No post today

No post this week or next week, guys. Take a minute to hold your friends and family close, and give thanks for everything you've been blessed with.

Dear Family 14

                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                                                                              12/5/13

What’s Up Loved Ones,

                I feel impelled to start this letter off by saying: My communication has really sucked!

                And I’m sorry, even though you’re probably sick of my sorrys and just want to hear more from me.

                Well, I am working on a long legal letter that I think will intrigue you. But I won’t wait till that letter is complete. I’m going to write you, and I’m going to be consistent.

                So, again, expect much more writing from me, and I won’t stop promising that till I fucking fulfill it. Let me start by talking about the S.O.N.

                We had complications with a few samples getting cleared, but things are finally getting ironed out. Our next giveaway is on December 14^th, give or take a day. I don’t want you guys worrying about us giving away too many sings. The songs you’re getting for free will be remixed for the album, so you’ll be getting something a little different on The S.O.N. Plus we got seventeen songs on the album, AND the free Screwed and Chopped version, so that’s plenty of content to generate sales. I’ve heard some of you say, distressingly, that we’re going to end up giving away the whole album. That’s why I feel so fortunate about the kind of fans we have because, usually, fans would be thrilled about that. But a lot of you would rather see us release the entire project so you can purchase the whole thing. That’s a special and rare love, and it’s why the Dope House remains so powerful and influential. Because of you, who are our oxygen.

                I’ve been thinking the last few days, and I want to lay out some specific elements of our movement. I’ve spoken about the movement but never talk about what it is, exactly, or what we can do to strengthen it. The goal is to help each other live fulfilling and prosperous lives. When I say this, I mean all nationalities. I understand that the majority of our fanbase is Mexican American, but I don’t want it to be lost on anyone that our virtual race is what I call the “Player Race”, which is in contrast to the “Hater Race”. I said “in contrast” not “in opposition” because we’re not at war with haters. Our only war, as the Bible says, is with the unseen evil that lurks among us, but never with man. Humans who are full of hate, destruction and other dark traits are only suffering from the poisons that made them. It’s nobody’s fault by what ingredients they were made, and it’s not our job to judge. You guys heard of the slogan, “Got Milk?” Well, our slogan should be “Got Love?” because if you do, you’re one of the fortunate who were made with better ingredients. And the world needs you to use that love to help the ones who lack it. A person without love is dangerous to himself and others.

                Some people say, “I got love; I love my family, I love my homeboys, I love my hood.” But anyone can love those that love them back. When you truly have love, it’s for all of mankind, because we all come from the same rib bone.

                I focus a lot on the problems of Mexican Americans, but that’s because we’re living the most tragic lives in American society. If you’ve got five bullet holes, the doctor will tend to each one according to their severity. Sure, the one that shattered your knee, and the one that blew off your nose are serious, but the one that hit your main artery is the most critical. The Mexican American, in his gang-infested neighborhood, is the most likely to join a gang and subsequently destroy his life. This is why our nationality has more men in prison cells than college classes, has the highest percent of prisoners by ratio, has the number one drop-out rate by ratio and has more race on race violence than any other nationality. These are real, true, unexaggerated facts. I think one of our focuses in this movement should be to help innocent kids from falling into gang life. It’s a cycle that must be stopped, a cycle that should be considered an epidemic, but apparently our government isn’t concerned enough to even recognize what it’s doing to millions of lives. So, it’s up to us to save us, thus the question of the movement speaks loudly: Got love? If you do, let’s start putting our heads together because the world needs us. Don’t take on the attitude that you’re better than other people, and it’s their own fault that they’re fucking up. That’s not true, my friend. Yes, we have freewill, but there’s a force behind those choices, and that force is created way before we had a choice of what kind of world we want to be in. Some people may have been given the revelation of knowing they deserve the best and, somehow, given the love and intelligence to live by that revelation. Some simply did not see, or maybe didn’t have the brain capacity to capture that revelation and live by it. The only people who can help the unfortunate are the non-judgmental fortunate. Because it doesn’t matter how blessed you are, if you judge people, it will deplete the love necessary to help them.

                That’s what I want to focus on, and whoever shares that passion with me, I’m so looking forward to working with you. If you don’t share that passion, it’s okay. I once spoke to my cousin about this and he said, “Carlos, if it ain’t about my family, or my close friends, I’d rather stay out of it.”

