out and I must say the Empire had me well beyond impressed. They are more than a team and a family ya. They are a full blown label. At least that's how I saw it and that's what I told D and Mylez. They had a table at the venue with all the shirts, mixtapes, banners and all other information you may need regarding them and their moves. It all made me feel like we gotta grind just a lil harder out here back home. Not that we aren't on that level but it was motivation is what I mean!

 ^Mylez was Honored to be Invited^
and D and I were Honored to be brought along 

The show was Amazin. Everyone from the empire from Handz to Nigel and Nicki Nichole performed. Mylez and D performed a few of their joints and I was just hype to be witnessing real Hip-Hop on a stage, appreciated by everyone in  the crowd. So all that was just Saturday.... I'm sure ya wanna know what happened after that right?

Of course you do, but only those involved know, so for now you gonna have to wait for part 2 of the story, coming very soon.... lol, I know you mad, but I got ya! Lol.

Stay Up and Stay Tuned....
P.S. Make sure you click on the links to their name and add em on Facebook or Twitter! Cause I said so!

Friday, March 25, 2011

Privacy and FaceBook Etiquette

Now before we start, be Honest with me, matter fact forget me, be honest with YOURSELF: How many of you went to "Google" and or some other online dictionary to figure out what the word 'Privacy' meant. Lmao. Cause it's obvious to me that Privacy no longer exists.

Hello I'm Eno Bull, you may know me from such places like, Twitter @EnoBull, FaceBook: Eno Bull, or a nice lil blog called "Tha Bull Pen" (Respect my shameless plugs! lol) and I'm here to talk my ish!
Back in the Sidekick days (Don't front like you didn't own at least one of the 4 or 5 sidekicks that were out) when AIM was still poppin I remember I wrote a blog entitled "My Away Message" - Go ahead click it and check it out, it'll make both of our jobs easier here. Did you read it? Well ladies and gentleman those frustrations have made their way back, except, AIM aint poppin anymore. So where would this frustration be coming from? That's right, you guessed it... FaceBook!

I honestly never thought back in 08 that it would get worse than AIM away messages, but boy oh boy was I wrong. Day after day on this social networking site I'm learning thin gs about people that I never cared to know. Lol. Somethings are funny, some are boring, some are a little frightening and some are just down right inappropriate. However they all have one thing in common, they are allllll private thoughts that should not be shared. This is where the word 'Privacy' comes in. Remember a time when you called a friend or a trusted comrade to tell them your secrets? Or a time when you had a journal or diary and put all your thought down on paper? Remember a time where there was a such thing as closed doors? That no longer exists. In fact I know what some of these women look like naked or half naked. I know what your bathroom looks like and whether or not you decided to clean it before you took your new default/profile picture with your Blackerry.
I know that you have a problem with Jasmine Smith from the 4th floor, I know that your pregnant and your mom doesn't know, I know who your baby father is, I know how you feel about your bf or gf, etc. etc. Please cut it out folks... this goes back to the post I did about the Suckers for love on Facebook. Remember those?

Ladies, Gentlemen, "What's on your mind?" means you type in "Having a great day, it's lovely outside, hope you're all enjoying your day as well." Lmao. Or "I love my mom and my family." Or even "Going to a concert tonight" but telling me that your baby father is a piece of shit, and he didn't show up to court today cause he doesn't wanna pay child support, and that you're so tired of his shit and that you know he caught the clap from his new girlfriend is just tooo much information. You know I'm judging you when I read this stuff right? Lol.

Grammar and Spelling

Here's another thing. Now I for one tend to misspell a few things, I intentionally omit the use of the letter 'g' at the end of words such as "somethin," but some of you butcher the English language and quite frankly I'm effin tired of it. Here's a little lesson for those of you who obviously never walked into a 3rd grade classroom.

I'm = I am
am is not to be confused with I'm

Their = is Ownership
i.e. "Their attitudes suck" not to be confused with "There"

Your = Possession of you
You're = You are
So I would say something about "Your bad attitude", not "You're bad breath"

Did you understand any of that? Of course you didn't. Sucks for you tho, this is not English 101. Go take a class!

