My Interests

Music

I have loved music all my life.

I love music and I love dancing. I really wished I could sing (and dance too) but I am what I am so I make do with what I got.

I make a joyful noise unto the Lord and I can shake a leg with the best of them.

I learned the DJ business from my beloved cousin, Wayne John alias, DJ Yummy: The Wax Master (He died back in ’87). It was a tragic loss, especially to me. He was my mentor; taught me to ride a bicycle, play basketball and table tennis and encouraged me to return to high school where I met my wife, which totally changed my life.

.
Roots & Culture –

I learned to play the African Drums from another good brother – It’s funny I just realized after all these years the coincidence of his name also being Wayne – It’s Wayne Osuna alias, Lion!

Lion taught me how to beat (play) the Avaloe and the Swazi rhythm on the African Drums.

I remember commissioning him to build a drum for me which he created from a hollowed out tree trunk, beautifully carved and masterfully crafted into a precious work of Art. Sometimes I would play that drum like my life depended on it, like if the rhythms were taking my pain away and bearing them to unknown regions to be forgotten.

.
Introduction to Hip-Hop –

It was 1979 when I first heard Rap music.

I was listening to the radio and on came this Rap Group called “The Sugarhill Gang” with a song that grabbed me by the eardrums and wouldn’t let me go until it was good and ready.

That song was, of course, “Rapper’s Delight” and from that moment… I was hooked!

I started rapping immediately and because I was accustomed to writing poetry, rhyming came easily for me.

Try as I might though,  I could never learn how to “free style” where you just rap off the top of your head and make it sound good… Not for me. But when I put pen to paper I could whip up some really cool stuff.

Anyway, my rapping career never really developed, I used to make Mixed Tapes and sell to friends and family with me rapping on some of the instrumental tracks and that’s as much success as I had as a Rap Star.

It’s really frustrating to come up with really good ideas and see someone else make it a reality before you because of a lack of opportunity and resources.

I considered rapping normal speed to a really slow song just to see how the contrast would be. I thought it would sound really good and it did, when LL Cool J did it about a year after I thought about it.

I thought about rapping Hip-Hop style to totally different styles of music, something really way out, you know, like “Rock Music” with the loud guitars and stuff?

Lo and behold, up comes Run D MC  with Aerosmith and “Walk This Way” about 5 years after I thought about it… Seriously!

Anyway, I’m not crying over spilled milk, just sharing, everything happens for a reason.

A Change of Direction

Rap for Jesus –

My rap career changed direction after I got saved in ’88.

I said to the Lord, “Here, take this, it’s Yours” offering Him my notebook with all my raps and songs in it, and with that I placed it high up on a shelf and never looked back… until exactly one year later.

The reason I never looked back is because I didn’t know there was anything called “Gospel Rap” at that time and I assumed rap music was ‘worldly’ and couldn’t be used to please the Lord but exactly 12 months later something happened.

I was  working at The Trinidad Hilton as a Security Officer and one evening I suddenly got the inspiration to write a Rap – And I did!

It was my first Gospel Rap called “Satan Is A Liar!” and I was really nervous about doing this, remember, I had no idea that anyone else in the world was doing this – I thought I was alone and wasn’t really sure if this “was of God or not.”

So, for the next couple of weeks I was really stressing about having written this Rap and wasn’t sure if this was pleasing to God.

Then it happened!

One afternoon out of the blue I began getting inspiration to write another Rap, but this experience was different.

Whereas the first time I was in control of the composing of the Rap this time I wasn’t!

The Holy Spirit was feeding me the words faster than I could write. I had to scribble at a fantastic pace just to keep up with the flow of the words out of my spirit.

I wrote the entire thing in 20 minutes flat!

Normally, I would take anywhere from a couple weeks to a couple months to write a Rap – This Rap was written in 20 minutes non-stop from start to finish without taking any time to think about what I was writing.

This Rap was actually composed by God, the Holy Spirit and delivered to me Prophetically, I just did the writing of the words on paper – I now know how Jeremiah and Ezekiel felt when God told them to write and began giving them revelation knowledge to record.

