My name is Assata Shakur, and I am a 20th century escaped slave. Because of government persecution, I was left with no other choice than to flee from the political repression, racism and violence that dominate the US government’s policy towards people of color. I am an ex-political prisoner, and I have been living in exile in Cuba since 1984. I have been a political activist most of my life, and although the U.S. government has done everything in its power to criminalize me, I am not a criminal, nor have I ever been one. In the 1960s, I participated in various struggles: the black liberation movement, the student rights movement, and the movement to end the war in Vietnam. I joined the Black Panther Party. By 1969 the Black Panther Party had become the number one organization targeted by the FBI’s COINTELPRO program. Because the Black Panther Party demanded the total liberation of black people, J. Edgar Hoover called it “greatest threat to the internal security of the country” and vowed to destroy it and its leaders and activists. In 1978, my case was one of many cases bought before the United Nations Organization in a petition filed by the National Conference of Black Lawyers, the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, and the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice, exposing the existence of political prisoners in the United States, their political persecution, and the cruel and inhuman treatment they receive in US prisons. According to the report: The FBI and the New York Police Department in particular, charged and accused Assata Shakur of participating in attacks on law enforcement personnel and widely circulated such charges and accusations among police agencies and units. The FBI and the NYPD further charged her as being a leader of the Black Liberation Army which the government and its respective agencies described as an organization engaged in the shooting of police officers. This description of the Black Liberation Army and the accusation of Assata Shakur’s relationship to it was widely circulated by government agents among police agencies and units. As a result of these activities by the government, Ms. Shakur became a hunted person; posters in police precincts and banks described her as being involved in serious criminal activities; she was highlighted on the FBI’s most wanted list; and to police at all levels she became a ‘shoot-to-kill’ target.” I was falsely accused in six different “criminal cases” and in all six of these cases I was eventually acquitted or the charges were dismissed. The fact that I was acquitted or that the charges were dismissed, did not mean that I received justice in the courts, that was certainly not the case. It only meant that the “evidence” presented against me was so flimsy and false that my innocence became evident. This political persecution was part and parcel of the government’s policy of eliminating political opponents by charging them with crimes and arresting them with no regard to the factual basis of such charges. On May 2, 1973 I, along with Zayd Malik Shakur and Sundiata Acoli were stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike, supposedly for a “faulty tail light.” Sundiata Acoli got out of the car to determine why we were stopped. Zayd and I remained in the car. State trooper Harper then came to the car, opened the door and began to question us. Because we were black, and riding in a car with Vermont license plates, he claimed he became “suspicious.” He then drew his gun, pointed it at us, and told us to put our hands up in the air, in front of us, where he could see them. I complied and in a split second, there was a sound that came from outside the car, there was a sudden movement, and I was shot once with my arms held up in the air, and then once again from the back. Zayd Malik Shakur was later killed, trooper Werner Foerster was killed, and even though trooper Harper admitted that he shot and killed Zayd Malik Shakur, under the New Jersey felony murder law, I was charged with killing both Zayd Malik Shakur, who was my closest friend and comrade, and charged in the death of trooper Forester. Never in my life have I felt such grief. Zayd had vowed to protect me, and to help me to get to a safe place, and it was clear that he had lost his life, trying to protect both me and Sundiata. Although he was also unarmed, and the gun that killed trooper Foerster was found under Zayd’s leg, Sundiata Acoli, who was captured later, was also charged with both deaths. Neither Sundiata Acoli nor I ever received a fair trial We were both convicted in the news media way before our trials. No news media was ever permitted to interview us, although the New Jersey police and the FBI fed stories to the press on a daily basis. In 1977, I was convicted by an all- white jury and sentenced to life plus 33 years in prison. In 1979, fearing that I would be murdered in prison, and knowing that I would never receive any justice, I was liberated from prison, aided by committed comrades who understood the depths of the injustices in my case, and who were also extremely fearful for my life. The U.S. Senate’s 1976 Church Commission report on intelligence operations inside the USA, revealed that “The FBI has attempted covertly to influence the public’s perception of persons and organizations by disseminating derogatory information to the press, either anonymously or through “friendly” news contacts.” This same policy is evidently still very much in effect today. On December 24, 1997, The New Jersey State called a press conference to announce that New Jersey State Police had written a letter to Pope John Paul II asking him to intervene on their behalf and to aid in having me extradited back to New Jersey prisons. The New Jersey […]

I am truly interested in making our community a better place, therefore I do use rap music to inform me of the lives of the unfortunate youth that are being deprived in the Black community. The problem I have with rap music is the manner in which this information is delivered. The lyrics are laden with vulgar profanity that is offensive to the ear. These lyrics become a roadblock to any type of effective communication. When my now 14-year-old son was too young to care about rap music, I avoided it for this reason that I’ve stated. You are right about rap music crossing over into various demographics. My son began to seek out this genre of music. Once I allowed my teenage son to listen to rap music and view the rap videos, I knew that I had to listen to the messages in the lyrics even though the vulgar profanity makes me cringe. The reason I listen now is so that I can continue to educate my son. We discuss the messages given via the lyrics and he understands why there is anger, crime and disrespect within these lyrics. Children should be raised with love and security in order to feel safe. They need to be guided and their self esteem protected. With this in place they have a chance to blossom and utilize that special talent they were born with. You mentioned that White and Asian youth listen to rap music and forget to form actual gangs. No, they don’t forget, they probably have no desire. Gangs are formed because