“The 10 Crack Commandments” was actually a song which was inspire by a magazine article from The Source. B.I.G. in turn took the commandments and made it into a song. And when you really think about it, those same commandments could lead you to a business degree.

Rule nombre uno: never let no one know
how much, dough you hold, cause you know
The cheddar breed jealousy ‘specially
if that man fucked up, get your ass stuck up

As a freelancer, never tell people how much money you are making from with any client, especially if they can’t relate with what you actually do and tell you to “get a real job”. You would also want to make it part of the agreement you have with your clients that they do not show how much they are paying you to other people. Keeping an open-end price model will prevent you from being trapped when they refer people to you.

Number two: never let em know your next move
Don’t you know Bad Boys move in silence or violence
Take it from your highness (uh-huh)
I done squeezed mad clips at these cats for they bricks and chips

Never broadcast your plans or ideas, especially if nothing is concrete. Spilling information before hand could be costly… or make you look like an ass if you can’t pull it off.

Number three: never trust no-bo-dy
Your moms’ll set that ass up, properly gassed up
Hoodie to mask up, shit, for that fast buck
she be layin in the bushes to light that ass up

While I am not encouraging paranoia or micro-managing, trust your instinct when it comes to your projects, work, clients and co-workers. Use tact when discussing things with your clients.

Number four: know you heard this before
Never get high, on your own supply

For this rule, I decode it in two different ways:

1. Always remain humble. Too much ego-boosting can make you lose focus.
2. If you’re going to use your own service, do it as a user, not as a supplier. Set your own deadlines and make sure you stick to them.

Number five: never sell no crack where you rest at
I don’t care if they want a ounce, tell em bounce

Freelancers tend to work at home most of the time. However, never let your client visit your home base. Also, never let it “sound” like a home base either. For freelancer’s working online, this is pretty easy. But for freelancers who must meet their clients, always set up another meeting place… even if it’s their home.

Number six: that god damn credit, dead it
You think a crackhead payin you back, shit forget it

Always get a deposit from new clients. Any new client that promises money later is not worth the time.

Seven: this rule is so underrated
Keep your family and business completely seperated
Money and blood don’t mix like two dicks and no bitch
Find yourself in serious shit

Speaking from experience working with external family businesses, I never met one family business where everyone gets along. When you work with people outside your family, it’s easier to fire them or talk to them sternly if they are slacking up.

So, in the hiring order, family members should only be an extreme last resort. Last thing you want to do is to fired the very person that you’re going to see at the dinner table later on.

Also, refrain from accepting projects from your own family. If you have to, tell them the conditions you’ll do it under and stick to it.

I would say “do not discuss business with family,” but that’s something I handle on a case-by-case basis. Sometimes, I want to show my off my portfolio to them, but I won’t talk about how much I make.

Number eight: never keep no weight on you
Them cats that squeeze your guns can hold jobs too

Now, this line refers to “keeping drugs on you”. Let’s reword “drugs” with “client’s projects”.

You’ll want to invest in backing up your client’s projects. If you are walking around with your laptop, you will definitely want to back it up to an external source. Speaking from experience, this is my second laptop. My first laptop got stolen along with the original laptop bag. The bag had the original software, the manuals, AND the external hard drive in addition to the laptop. All of my original work for myself, clients as well as chances of even keeping my old operating system (I had a Windows 7 Ultimate Signature Edition, a copy that was given to me by Microsoft for totally free) was gone.

You should also make sure passwords and sensitive data is encrypted.

Number nine shoulda been number one to me
If you ain’t gettin bags stay the fuck from police (uh-huh)
If niggaz think you snitchin ain’t tryin listen
They be sittin in your kitchen, waitin to start hittin

Simply put, the company you keep can and will make you look bad. While you may think your client might be open minded, at the end of the day, it’s a business. Bring only professionals to the table that will help you advance. Otherwise, it’s death by association.