But yeah some of you go on rants and everything is misspelled and the grammar is usually straight out of a horror flick. Which only leads me to my thoughts which usually go somethin like this: "This nigga got some nerve to curse out and insult this other nigga but should have his/her head in a damn book, or at least be watchin Sesame Street with his/her children.

Photos of Everything

As a photographer and all round family oriented man, I LOVE pictures. However even I feel like some things are just for you. i.e. Your (see how there's no apostrophe here, You're learning - Isn't this fun?) baby's picture fresh out of the womb is something you print and put into a photo album along with thousands of other memories you will have of your kids. Facebook does not need to see you sweating your weave out giving birth. I mean who even takes these pictures? Lmao. A photo of someone's tomb stone although taken for obvious reasons and is understood is also something that you should maybe keep in your scrap book and or photo album. And b y photo album I don't mean your facebook album. See where I'm going with this guys and girls?
And sidebar, If you're gonna be a hoe, then by all means baby, be a hoe, but if you got that sexy pic where you're topless and you're holding one arm over your breast so as to be "teasing" us, make sure your 3 year old daughter is not sitting on the bed behind you in the picture. Oh yeah, I've seen it!

I really could go on forever, but I'll just leave it at that. Cut the shit folks. If you have beef with someone, be a man/woman and address it in person, or at least over the phone, stop droppin subliminal threats on FB , If You just caught herpes or somethin to that nature, don't share it with us, in fact don't share that with anyone except your doctor. Stop postin the abundance of nonsense that ya post. Be cool fools, It's Facebook, not to be confused by listening ears, diaries or journals. Truth be told, the people who like and comment on your status' are usually laughin at you, not with you. Shit I know I am.

So there it is. Take it or leave it. This was not a shot to anyone in particular, but if you feel it was to you then hey: If the shoe fits, then buy it and go buy a matching shirt to wear em with.

Stay Up and Stay Tuned.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Sofia's Child

SUP YA'LL!
So back in January my lil bruh turned 19... Ever since he was 17 I had been promising him that I would get him his first tattoo. Not only did I tell him I'd take him for his 18th birthday, but I designed the piece that he would get (with his approval of course.) Well his 18th birthday came and I was out of a job, so any money I had saved def wasn't going toward a tattoo... But I did promise him so you know I had to/wanted to/was going to deliver. Some time passed and still no tattoo. So in the few weeks prior to his birthday (January 29th) I hustled however possible and got some money together so that I would be able to surprise him with some ink on his birthday.

So the surprise worked out great (I'm a dope surprise planner by the way.)  On his actual birthday we got to do the whole outline of the tat. A few weeks later we came back for the shading, and I must say, I'm jealous that I don't have a Tattoo like that on my chest lol.

So quick breakdown: The piece is a shield with the letter "R" (of course the initial for Rudy, his name) and on both sides are the numbers "29" and "92". These two number represent his birthday 1/29/92. The shield has wings coming out of it just cause he and I love wings and we felt it was a great visual to incorporate into it. Underneath it all is a ribbon which initially said "One" to represent the first month, but we both thought that was kinda whack and was pushing the birthday thing too far. So we decided that a good way to incorporate mom's name into his first tattoo, which will probably be one of just a few anyway, would be to put "Sofia's Child" into the ribbon. And so that's what we did. [ATTENTION: REGARDLESS OF WHAT YOU JUST READ THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT I AM A TATTOO DESIGNER AND I'D APPRECIATE NOT BEING HIT UP FOR IDEAS! LOL]
Great work by none other than Matt. By now if you don't know who I'm talkin bout you just aint been listenin! Lol But before I make this a long ass post just watch the video I put together of it all.


^I'm very proud of this video^

Aside from it being a somewhat tangible representation of the whole experience itself, (me gettin lil bro a tat for his birthday, the surprise etc.) It's the first video I put together myself. With a lil help from Buddy Mylez of course, but you know.... lol. So I hope you enjoyed it. Watch out or us in our V-Neck tees this summer.