deserted youths are searching for love and attention. White, Asian and Black youths from caring homes receive their love and attention from within the home. The parents of these youth need to remind their children that the gangsta rap lyrics are not their lives and there is no reason to incorporate this way of living. What I teach my son is to have empathy for the inner city children who rely upon the streets for survival. We discuss ways that we could be of help. We definitely don’t look down on them. The problem I have with most of the rap stars is, after putting their message out there, they gain monetary success and instead of purchasing property to build centers for the youth to prosper, they waste money on material things. Don’t get me wrong, its good to have and buy for yourself, but there is such a thing as waste. One person having 100 pairs of tennis shoes when the children of the ghetto often have one pair or none seems to be a bit on the selfish side. Wouldn’t you think that Black people would care about their own more so than Whites. We cry out for help but what about the help that we can give, especially the rap stars that are making millions. And don’t think because one has given to a charity here and there its all good. To one that much is given much is expected. Because some of these rappers are former drug dealers, thieves, robbers and even murderers they should be helped by the ones that are not (such as the rappers with college degrees or the ones that dodged the drudgery of the streets). They should also be helped by the White executives that share in the wealth of their success. These rappers may not know how to say what they want to communicate minus the vulgar language. It can be done. And don’t worry, the records will still sell because the music and the melody are jamming, especially when they sample and mix their music with the R&B singers. In fact this is what helps draw the people to rap music. You want critics to address the issues rappers rap about, maybe if the lyrics are cleared of the plague of vulgar profanity critics could concentrate on the message. And speaking of the message, a lot of these lyrics are harmful to the youth of the Black community. I don’t know the number, but I can imagine that a lot of these children rely upon the words from these famous rappers. “I wanna live good / so s**t I’ll sell dope / for a three finger ring / one a ‘dem gold ropes” (50 Cent, “Hate it or Love it”). Selling dope not only brings money, it also comes with violence, crime and death. This is the message that should be given and the youth should be warned of these consequences. Are these lyrics pondered upon or do they just pop out from the top of a rappers head? Do they ask themselves how will these lyrics help our youth? Do these lyrics educate our youth in a way that can help them? Rappers can make a major change in the ghetto. They have the attention, the audience, and the power of marketing. Let us begin to help ourselves, instead of being so angry and blaming others. And by the way, how about searching within and finding the love that we all possess and replacing the anger with some of it. Kimberly Peaks Parent Advocate Author, Flashcards For Parents

I’m letting you all know – shadows no longer exist. It’s common knowledge that we are being watching and monitored like never before, whether its your Ez Pass, instant messenger conversations, email, 2way pagers, “security” cameras and most of the other modern conveniences we enjoy these days. But, since Hip-Hop is the new “mafia” to many in authoritative positions, I thought this letter would be of interest to our readers. It was mailed to us from and anonymous “non-Hip-Hop” person who had some knowledge to share to our community. Dear AllHipHop.com, Let me start by introducing myself. I am a 53-year-old male who just retired after 22 years as a Counterintelligence Field Operative. I was the "I’m not here, you don’t see me" guy on four different continents, and have been many places I’d rather not speak about – suffice it to say I was in Iraq far before 1991 – think summer 1988. Although I was deployed overseas when these "Gotti" brothers (Murder Inc’s Irv and Chris Gotti) were arrested, I have recently returned to my home of Rhode Island to retire. Many of my colleagues work in tandem with the FBI and DEA for drug interdiction operations in Miami, and the Eastern Seaboard (read: NYC, New Jersey harbors). These arrests should not surprise anyone. The hip-hop community has been under government scrutiny for some time, and I think I speak for my associates when I say although profiling is wrong, some see it as the only viable solution. I do not. Therefore, pending my separation with the agency after several Counterintelligence and drug interdiction operations, I am finally free to share this with your culture. When I was growing up, all the Beatles fans were raving mad when John Lennon died; many suspected government involvement. I wouldn’t know. Hopefully not. However, and this is crucial. I have been privy to and been, both directly and indirectly, involved with numerous "hip-hop focus stings" like targeting hip-hop artists that boast of violence if drug content/use in their lyrics. This is law now; many prominent artists have undergone this probe in the past. I would say this: I hate censorship as much as the next man, but censor yourself. It attracts undue attention. Disable all OnStar-services in ANY General Motors vehicle; GM and the DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency)/CIA/NSA/FBI have an agreement where we have the freedom to tap ANY OnStar system in any GM vehicle without a warrant, thanks to the Patriot Act. This means those gas-guzzling Escalades, all new Cadillac coupes, Suburbans, Yukons, etc. My 22-year-old cousin directed my to AllHipHop.com following the arrest of these Gotti (Murder Inc) individuals from Queens, NY (which I already had prior knowledge of) for me to verify if your report was accurate. It was, and I have visited your site on and off with some interest since. I came to the conclusion today, however, that should warn your readers to be far more careful in bragging/promoting drug use on record. The government is actively pursuing this, and many artists are already under close scrutiny – others are cooperating with higher intelligence agencies and therefore have no problems with police or FBI. It is my understanding that several street-level dealers purporting to be part of a well-known rap collective are even now cooperating with CIA drug-interdiction agents. Not sure if it is the rap "crew," so to speak, or the individuals on the block that claim to belong to that organization. Also, the Secret Service never investigated that Eminem character – the FBI New York/New Jersey Field Office is focused on a artist that is very popular in the underground. In any event, I am pleading that you post some sort of warning or disclaimer about how the government is actively seeking to destroy the hip hop community, specifically because many Washington policy-makers believe everyone to be "drug-pushers" and "crack/cocaine runners." They thought they abolished cocaine and other like drugs in the early 90’s and are now out to blame it all on hip hop and dismantle it piece by piece. The nomination of the new Director, National Intelligence may spell bad things for the hip hop generation, namely heavy censorship or massive, county-wide raids detaining any artist that every mentioned or alluded to distributing hard drugs. All I ask is you heed my warning, and post some sort of "heads-up" on your website. Hip-hop generation is no different that the hippie movement of the 60s and 70s, and therefore everyone should be allowed to say and do whatever they feel. Having served my country for more than 25 years in the military and later in the intelligence community, I believe I am entitled to speak my mind and support your cause. Feel free to respond at your earliest convenience. Best Regards, A concerned reader

