BBC News - Michael J Fox to make full-time TV return:
An Open Letter to my "Friends" in Portland and Abroad
Let me begin by saying this is some ish I've needed to get off my chest for AWHILE now:
If you are reading this letter you probably fall into one of three major categories: 1) You are a true fan of mine and are interested in at least examining or hearing what I have to say. 2) You were a "friend" of mine and you've joined the "cause" of blacklisting me from the Portland hip-hop scene, the parties we all attended together, and basically anything that would cause us to come face-to-face in any type of social encounter. 3) You were and ALWAYS WILL BE a friend of mine (and probably to most of your other friends) because you recognize certain things about life that #2 is denying at this point in time.
With that being said, here's what I have to say to each of you.
1) Thank you for ALL your dedication to the music, the cause, and the unity of our consciousness in general. You are the reason I still make music. Every time I feel like hanging the mic up for good you send me a mystifying comment/letter/opinion stating how I've made a difference in your world one way or another. You are the catalyst for everything I do, and I promise that I will ALWAYS continue to improve myself, my music, and my message for the benefit of all. Please listen when I say that I genuinely give you credit for anything I've ever done artistically or will do in the future. You are more than my muse, you are me.
2) I have one remark to make to you to begin this: you and I are no different. You and I are mind incarnating in the present based on our shared concepts, no more, no less. For one reason or another you have chosen to dismiss me from a world that I've helped forge with each of you. You have many (in your opinion) valid reasons for this dismissal ranging from the suggestion that I am pretentious, to the idea that I have mistreated you and/or someone else close to me in a way that you deem inexcusable. My rebuttal to this is two-fold: a) How much of your opinion/decision is colored by the words/thoughts of others? How many times have you heard someone else bad mouth me and you've kept your mouth shut or blindly believed what they've said, no matter the source? To be blunt, many of you have heard negative things about my personal life and have written me off due to this. Well, these supposed things occurred a LONG time ago at this point, AND they are 95% heresay. If you feel comfortable condemning your brother for ideas somebody else has put into your head, then by all means go ahead. But remember this: without love NONE OF US GO ANY FURTHER THAN WHERE WE ARE NOW. Condemn me, you condemn yourself. Period. There is no difference between us, and until that is realized none of us go anywhere...Consider this the reason behind this letter, as our mutual awakening is IMPERATIVE for all who live. b) When did your actions become so perfect that you can so quickly judge me? For instance, I have a "friend" who refuses to interact with my girlfriend anymore based on the fact that I AM pretentious... Think about that for one second. What is more pretentious: having opinions that others disagree with and call haughty or refusing to spend time with a loved one because they associate with someone you dislike? At the end of the day, I could rant on but my point is made: for all the "love", unity, comradery, and elevation I've heard each of you talk you certainly have done very little in our friendship to put yourself in my shoes, recognize strides made toward betterment, pick a brother up while he's down, and recognize the inherent truth that you are here for NO OTHER REASON than to help our brothers/each other. However, before I go I want you to know this: my hand is ALWAYS out. Whether you needed me for beats, for promo, for marketing, for shows, for advice, for counseling, for food, for a place to live, for weed, or for someone to talk to I always have and always will be here for you. I expect that after this letter NONE of you will respond to me, but know that those who do will be welcome as my brothers because you are exactly that, and this time of dissonance will be a figment of our shared imagination. Those of you who do not, I don't expect that you ever will and sadly feel like I will have to carry this weight on my consciousness until a day of reconcile which may not occur in this lifetime due to human short-sightedness. I genuinely hope the latter is not the case. My last question to you is when is the last time you shot me a text, phone call, or comment and asked me to kick it? You might be surprised what goes down if you do.
3) You are the reason I have continued to grow, despite the ennui caused by my fall-out with group 2. You are people who I always had a kinship with, though many of you were not people who I spent a lot of my time with. As I've disengaged myself from the twenty-something "party" lifestyle so many of my contemporaries continue to enjoy you have opened up to me and shown me that there are infinite aspects of my Self that I have yet to discover. You have encouraged me to pursue new goals, new artforms, new ways of being. I genuinely love you and appreciate your role in my life no matter how big or small. I pray that over time we will continue to support one another in the necessary ways for us to mutually fulfill our greatest dreams by fusing our energy with those who came before in order to benefit those here and those who've yet to come.
I close by stating this: I love EACH and EVERY ONE of you. I call you on your birthday, I still make you beats, I still go to your shows, I still follow you on twitter (lol), I still want to party with you, I still have something to teach you, AND you still have something to teach me. Let's not forget that, okay?
P.S. For all you outsiders wanting me to "name names" (yes, I've actually had people say that to me) this letter is not for you. It's directed at real people whom I share a TON of love with (or it would never have been written). This letter is not about calling these people out, it's about me telling them how I feel since I'm not afforded that opportunity with them in any other mode of communication at this point. So please, no comments about naming people. They know who they are. And if you aren't sure, have you called me lately? Did we used to kick it? There you go...
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