New year, new moves, new company

Damn, shits been crazy last few weeks to say the least... When I said 2010 was gonna be great, I had no idea how great... So much to tell, so little time...

First, let me start off by congratulating my homeboys for finally getting what theyve always deserved: A major deal and everything that comes with it... Far*East Movement is officially signed to Cherrytree/Interscope records! That shit is huge! I dont know anyone who deserves it more. Im happy for you brothers, but truthfully, I knew it was gonna happen... Ya'll are way too driven not to get a deal, you woulda made it happen one way or another...

Someone else is getting signed too... Some guy named IZ... mighta heard a him... haha... Yup, ya boy (not "We Run LA" ya boy, the other ya boy i.e. me) is getting signed to a brand new independent label called 454 Ent... and believe me when I say this shit is real... Too real that even Im having a hard time believing... It seems my life is caught is some kinda whirlwind. Shit is happening so fast... ya boy (yes, the other one) aint had a chance to breathe in weeks... I've seen things I never dreamed I'd see in my lifetime... and believe me, I dream some pretty big things.

To give you an example, just the other day I sat with the CEO of my company on a board meeting where they discussed the structure of the new company... Picture this: 6 wealthy white guys, (the type that sign The Rolling Stones' checks wealthy), employed by one Asian guy whose falling asleep because no ones paying him to listen are talking about how theyre going to take everyones money all over the world... Through movies, music, trickery, that sorta thing... Im talking billions of dollars... and my big homie/future boss is still sleeping kinda as if to say: "If I knew or cared what they were talking about I wouldnt have to pay them to do it"... After about 20 minutes I have a pretty good idea about the company and where its going: up. Im talking guys with medium length, flowing white hair and British accents "up"... And my big bro employs all of them... He's definitely doing it... big... These things I never dreamed of seeing...

When I started rapping, I was confident that I would be successful, if only because i knew i wouldnt take no for an answer... I knew I would do whatever it took to make it... but "making it" in my eyes was not easily definable... "Making it" meant a lot of things. Getting signed was "making it," Having a hit album/single was "making it," helping my people move forward in the entertainment industry was "making it." Any of these things would have brought me satisfaction, would have given me a sense of accomplishment... It never even crossed my mind that I would seeing and working first-hand with someone who is really on top of everything looking down. In other words, the guy that signs the checks... The feeling is absolutely incredible and I feel blessed... I give thanks to God... "God, Im not sure if I deserve this but... Im definitely gonna run with it!!!"

Ill tell you more soon!

IZ's 2008 Prison Blog: Entry 5: "The Hole"

The hole is f*cked up! That’s just the best way to describe it. The hole f*ckin’ sucks, straight up. I’ve seen a bunch of people come out the hole and say "Oh, the hole ain’t shit," but they’re not fooling anyone, especially not me, because I was one of those people. I did 30 days in the hole in 2004. When I came out I said the same thing, "The hole aint shit! I’m a "G" homie! That shit don’t FAZE ME! Ill do that shit standing on my head" and so on and so forth. But that’s not what I was saying when I was in there. I wasn’t saying anything actually...there’s no one to talk to. There isn’t shit! Me, Myself, and I don’t count either... Also, because they pepper spray u when u get into fights, they use that as an excuse to strip u down and take your clothes, even if there isn’t any pepper spray on them. So besides being bored out of your mind, you freeze your ass off too.

(Before going any further, Id like to clear up why i’m in the hole in the first place this time around. Peep this: the cells are full... That's it: the cells are full... Fuckin Bullshit... How the hell is it okay to put me in the hole because the cells are full. They should let me go to the dorms but apparently they can’t, its fuckin overcrowded. Aint that some shit?)

