Brave Heart - Lupe Fiasco

[Verse 1]

May the Lord have mercy on my soul

Forgive me for my fetishes, my purchases, my clothes

Allow me to catch my rhythm so the nervousness just goes

That's why I sound so certain in my verses and my flows

The verbiage just gets merciless, the wordsmithness just rolls

I've tuned into my pertinence, my purposes, my goals

The feeling when you realize you've been working for your foes

And the curtains have just opened and they worthlessness exposed

You remember where you've came from, where the purses was stole

There was nothing in the oven and just work up on the stove

And you blossomed from the bottom, yeah, you worked with it and rose

From nothing to a dozen and a garden now there grows

Tell 'em!

[Hook: Pooh Bear]

Courage under fire, gave me a brave heart (That's me)

Courage under fire, gave me a brave heart

(Yessir) Brave heart

(Yeah I got that) Brave heart

(You know) Brave heart

[Verse 2]

May the Lord have mercy on my soul

Like shows keep cushion where I land

Keep the devil off my heels

But please keep me on my toes

Like a reposessor checking for everything I drove

Like I owe, but I don't

Paid my dues from the go

Doing donuts in the dome, keep my shoes on the floor

Revered by the rich, plus approved by the poor

I been sped up where they sniff it

And screwed up where they pour

See I flew so way up high

And I SCUBA'd way down low

Put the top down on my fears

Put the roof up on my woes

I dropped that food and liquor to put you up on my stove

They shoplifted and stole

That just let me know they know

That was Lupe #1, now this version #4

And I still feel like a virgin me versus the globe

From the surface to the cove

I took on the biggest wave

And I surfed it to the shore with no pomade in my fro

Took the wood from the slave ships and furnished my abode

Now that boat is now my bed, desk, dressers and my drawers

Now that's a house of pain!

Plus I use nooses when I hang up all my clothes

Couldn't change up if I chose

That's me

[Hook: Pooh Bear]

Courage under fire, gave me a brave heart

Courage under fire, gave me a brave heart

(Yessir) Brave heart

(Yeah I got that) Brave heart

(You know) Brave heart

Brave heart...

(Yessir) Brave heart

(Yeah I got that) Brave heart

(You know) Brave heart

[Outro]

May the Lord have...

Mercy on my soul

shine Bright Africa

Glass Closet

Feeling so exposed in my own space... logic became a foreign concept.
One day the truth shall reflect its true self clear from within....
I think we fell inlove the moment we realised how much we hate each other....

LIFE...

Oh How I believe this.
People spend so much time chilling straight up doing things that they are comfortable with.
Sometimes it is derived from fear, mostly from not daring to be different and constantly wanting to do what has been done before.
Change inspires me to do bigger and better things, but mostly, to make a different kind of difference within and out the parameters of my comfort zone.

Chipping Fingernails

As I stare motionlessly at the chipped bits of my fingernails and realise how fragile and miniature my hands are, my mind sprints into a million thoughts...

Why do I do all these things to myself?
Why didn't I stop myself?
Why did you have to put your life at risk like that Dianne?
Why did you have to become part of the norm?
Why did you embrace your stereotype?
Why did you drift so far into sin and not care to stop it?
Why have you defied yourself the ability to think?
Why... Why... Why...

I've put myself at risk, compromising the girl I've worked so hard to become.
The lady I have groomed myself to marry.
The female I've made so manly.
Looking down at myself with raging disbelief... Maybe one day I'll forgive myself.

Body making foul sounds that eco the events I dare not to think about...
Counting days, weeks, months, cycle after cycle.....
I don't know what to look forward to besides the last thing I want, need....

So much for looking forward to being loved…
Wondering why he doesn't seem to love me enough...
Maybe it’s because of the chipped bits of my fingernails that make me realise how miniature my hands are.
Maybe I simply need to start loving myself...
Oh but I wish I knew how...

Nothing is meant to make sense at this point in my life... Nothing seems to be sensible enough to think about...
I try to rest my thoughts but nothing seems to help...
Can’t we fix me permanently?

Change For You

Its actually amazing the amount of change one is willing to go through just so they can please their partner. Well one thing I've learnt about "Changing" for someone is that in turn, you end up losing yourself.... But more than ever, the cartoon strip illustrates the end of all change **,)

Predicament

Sometimes I cant help but wonder if I'll ever truly find love, or find myself happily in union with someone.