                I was shocked. I thought all Mexican-Americans wanted to see our people doing better in life, and would be proactive in that struggle. I said, “You don’t care about all of the beautiful kids that will one day fill prison cells because of the lives that they were force-fed?”

                He said, “You make it sound like I’m a bad person.”

               The truth is that he’s not a bad person, he just wants to focus on his own circle. My mom is like that. She said, “Carlos, everyone has their own bag. God put you, Tudy and Sylvia in my bag, and then my grandchildren. That’s who I’m here for.”

                I can understand that because I got kids. But I still have this passion to help others, and I hope I can. These guys in prison with me were all once innocent little kids. Society feels sorry for them when they’re little, when society hears about how cruel life has been to them. But as soon as the effects of unfortunate circumstances combine with a little facial hair, that’s when society goes from “Oh, that poor child” to “Oh, that piece of shit.”

                No, he’s not a piece of shit, he’s poisoned, and whenever we can lose the judgment and learn to help, that’s when our chances of not getting a gun shoved in our mouth will improve.

                So, again, what can we do as a collective group, to help? STep one, understand that the job of judging is impossible for humans. We have no idea what ingredients raised/made people, or what kind of physiological weaknesses their brains have. Many soldiers come back from war, suffering from mental disorders, and it’s understandable. There are, also, millions of babies being raised in another kind of warzone, and they’re not only experiencing all this darkness, but it’s what’s making them.

                We simply don’t know what people have been through from the day we were born, or what kind of brain they were given to deal with it all. Not everyone has the same talents and creativity to overcome unfortunate pasts. Only God can judge, because he’s the only one who knows. If you judge people you won’t want to keep helping them, so that’s step number one: Don’t judge. Sorry to keep repeating that but it’s essential in this movement.

                Step two, I think we should start with ourselves. If we’re going to travel this road, we’ll need one helluva car. We are the car. We’ve got to stay drug-free, and identify our personal goals in life. If you’re in school, then your focus is gaining as much as you can from the teachers and books and knowledge being presented to you. If you’re working, forget drinking a beer after work, and instead do what you have to do to elevate your knowledge. You can take small steps at first, like, reading ten pages a day of a book that educates you in whatever you’re interested in.  Let’s identify our long-term goals, and set smaller ones where we need to go. We can share all this stuff on this blog. I don’t want to lose focus of Incandesio’s mission, which is justice in a case where lies and corruption were used to convict an innocent man. But we can, also, use this blog to build ourselves. That’s what my mission was from the first day I picked up a microphone, but somewhere in all the alcohol, X-pills and pussy, I got lost.

                Today, I’d just like to hear from you. Let me know if you’re down with the movement I’ve spoke of. If so, let’s talk about getting ourselves on path, first. Let me know your long-term goal. Is it graduating high school, or college? What do you want to be in life? On my next letter, we can talk more about the small steps that will get us closer to our dreams, but today answer these two questions:

                1. Do you have the love to be a part of this movement in helping ourselves and each other?

                2. What is your dream in life? (I can tell you, now, that if you’re in school, it’s a must that education be a part of that dream.)

Here’s my long-term goal: I’d like to be an exceptional author of books. Of course, I’ll always write songs, and flow them, but books are a whole different world. I’ve written over 300 pages of an autobiography/memoirs type of book, but I’m still not finished. I know a lot of you are waiting for that, and I’ll set some short-term goals to get it done.

                I’ve got all kinds of goals, hopes and drwams and we’ll keep talking about this stuff, and getting a clearer picture of our mission in this movement. I’m really excited about us sharing our worlds, and how those worlds can unite to strengthen the Player Race.

                The Player Race: Those who operate with love.

                The Hater Race: Those who operate with hate.

Stay Strong,

Carlos

Here’s a Quick Sixteen I

was fiddling with this morning.

“TO HELP COPE”

I lay

Tracks like railroads, the story is well told

that’s why ya girl blow me as if I was a sailboat

my flow neva fail so, ain’t shit you can tell Los

these other niggas lookin like they wearin they gal clothes

as far as myself goes, I’m tougha than nails, bro

when comp battle me they come up short like an elf toe

I ride on elbows, like, “Damn, he sell snow!”

Like, “Yeah, either that or he be pimpin bout 12 hoes.”