“Like the n***as who own the liquor stores/ crack, cocaine, pimps, ‘n w#####/ livin’ up on this earth before/ a n***a like Daddy was born/ but they be makin’ it seem/ that my music ‘n crime a team/ but I’m speakin’ the truth not dream/ so what in da f### they mean?/ my lyrics ain’t clean!” -Big Boi, “Babylon”  “Rap critics that say, ‘he’s money, cash, hoes’/ I’m from the hood stupid/ what kind of facts are those?” Jay-Z, “99 Problems”  For anyone truly interested in making our community a better place, rap should be a boon of information, since it is probably the only candid glimpse square folks can get into the hearts and minds of society’s dregs.  One no longer has to ponder about the “why” and “how” violence, criminality, and delinquency too often take place in our neighborhoods, since the perpetrators themselves are on record telling the public.  Black and Hispanic drug dealers, thieves, robbers, even murderers get behind a microphone and tell all, from their upbringing to their sexual fantasies to their regrets.  Any good-hearted d##### would realize that a good way to prevent the things we hate about our environment would be to listen carefully to the songs, then identify and work assiduously at eliminating the catalysts and motivations, cited by the wrong-doers themselves, that induce the unacceptable behaviors.  Instead of this obvious, reasonable approach to the music, we witness two bassackwards phenomena: one, people that blame the musicians for society’s problems, the very problems that shaped the artists’ lives, thereby influencing their controversial lyrics in the first place; and two, people that live with relatively good circumstances, but break their necks to emulate the artists, who come from little or nothing- two sides of one big, dumb ass coin.  This piece deals with the former bunch.  Sellouts and armchair critics vainly moralize and point the finger, instead of using their op-ed columns, magazine articles, radio and talk show appearances, and message board space to discuss the problems rappers themselves cite as inspiration for their lyrics: Rampant unemployment and insufficient wages amidst pervasive materialism- “I wanna live good/ so s### I’ll sell dope/ for a three finger ring/ one a’ dem gold ropes” (50 Cent, “Hate It Or Love It”) Easily available, illegal firearms- “used to do da battle wit stones and sticks/ now n***as do it wit’ da Macs ‘n clips” (Method Man, “Method Man Homegrown Version”) Job discrimination- “I couldn’t get a job, nappy hair was not allowed” (Treach, “Ghetto Bastard”) Feckless schools- “Schools where I learn/ they should be burned” (Nas, “Poison”) Conspiratorial proliferation of narcotics in inner-cities- “n***az gettin blamed for the crystals/ but we don’t grow the m########### coke or weed or make the f##### pistols” (Kool G. Rap, “Crime Pays”)  It’s not uncommon to read or hear wolf cries like, “Rap is destroying our community!”  In fact, Wendell Talley recently wrote a piece for The Baltimore Sun, entitled “How Hip-Hop Drags Down Black Culture.”  Such raves give the impression that rap is a significant stimulant for crime and vice in our neighborhoods.  People that make statements like these have a fatal flaw in their reasoning though.  If rap itself induces sin, then we should notice rap fans from every demographic misbehaving as a result of its influence.   Thing is, that is far from the case.  White people account for 70% of rap’s sales, yet their communities display tremendously less violence than the staggering amount that plagues ours.  The violence that does occur in suburbs, no one sensible would attribute to hip-hops influence either.  White boys, heavy on rap, throw on hoodies and baggy jeans, rap themselves, call each other “n***a,” trick their rides, deejay, make a#### out of themselves trying to crip walk, even wear do-rags (though they’ll never have waves), but somehow forget to form actual street gangs.  Young Asians are also big, rap consumers.  They disproportionately participate in break dancing, but forget to pick up guns and murder each other under rap’s hypnotism.  How come white and Asian youth are immune from rap’s insidious messages, but Black youth aren’t?  In light of these facts, one must infer that rap by itself has miniscule or no influence on violent and criminal behavior, since the overwhelming majority of its listeners never act on its messages.   In rebuttal, one could definitely argue that rap contributes to already vitriolic circumstances in this country’s ghettoes, or that it exacerbates already existent problems, or, similarly, that it perpetuates already existent ills inner cities are dealing with.  Unfortunately, these arguments are moot in critics’ hands because they rightly imply that problem is not the music itself; the problem is the music, coupled with the realities that created it.  Rap music is only potentially dangerous in the hood, the same place it comes from; it’s only potentially explosive amongst poor Blacks and Hispanics, the same people that produce its culture.  The hood is the control in the experiment and rap is only a variable.  We could take rap out of the hood and it would still be poorest, most violent, most hopeless place to live.  We could saturate a well-off, well-educated, fairly treated neighborhood with all the M.O.P., G-Unit, 3-6 Mafia, and Mobb Deep in the world and that neighborhood wouldn’t change much either.  Any reasonable person could see that.                 Too bad so many Black critics aren’t reasonable.  Too many of them are so ashamed of their blighted Black brethren that they are completely preoccupied with differentiating themselves from the rest of the lot.  They spew rhetoric about morality, hard work, and patience not as viable prescriptions for misfortune, but rather to gloat and contrast themselves with the lesser Negroes.  They feel urgent pressure to prove themselves not even from the same stock as “n***as”- i.e. those cats in the rap songs, or those loathsome people that use “ain’t” and “finna” as verbs, the young men that “happily” choose to sell drugs, instead of excelling at school, the darkies that refuse to stop playing “the […]

