It feels like I've written a lot of these.
Yesterday, you may have noted #musicmonday didn't post. The fact that social networking became a lot less frequent and/or interesting may have passed across your radar. However, more than likely if you're "most people," you didn't notice, like you didn't notice some of our contributors disappearing or you didn't notice how the webcast never came back from hiatus. That's part of the problem, but perhaps we're getting ahead of ourselves.
Let's not bury the lede: what Komplicated has been since its launch on May 1, 2012 will not be that way anymore. That's a wrap. It's the … second or third site I've tried to launch myself that crashed ignominously to earth, the fifth or so start up I've been involved with where survivors staggered away from the wreckage, grabbing what they could to make the best of it as they tried to distance themselves from possible secondary explosions.
In effect, Komplicated was an effort that leaned very heavily on the efforts of one person — me, Hannibal Tabu, writing in public in the first person perspective for the first time in … heck, a while. There were a lot of amazing partners and contributors who worked very hard to help make Komplicated amazing — starting with my wife Myshell Tabu and our dear friend Vince Moore, but also including the likes of A. Darryl Moton, Ciji the Geek, Scott Wilson, Khalil Asadullah (@spodachozn1), Sonya Donaldson, DJ Jedi, Rox Fontaine, Akil Henry, Julian Smith, Rasheed Townes, Mike Sales, Brutha Gimel, Thaddeus Howze and probably more I'll be mad about forgetting later. There were also a lot of very, very talented people who contributed their content for syndication, adding to our flavor: Peter Quach, the aforementioned Mike Sales, Jay Potts, the brilliant Alex Simmons and Sebastian Jones of Stranger Comics. What an amazing collection of thinkers and creatives.
However, you might notice there's not a single "suit" on that list. Volumes of brilliant syllables and images flowing out … but what flows back in? Did Komplicated make some money? Sure. Did it make a lot? Spirit, no. Did it make enough? I don't believe so, and that is unlikely to change any time soon.
There are articles scheduled for … well, a while. Force Galaxia has quite a way to go, but it's not hard to see that I fell off updating its index page. Ditto Blackjack. So you may come back to find stuff here, but it's a ghost ship running on auto pilot.
"Maybe you'll change your mind in a month!" I was told. Maybe. Maybe I'll win the lottery, despite not buying tickets. Maybe the space pope will not be a giant lizard. Anything's theoretically possible. In the realm of the likely … well …
My debut novel The Crown: Ascension will be republished as an eBook on every format I can find on September 15th. Write that down, I'm fantastic with deadlines. The second novel Faraway will be available on the winter solstice. I believe the novel after that, a science fiction political thriller, will be released on the anniversary of Malcolm X's assassination. Spirit willing and the creeks don't rise, you'll see A. Darryl Moton's musical love letter, The Perfect Chord by May 1, 2013, two years to the date I launched the site. All of those publications will fly the Komplicated flag, because I still believe in the concept, I still believe in the ideas I set forth and had the Elders of the Soul Review Board approve. I just can't kill myself and take time away from my family to deliver them to you this way.
Likewise, I can't say what will or will not come out with Robert Roach or what may or may not see the light from Stranger Comics with my name attached, but the stuff above I can mostly press the magic button on, so I'm staking my claim that they will happen. Also, two of 'em are completely written and edited and the third is in its second draft, so I'm feeling pretty good about the chances there.
"Why is this happening? Why stop now?" Well, I've got two kids. Having Komplicated was like having three. I can't have three kids. I don't have the focus. My eldest has blossomed into a brilliant young actress and a fantastic scholar. I don't wanna be sleepy and cranky when she should have my attention. I went to Komplicated in the dark of the night and strangled it in its bed, likely to stash its body next to where I laid The Hundred and Four to rest — for some of the same reasons. I believed I'd have network support, which never materialized (and I can't say that has anything to do with the buy a shirt.
"Thank you for coming out, god bless you, good night …"
[Source: Rappers Doing Normal Sh**]
