Consciousness Magazine

The Conscious Column:  By L. Barker    How To Cope With Losing…..  …A job   The most important thing to keep in mind is to surround yourself with positive people and activities that release stress.   Working out, being with friends and family or setting short-term goals are great ideas. Never view yourself as being a devalued individual with nothing to contribute to a future employer. Don’t daunt over the process, take it easy and speak kindly to yourself. View the process of job hunting as a job within itself and dedicate yourself to finding employment. According to money.usnews.com , you can volunteer, intern and freelance if you’d like to keep gaps of employment off your resume. Need more tips? Visit their website today and take charge of your future! …A loved one Grieve. Release your fears, disappointments, disbeliefs, shock and confusions. You may even have feelings of guilt, shame, humiliation, despair and bottomle...

Devine Carama - Kingtucky Review Written by Hector De La Rosa @Here_2_Edutain_         Hailing from Kingtucky (Kentucky) as the album title suggests, is an emcee who appropriately symbolizes E=MC^2: E xtinguishing false M aster of C eremonies with formidable and fathomed pen game and variability and brazen linguistics to the second power. Devine Carama is the prodigious kid birthed by golden era’s birth canal that came equipped with a gold chip tooth, gold-plated crown over his head, and a platinum coated microphone born ready to fulfill his life’s purpose of carrying on tradition of safeguarding the elements of the genre (“For The Culture”). Hip-hop, pimped for her chasteness by hip-hop caricatures of travesty, has lately been the orthography of hip-hop fuckery evidenced in “Devil Stole Hip-Hop.” This alone made Carama “Gather My Thoughts” by verbally assaulting the reset button where the genre’s reversals once became the standards. The emcee whose vo...

A chat with Grammy nominated R&B singer Raheem DeVaughn Interviewed and written by Tocarra Eldridge Recently, I had the opportunity to speak to R&B singer, songwriter and actor Raheem DeVaughn. Here is what the Grammy nominated singer had to share with the readers regarding his recent role in the play Love Jones, along with his current and upcoming projects. Tocarra Eldridge: How did you get involved and become a part of this amazing musical, Love Jones the Musical? Raheem DeVaughn: They sought me out. I got a call internally from my camp, and they were interested in me coming on board. When I spoke to the director and the producer, I was pretty much sold on it. When they told me everybody that was involved – who else they had confirmed, I was cool. TE: Love Jones, the movie, was a classical film. Was there any gratification or excitement for you to become a part of this musical? RD: Yeh, of course! It was probably one of the dopest black films that came out ...

The Hemme Fatale Collection by Reisha Written by Darnell Jordan     This past June, fine art photographer and painter Reisha held her first solo show at the William Hill Gallery in Chicago, IL. The event was an intimate affair that celebrated her latest collection, Hemme Fatale.   With Hemme Fatale, Reisha offers a glimpse into the evolution of masculinity. The collection consists of thought-provoking portraits that range from a clean-cut gentleman in a top coat and fedora (circa 1940s), to a current-day hipster sporting a full beard and man-bun.     “It’s not a criticism, it’s an observation. What it meant to be a man 20 or 30 yrs ago is not the same now. It’s tricky for everybody involved, including women, relationships, workplace, and family. I think there’s a big discussion there,” says Reisha.   The idea of masculinity has always been a controversial topic. Traditionally, there has been a solid line between what’s considered ...

Jason Ferg - Tribune: Album Review  By Hector De La Rosa @Here_2_Edutain_ Chicago, the prideful city of Wind, is notorious for its splendor in landscape and culture just as its gangland violence monstrously publicized in media as evident in the Chi City emcee Jason Ferg album Tribune and its single “Time (Shecago)” featuring the soulful trumpet sounds of Sam Trump. Here, Ferg creates the perfect analogy in song comparing the city to a woman one can treasure and adore same time have distain for her. Tribune performs as an important piece of art for the Chicago music scene, viewed more of a historic landmark putting on for his city in the music platform. The hip-hop artist pays reverence to his hometown in practices: titling the album named after a popular Chicago newspaper and embodying musical styles that originate yet shape the Chicago music landscape fashioning acoustic, soul, neo-soul, poetics, and hip-hop to hip-hop/soul fabricating a glorious sound. “Chicago Fire” fe...