“Like the n***as who own the liquor stores/ crack, cocaine, pimps, ‘n w#####/ livin’ up on this earth before/ a n***a like Daddy was born/ but they be makin’ it seem/ that my music ‘n crime a team/ but I’m speakin’ the truth not dream/ so what in da f### they mean?/ my lyrics ain’t clean!” -Big Boi, “Babylon”  “Rap critics that say, ‘he’s money, cash, hoes’/ I’m from the hood stupid/ what kind of facts are those?” Jay-Z, “99 Problems”  For anyone truly interested in making our community a better place, rap should be a boon of information, since it is probably the only candid glimpse square folks can get into the hearts and minds of society’s dregs.  One no longer has to ponder about the “why” and “how” violence, criminality, and delinquency too often take place in our neighborhoods, since the perpetrators themselves are on record telling the public.  Black and Hispanic drug dealers, thieves, robbers, even murderers get behind a microphone and tell all, from their upbringing to their sexual fantasies to their regrets.  Any good-hearted d##### would realize that a good way to prevent the things we hate about our environment would be to listen carefully to the songs, then identify and work assiduously at eliminating the catalysts and motivations, cited by the wrong-doers themselves, that induce the unacceptable behaviors.  Instead of this obvious, reasonable approach to the music, we witness two bassackwards phenomena: one, people that blame the musicians for society’s problems, the very problems that shaped the artists’ lives, thereby influencing their controversial lyrics in the first place; and two, people that live with relatively good circumstances, but break their necks to emulate the artists, who come from little or nothing- two sides of one big, dumb ass coin.  This piece deals with the former bunch.  Sellouts and armchair critics vainly moralize and point the finger, instead of using their op-ed columns, magazine articles, radio and talk show appearances, and message board space to discuss the problems rappers themselves cite as inspiration for their lyrics: Rampant unemployment and insufficient wages amidst pervasive materialism- “I wanna live good/ so s### I’ll sell dope/ for a three finger ring/ one a’ dem gold ropes” (50 Cent, “Hate It Or Love It”) Easily available, illegal firearms- “used to do da battle wit stones and sticks/ now n***as do it wit’ da Macs ‘n clips” (Method Man, “Method Man Homegrown Version”) Job discrimination- “I couldn’t get a job, nappy hair was not allowed” (Treach, “Ghetto Bastard”) Feckless schools- “Schools where I learn/ they should be burned” (Nas, “Poison”) Conspiratorial proliferation of narcotics in inner-cities- “n***az gettin blamed for the crystals/ but we don’t grow the m########### coke or weed or make the f##### pistols” (Kool G. Rap, “Crime Pays”)  It’s not uncommon to read or hear wolf cries like, “Rap is destroying our community!”  In fact, Wendell Talley recently wrote a piece for The Baltimore Sun, entitled “How Hip-Hop Drags Down Black Culture.”  Such raves give the impression that rap is a significant stimulant for crime and vice in our neighborhoods.  People that make statements like these have a fatal flaw in their reasoning though.  If rap itself induces sin, then we should notice rap fans from every demographic misbehaving as a result of its influence.   Thing is, that is far from the case.  White people account for 70% of rap’s sales, yet their communities display tremendously less violence than the staggering amount that plagues ours.  The violence that does occur in suburbs, no one sensible would attribute to hip-hops influence either.  White boys, heavy on rap, throw on hoodies and baggy jeans, rap themselves, call each other “n***a,” trick their rides, deejay, make a#### out of themselves trying to crip walk, even wear do-rags (though they’ll never have waves), but somehow forget to form actual street gangs.  Young Asians are also big, rap consumers.  They disproportionately participate in break dancing, but forget to pick up guns and murder each other under rap’s hypnotism.  How come white and Asian youth are immune from rap’s insidious messages, but Black youth aren’t?  In light of these facts, one must infer that rap by itself has miniscule or no influence on violent and criminal behavior, since the overwhelming majority of its listeners never act on its messages.   In rebuttal, one could definitely argue that rap contributes to already vitriolic circumstances in this country’s ghettoes, or that it exacerbates already existent problems, or, similarly, that it perpetuates already existent ills inner cities are dealing with.  Unfortunately, these arguments are moot in critics’ hands because they rightly imply that problem is not the music itself; the problem is the music, coupled with the realities that created it.  Rap music is only potentially dangerous in the hood, the same place it comes from; it’s only potentially explosive amongst poor Blacks and Hispanics, the same people that produce its culture.  The hood is the control in the experiment and rap is only a variable.  We could take rap out of the hood and it would still be poorest, most violent, most hopeless place to live.  We could saturate a well-off, well-educated, fairly treated neighborhood with all the M.O.P., G-Unit, 3-6 Mafia, and Mobb Deep in the world and that neighborhood wouldn’t change much either.  Any reasonable person could see that.                 Too bad so many Black critics aren’t reasonable.  Too many of them are so ashamed of their blighted Black brethren that they are completely preoccupied with differentiating themselves from the rest of the lot.  They spew rhetoric about morality, hard work, and patience not as viable prescriptions for misfortune, but rather to gloat and contrast themselves with the lesser Negroes.  They feel urgent pressure to prove themselves not even from the same stock as “n***as”- i.e. those cats in the rap songs, or those loathsome people that use “ain’t” and “finna” as verbs, the young men that “happily” choose to sell drugs, instead of excelling at school, the darkies that refuse to stop playing “the […]

Just a day in the life of “Hip-Hop Eshu: Queen B***h 101” could’ve answered all the questions posed about the course last semester, including whether or not it would deal with the upcoming trial of Lil’ Kim. Somewhere along the line, someone decided to simply re-title this course that developed out of my on-going research on race and sex in the context of empire, as if it were now a course on celebrity biography—not lyricism. Wasn’t the course description from the ten-page syllabus on-line? Who is Eshu? How did this West African orisha or “trickster-god” provide a profound framework for our hard-core work? What does it mean here that the “fifth element” of Hip-Hop is knowledge, according the Universal Zulu Nation? We were so academically ill that a lazy, ignorant set of folk could ill-afford to find out. Around mid-term, thirty-plus students and I were set to analyze three texts in one session: (1) a song-skit from Lil’ Kim’s sophomore solo album; (2) an article called “Law and Disorder” by Dasun Allah and J.F. Ratcliffe on government surveillance of rappers; and (3) an “open letter” by Sylvia Wynter, a powerhouse intellectual critic. Her title was “No Humans Involved.” She examines the “N.H.I.” acronym used by Los Angeles police officers—around the