Stay Up and Stay Tuned.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Sofia's Tattoo Story

One month away from that 1 year Anniversary of my "Unofficial Month of Art and Photography" here on Tha Bull Pen! Damn A Year already? Time effin flies yo... But anyway I was thinkin I've given ya few tattoo stories thus far, (The one about my Guardian Angels, the one of Life and Death, and the one of Pain being Only Temporary) So seeing as how I am a working piece of art and don't plan on stopping anytime soon I would share some more with ya while I'm still "in progress." You effin with me? I'm sure you are.

So today's is pretty simple... I have no problem admittin that I'm a huge Momma's boy (Love You Mom! lol I had to throw it in there) I'll be 24 in August and I still consider my mom to be one of my best friends, if not the best. I never went through one of those "Sheesh, don't kiss me in public, you're so embarrassing" phases as a kid. Nor did I go through the "Dammit I hate you mom, you're ruining my life" stage in my teen years. Mom dukes always been coo, we've had are disagreement of course, like my tattoos being one of them lol. But don't sit there and lie to me by tellin me you never had a few quarrels with your mom. Anyway for my 20th birthday I decided to treat myself to a new tat as I try to do every year (prepare yourselves for the 24th anniversary of life tat!) Naturally I had a billion ideas and spots on my body ready to be done (pause) but instead of gettin that Lion or starting my second sleeve, I though "Let me get something for mom" At the time the idea of her portrait was already in my head but I didn't have the right picture yet. So I went with her name. I called my Ace Mylez and told him we were headed to Harlem, that's where i was getting my tats at the time.


I told My artist what I wanted, simple enough he traced it out and had it done in about 15 minutes. I was a satisfied customer.

Peep:
^20th Birthday Gift from me^
to Me.

Lol I remember when mom saw it she was pissed! She didn't care that it was her name she was just mad that I was staining my body with permanent ink.... But she of course got over it and if memory serves me correct this was the one that made her realize I wasn't stoppin anytime soon. She claims to hate em but if I know her like I know I know her she loves this one in particular lol.
So what's next? Well this arm (Right) has a lot of untouched space. so I'm gonna fill those areas in with clouds and stuff, and around moms name I'm gonna have rays of light shining through the clouds. Feel me? So that's today's tattoo story... I have grandma's name, baby Tamara's name, and Mommy's name.... Pretty soon I'm getting my other grandma's name as well. Aside from them no other woman's name will ever grace the surface of my skin with ink, permanent or otherwise. lol. later fam!

Stay Up, Kiss you Mothers and Stay Tuned!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Gift and a Curse (Like it or Leave it)

Yaaaooooww!

What's goin on folks? Very random: But have you ever felt like: "You know what? it's not me, it's the people around me who are crazy, I'm perfectly sane! The nerve of this world to make me out to be the crazy one..." Lol I feel like that all the time.
I only ask cause lately things been..... funny, for lack of a better word. Before I go any further please take this time out to pause and look over to the left hand side of this site page. Under the "Who is Eno Bull" section you'll see a disclaimer where I mention the whole purpose for this blog. I may have to revise it but as of now  you'll see it states "I love to share my thoughts but I know not everyone wants to hear them so I figured why not have a blog so only those who want to know whats on my mind will know." In other words THESE ARE MY OPINIONS! THIS IS MY BLOG, I CAN WRITE, AND SAY ALL I WANT. IF YOU DO NOT LIKE IT, LEAVE!"
But moving on Lmao... My last post rubbed a few people the wrong way, and quite frankly I'm not surprised. But in a sense I'm glad that it all turned out the way it did because now I have more points to add to today's post. Remember when i told ya I was gonna make up for the lack of posting? Well this topic was already written out in my head when I posted the last one.