The name of this Rap is “The Gospill: Jesus Christ the Righteous”

Commissioned by God –

When it was all done He specifically told me that He did this to confirm that the first Rap I wrote was directed by Him and He wanted me to minister in Rap to honor and glorify His name.

So, by composing this one Himself he took away all the fear of this not being His will.

Awesome! That’s the God I serve!

Since that time to now, I have only ministered in churches but I think the time is drawing close for me to launch out and become more public with my messages.

I am looking for someone to create original tracks for me to spit on – I have very specific ideas concerning the type of music I need for my rhymes.

It’s going to be a totally different style – blazing Hot!

~~~

Favorite Singers: Steve Green, Celtic Woman, Enya, Dido, Arash, Sherwin Gardener, Charice Pempengco (Fell in love with her singing from YouTube before the world knew who she was)

Class By Himself: The greatest entertainer of all time… Mighty Michael Jackson!

Favorite Bands: Christafari, Petra, Melchizedek Order, Royal Priesthood

Favorite Rappers: shai linne, Timothy Brindle, T-Bone, Will Smith.

Special Mention: Em

Because Eminem’s music is laden with obscene language and violence, born out of the deep anguish of the harsh experiences of his life I can’t and won’t recommend it to anyone.

I have listened to exactly 5 of his songs and from those 5 songs, I have developed an intense respect for his skill as a Rapper.

I appreciate his skill as a Wordsmith and the honesty and conviction with which he writes and raps.

As a Christian, I see it as unfortunate that his skills are not being used to glorify God right now and of course, my prayer is for Marshall Mathers to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ sooner than later.

After listening to “Lose Yourself” I was inspired to write one of my own personal favorite raps, called, “Consecrated”

Movies

I love movies!

For me, watching a good movie is like having a spiritual experience. (LOL)

Though I favor the Si-Fi/Fantasy Genre I will watch anything if it’s good.

My Favorite Directors: Those whose work I really respect –

Spielberg (of course)                  James Cameron                  Peter Jackson                   Clint Eastwood

Stephen Sommers                      Sam Raimi                            Michael Bay                      Mel Brooks

Christopher Nolan                     The Scott Bros.                     Wes Craven                      Taylor Hackford

George Lucas                             Quentin Tarantino                Joe and Anthony Russo

Steve McQueen (An Englishman of Trinidadian and Grenadian parentage)

(Just realized {Dec 2014} Taylor Hackford is married to Helen Mirren for 17 years and been together for 29 years. How awesome is that? He also directed “White Nights” which I absolutely love! )

Favorite Directors: Those who did specific pieces that I really enjoyed –

John Woo                      Mel Gibson                     Sofia Coppola                      Mira Nair

Ang Lee                         The Duffer Bros            The Wachowski Bros             Ryan Coogler

Julie Delpy (2 Days in Paris and New York, respectively)

Sam Mendes (The impact “American Beauty” had on me was equivalent to Mjölnir slamming into the side of my head!)

Special Mention: I think “Gone, Baby Gone” was a respectable first-time effort for Ben Affleck. I liked the scene where the white coke addict mom turns to one of the other white characters and says, “Nigga, please!” It was gutsy to include that line and it totally worked for me within the context of the scene!

His second and third efforts, “The Town” and “Argo” respectively did not disappoint either! (If he keeps this up I’ll certainly be moving him up the ranks soon)

~~~

DISCLAIMER: Some of the Movies mentioned below are Rated ‘R’ and may contain scenes of nudity, sex, or violence with course language. I am not necessarily recommending any of these movies. What I’ve shared below are simply my thoughts and feelings after having watched these movies… that’s all.

Before watching ANY movie I recommend that you research the film and determine whether it’s something you want to watch or not… based on your own beliefs and convictions!

Favorite Movies: Criterion – Those movies that I can watch over and over without getting bored –

The Original Star Wars Trilogy (The second and third trilogies are terrible and are insults to the first)

The Matrix Trilogy                          The Terminator Trilogy                   The LOTR

The Dark Knight Trilogy (although “Rises” could and should have been better)

The Twilight Saga – I’m a romantic at heart and these were romance movies wrapped up in Fantasy clothing. There’s so much to love about these movies that I’d have to write a separate post to explain.