time of the Rodney King beating–to refer specifically to Black and Latino youth: “No Humans Involved.” She asks all her colleagues, at Stanford University and beyond, who is in charge of the system of knowledge in which such practices make sense? Who is in charge of changing this intellectual regime in which not only “America” but “humanity” is characterized in white and middle-class terms? The piece by Allah and Ratcliffe (which was first published in The Village Voice–by Allah–and then revised for republication in The Source with Ratcliffe), it called to mind a new phrase: “Rap COINTELPRO.” This refers to the FBI’s de-classified “counter-intelligence program” that violently destabilized the Black liberation movement of the 1960s and ’70s. Now, from New York to Miami and Los Angeles, rappers are openly subject to systematic surveillance like the organized activists of old. As head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover said Black youth must be shown that “the only revolutionary is a dead revolutionary,” an infamous line that omits exile and prison as other options, of course. Finally, there is Lil’ Kim, of Hip-Hop Revolution: “Pardon me, Your Honor/May I approach the bench?/They’re trying to assassinate me/Like they did to Larry Flynt/Uh-hum. Excuse my persona/I may be hard-core/But I’m not Jeffrey Dahmer!” Enough said. This was a brilliant response to the roar created by her classic debut, Hardcore. There were lovers as well as typically hypocritical haters. This was when her persecution was strictly rhetorical, or verbal, a trial of bourgeois public opinion. Gorged with double standards, the puritanical moralists said–in public, at least–she was a “bad woman,” as if this weren’t the highest compliment paid her foremothers in Black folklore and the Blues. How far removed from Black history and consciousness they must be. Lil’ Kim makes it beautifully clear to anyone who is not committed to illiteracy in the language and literature of Hip-Hop: “Big Momma Queen B***h” overturns male domination, lyrically, and rigid, homophobic gender identity on record–way more effectively than any elite Women’s or Gay & Lesbian Studies program in academia. Her whole system of rhymes radically redistributes power, pleasure and privilege, always doing the unthinkable, embracing sexuality on her kind of terms. So she is more “controversial” than Dahmer, the white cannibal who fed on Black flesh? Her statement about “moral crusades” and “criminal justice,” that it is more “criminal” than “just,” this could be no more clear and in the tradition of Hip-Hop. But art becomes “evidence” in the prosecution of emcees, who have always argued that the system is itself gangster; or that it makes prosecution and persecution indistinguishable. Why was it important for a U.S. court to try Lil’ Kim for “perjury,” of all things (i.e., not complying with the “unquestionable” state, allegedly), To do so, it mobilized fears of “violence” that the Patriot Acts do not allow in the case against U.S. militarism, state repression, imperialism, etc. This was certainly a test-case for “Law and Disorder,” or the so-called “Hip-Hop Cops,” and the use of lyrics and music videos in courtrooms as opposed to classrooms. It is certainly a hit on the much-needed justice her art represents, to the fullest, the “sexual-poetic justice” which was a great theme of our course. The conviction is meant to hide state repression, state lies and COINTELPRO injustice; and by “state” I mean “the government” (as when Public Enemy rapped, “I got a letter from the government/I opened it, and read it/It said they were suckers!”). There will be no corporate media coverage of this perspective on the state: The New York Post asked me for my perspective, as the professor of the collegiate course on Lil’ Kim; but since I gave it to them, I’ve never heard back from them again. Will sexism or sexual conservatism be a “Trojan Horse” for the government that would scapegoat her as an effective strategy for locking up Hip-Hop in general? We see recycled certain old stereotypes here about Black women and “lies,” especially Black women who do not conform to white racist codes of sexual repression, as if this conviction could possible represent “justice.” Despite all the reports of 50 Cent’s ties to the NYPD, not to mention Eminem’s Secret Service agent security guards, any Hip-Hop that lacks the vision to see through state lies is not the real thing; any Hip-Hop that is too afraid to resist state lies and Rap COINTELPRO is fake as hell. This case was not about “perjury” at all, no more than the U.S. in Iraq is about “liberation.” It’s about whether or not we cooperate with state power, however illegitimate, and this includes its power to persecute us–as usual. It is about the power of the government to criminalize and imprison us along […]

The following is an educated opinion with a few references of common sense so if you are offended…you should read it twice. I am responding to the article, “Lil’ Kim: The Ladies Speak up on Verdict”. While the well written display of solidarity is pleasing and Lil’ Kim’s situation may provoke sympathy, we can not let ourselves displace blame. She made a choice and now faces the consequences. Let’s call it what it is. She tried to play the legal system and despites her honorable intentions, crapped out. Stuck a nerve? Let’s be real. We know the world we live in. We have to set aside delusions that the system is responsible when we knowingly break the rules. Knowing the system has rarely shown us favor… word to MJ, if you put your ass out there…should we really shed tears for you. Charge it to the game, but the consequences are yours to bear, even if they are yours alone. It’s like how cats on my block do ‘hand to hand’ in broad daylight with no regard that cops make 50 grand a year to arrest them … it’s their own fault. But ask one of them when he is locked down and you’ll hear how the system made them do it. We have to take responsibility for choices. Our parents didn’t accept society making us do the wrong things as an excuse when we were children so how credibly can these same words fall from the mouths of grown ass men and women. To say the system made you do it undermines your ability to think for yourself. So who makes your decisions? That’s what I thought. Do I respect the fact she chose not the snitch on her friends at the time? Of course, but I don’t feel sorry for her. She chose to bear these consequences knowing that there was a possibility that she would be convicted. Unfortunately, she would not receive reciprocity from those she sought to protect. She thought taking on the legal system was a team sport, but according to the testimony given, it was every man for his self. Accept it, Lil Kim chose this. Blame the men who were shooting. Blame the artists who snitched on her. You can even blame her for not knowing her friends from her enemies. However, to blame the system is to belittle her sacrifice in name that something that most hold dear….loyalty. Kim will always be the Queen Bee and however misguided her loyalty, she proved one thing my pops told me when I was a child. All women ain’t b######, but a lot of men are.

