We use a lot of descriptive terms in the hood that tend to become cliché and ultimately meaningless like “real” and  ”hustler.” While those words do accurately describe Travis Sanders, they aren’t enough. It’s probably pointless to try to sum up a life in one word. But if I had to choose one it would be “special.” He was truly special. 

EVERY memory I have of him, whether it’s from 1998 or 2012, brings a smile to my face. We come from a dark place in Gary, Indiana and Travis brought light to it. Numerous brushes with death and time in jail didn’t darken his spirit in the LEAST. 

I thought highly of him while he was alive, and will continue to do so now. 

Travis Sanders will be missed dearly and remembered fondly until I die. 

Once upon a time I was an elementary school basketball coach.  Our record was something like 30-7 over the course of 4 seasons, including an 11-0 season in 2006-07 and two trips to the final four with a loss in the city championship game in 2008. Woopty doo, right? 

Be cool and let me gloat on my lil homies for a minute. 

Turns out, my former players on Bishop Noll (Larry Crisler)  and Bowman Academy (Austin Daniels) have played in the last three Indiana state championship games. )  Also, Tye Wilburn is a star at Lake Central. They’re all high school juniors now. Darion Williams is a senior at Merrillville. 

Bowman and Merrillville are both playing in this weekend’s semistate games in their respective classes. 

It’s the Roc. 

2012 was big year for hip hop in Chicago. Back in June, while working on a piece for XXL, I had the opportunity to chop it up with FakeShoreDrive founder Andrew Barber right as the wave was hitting it’s full swing. We talked about the struggle of the Chicago scene to get national recognition and whether or not Chief Keef and company can keep the momentum going. 

It’s interesting listening to this in December, now that Keef’s album only sold 50k it’s first week and rumors about him being dropped from Interscope are circulating around the internet. 

Check the audio. 

vakseen:

Loud, but these are ill

The 88-Keys produced “No Church In The Wild.”

Having the opportunity to interview talented people that I’m a fan of has been a highlight of my year in 2012. Not the least of which was 88-Keys. I’m a huge fan of his production dating back to Mos Def & Talib Kweli’s Blackstar album and his album The Death of Album was one of my favorites in 2008. 

I was able to catch up with 88 earlier this year after he laced Jay-Z and Kanye with “No Church In The Wild.” We talked for about an hour about his work on that album, previous albums, his new label and the difference between this internet generation and others before it. 

Speaking of time flying, my 10-year high school reunion happened this summer in Gary, Indiana.  I also had my camera with me for documentation purposes. Me and the homies also got the opportunity to revisit the Nas/Jay-Z debate that dominated  our senior year. 

I swear 2012 went by so fast. Thank God for the technology to record and document shit because without it, THC would erase certain shit clean from my memory. Guess the highlight of the year was SXSW 2012. I managed to shoot a little video but not ton since I was working like eight hours everyday. But I don’t have a single complaint. Check the video. 

No surprise at all that this project got funded $34k more than it’s goal. Dope idea. I’m donating just because I want the app.