on
Peace everyone and Happy New Year (yes, we’re still saying Happy New Year)! It is I BDJ aka BDFromTheCounty, aka The Voice of The County, aka a lot of y’all probably don’t remember when I used to write. In keeping with traditional New Year’s resolutions (before breaking them and wondering what the hell happened), I have committed myself to writing — again.
Every year I say that I’m going to get back in my bag, and every year I end up with dozens of unfinished articles in my drafts because I’m too afraid to disappoint myself with work that isn’t up to my standards.
I’m here today to apologize for my stagnation and encourage you to do the shit you’re putting off. It will never be perfect, nor up to your made-up standards. Your process will take you longer than you think, and be harder than you can anticipate. You’ll be pissed off, demoralized, and 100% want to quit. You’ll doubt yourself, your intentions, and your worth throughout your quest for growth — take it from me.
That being said, welcome to Things I Think — a weekly column for all things music, sports, culture, and any other random thoughts that cross my mind. I felt all of the emotions below and then some. Honestly, writing this column has been a struggle, but if dedicating myself to my craft every week can help one of y’all reading this, then it’s all worth it. Remember it’s a New Year, so release whatever bullshit held you back, and embrace whatever moves you forward. We got about a week at most until the 🅿️ jokes ain’t funny no more so get them all out now, and remember only God (and Steve Harvey) can judge you. See you next week.
What Had Happened Was
- Don’t lose sight of the fact that in the past week Klay Thompson returned to the NBA after 941 days after tearing his left ACL and his right Achilles tendon. Watch this video of him dunking to brighten your spirits and remind you that the most fun part of the story is always the comeback.
Fun fact: While Klay Thompson was injured, the No. 1 song in the country was “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus. Do you know what the No. 1 movie was at the box office? Toy Story 4. It has literally been that long since he played basketball and now he’s back dunkin’ on fools.
- The government honored the late, legendary Maya Angelou by putting her face on a quarter — it’s the first coin to feature a Black woman’s face on it. How crazy is it that in 2022 we’re still putting first and Black in the same sentence? While Maya Angelou is worthy of countless honors, I’m over the surface-level bullshit. We don’t need our faces on currency, we need currency in our faces.
- A bunch of trailers dropped this week so here are some hot takes:
- Bel-Air looks like a spin-off of All American. I feel a moral obligation to watch it out of respect for the original series, but it’s sorely missing that Fresh Prince swagger.
- Power Book IV: Force looks like a typical Power series in the best possible way. Tommy’s return on season one of Ghost was really one of the high points of the series.
- Kanye West’s Netflix documentary, Jeen-Yuhs, looks like a counterpunch to all the questionable press Ye has been getting over the past few years. But I’m here for all the Hip-Hop documentaries.
- No trailer, but apparently HBO is reviving Degrassi: The Next Generation. The success of Euphoria has to be a driving factor in that decision. That being said, I’m curious to see how extreme Degrassi gets in 2023 because the bar has been raised.
- Rest in power to Bob Saget. On the Mount Rushmore of television fathers, Bob Saget’s Danny Tanner is somewhere between James Avery’s Uncle Phil and John Marshall Jones’s Floyd Henderson. The funniest thing to me about Saget is how different his onscreen persona was from his on-stage one. Case in point: he was a part of one of the most gif-ed (I don’t know if that’s a word, but this is my column) scenes in television history.
- Also want to take a second to wish safe heavenly travels to Sidney Poitier, Betty White, John Madden, and all the other giants we’ve lost that entertained generations. May your spirits be at peace for eternity.
- In honor of Judge Steve Harvey being the most random TV show I’ve seen, here are three equally ridiculous series that I will be pitching to Hollywood writers when they start returning my emails:
- Fear Factor hosted by Druski
- Intervention hosted by Samuel L. Jackson
- Room Raiders hosted by Desus & Mero
- I watched Don’t Look Up on Netflix and holy shit. I’m not calling it Apocalypse Now, but if the pandemic is any indication, I feel like we are definitely ill-prepared as a society for the end of the world. The memes would be hilarious though.
- I’m no stranger to a disgusting fast food item, but if you eat chicken wings from Taco Bell I’m judging you.
Questions That Need Answers
What was Kodak Black doing at that NHL game? Why was Kodak Black at an NHL game? Is hockey a bigger deal in Florida because it’s so warm? On second thought, I do not want to know the answer to any of these questions.
I think Kodak found something better to do at the Panthers game pic.twitter.com/oZlUn06tt3
— D (@David954FLA) January 12, 2022
Support The Homies
Shoutout to Page 7 Paper Company. Based out of New Jersey, Page 7 has some fire notebooks. If you need a notebook and you’re sick of Amazon and Target, please check out Page 7.
My Favorite Song This Week
“Xxtra” by Big6ixx
R.I.P Big6ixx man. A few lifetimes ago, I had a job mentoring teens in Baltimore and Big6ixx was someone who definitely got a lot of love on the aux cord. He’s also responsible for one of the greatest bars in rap history. “Going supercalifragilistic, on the hunt for the money, my hands be itchin.'” Rest in power 6ixx.
Jordan "BDJ" Taylor is a content creator, podcast host and GOAT. BDJ's passion comes from creating dope sh*t with his friends and inspiring people. In BDJ's spare time he's probably still working on something or hanging out with his dog Spike.
