Happiness… it's GANGSTA!

by Blaine Fridley, Disciple of the word according to Mos Def and Ziggy Stardust

Lately, I've been in a rut. Can't really pinpoint a reason for it, though.

My guess?

Probably a combination of headlines filled with news about war, terrorism, rampant foreclosures, disgusting displays of corporate greed rewarded with taxpayer bailouts and the Great Depression II mixed with 15 minutes of natural light a day and the Timberwolves playing like a 40-and-up rec. league team from Shaboygan sponsored by Bob "Three-Fingers" Kozlowski's Fireworks and Cheese Emporium.

It's all enough to extend your case of the Mondays right through Sunday evening. 

Then, this morning for some reason, I remembered an interview I read a few years back in Complex Magazine with David Bowie and Mos Def.

The interviewer asked them both if artists are more affected by what's going on in the world, which led to this exchange:

Mos: It's like Jay-Z said: 'I just read a magazine article that fucked up my day.' That shit will happen to you several times within a day in the climate we're living in. You turn on the TV and some kid's getting shot. Just fucking reading the news, I'm like, That hurt my feelings. I need a drink now. That's when you start being like, 'Well, just fuck it all.' The test in life nowadays is just trying to keep yourself charged up with enough good feeling. It's like, 'Ok what am I going to do to feel really good today?' Not like, some chick or a drink -

David: Absolutely.

Mos: You say, 'What am I going to do to feel good, for real?' Because to me, it's like happiness is about happiness, but happiness is a fight.

David: You've got to validate every day. There are those who just put a stamp on it and say, 'This is gonna be a good day and I'm not gonna let anything else make it a bad day.'

Mos: Fuck it. Yeah.

David: And I don't need drugs to do it.

Mos: Yeah, yeah. Don't need no booze or no bullshit like that. And to me, that's gangsta. That's hardcore! Like you said, 'I'm gonna feel good.'

So, when you feel yourself succumbing to all the negativity around you, the advice to pull yourself out of the gutter is simple: Get gangsta. Get hardcore. Get happy.

After all, it's a short ride, DoFers.