But anyways, as I was saying, the hole sucks. I have no idea how long i’m going to be in here and i’m almost out of paper. They give you 2 stamped envelopes and 6 sheets of paper when you go in the first day. So after you finish with the paper in the first 30 minutes, you just sit there all day staring at the walls. They give you a book to read but they might as well not. You have to choose out of an old ass bag with about 6 of the most shot-out, booty ass books on planet Earth, and 2 aren’t even in English! The funny thing is, the selection never changes either. I’ve been in the hole 4 times since 2000 and I can swear that they are the same 6 books I saw the first, second, third, and fourth time. Like I said, "FUCKIN BULLSHIT!" So after reading this "book", which might as well be "the Cat in the Hat," I’m writing this blog but also trying to conserve as much paper as possible.

Another thing that drives you crazy in the hole is hunger. In the hole, you’re not allowed to spend any of the money on your account to order anything from jail commissary, (in prison you can, but not in the county,) you can only eat what they give you, which is basically one meal, split up into 3. A grown man cannot be expected to live off what they feed you. I lose an average 10lbs in the first week I spend in the hole. What makes things worse and compounds your turmoil is the fact that working out, which is the only thing you can do in the hole, makes you extremely hungry. So either way, you’re completely assed-out. I’m actually eating a mustard pack as a snack while writing this.

Your biggest enemy in the hole, however, is always boredom. 24 hours a day doing nothing. You can’t even really sleep because the fuckin police bang on your door every 15 minutes to check if you’re alive, and I’m not exaggerating. They bang on your door every 15 minutes until you respond. That type of environment is not conducive to sleep at ALL! It seems like some of them get a kick out of it too. (If only they did the rest of their job with as much fervor and enthusiasm... fuckin fags)

Anyways...boredom can make you lose your mind. Your brain doesn’t work right after about 20 days in the hole. 20 minutes after breakfast, it’s hard to remember what you just ate. Hopefully I won’t be in here that long.

The really ironic thing about it is that after all of this, the next time I’m about to do something that might get me sent to the hole, I probably won’t even think about it or be able to remember just how bad it is in here...I guess that’s why people always go in and out of jail~ fuckin stupid...

IZ's 2008 prison blog Entry 4: The First of Many, Many Days

My first of many, many days behind bars...

The first day in jail is always a mystery...Where will I go? Who’s gonna be there? Are we chillin’ or is it drama? These are all good questions...
There are a lot of different types of housing: dorms, cells, barracks~ all of these have pros and cons....The dorms and barracks are all the same, busy and loud...About 60 to 200 people pretty much walking around freely, but there’s no privacy...On the flip side, the cells are quiet, most of the time too quiet...The good thing is you don’t have to worry about getting killed in your sleep, unless of course your celly does it...it happens...

The dorms are filled with mostly petty crimes, drug offenders etc...But that doesn’t mean it’s any less dangerous. When it goes down, it goes down hard, but I’ve done 90%of my time in cells because of violent crime history and gang affiliation...

In Orange County, the cell facility is divided into sectors, each sector has 16 cells, with 2 inmates in each cell...The 16 cells are divided into 4 groups...the 4 groups are let out seperately once a day for "program." "Program" is the dayroom which has phones, a shower, and a TV...The collect calls cost an arm and both legs, the TV is old and shitty, and the showers are worm infested. Take your pick. You’re supposed to get 2 hours a day minimum by law, but you’re lucky to see an hour...Furthermore, the program can get shut off for the stupidest reasons. Fights, breathing the wrong way, or because the Correctional Officer’s (C.O.’s), or "sir", as they like to be called, are busy scratching their asses and they forget to let you out...."STOP SCRATCHING YOUR ASS AND TURN ON THE FUCKING TV" is a popular request in the cell facility...

The system works to keep the violence to a minimum. You can live 5 feet from your worst enemy, looking at him every day, and it wouldn’t matter if he’s not in your group. You will never have physical contact with him. You can look at him and talk shit, but that’s about it. You can have two morons talking shit for months straight in the cells sometimes. If you ask me, it’s a waste of breath, but that’s just me. It’s a strange world...

This time around, however, none of this shit is going to matter, because I’m going to ’the hole’...

-IZ
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