Hip Hop recording artist Comprehend returns with new single Bounce Feat. TK   Hip Hop recording artist Comprehend releases new single “Bounce” nearly after a several year hiatus, that is available on all streaming stores . The creative artist continues to use his unique and playful lyrics, as well as his attention-grabbing deliverance while utilizing his prolific rapping gift to resonate with his fans and listeners. “BOUNCE” is released by AR Entertainment Group/Blok Club DJs Inc., distributed by EMPIRE Distribution and is produced by the Godfather of Juke music DJ Slugo (Lil Wayne, Syleena Johnson, Mims, Twista, Jeremih and many more. “Many may refer to me as being a conscious rapper; however, on this particular song I wanted to have fun to experience and blend my style of music with a national DJ to develop unique sounds of music. Nonetheless, the song is playful and poppy featuring the female artist TK who complements the song very well. I throught this song will be re...

THE WEIGHT OF THE WORLD   Written by Eric Plaut Have you ever felt that the weight of the world was on your shoulders? Sometimes this analogy makes us feel like Atlas. When people are dealt with a burden like this, we can tend to lose our sense of direction. Fear can emerge from this conundrum, causing us to worry that we have nowhere to go—in other words, having no destination for us to get to. Our worries tend to vary with each of us. It could involve a job search, work, family, friends and/or relationships with others. Anxiety and our worries tend to feel like a burden to us. Most people don’t wish to delve into their emotional luggage with others. But in this case, it’s perfectly all right to confer with a small handful of family or friends whom you trust. I’ve once heard how someone had so much emotional luggage. He joked that all of it could have overloaded the baggage train at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. Angst, when it doesn’t get resolved, tends to follow people...

JOHN CARPENTER’S SECOND ACT Written by Eric Plaut One of the main panels at the 2010 Texas Frightmare Festival featured some of the cast of the 1983 film Christine , which is based from Stephen King’s novel. Its director John Carpenter was there along with four of the actors: Keith Gordon (Arnie Cunningham, the misfit and car buff); John Stockwell (Dennis Guilder, the jock and best friend); Alexandra Paul (Leigh Cabot, the girlfriend); and William Ostrander (Buddy Repperton, the bully). Conventioneers could ask the cast questions as well as hear about their experiences on making the movie. Carpenter—who also composed scores for his films such as Halloween , Christine and The Thing —was asked by the Emcee (and birthday boy) if he’d ever consider releasing an album of his spontaneous themes. The director deadpanned “No!” to a room full of laughter. Now let’s fast-forward to six years later.   John Carpenter has now released four studio albums of his music, not countin...

ROBIN WILLIAMS—NO WORDS NEEDED (1951-2014) Multitalented Actor Made People Laugh for Nearly 4 Decades Written By Eric Plaut For those growing up in the 1970’s and 80’s, a lot of us can remember when Robin Williams appeared on the small screen.   Although he worked on The Richard Pryor Show in 1977, Williams’s big break came a year later.   He appeared on an episode of the family sitcom Eight is Enough before he appeared on Happy Days as a character that gave him television immortality: Mork, an alien from Ork.   Shortly after Robin’s appearance on Happy Days , the show’s creator the late Garry Marshall had been given the green light to do a spin-off series.   Titled Mork and Mindy , Williams and Pam Dawber starred as the leading characters.   This sitcom was the golden ticket to a promising—and diverse—career for Robin Williams. “MOST LIKELY NOT TO SUCCEED” Robin McLaurin Williams was born on July 21, 1951 in Chicago.   His parents were Rob...