I've grown so cold and immune of affection, feeling and expression that leaves my heart bare as a resident of my palms.

"Dee, you cant deprive the world of your beauty, make at least one man happy" they say. But such lands on deaf ears for most of my life. "If only they knew I want this more than what meets the eye" my subconscious whispers teary to me.

I mean, who doesn't wanna run around playing touches with their lover, going on romantic dates and picnics to sustain the calm vibes of the relationship. I too wanna be a part of that. But I just cant seem to crack it. Either his skin is too dark, or his eyes are too big, or his smile is just a tad bit too wide or for some reason, his birthmark is situated in all the wrong places.

Blocking me from any form of inner beauty. "We need to give the kids a fighting chance" I'll often tell a friend, "I cant marry a short guy cause we'll have midget kids" or "his knees are just too close to one another, we don't want a beautiful girl with fucked up posture" or "why is he so fat, I don't want to raise obese kids"... Nothing is ever satisfactory.

I see a lot of perfect candidates, but its either they are fucked up cheating male whores or a bunch of controlling male chauvinists that have no idea what century let alone decade we are living in. I'm very dominating in character so playing the submissive girlfriend seems like the most trying challenge of all times.

God searches the heart... What is in there, no money, situation or individual can alter... Peaceful loving and graceful giving. A man that knows what he wants in life, a man that knows his place and knows his calling. A goal driven individual who will love me as I am.
So yes, I am worried about myself and my hard exterior that has mounted my heart to an unreachable abode.

Manly Advise

Perfume

So I have this extreme obsession with smelling good such that its something I'd spend millions on.


I love smelling great and I appreciate a guy that knows the value and importance of completing their look with their favourite brand of cologne. One of my favourite brands in general, is GIVENCHY. And this happens to be one of my favourite fragrances by the brand. Givenchy Absolutely Irresistible

Friendshiping

Meet Lungi and Dianne

Been best friends for years now and recently reunited.

Life couldn't be any better.

All smile, all laugh

New Memories

Good Times

Soul Mates vs Mated Souls

I've found peace and comfort in knowing that he loves me.

I've looked for Lungi for soooooo many years now, I don't even know what to do with myself.
Obviously I've grown as an individual and a lot has changed since I last saw him in high school.
I had to spend years trying to get over him and now that he is back in my existence it feels like I am back to twirling tummies and estranged heartbeats and overwhelming anxiety.
I truely have never loved like this before and some point in my life I would have led myself to believe there is no such thing infactuation because of him.
I wrote his name on books and pieces of papers that left me torn. Shoving what was known as a heart into the rubbish bin.
He has always loved me for being me... I've never had to wish I was another individual when I was around him and thats why I love him so.
I'm afraid to pray about it because I don't know what God has in store for the both of us but apart form it all, I'm afraid that the one thing I want the most could possibly be a misdirection to what His Will is.
I have turned into the most peaceful and carm individual ever, but the self I have created for myself continues to fight in me.

Ego vs Control

So lately I've been living with the frustration of not quite understanding why guys don't like "their woman" to have an accumulation of male friends.

I mean really? Is this not a sign of insecurity to a large extent?
Is it because he knows that if he were to be surrounded with a multitude of females, he wouldn't be able to hold himself and thus thinks that I won’t be able to control myself?

He went on to say, it’s not worried about the amount of temptation I'm exposed to but he just understands how guys think and their intensions.
Thoughts that rampage and turn my brain into a runway leave me wondering if this is a matter of securing the safety of his heart or just another way to exercise control as a man?

I understand the level of discomfort a guy can find himself in if his girl is busy entertaining millions of other guys and not giving him the time of day. But he can’t force me to give up all my friendships and concentrate on him and him alone. My mom always said if he is worth it, your long list of guy friends will eventually die down.

Anyway, I guess what remains, is that his ego got in the way of what could've been a fruitful relationship, according to me. Or maybe it was a good thing on my side, maybe I dodged a bullet....
I guess we'll never know...