When Black blood soaks into American soil, money sprouts up. Since America was first created, much of its wealth has been rooted in Black Death. The Trans-Atlantic slave trade, made this nation stronger than it could have ever imagined and is the base of all the economic success it achieved since 1865 (when slavery was abolished). For several hundred years Black men and women were raped, hung, tortured at the whim of their owners and discarded at the bottom of creeks and rivers through the south. All the while their free labor was setting the economic foundation for the earth we walk on today in North America. During the Jim Crow, Civil Rights and Black Power struggles we saw it again. The murders of Malcolm X, MLK Jr., Medgar Evers, Lil Bobby Hutton, Fred Hampton and Emmit Till were a source of income yet again. The media made a lot of money capturing footage of the struggle for African Americans to be recognized as equal citizens of this nation. They sell us back the footage in documentaries and t-shirts. Black America buys its own death right back in any form it can-accept books. Now we see it again with Hip-Hop. Black Death is big business. We can only speculate how much Interscope and Death Row Records have made from the death of Tupac Shakur. Surely they made more loot than when Pac was alive. We can only wonder how much Arista profited after the death of Notorious B.I.G. Virtually every rap magazine makes sure they can rake in the profits with an annual Pac and B.I.G. issue. Never mind the fact that most of these mags are a core reason these men died. It was in many respects the irresponsible Hip Hop press that threw gasoline on the deadly rap flame. Now there are all kinds of merchandise, t-shirts, hats, cell phone cases etc. that generate untold millions. Looking forward, we see blood on the horizon for Game and 50 Cent. As we sit in the quiet before the storm, I can only speculate which T-shirt companies have their new “RIP Game” and “RIP 50” shirts already designed. I imagine many of the Hip-Hop press outlets are putting the final touches on their memorial covers. Anybody with old footage of Game and 50 (pre or post fame) is making sure the sound is tight and the clarity of the picture is all in order. DJ’s are making their super duper memorial mixtapes. Radio keeps pushing idle talk and unfounded rumors about who said what, did what and when. The feast is being prepared and Game and 50 are the main course…The money vultures circle this “beef” looking for their cut. Whether you are a thug, or just want to look like one, there is a way you can get you money out of this feud if you play your cards right. Often what we miss in America but in Hip-Hop specifically is that these are real men. The hype can be blinding at times. But these are human beings – men with families, children and histories. They love people, and people love them back. Hip-Hop is just a stance of their journey as Black men on this earth, in this day that we live. Rap music can no longer be the excuse we use as to why Black men die in the street. Hip Hop has gone from a non-violent reaction to racism, economic and cultural oppression to being a key factor in why Black women lose their sons. The leaders of the white corporate run Rap industry are the core culprits in the shift of the non-violent dynamic to the murderous one we see today. They have turned their backs to life affirming rap and chose to promote much of what we see today on MTV, BET and on the radio outlets across the planet. Even if Black people were making all the money- the mind state is still disgusting. I have no idea to what degree Game and 50 are furious at one another. I don’t have a clue as to the real reason they have issues right now. But trust me when I tell you that there are TV outlets, magazines, t-shirt companies, cell phone ringtone and film companies are literally banking on their death to make money. Blood money is the new cash cow of the rap industry. I hope these brothers wake up. I hope they can squash it and just keep it on wax. If they don’t, the rap industry vultures will feast on the carcasses of these Black men- yet again.

Has the American Dream for cream been masked over top of Dr. King’s? These days unity between the races is easy to see, but is it truly the vision of he who gave his life for the civil rights movement? Nowadays, it’s not uncommon to see White and Black hands held together… only they’re clasping grands in partnerships that often exploit our worst behaviors. What part of King’s dream had us providing entertainment in exchange for the flashy ‘chains’ and ‘whips’ of PC enslavement? What part of his vision foresaw the very soul of our people as an emblem for others to dangle from a chain on their chests? We may have many successful and positive businessmen and entrepreneurs; but for every positive that exists, more negatives are portrayed in the media. But the media can’t portray material that’s not put out by the source first. The irony of it all is that to truly keep the dream alive – we need to wake up first. “Requiem for a Dream Deferred” a.k.a. “The Wakeup Call” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Proctored a spark in the future esteem of freedom pursuers. Freed from subduers, the dream’s being neutered by newer blockades. Today’s obstacles make me wonder if it was worth it – For the rights of our people mean nothing if we can’t preserve it… Sold cheap in street circuits – they’re choked by looser noose knots and chains. No longer behind the scenes, Black folks get light lime and heavy cream While Whites lie kindly behind and beneath – from days of slavery, this is an incredible feat! Blacks and Whites now intermingle to enrich pay scales – But at what price do we continue to mix the grayscale… Jacob and Kanye chains may sell – but such jewels evoke an ineffable breach. It’s ironic how King’s envisioned views of how we’d end up Has turned a platonic coexistence into a new dilemma. His prescription’s been delivered at toxic levels. While common economy tells me we had to fight for civil rights – What part of equality’s comes at such a pivotal price?