October 2013

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The Men of the Tenth Inc.

THE COME UP

October 2013

October 2013 Have You Ever Heard of A Griot? Griots were entertainers, keepers of history, and commentators on the events of the present.

Self- efficacy evolves throughout one’s lifespan based on various experiences and impacts how one thinks, feels, acts, and becomes motivated. Self-efficacy is influenced by four major sources of information: performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological states. Performance accomplishments are the most influential source of efficacy information as it is gained due to personal mastery experiences.

able to respond appropriately to overcome their failures.

Based on Bandura’s theory, we need more students to rebuild self-efficacy in their environments. Therefore, we challenge you to become a better learner, stronger reader, more outspoken, and willing to make a difference. In addition, Booker T. Washington encouraged us to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps in order to be successful. If we do not According to psychologist, Albert follow his advise and pull Bandura self-efficacy is defined ourselves up, we will continue as “the conviction that one can to look like babies that cannot successfully execute the behavior tie their own shoes. required to produce the outcomes.” Bandura indicates that individuals with high self-efficacy will be

The griots are rightly referred to as the archives and libraries of this part of Africa. Thus the famous proverb, “whenever a griot dies, a library dies.” They were interpreters of current politics, transmitting message and orders from the governing power to the people. As musicians with contacts with other musicians outside the court, they were able to learn the opinion of common people and could convey sentiments of the populace to the ruler.


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The Men of the Tenth Inc.

Have you ever had a conversation with a person and they give you every reason for why they will not be successful? They say things such as, I don’t have enough money to start my own business, I don’t have time for work and school, or I am too busy to find a side hobby. Individuals who use these types of excuses have a victim mindset. In fact, there are too many people that have this mindset. In America, playing the role of a victim and blaming others seems to be a new phenomenon and a common way of life. For example, to often when someone is caught behaving inappropriately or harmful to others, they find something or someone to blame it on.

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October 2013

However, after studying many successful Americans I have found that they all have a creator mindset. According to psychologist, Skip Downing a creator mindset causes people to see multiple options, choose wisely among them, and take effective actions to achieve the life they want. For example, Oprah Winfrey once said, “I do think that the greatest lesson of life is that you are responsible for your own life.” Oprah’s life story is a clear example of an individual who has achieved success from having a creator mindset. She has applied three principles that I believe are essential to creating a unique individual. First, you must create a plan for how you are going to

design yourself. Second, you should be as colorful as possible. Third, you must follow through. As a result, following these three principles you will not just have success, you will create a person of influence in the world. Therefore, remember this, “it is only up to you to create your best design.”


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The Men of the Tenth Inc.

Hip-hop music continues to exemplify a dichotomy between the political and the pleasurable. The Washington Post has described “two faces of hip-hop,” one a “conscious” side “where political, social and cultural issues are hashed out in verse.” The other side is “the bling-bling, the music that embraces the glamorous life, the live-now-I-got-mine attitude found in countless hits, and in flashy videos where hootchy mamas bounce their backsides and Busta Rhymes exhorts, ‘Pass the Courvoisier’.”

October 2013

people’s experiences. Anyway, one person’s “conscious” rapper might be another person’s gangsta rapper. Bestselling artists 50 Cent, Lil Wayne, and Young Jeezy are described by some critics as gangsta rappers and by others as artists whose music comments, critically, on the costs of violence and materialism.

Excerpt from Lets Get Free: A Hip-Hop Theory of Justice

Conscious hip-hop is critically acclaimed, with Lauryn Hill’s The Mis-Education of Lauryn Hill’s becoming the first hip-hop album to receive a Grammy award for album of the Year in 1992. Since then, OutKast has also won top honors. Gangsta and “bling bling” rap, on the other hand, have been derided as materialist, sexist, and homophobic. Still, these forms of hip-hop have their defenders. They assert that the lyrics are accurate reflection of some

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The Men of the Tenth Inc.

October 2013

Hip-Hop Quote of the Month You can't search me without probable cause Or that proper ammunition they call reasonable suspicion Listen I bring friction to your whole jurisdiction You planted seeds in my seat when I wasn't lookin Now you ask me for my license/registration "WHAT THE FUCK" is my name "WHAT THE FUCK" is my occupation Well I'm an MC, I'm down with the Fugees Mother Mary caught a flashback like Rodney now the cops got Lolly Wyclef from The Beast

The Men of the Tenth Inc. 750 Faile Street Suite 2E Bronx, New York 10474 www.themenofthetenth.org


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