How It Broke

Young love scripted through texts unspoken

Lived through words and lost in devotion

Feelings amass but yet left unwoven

An accumulation of frustrations, trapped deep down and dispersed with no action

Sacred and true, malicious and yet so new

The fear crept in where no solid steps where taken

A bold young man struck continuously by distress, failure to understand the masculine mistress

For him, a man in a woman was one fold

Anything else threatened his manhood

A young lady threaded to completion, inner strength reined above all imperfections

What continues to boggle her mind, a deeper question of Dissatisfaction.

Why couldn't he just celebrate the beauty of a woman who took charge?

Confused by the transparency and honesty, modest and insecure bullshit steered him into a state of panic

The love ship stagnant, leaving without even trying.

He fled with his fear of a heart that would remain broken.

#D-No

Best4Last

The name is Dianne Normans... My mothers most precious gift... she named her Divine cause she knew she'd live her live expressing what God liked about himself so much that he created this being.

You can never take away from me what God has instilled... My name is Dianne because I was once what is know as a Roman goddess cause I embrace Kingship from all aspects of my existence.

I am Divine...

BRAIN LAG

Lately I find myself rather in a serious lack of what we may call a challenge... It really is unheard of. I mean, the only reason why I actually wanted to start working was so I could allow my brain to turn itself into what God had inteded for it to be, but lately I find it difficult to be the thinker that I have always been... I can hardly draft a note that makes sense... I find myself using a thesaurus so often... WOW... I've never imagined it to be this bad... I NEED A CHALLENGE!!!

I suppose its time to move with the times and get myself a new challenge... even if it means pushing two jobs at the same time... I can do it, I don't mind doing it... All I know is that I am in dire need of some brain feed...

Newtown Madness

Nae, Kgers and Dee

Photo's by @PhindoTheSoil

To-Do List

For a Young Midday LOL

Lwazi Lwaz

@SirFrunk_NIB_

Lwazi Mthombeni

You got to love Lwazi's dress sense... I swear its so simple but it gets you real good... If I was a guy, I'd wanna be dressed up like Lwazi all the time, pity he doesn't wanna dress me up like a young dudette

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

 And this part in life is called looking RELAXED yet DARING

#TT > Print Blazers

Taken From http://bronxladies.com/trail-blazers/

Hotty Of The Week

Ofentse

I must say, this boy has me going gaga all day errrrday! he is just sooooo fresh! Cant not love Ofentse's Body and now he has tattoo that could make a babe cum... I support

 #TeamShowMuscle

SO SAD....

This has to be my saddest moment of the day... My Fathers people are dying... lets lend a hand!

The Soil - Inkwenkwezi

You got to love The Soil... They have come so far with their live performances... In this Video singing Inkwenkwezi

Girls Eye View



 This part of my life is called beauty ♥

Dami Duro

My latest obsession is this Dami Duro song by Davido... You'd swear I'm beccoming a Naija addict... Or am I already???

Talk of the Town

Jacob Zuma's Portrait thats causing a stur, but the violation is based on the size of his genetilia... I worry about the common sense of South Africa's leadership....

CULTURE SPLIT

Its amazing how the office environment influences our cultural values or poses a challenge in the hierarchy of being on a cultural perspective. What you would refer to an as alder in general life a 180` turn and is rendered irrelevant. The level of respect or what is referred to as respect differs across boarders and when you conjoin a multitude of cultured under the same roof, that's when you realise how different we all actually are.

Sparked by a discussion on Metro Fm last week, I actually started changing the way I communicate with people of different cultural groups. Allocation referral phrases according to people based on their cultural upbringing. You can easily pick up if someone disapproves of the way you refer to them by the way they react when you call them by their first name as opposed to their surname.

Question now remains, will these cultural differences ever be consolidated under the office space? And should it also only be left at the office? Can it be used against you if you are your elders superior?

ATHO & DEE

BEST FRIENDS FOR LEWE

(LEFT: Dianne; RIGHT: Atho)

T.E.K.N.I.Q

Those sad eyes gazing at mine, overflowing with sorrow, my despondent heart instantly captured,imprisoned by the affection, you become my alluring delicacy.

Escalating my every desires, accelerating my yearn to keep you for eternity, my undefinable artistry.

 
Knocked out by your detaining grip, I thirst the fixture of a permanent resident through social networks, paralysing me by your uniqueness, you're inclination and connection with supreme powers, forever fuelling my utmost desire, I conspire refined methods to capture your heart for a period foreign to eternity.