The whole point of this one was simply to reiterate the fact that I Eno Bull am an overly opinionated man, and very very VERY often my opinion is different from that of the average person. If you and I disagree does that make me a jerk? If you answered "yes," then guess what, you're an asshole. Check this out. In case you didn't read the "About Me" section I am a man that speaks my mind, I've always been this way. I practice discretion and I know when and when not to say certain things. I of course do not suffer from Tuorette's (Spell Check) syndrome so I don't have outbursts, but if the moment comes where I feel like the need to express how I feel, I do. However (any of you out there that are anything like me know) whenever that moment comes and I speak out and say anything that goes against the grain then Eno's a "Hater."

Of course! Because I feel "The Jersey Shore" is the dumbest shit to ever hit television, I'm a hater. Because I say "Nah, I don't like those sneakers I (IIIII) think they are whack" I'm a hater. Because I tell you that "I hate weaves" now I'm an asshole etc. etc. etc. Really folks? For Real? Why does no one ever stop to think "Hmmm, I didn't know there was a human being alive that felt differently than I did about things in life." Or why does no one ever think "Eno is not a hater, he just thinks for himself!" or I don't know, think what you want, but to label me anything solely based on my opinion of something different than yours not only makes you out to be the ignorant one, but I bet your a republican too you jerk! Lmao! Nah but seriously....

Folks what I'm tryna say in all this is that: We live in a world where people aren't real anymore, everyone is simply a slave to trend and media. Most people don't even know what they like, want or need, they just know that Monclers are the greatest coats of all time, and that if they want to look cool they have to have em on. They don't care for comedy so much but they like a certain comedian because the masses of people say that he or she is funny. Do you really like those sneakers? Or do you see Gucci signs and completely stop caring about the style and the deign and just drop $450 because of the name? Se we live in a consumer based economy, and whatever they try to sell you trickles down to everything else in society. So it's as if preference has disappeared so to speak. You're all robots and I'm still human, I still think for myself and I still make decisions based on my own personal feelings and thoughts not what's "In"
So when I say I don't like this and I think that's not cool, don't look at me and call me a hater, simply think "Well he hasn't been programmed yet, he's still thinkin like a human" It'll be a long time before they get me folks. My opinion is yet to be swayed by the actions portrayed by Trey Songz. Cause he says it's cool don't mean imma go out and buy it.

So again, I'm not the crazy one here, you are. Because I still think for myself and I don't care what the masses say, I still move to the beat of my own drum. Don't call me a hater just cause I disagree with you. And if anything that I have said here today has in anyway offended you, or made you think that I'm not such a nice guy then simply say so (to yourself) and don't come back. No need to try to verbally assassinate me via FaceBook comments and or want to stone me. Simply understand that I disagree and am entitled to do so! Good Day!


Stay up and Stay Tuned!

Monday, March 7, 2011

"Good Hair"

Yaaaooowww!

I Know it's been a minute but I plan on making it up for ya! But anyway, like I told ya via FaceBook I watched "Good Hair" today for the first time. For those of ya who aren't in the know "Good Hair" is a documentary by Chris Rock documenting the use of wigs and weaves by African American women.
Anyone who knows me knows I HAAAAAAAAAAATTTE Wigs and Weaves, with all the passion, blood, sweat tears and emotion in my body! Fuckin Shit! Excuse my French, but I'm deadass. Perms are not so bad more so because its your hair just fried, but I guess it falls into the same category. Before I go into details as to what was discussed in the documentary allow me to first tell ya why I hate them so much.