Die Hard Series                               Resident Evil Series                     Kill Bill Parts 1 & 2

Avengers: Endgame                        Captain America: Winter Soldier (Best Marvel Movie)

Original Spidey 1 & 2                      Fifty First Dates                            The Star Trek Franchise

The Fifth Element                           Equilibrium                                    Enemy of the State

I, Robot (Last action scene is one of the best slow-motion action scenes of all time)

The Princess Bride                         The Incredibles                             The Howling (Horror Classic)

The “Before” Trilogy starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy (3 of the best Romantic Drama Movies ever made)

Hero with Jet Li (The best Martial Arts Movie I have ever seen… {Our Land})

Iron Monkey (Superb Martial Arts)                                                      Aliens (Go Ripley and Newt)

District B 13 (Luc Besson RULES)                       Crash                     The Long Kiss Goodnight

Airplane!                 Every Day (Starring Angourie Rice)                  Leon: The Professional, (I LOVE THIS MOVIE)

Eagle Eye                                       Chocolate (Starring Yanin Vismitananda, Nicknamed “Jeeja” pronounced “ChiCha” – Excellent Martial Arts – Jeeja trained in Martial Arts for 2 years just to be as realistic as possible in the role – Nuff Respect!)

Favorite Movies: Criterion – Those movies that are excellently done; well written, directed, and acted but not the kind of movie that I would want to see over and over necessarily –

Arlington Road          Shawshank Redemption          The Contender (Jeff Bridges & Joan Allen)

The Pianist (Reduced me to tears)          The Color Purple               Tears of the Sun

Titanic             Meet Joe Black (In my opinion, Brad’s best)         …and Justice For All (Pacino)

Gone Girl (BRILLIANT!)                           District 9 (one of the best Sci-Fi movies ever created)

Memento                          Pulp Fiction                    Switchback (Danny Glover and Dennis Quaid)

Crash (I know, I know, I’ve got this in both categories. Well, it kinda fits in both. It’s so sad you don’t want to watch it over and over but it’s so great you have to)

Special Mention: I’m not a big fan of horror like I used to be in my youth but these deserve mention –

John Carpenter’s “The Thing”                           The Ring                                    The Grudge

House (With George Wendt from Cheers)     Salem’s Lot                               Fright Night (The original)

Superstition                           The Sentinel (Innocent-looking apartment hides a portal to Hell)

The scariest movie I ever saw in my life was “Horror Express” starring TV’s Telly Savalas of “Kojak” fame. I was eight years old.

Seven Pounds with Will Smith is a very underrated movie – It was excellently done and in my opinion, Will’s best-acted movie to date – Looking forward to seeing “Collateral Beauty”.

That also reminds me Sev7en with Brad, Spacey, and Freeman was disturbingly brilliant!

The Raid: Redemption was SICK! (Part 2, not so much)

The Wedding Planner with Jennifer Lopez (Excellently Done)

Special Section – Animated:

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths                          Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox

Batman: Under the Red Hood                                   Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman

Ultimate Avengers: The Movie – Parts 1 & 2             Planet Hulk                         Shreck Series

Injustice: Gods Among Us Parts 1&2 (These movies are created around Video Games so the experience is a little different from watching a regular movie but they are absolutely brilliant, especially part 2)

(WARNING: The following Japanese Anime may contain scenes of sex and nudity)

