new york

always remember.

So the other day I went to shoot One World Trade as well as the 9/11 tribute lights.  Naturally the day I chose to go, the tribute lights never went on.  I was heated.. I had a perfect spot/angle for my long exposures but the most important piece was missing.  I shot some miscellaneous pictures and called it a night.

On the way home, I kept telling my wife I had to come back and get these lights.  I was baffled as to why they weren’t on, just the night before they were on!  Maybe ConEd told them to turn it down?  Next day, the lights were back on.. what the ???

So tonight I went back and got my shots.  September 11th.  Prior to that Tuesday morning in 2001, it was just another day in September.  Its now forever etched in our memories.. sort of like what Pearl Harbor was to older Americans for generations.  I always think of how lucky I was that day…and simultaneously I always think of all the folks that weren’t lucky.  Sometimes it still feels like it was yesterday.  Never Forget.

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Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. 

20 years ago today Raekwon dropped one of the most epic albums in rap history.. Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. I can remember that summer of ’95 like it was yesterday. I played this album over & over again, it was that captivating. 

It’s one of the few albums that you can listen straight thru without ever forwarding to the next trap. Between the slick verses, atomic beats and raw skits, it was perfection.  Rza produced the entire album and Ghostface had cameos on half of the tracks. I remember how much more improved Ghost was on this album; he knew he had to come correct. 

Criminology, Rainy Days, Glaciers Of Ice, Ice Cream, Wu-Gambinos, Verbal Intercourse, Heaven & Hell were some of my favorite tracks.  This album would still bury any of the current “stars” contribution to hiphop. 

“Can it be all so simple…”