To me it's simply a lie. It's deceiving. False advertising even. See to me a weave or a wig says "My self esteem is low, I am my hair, if my hair isn't long and relaxed and "good" then I am not pretty or beautiful like the white women I see in magazines, movie and in Hollywood" when in all reality, beauty is what you make it. I hate to sound cliche but if you don't love you who will? I know a few of you are reading this thinking: "White women use weaves too Eno" Okay shorty, I give you that but do they try to fool the world coming through one day with a short Halle Berry cut and come through on Friday with hair down the middle of their backs? No right?
Like I said it's a lie. I will never forget the day I came home with a lady friend, made myself comfortable on her bed turned on her tv while she got comfortable after a long day of work. Amongst other things she took off her hair and I almost vomited! Ewwwwwlll What the fuck? Aight ladies lemme tell ya what that's like from where I'm sittin: That's like you see me in the street and I meet your every criteria in a man. I'm tall, I have a nice short hair cut, light eyes, rock hard stomach big ass feet and hell you can see my Moose knuckle (Male version of camel toe-so you see the dick print through the pants.) I catch your eye, we speak for a minute and we come home together. I tell you "Sit down baby get comfortable" and as you watch me unwind you see I was walking on some stilts, so I'm not really 6'5", I'm barely 6 feet, I take off my contacts, my eyes are really dark brown like everyone else, my hair line was drawn on and it was one of those wave cap things that made it look short and my hair is really a nappy unkempt mess under that. My stomach was being tied down with a girdle or whatever I would use and I'm really fat. I take my shoes off and I'm really a size 8.5, but I stuffed my kicks with socks so that I could wear the size 11.  Oh and you thought I was well endowed? Oh nah baby! This is a small towel I like to keep in the front of my pants... Now ladies, be honest with me, what would you think and say? Honestly?

Another reason why I don't like them is because they don't really serve a purpose. They aren't medical solutions to hair loss, they don't help the hair grow longer so that some day you don't have to wear them. They are strictly and solely used for vanity. I'm sure alot of it also comes from the fact that growing up i never saw my mom or the women in my family using wigs and weaves, so to me its like "Really shorty? You don't get down like the old school?"
So I wanted to watch "Good Hair" because I was hoping it would teach me something I didn't know and maybe shed some light as to why women (especially the black ones) wear them. Because believe it or not anytime I ask them I get the same BS answers like: "Well I get bored easily, so this way I can switch it up." Or something like: "Well this way I don't have to do anything to my hair I can just get up and go" Bitch cut it all off and call it a day if its like that then.
So pretty much Chris went to a few different cities and discussed the issue with several hair dressers and salon owners and I must say I learned just a few things that I didn't know. Like: did you know that the chemicals in a perms are strong enough to take the color off of a can of soda? Even disintegrate it? And some of these vain women even put it on their young daughters as young as the age of 3. Chemicals that could literally burn through the skin. I also learned how expensive some weaves can be. I knew they were expensive but I saw one that started at $1,000 and could reach up to $3,500. I mean for that sticker price I better never get a headache ever again and this shit better eventually fuse with my real hair and root itself into my scalp. It documented how some women will skip on paying the rent to be able to afford these extravagant weaves. Disgusting to say the least.

So next up was the trip to India where most of the "Human" hair comes from. And to me that's even worse than any other type of hair.... To me it's like sharing used condoms. That's hair that was sprouted from the scalp of another person and now its mixed in with you hair? You nasty bitch! But anyway, apparently in India the native have all had their hair cut off completely at least twice in their lives by the time they are adults due to religious reasons. One man in particular capitalizes off of this and sells all the hair that is cut off. That's a LOT of hair and in turn a lot of money. There's even a black market where another man and his henchmen are thieves and stoop so low as to cuttin peoples hair in their sleep to be able to sell it. Are you serious? In india the hair business is more lucrative than gold! WOW!
The whole thing was just preposterous to me. To think that society and Hollywood has our Beautiful, nappy headed, once wore Afros, black women so messed up into believing that their hair makes them look prettier, or pretty period. Is natural really that bad? All in all I didn't learn too much from watching "Good Hair" but i did enjoy it because it reconfirmed all that I had been saying from the beginning. It's not so much about helpin a situation as it is looking good to please others. So to those of ya who are sitting here sayin: "No I don't do it to please others, and I don't do it to look beautiful, its just my preference" nah fam, have a seat! You may think you doin it for you but you doin it for acceptance and for the satisfaction of others and don't even realize it. It's a sad truth but I guess this is what we live with.

With all that said I still HATE Wigs and weaves... Perm are cool but dammit the risk you take in getting them is ridiculous. It's mind bogglin how it still such a big thing with women knowing what they know.
But like all else that you read on this blog: "These are just my opinions and views"  take it or leave it ladies. I still love ya, I just hate ya hair.

Stay Up, Go Natural if you Dare, and Stay Tuned!