Ninja Scrolls                  Sekirei Series                        Ghost in the Shell                      Appleseed

~~~

Favorite Actors: Criterion – Watchability –

Those that I like to see on screen and it really doesn’t matter what they’re acting in –

Will         Denzel          Arnold          Sly          Brad          Jet Li          Jacky Chan         Christian Bale

Don Cheadle             Tom Cruise             Morgan Freeman            Jeremy Irons           Bruce Willis

Terrence Howard (My wife and I fell in love with him from his portrayal of ‘Q’ in “The Best Man”)

Adam Sandler             Jim Carrie            Ryan Reynolds              Jaime Foxx              Jeffrey Wright

Michael Pena             Tom Hardy           Michael Fassbender          Chiwetel Ejiofor

Taye Diggs                  Eddie Gathegi      Tim Roth (Loved him as Cal Lightman in “Lie to Me” TV show)

Favorite Actors: Criterion – Pure Acting Skill –

Pacino                                    De Niro                           Nicholson                             Malkovich

Denzel                                   Brad                                The Toms (Cruise, Hanks, and Hardy)

Crowe                                    Spacey                            Macy (William H.)                James Spader

Lawrence Fishburn               Morgan Freeman             Gary Oldman                        Christian Bale

Sir Anthony Hopkins            Sir Ian McKellan               Jeremy Irons                         Ralph Fiennes

Joachin Phoenix                   Adrien Brody (Brilliant performance in “The Pianist”)

Edward Norton                    Leonardo DiCaprio    Tony Leung (This guy is brilliant… A master craftsman

Anya Taylor Joy (Outstanding young Actress)

Special Mention:

Daniel Day Lewis (brilliant actor but just not a personal favorite)

Matt Damon                     Christopher Walken             John Travolta                    Johnny Depp

Robert Downey Jr.            Cillian Murphy                      Shia Labeouf

~~~

Favorite Actresses: Criterion – Watchability –

Those that I like to see on screen and it really doesn’t matter what they’re acting in –

Halle Berry (The most beautiful woman in Hollywood)

Charlize Theron (The 2nd most beautiful woman in Hollywood)

Sanaa Lathan       Scarlett Johansson       Mila Jovovich (I love this actress so much I could marry her in an alternate reality)

Kim Basinger & Kim Beckinsale (Both Talented & Smokin’)

Rachel MacAdams (Cute)                           Drew Barrymore (Too cute)

Julie Delpy (One of the most interesting actors in films)

Emily Blunt       Amy Poehler (one of the funniest women alive)

Isla Fisher (I find ‘funny’ very sexy and Isla has it)

Linsay Lohan (My wife and I have watched The Parent Trap a thousand times and I personally could watch Freaky Friday and Mean Girls over and over again)

Chloe Grace Moretz                   Alexa Davalos                  Gina Carano

Favorite Actresses: Criterion – Pure Acting Skill –

Meryl Streep       Joan Allen       Kimberly Elise       Diane Lane (She deserved an Oscar for “Unfaithful” more than Halle did for “Monster’s Ball”)

Hillary Swank (Personally, I think one of the top 3 actresses on the planet)

Dame Judy Dench       Alfre Woodard       Dame Helen Mirren       Charlize Theron (Her performance in “Monster” sold me)

Kate Winslet (Respected her portrayal in “The Reader” it was very courageous)

Amy Adams (the girl is amazing)             Viola Davis                       Dakota Fanning

Angela Bassett (Just like Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett has the amazing ability to bring instant credibility to any role or movie she’s in)

Special Mention:

Erika Christiansen (She creeped me out in “Swimfan” – totally believable as a psycho stalker and excellent performance in “Traffic”)

Anna Faris (She’s like TBS… Very Funny)

Susan Sarandon (A skillful actress – She has an unusual sex appeal – It seems the older she gets the more attractive she becomes)

Melissa McCarthy (very funny {and flexible, hmmm})

Chloe Sevigny and Bailee Madison (They both have the uncanny ability to command your eyes to follow them everywhere they appear onscreen)

Sharon Warren (She played Aretha Robinson, Ray Charles’ mother in the movie, “Ray.” She NAILED that role to the WALL! AMEN!!!)

Rosamund Pike (Absolutely Brilliant in Gone Girl) – I was a grown man sitting in a movie theatre watching her portrayal of a fictitious character on screen… and she terrified me IN REAL LIFE! This is acting BRILLIANCE!!!

Class by Herself: Dame Julie Andrews – She commands such an on-screen presence she makes you believe she’s real royalty. Pure awesomeness! If you could take an ounce of the Class that she has, bottle it and sell it, you’d be a multi-millionaire!