Number ten: a strong word called consignment
Strictly for live men, not for freshmen
If you ain’t got the clientele say hell no
Cause they gon want they money rain sleet hail snow

This rule refers to consignment, or the client giving you some inventory (sometimes in a very large amount), but under the agreement that you sell it off and share the the profit with them. In the freelancer’s world, every single project is a consignment.

If you are starting off, you probably do not want take a project that you KNOW you can’t do.

If you don’t have the capabilities to do a project in an orderly fashion, it’s best to admit it and keep it moving.

In my experience, I’ve taken on projects that I fully know I can’t do before hand. However, since I’m experienced and apply a Parkingson’s Law technique that I developed, I am able to not only do projects that I have no business doing, I gain new skills in the process.

Follow these rules you’ll have mad bread to break up

If you follow these rules… as well as learning from your mistakes and read other sources, you’ll always find work.

Allow me to keep it real for a minute; Freelancing is not for everyone. There’s times when I would want to quit because I can’t find new work or the projects I’m currently doing isn’t worth doing to me.

On the same coin, I rather take things into my own hands, like how B.I.G. took things into his own hands when having to deal crack to survive. We both are one of the same, just took two different paths.

While freelancing is hard to start, it’s better than crack-dealing.

Not to mention… it’s actually legal and your chances of getting shot up is greatly reduced.

One of my first blog posts in a long (long) time and I’m writing about a subject that is dear to me; the passing of one of my favorite comic and screen writers, Dwayne McDuffie (Sunrise: February 20, 1962 – Sunset: February 21, 2011… just a day after his birthday).

So, you might be wondering “who was Dwayne McDuffie?” I sense that no one knew who Dwayne McDuffie was from just the name. Since only comic book fans knew his name, it’s even easier to overlook him. Well, he was more than just another black man in the comic industry. And I want to explain to you what he meant not only to the comic industry, but to me.

If I have to use a historical figure to describe what McDuffie meant to the comic industry, I would say Martin Luther King; McDuffie used his influence to diversified the comic characters within a universe. He also used his influence to give these characters non-stereotypical images. Unlike people who just talks about “black images and how they are portray,” he decided to take matters into his own hands.

McDuffie used to work at Marvel as an editor in the late 80s-early 90s. When he noticed that all the black characters were pretty much “filler characters,” McDuffie decided to write a spoof proposal for Teenage Negro Ninja Trashers. This wasn’t to bashed Marvel, but to get a simple point across… we’re more than just a skin color and popular stereotypes from the 60s.

A few years later, McDuffie decided to take his goal into his own hands by launching a company called Milestone Comics. He launched the company with this goal:

If you do a black character or a female character or an Asian character, then they aren’t just that character. They represent that race or that sex, and they can’t be interesting because everything they do has to represent an entire block of people. You know, Superman isn’t all white people and neither is Lex Luthor. We knew we had to present a range of characters within each ethnic group, which means that we couldn’t do just one book. We had to do a series of books and we had to present a view of the world that’s wider than the world we’ve seen before.

McDuffie went on to give us great black super heroes like Icon and Rocket. But the most notable one was a teenager named Virgil Ovid Hawkins. But you might have known him as simply… Static.

Static was more than just a superhero, he was a character that most black teenagers can relate to. If you ever got a chance to read his comic or watch the TV series, you’ll see how relatable he could be in your life. The TV series was pretty well-written. More surprisingly, you can learn from it. McDuffie managed to write a bit of comedy, a bit of a story line and a bit of lessons within the series without being too preachy. Most importantly, it’s one of the few cartoon series at the time that doesn’t insult the audience. While the early Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was wacky, Static Shock was a bit more mature not only with the story, but with the continuity.  This mixture would eventually lead into the gig that defined him as a writer as well as a master story-teller; McDuffie was the producer and writer for The Justice League/Justice League Unlimited.

