Since Pac Div’s mixtape Church League Champions dropped last week, the voices of Mibbs, BeYoung and Like have been resonating the chassis of my ’96 Explorer nonstop. I’ve been a fan of them for a while and this latest gem from the trio serves as evidence as to why– their original flows deliver honest, playful yet note-worthy verses that render their mixtape’s message “We The Champs” as fairly accurate. And for those of you who know me, you’re well aware of my obsession with Mibbs (he my future baby daddy…hay!).
     So picture this: I’m driving down to work a few mornings ago, windows down and Pac Div’s “Back” happens to show up on shuffle. Mibb’s first verse is about a romance he had since high school and what he went through to get the chick back. Obviously I’m smitten, injecting myself into the storyline and playing out the rest with a bad case of love jones when it hits me– minus the slight obsession I have for the chocolate emcee, I realized he conjured a plot to rev the imaginations of those who experience his words. Essentially, it’s storytelling at its finest. And although through a different medium, I work to do the same. For the millionth time, hip hop made me love being a writer.

     It’s crazy thing when you realize that you have ultimate power in making alternate endings. There’s something completely redeeming in playing God, an opportunity that only arises in situations that are byproducts of your own imagination– in my case, through words.
      Manipulator. It’s a label I’ll gladly own up to, especially if it means that I get to dictate the emotions that rise out of people through a plot twist or some insane dialogue. Call me nerdy or even pretentious for saying it, but I get no greater satisfaction than hearing that one of my stories has made believers of the most skeptical. “Is this real?” they ask. That’s the greatest validation. And that’s why I keep going.
     A great story connects people. Emcees do it through their verses, some recite by oral tradition, writers do it through their literature. We all ache to connect to our audiences: to find ties that link our situations (real or imaginary) to recollections of their own, embed excerpts of our words into their memory banks. In a 16 or a short story, a poem or a chapter out of my eventual book (it’ll happen, hope you cop that when it comes out), we aim to paint the landscape behind your eyes.

     Because we’re probably just getting to know each other (ATEtraks started a mere two months ago), consider this a series of notes from us to you (our PHAT kids). And because it’s only right that you get the chance to meet the hands that feed you, every week we’ll be back to chat about something important to us.

      And just because it seems relevant, here’s some music I posted a month ago: The Storyteller’s Playlist. I’m planning to make it a feature every Wednesday, so make sure to drop me a hint as any themes you have in mind, or just check back to hear what I came up with.

     And here’s the Pac Div song I was talking about… go visit their site for a full download of their mixtape. It’s worth it.

Click Here if the music isn’t working and/or to download just this track

-SamSun