Well, i know we’re still a few hours shy, but it’s the new year somewhere in the world and i wanted to holla at you.

Yo, May is 5 months away and i’m feeling very confident about the fulfillment of my mission.  Of course, it’s not a destination, but a journey, and i’ve received plenty of re-enforcements this year.  A quick re-cap, shall we?

• In April, i started a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for my book.  We raised $1,000 in three days!  If that’s not love, i don’t know what is!  The money came through in June and by August, Spring Chicken’s Revenge was on the streets with successful book signings in New Orleans and DC.

• My band, the BlackStar Bangas, had a successful independent, national tour over the summer.  Mad love all up and down the East Coast.

• Kamali Academy opened to a full class and a child-care.  i expanded my role from Language Arts teacher to Physical Education teacher.  Get your weight up, sun!

• My sister the Empress up and left dodge, heading back to her mother’s land with a heart full of love and faith.  She definitely get’s the award for Inspiration of the Year.

There were a few other things, but i don’t want to bore you. i do, however, want to thank you for walking with me.  For real.  And i’m so grateful to have ya’ll as i move forward into forever.  As a sign of my gratitude, i would like to offer you a discount on Spring Chicken’s Revenge.  35% with the promo code thatgoodgood from now until January 7.  Just click here.

Lastly, i leave you with this video.  Thank you, i love you, and i’ll see you on the flip side.

Mad love to you and yours in the New Year and beyond.

-amari

i’m less than six months out from the date i set for the fulfillment of my mission of being self-sustaining and prosperous.  Scared?  No.  But certainly not cool as the fan i’d love to be.

They say that you make the path by walking and i get that.  i comprehend that.  But yo, it be hard sometimes.  It becomes difficult to plan a life that includes other people when there are so many unknowns.  i was terrible at geometry.

This is the time where principles meet practicality.  Are you really bout what you say you bout?  Do you really believe these real things in real life?

And could you live a life where, in every second, in every task that you undertook, you’d know you were wasting your existence?

Are you ok with a buster lifestyle?

::sigh::

Listen, i’ve got a few months left.  And then the rest of my life.  i’m going on.  i’d love for you to come with me.

But i’m prepared to go it alone.

-amari

You were put on this planet for a purpose.  And your most sincere commitment, your truest responsibility is to its fulfillment.  Everything else is a distraction.

My grandfather grew up a sharecropper.  His grandfather was enslaved.  My father, well into his sixties, continues to work graveyard shifts.  They’ve done their work and did it well.  My purpose is to continue their legacy using my particular skills and talents, yes, but not to repeat what they’ve done.  It is my duty to advance it.

We are so much greater than we allow ourselves to be.  The work ethic of our fathers and mothers seems to have been lost.  And, in some respects, rightfully so: why put so much effort into somebody else’s thing?  We’ve been doing that for generations.

To the unconnected eye, it would appear that way.  But my great-great-grandfather’s work was to put me right where i am at this exact moment.  He wasn’t doing somebody else’s thing.  He was doing ours.

It would be spit on his grave were i, were we, to not do the same.

There are no excuses.  There is only truth: success or failure is entirely upon us, and, in the end, we will get exactly what we give.

-amari

-amari