The Justice League was a show that was not only written, it’s probably one of the few shows that would be able to entertained an adult audience as well as teenagers. Matter of fact, it wasn’t even marketed to kids. When the show premiered, it came on at 10 PM block, leading into the Adult Swim block. The humor in Justice League some times edges on adult jokes (most of them tasteful and might fly over a kid’s head if they were watching it). The storylines at times borders on other factors in past episodes, or even earlier DC shows. For an example, McDuffie managed to give Batman Beyond the ending to a series that many fans wanted to see by using an episode in the Justice League. There’s also a movie called Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths that explains the crossover between (aka the “sudden jump” between) the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited shows, a move that confused avid viewers of the show. It’s almost as if McDuffie knew was giving a wink to the audience that followed these shows and gave us closure… all without requiring the new audience to know about these shows.

McDuffie cared for the characters that he wrote about, no matter their skin color. He made them into believable characters with so much depth. And that’s a legacy that even his former employees took noticed. When the noticed was out that he passed away, Marvel acknowledged his passing on their website.

Dwayne McDuffie was a gifted writer and producer who considered everything when it comes to the story. He left no angles unturned and showed the took pride in his work. He’s a great writer to emulate because he was passionate about giving the world a bit more than just one color’s perspective; he’s about the whole story. And that’s why I respect him so much.

He’ll be missed.

P.S. – Dwayne McDuffie was way more than I wrote about. To find out about him, check out his wikipedia and his Internet Movie Database profile.

P.P.S. – Isn’t it ironic that he passed away JUST as he turned 49? Shocking… and I’m not talking Static.

I’m just going to leave these two quotes with you. May you find why I would in your every day lives.

“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.”

“If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.”

Thomas Jefferson, (Attributed)
3rd president of US (1743 – 1826)

That’s pretty much it. If you want the longer explanation, keep reading.

Longer News: I’m going to start posting up new blog posts as well as put my energy back into redesigning the blog. The reason for that delay was because I put aside the blog redesigning to take care of someone else’s project. That project finished up.

Now, the video series are being put to the backburner mostly because of one issue which: the background, as in the backgrounds of the actual videos. Upon reviewing my work, I was asked to remove/censor certain elements in the background, which is actually becoming a pain to do. After looking at the video (with the censorship), I find that the message/point I want to convey is now competing with the distraction of blurs. I don’t want a “very polish” look to the videos, but I don’t want my videos to be so distracting that the quality of the video becomes more important than the very point I’m trying to make.

With that in mind, I decided to scrap the three videos I’ve done and redo them at another time.

Also, I will be removing the promo videos from my account and instead launch the videos when it’s good and ready. So, sorry for the damn hype.

I’ve been slammed with a workload @ my present job earlier in the week. Doing so made it difficult to keep things on track (I’m amazed that I managed to shoot the video this week.) The “full relaunch” isn’t going to happen immediately, however, I’ll keep pushing. When the video is editing is done, I’ll post it up.

The video is going to be about politics and why I have to discuss it, especially since I don’t want to.

Other than a new promo, you might noticed that on the home page, the blog posts from years past is gone. Actually, they are still around. I’m just “hiding them” from the homepage. They will still be part of the site, just keeping the blog clean with the new posts starting from now.

On Feb 4, 2011, Thought Remixer will be relaunched with new blog posts as well as a new vblog (video series) called TRX. TRX is a new series which will follow Thought Remixer’s rants and How-To’s/Advice on how to handle technology and your life with Nukirk’s thought-provoking commentary and eccentric sense of humor.

The current design of Thought Remixer is going through some much needed changes and will be up for the Feb 4th relaunch. We will be focusing on three areas:

Soapbox – Rants/debates are pretty much what this blog is made of. Rants will be made in Social Media, Black American Culture, politics and Music.

Knowledge – Because of the mixture of social media and tech, I decided to put up some “how-to’s”. They used to be “every once in a while”, but now, I’ll make it one of the focuses in the blog. Also, I will venture outside of tech from time to time and talk advice on how to handle day-to-day situations.

Music – #MusicMonday reviews and longer music discussions will still be one of the main topics here. Music is always a big part of my life and I intend to use Thought Remixer to give insight on independent music as well as mainstream.

However, music singles will be promoted/discussed via #HipHopJourney to prevent over posting.

2011 is going to be a great year to be a Thought Remixer!