Nervous and aroused by the sound on repeats when my phone beeps. Consumed as you start to speak, I lose sleep, captivated by rhythm flowing through your vocal chords, my heart skips beats, giant leaps of excitement, derived from your oral capacity.

Instigator of misleading my unique passions, you've become my newly found joyous obsession.Incomprehensive is continuously loving you while I'm with doubt, unresponsive, ignoring all warning signs, like the oceans, at your call, my unstructured reality melts my mental security and without control, I flow carelessly.

QUEEN of what's becoming, for this new union, I pledge to keeping you here till the day the moon sets to no sunrise.

I call you uManelisi wenhliziyo yami because God saw you fit to complete and rescape your shape,  such that you embody the remaining plate of my cluster of a ruptured and broken fractured heart, you are the ying puzzled into my complementary yang!

Neglecting native nerves in anxiety, feeling nostalgic, obnoxious butterflies find rests at the depth of my belly.
Everlasting we should be, because Gods intention was the two that shall become "we", our life, as it was said it should be.




Beetle Badness

Nthabi's and My Babay

Makham Man

 

Markham happens to be one of my favourite male clothing shops.... I know its not all super expensive but it can most definitely change a mans looking from ghetto to stunner!

This being a few features from their male range... I just cant get enough! but obviously, for those guys that don't have much in their pockets, Mr Price offers a similar look that's probably R200 less than what Markham's has to offer!

Males Get Shopping!!!

Photo's Taken from Markham's facebook page!

"Self-Degradation"

"This was the first really big step toward self-degradation: when I endured all of that pain, literally burning my flesh to have it look like a white man's hair. I had joined that multitude of Negro men and women in America who are brainwashed into believing that the black people are "inferior" and the white people "superior" - that they will even violate and mutilate their God-created bodies to try to look "pretty" by white standards.

Look around today, in every small town and big city, from two-bit catfish and soda-pop joints into the "integrated" lobby of the Waldorf-Astoria, and you'll see conks on black men. And you'll see black women wearing these green and pink and purple and red and platinum-blonde wigs.
They're all more ridiculous than a slapstick comedy. It makes you wonder if the Negro has completely lost his sense of identity, lost touch with himself."

-- Malcolm X
   
Taken from a Facebook Post By The Reunion Of Black Family World Wide
 
It is extremely interesting how the definition of race has thinned out through the years and how petty the definition of being "black" has transformed. I only as one question, has the definition of self and self identity boiled down to hair?
 
Yes I love long silky hair, but as much as I love that, I also live a fresh curly Afro and I also am fond of the bushy hair. What I refuse to do is to stop loving things because they make me left me less black? I refuse to define myself in an ugly, dark and unhealthy colour!
 
Let not your yearn to fight become your fight! I accept that the democratisation of Nations hasn't surfaced, but that shouldn't stop me from progressing as an individual. I will do my share in trying to progress the "black" nation but I refused to be paralysed by the colour of my skin.
 
Life is waaaaaaay better than that! If only they could question abuse like they do the transformation of race!

Shoes

I absolutely love these shoes, I have no idea what they are called but I know I'm drawn to them beyond my understanding!!! I'm gonna call them laofers cause the only word I know....

Friend Zone

Yesterday I had the pleasure of reading theeee most amazing blog post about being stuck in the "FRIENDZONE". First and foremost, what caught my attention was the name of the actual blog... "FriendzoneMondays". The fight against friendzoning!!!

This gem defines friendzoning as follows: "Well the Friendzone occurs when a male tries to initiate a romantic/intimate relationship with a female and involuntarily gets thrown into a realm where an unrequited platonic friendship develops from the female’s side. It is obviously an undesirable situation for the lovelorn male. Once the male has been properly dumped in the Friendzone, they become a complete non-sexual entity. That is, the male is no longer seen a suitable partner but rather as:
I. One of the girls
II. Her ‘brother’
III. That loser that is at her beck and call (i.e. Provides transport to her male “cousins” house, money for emergency weave changes etc.)
IV. An inanimate object like a lamp, stapler, TV etc (take your pick) And just judging from the definition itself, I shrug because I know for a fact that I'm guilty of such and action. I mean, if a guy is will to take "friendship" because "dating" didn't work out or wasn't an option shouldn't be my problem. He also has the option to leave but somehow they never do. So, as a fellow friendzoner and a previous victim of being friendzoned, I stand in support of this FriendZoneMondays campaign to try and stop this pandemic called the friendzone.