… The part where our autonomy gets ritually slighted by accosting with devils. I wonder if the tone of this noble fella would’ve turned hurtful If he’d known vanilla ice would melt into his own fraternal circle – White out stains Alpha’s Jewels eternal within its prestigious walls! Our fraternities formed out of a lack of resources To become a safe haven for Black recourses… So how does a shield against anti-Black forces now consort with such an egregious flaw?!! I’m not on some Booker T./Black Panther revolt. Even Malcolm X left that answer revoked. I know that among God’s grander yolks, there can be no discrimination. Jesus died to end such deeds of separation. So I’ve got no reason to deny His desegregation… But I can’t help my deep-seeded hesitation – rooted in the 60’s vivid scenes of civic demonstrations. Forty years of an ongoing march – Yet even for these tears, I know I’ve not done my part. In 2000, voting wasn’t once embarked, but I complained on a regular basis. I allowed injustices in slack-jawed offices To keep me disgusted in the acts of Congress’… Forget Black caucuses – my causes were marauded by secular hatred. As disdain hastily drove what I was often ignited and infused with, I wasted the souls laid in coffins of righteous movements. Dr. King’s life wasn’t designed for amusement – yet we take it lightly everyday. If he could’ve seen our wasteful disintegration, Would he have fought so hard for racial integration Just to see us become so faithful to assimilation – as we sacrifice Black anthems for the ways gray medleys pay? Just because we can achieve the impossible, Doesn’t mean we’re no longer responsible. We should cultivate the best traits possible before letting the world merge with our worst feet first. But instead, we let vultures borrow the product Of our culture’s most sorrowful conduct… Giving praise to the hollow constructs that media circuses seek first. In the wake of King’s dream – this is horrible nonsense. We can’t keep exploiting ourselves without moral conscience. Some seem to have forgotten what our struggles were all about. Too busy taking care of self, We lay with snakes in snares of wealth… Trading a visionary’s travails for a dream of greed that reeks of troubled clout. What we need now is sleep-deprivation. There’s a better dream out that needs better representation. If the rest of us would just awaken, we could grasp Martin King’s deep words. But until we can remain true to our own worth By resisting the urge to dilute our souls dispersed… Maybe we ought to totally disown it to preserve a martyr’s dream deferred. * ‘Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries… But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.’ – Jude 1:8; 10-13 KNJV **DJP**

I always thought it was interesting that with all of the discussion about Jay-Z taking over the helm at Def Jam, that there was so little talk about how odd it was that J was picked for that post and not Damon Dash. Wasn’t Dame the ‘sword’ of the ROC, the business yin to Jay’s creative yang? Nas’s proclamation on “Ether” that Jay-Z was Biggie to Dame‘s Puffy was hurled as an insult but contained much more than a kernel of truth. Even though he would hate to admit it, Damon Dash is a Hip-Hop executive molded more after Sean Combs than Russell Simmons. Flamboyant, abrasive, unabashedly capitalistic and more than a touch of repressed artist, made oh so clear by his face time in Roc-A-Fella videos. To Dame’s credit, outside of a few skits his vocal contributions to Roc-A-Fella Records were few and far in between. This may be more attested to the fact that Dame never wore the hat of producer as Puffy did/does. So how is it that when Roc-A-Fella sells its remaining equity to the Def Jam behemoth Dame is not granted the executive post? Was he not interested? Did he resent the sale altogether? Did Jay and/or Biggs force his hand? Was he burnt out? Possibly. I believe that the position was simply not offered to him. By buying the Roc-A-Fella brand and its catalog and keeping the golden goose from jumping ship to Warner Bros with Lyor Cohen, Def Jam got to have its cake and eat it too. What made it sweeter was the ability to separate Biggie from Puffy or Jay from Dame. You get the talent, the inspirational leader, the best MC in the game (retired or not) and you leave the shark behind. Now it is important that I preface this hypothesis with a generous dose of humility. I was not privy to any inside discussions. This is simply my opinion that is wide open to criticism. There is no doubt that Damon Dash is an effective leader, inspiring entrepreneur and a man whose name will be recorded in the Hip-Hop Archives. He is much more than a one trick pony. Although other Roc artists have not generated sales anywhere near Jay, Freeway, Beanie Siegel, Cam’ron and Kanye have produced excellent and very profitable albums. This is to take nothing away from him as a business or an individual. I write this to make the point that nice guys usually finish first. The tough as nails, in your face leader is disproportionately lauded in Hip-Hop while the quiet leader is too often overlooked. There have long been rumblings that the powers that be at Def Jam have wanted to separate Jay from Dame. This has as much to do with Def Jam’s corporate greediness as with the victims Dame has left in his wake. His direct management style is highly effective in the short term, but I question its long term survival rate. I like to call people with that management style, “sharks.” They never rest and are always out for the kill. If they do not have fresh blood in their system they feel they are not doing their job. While Dame’s flamboyant nature is modeled after Puff, his shark nature is modeled after former Def Jam ruler and current Warner big dog Lyor Cohen. It is no secret that Lyor ruled Def Jam with an iron fist. And he got results. I once witnessed one of his mythical tirades in the old Def Jam offices on Varick Street. At the tim,e one of the members of Def Jam’s in house design team, The Drawing Board, was doing some freelance work for our group at the time, The Unspoken Heard. It was about a week away from Christmas, and we were finishing the artwork for their second single. I came by at the end of the day to tweak an image or two. It just so happens that this was also the day of the year end Def Jam staff meeting. After about an hour of Photoshop work an unidentified employee whizzed by the office with an announcement, “Lyor wants everybody in the conference room.” There was brief acknowledgement but no call to action. We continued to make sure my name was spelled on the credits. Ten minutes later, employee #2 pokes a head and in an exasperated breath calls, “Yo, Lyor wants everybody in there now!” and disappears. This was greeted with a decision to wrap up my impromptu design meeting to reconvene after the meeting. About 90 seconds, the six foot Israeli general of Def Jam stepped into the office and boomed, “I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU MOTHERF***ERS TO GET IN THE GOD***N CONFERENCE ROOM!” Never again in my life have I ever seen grown men move so fast. In ten seconds, the entire Drawing Board office was abandoned. I may have gotten a ‘Peace Wes’ before I was left to my own devices. Honestly, I was so shook that I can’t remember. I was more concerned about being tossed out by security for improperly visiting the kingdom of Lyor. By the time I realized what happen, I was all alone in the office with over six figures of equipment and mock-up of the original Belly artwork as well as the [then] top secret new DMX artwork. If I wasn’t such a righteous individual my wife would have had a much better Christmas that year. Instead I gathered my Rawkus record bag and my Unspoken Heard proofs, and walked to the A Train. There was no security, no receptionist, not a single warm body to let me out. They were giving their rapt attention to their CEO. A lot of people talk about power and respect, but that day I saw more than that from Lyor. I saw fear. That style, because of its ability to turn immediate and tangible results, was adopted in various ways by many a Def Jam disciple such as Chris Lighty, Dante […]