I’m “high” like “Hellos”, when you answer ya cell phones

and if it ain’t El Dro, I just say “Hell no”

him swangin on Melrose, while watchin Chapell shows

my bitch dyed her hair the same color as Elmo’s

I wrote and they felt hope, they meet me and smell G.O.A.T.

the funny thing about it I jus did it to help cope.....

Los

Without The SON

https://soundcloud.com/dopehouseofficial/without-the-son

Dear Family 13

This is a letter written back in July; it got lost, which is why I'm only posting it now.

Family Letter: “For You, Me and Mrs. BYG”                                     7/17/2013

Family,

                I’ve been getting mail from a beautiful young girl who is going through a lot of pain. She tells me these bone-chilling stories, and it bothers me that I never have time to answer her. Her main inquiry is if she should leave her boyfriend. If she even has to ask that, it shows how deep her problem is. Today, I’m going to take some time to share a few things with her. It’s going to cost me my shower time, but she’s worth it. In fact, I’m going to write thirty fans and not shower for a month! No, but I will show you my letter in hopes that it could help someone else. Here’s my meager attempt, realizing that one letter probably won’t change much.

I Love You,

Los

Ms. Beautiful young girl,

                I’m not sure what happened to you growing up, but it’s clear that you went through a lot of pain. If there really is a guy who is treating you this horrifically, then let me explain some things to you.

                People who were hurt over and over, especially during childhood, will grow up and create a world that will give them a similar degree of that hurt. Why? Because just like crack is addictive, so is pain. And, as odd as it sounds, some people are content with living in storms. Deep inside, that’s what they’re addicted to. They may believe that they want happiness, and peace, and everything nice and sweet, but really they’d be bored to death with that. They were raised in so much drama, that as they grow up, they need that drama just to feel fulfilled. The reason you ended up falling in love with an abuser is because he gives you a similar degree of the pain you grew up in. That’s what happens to children who experience painful upbringings, they become addicted to whatever degree of pain they experienced. This is why you accept living in this horror movie that you’re in. Of course, your man is wrong for treating you that way, but what I’m talking about is the reasons you chose such a man, the reasons you found him attractive.

                I hope you can break your addiction to pain, and learn to love things that you’ve probably never known, things like peace and happiness. It’ll be boring at first, but soon enough you’ll begin to see the beauty in boring. Beautiful things come from a life of peace. Or, you can keep loving monsters, keep letting yourself get stepped on, and live a fucked up life. There’s lots of women/people who live that way.

                You know, Ms. BYG, I was reading a book about how to write books, and the author said, “One of the best things a writer can have is a screwed up childhood.” I agree, because we have so much pain in us that needs to come out. If not, it will eat us alive. I write songs because I have to, because it helps with my pain.

                Maybe you can make it to college—you’re still very young—and take some writing classes. Whether you work sells a million copies, or none at all, at least it’ll help you detoxify your spirit. Plus, education makes you much more powerful, and makes life much more colorful. School will save you, concentrate on it, and work hard.

                I’ll end this by reminding you that you deserve the best, and that’s a fact straight from God. The thing about it, though, is that only you can give yourself the best. Only you can make those everyday decisions that will bring you a good life. Nobody else can make them for you.

Con Amor,

Carlos

Letter to Jani Jo Wood 2

I thought we’d send another letter to Jani Jo Wood today; Please feel to copy this one, send your own, or print out one of the amazing flyers created for the blog. This is someone who routinely argues cases before the court of appeals, a specialist in appellate work. Let her know we're out here, we have faith that this case will eventually be re-examined, and that we need someone with her experience and knowledge to get things started.

Jani Jo Wood

Harris County Public Defender

1201 Franklin St., 13th Floor

Houston, TX 77002

Ma’am,

Quite a bit has happened since my last letter to you; the San Antonio 4, women convicted of raping two young girls, have been released from prison due to the faulty scientific evidence used to convict them. It is yet to be seen if they will ever be given a chance to prove their innocence, (which seems redundant, since their convictions were overturned), but at least they will be with their families this Christmas season.

Carlos Coy will not; despite the fact that not even wrongly-interpreted physical evidence was allowed in his trial, he remains imprisoned. When the San Antonio 4 were released it was because without that physical evidence, nothing remained against them but words. In Coy’s case, that was all there ever were; spoken testimony that changed and twisted depending on the needs of the prosecutors.

I sincerely hope that you will consider looking into this case. You have gone to bat for the individual liberties of Texas’ citizens many times; I firmly believe that Coy’s case merits your attention.

Me, my address, etc.