*Inspired by http://friendzonemondays.tumblr.com/

Shoe Of The Week

Truth is that these shoes really don't make sense to me... If I met the person that made them I'd look at them like WTF???? What the hell was going on in your head when you designed these shoes... But I still find them rather intriguing and figured I'd make them my shoe of the week

From STR8UP by Jeffrey Campbell

7 Reasonable Days

Ease

Some things in life we really cant cry about. Sometimes we inflict pain on ourselves to prove that we are living a tough life. Sometimes things should be left on simple mode. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being in a good space while not doing anything for a long time.
I call it my break….

Things have been steep in life so I have no reason to try and complicate my life with useless challenges that don’t even make sense to me at the end of the road… My friend always tries to keep me calm every time I worry about absolutely nothing. We have tendencies of complaining or worrying about things unheard of.

I understand faith as being hopeful and relaxed when things seem to not be going well, or when our timing doesn’t necessarily correspond with God’s time, so we start stressing about things we have no control over. “Self-inflicted pain can never be spared much remorse”… words I live by, but they fail my experiences most of the time, but at the end of a dark road, they seem to make me laugh cause they show me how much of an idiotic creep I was.

So again, I vow to let go and let God… He seems to be on point every time so that’s the way….

STRESS IS LIKE A ROCKING CHAIR, IT MOVES BUT GOES NOWHERE…

Yes Keegan Robilotta once said Stress is like a rocking chair… It may keep you entertained but will eventually get you NOWHERE!” same thing applies with worry…. “Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere.” ~Glenn Turner.

So, I still say, Lets aspire for greatness but not force it into our time zone… a little unexpected lag can be your term of breakthrough! The ease of being a child should remain in use till the end of time because we have a Father no man can confiscate from us at any given time, who is always available to make us stronger than we are anytime we need to. Its simpler than making a phone call... Good Loving God’s blessing be upon us all the days of our lives

#DNO

Best Of The Best

Best of The Best

Africa My Home

You see, the days have come where living carelessly seems to be the orgasm of life, something like what nature should be.

No man slaves over thoughts that crush him into a state of disaster.

 That controversial blemish embodying a crossroad of futile departure.

Children drowning in this pool of a country with no structure.

We live a life of selfish disfigure.

The youth frustrated lacking leadership from the one that once was an innocent bystander.

A life we all seem to love but hate living, A life that fails to remain a given treasure.

God's gift of with pleasure, nothing and no one can seem to measure, but still we await famous rapture. Replicas of decades lost during apartheid but unlike black or white, we are an enemy to self.

A self-made catastrophe, from what was and what is true, we scorn one another and know not our brother. Breeding ballistic feral beasts, actions all so tragic.

Men see not their ways are demonic.

Senselessly we become despondent, life ruled by a bunch of idiots fashioned into being robotic felons, convicts and delinquents.

I wanna rule my destiny but life I lead bleeds control from an unknown seed.

Africa my home, Africa our last hope, Africa our daily struggle, the wealthy land "said" to be inefficient and can no man feed.

Revelation after revelation we choose to ignore.

The Earth will be left as nothing more.

When will this innate war end?

Will the mind be ever be transformed, allowing nations to transcend, elevating us to a virtuous land?

Welcome

I haven’t hot the keypad in ages and that’s primarily because I've been technically challenged lately but the dog days are over and we can get things popping ASAP! I'm glad I'm back, my return gives me great pleasure cause know I'm back to writing how I wish and feel! No walls, no limits, everything my way! But yeah, my silence hasn't been in vain and it was well spent! From going through 2 jobs in less than 2months and just being a regular nut! Life’s is absolutely awesome I must say! I have been posing a lot hey, but no stress that’s soon to follow... Yes, I'm finally back from my humble hibernation, I do feel refreshed and lively! Lwazi's blog has been keeping me up and about! I really am loving it! But yeah, hopefully I can steal a coupla his images and display them on my blog... Winter fashion and all! It does feel good to be back... WELCOME!!!!!

GRADUATAION