In the meantime, during the hiatus, I will be (finally) recording some music as well as pushing my efforts towards my latest gig.

If you are interested in my music venture, your best bet is to follow my twitter account and my other domain name Nukirk.com.

Well, I hope to see ya next year!

My name is Nukirk Digi.tal… and some of y’all think I’m neglecting my duties as the Thought Remixer. And the answer is no, I have NOT been neglecting my duties…

… alright, maybe I was a little lazy in putting up posts. Okay, maybe “little” isn’t descriptive enough.  Even thought I have been busy, I am not that busy to NOT post stuff up. However, between promising to review artists, wondering if I should even start watching TV again, business planning (as in yes, I am finally taking this thing seriously), I just slowly ran out of passion for creating my own content. So, what got me back into doing this? Going to a blogger’s meetup and having NOTHING to talk about! My unique brand of being a black artist/interviewer/social whistle-blower is now questioned!

Okay, it wasn’t really being questioned, I was just feeling out-of-place at the event mostly because the blog was last updated last month… with a brand new design sponsored by WordPress! Now people are reminding me that I am not only suppose to post blog posts up, I am to design my own space and Matt from WordPress is helping me cheat! Well, my friends, you asked for it. You’re telling me to run your daily gauntlet, but blog more often. Update your Twitter, your Facebook and maybe your MySpace more often. Get to that studio and record that song. Put up the Striply Drama. Don’t talk about it, be about it!

With that, I say to you… enjoy! This coming few weeks, you’re going to get smashed over the head with my Gauntlet and there’s NOTHING you can’t do to stop me!

#EvilLaughter… pardon.

For example: this picture posted by J-Breezy The Poet (@WatchJ) and his opinion: “#NoExcuse I DONT GIVE A F*CK HOW SLEEPY YOU ARE…”

I don’t follow J-Breezy on Twitter (not because of this outrage, but more because I think I reached my threshold of people I can follow on twitter at this point. Twitter is addictive, son.). However, the comments on this picture did raise a question: Why are we still homophobic? Negative commentary of this picture sadly outnumbers the positive ones. The funny thing with this camera shot? It’s not even a graphic picture, nor a questionable one (like “cheap sports action shot taken out of context” type questionable. We are looking at you, Yankees.). This is purely innocent public display of affection that you’ll normally see a man and a woman embracing. I see this display often in NYC and I don’t say “go to your room with that sh*t”, I just let them be. What offends me is when couples (both straight and homo) gets it on REALLY heavy in public. Seeing innocent kisses, cool. Seeing really passionate kisses complete with fondling, not cool. (mostly because I get jealous of the action, but that’s just me. Lucky bastards.) The most I’ll do in this case is just go elsewhere… if possible.

Back in High School, I was homophobic. This same scene would probably break me up. During my college years, however, I realized something: Why does it hurt me so much? Is it because it’s “unnatural”? Because it goes against “my God and his wishes”? Or is it because I can’t picture myself doing that with another guy? As the years went by, I realized that it was because I can’t picture myself doing it… and that’s why it hurts me the most (but not more than Brandy faking her marriage – sorry, my bad.).

When you can’t relate to something, you either do one of three things: hate it, shun it, or learn to accept that you can’t (totally) relate to it. I find the first option pretty upsetting. Hating something you don’t understand will only spread that idea and make it into an ideal and , eventually a fact. Shunning it, or ignorance, is just as worse because it breeds uncertainty. When you do have to face this fear, your true face emerges. By being accepting of something you can’t (totally) relate to instead, you can at least be happy within yourself. Hey, if I can accept a guy marrying a video game character, then I can accept this.

While our culture may not do a complete turnaround on our ways of thinking towards gays (especially within our culture) anytime soon, we can at least start on the path so we can fight bigger and better things… like, maybe getting HTC to upgrade the Hero to Android 2.2? (Sorry, geek moment. If you didn’t see that coming, welcome to Thought Remixer.)

But enough about me, what would you do if this scene played in front of you? How do you feel about this?