In 2005, many political minded folks in the Hip Hop community are still spinning from the results of the 2004 elections. Many cats are still walking around depressed and angry. I see people talking about quitting. Politics is long term, and if you thought Hip Hop folks would change the world with one election- you were trippin’.   We took a great step forward in 2004. But it was still a baby step. Real politics is real long term. So we need to put in work NOW, if we plan to see anything different in 2008.  Plus there are other smaller elections in between that time. So we need to get moving. Here are some simple steps you can take to move things forward in 2005.   1. Agree to read 6 books this year about political or social issues important to you.   My main struggle may not be your main struggle. But if you are really about electoral politics, or the environment, or prison issues you need to do your homework. Pick a cause and read about it. Then you bring that info to the table when issues come up. Remember, Hip Hop is only informed as you are. So get your knowledge on and kick real info at the conversations- not just opinions.         2.   Slow down on the rap videos and take in a few political talk shows, and radio shows.   We all love Luda’s “Stand Up” and Mos Def’s “Ghetto Rock”. But how about drinking one or two less glasses of Alize and Gorilla Milk on Saturday night. That way you can wake up with enough clarity on Sunday to watch shows that will give you insights on key political issues of the day . I suggest Hardball and Meet the Press for starters. You might feel a bit outta the loop at first but keep watching. I also suggest picking up lectures by people you like. They could be old speeches by Malcolm X, Che, or Huey Newton, John Henrike Clark, Dr. Ben, Hamza Yusuf, Zaid Shakir, – whoever interests you. They could also be video’s of speeches by spiritual and social leaders of your local area. Talk radio is also a good way to peep out what people are thinking in your area. In my area I like Davey D’s  Hard Knock Radio. It’s pretty liberating to learn that the TV can be used for more than “dropping it likes its hot”.      1.   Take the time to improve one thing about yourself this year.   Lets face it, we all need work. Some of us talk too much and listen too little (I’m one of those people). Some of us need to work on being nicer to strangers. Others need to get fit (LOSE THAT GUT!!). Some need to read more- whatever. The point is that if you take this time out, you’ll see how hard it is for people to CHANGE. Once you see that, hopefully it’ll make you be more compassionate with others when you look for quick changes in them. It builds patience inside and out.   1. Choose someone as a mentor, and be a mentor to someone younger than you.   One of the problems I see in the Hip Hop and Black and Brown communities especially- is a lack of going to the elders. This is a HUGE mistake. Because we can get a lot of perspective from our uncles, aunts, parents, grandparents and even the people who live across the hall from us. They saw how previous wars, elections etc., went down. They can help us to not make some of the mistakes they made in the past. Also, once you know something, be sure to kick it to someone younger than you. It costs you no money to care about someone else. So, invest.   1. Do some homework and join a political/social organization.   In the Hip Hop community we got HSAN, the National Hip Hop Convention folks, Project Islamic H.O.P.E., the League of P##### off Voters, lots of people are putting in work different ways. Some of it is purely political, some of it is social activism, some of it is strictly college based. The point is that its easy to sit on the sidelines and talk about what groups could or should be doing to make things better for the people. Also, don’t be afraid to join the Democratic Party, Republican Party (y’all know I’m not checkin’ for Reps.- but I gotta be fair), Green Party- whoever. But YOU won’t know what needs to be done until you put in some time hands on for yourself. Like James Brown and Maceo say- GET INVOLVED!!!   Adisa Banjoko is author of the controversial book “Lyrical Swords Vol. 1: Hip Hop and Politics in the Mix”. Buy one now at www.lyricalswords.com !!  

Below is my official response to many ‘questions’ or rebuttals emailed to me.  As of now, I’ve received over 800 emails of varying thoughts and opinions on my article.  I appreciate all of them regardless of their content.  The public debate has begun and that’s most important. In order to respond to ALL of you who’ve taken time out of your day to both read and respond to me, it’s easier to offer you this message first.  I ask that you read it in its entirety and then let’s discuss the issue if you so choose further afterwards.  This is about furthering the discussion, not answering the same questions repeatedly with no progress. These are my general responses and hopefully will give you better insight into where I am coming from. Respectfully, Morris __________________________________________________________________ 1. Have you spoken to Nas since the story broke? No.  No one from Nas’ camp or the rapper himself has reached out to extend the conversation or offer an opinion in response of the article. I am aware that some radio stations are discussing the issue (the record and the article) in the days since. 2. Why do you feel that some people have a negative reaction to your views? Some people reffered to you as the new Bill O’Reilly. I’ve heard the ‘Bill O’Reilly’ comment on a number of occasions. Actually it’s more flattering than anything.  I don’t admire anything that O’Reilly has to say, but you can’t question his journalism.  He asks tough questions and you know where he stands.  It’s not about agreeing, it’s about discourse.  Of course he has an ‘agenda’ along Republican Party lines, (I’m a staunch Democrat) but know that for what it is and make your own assessment outside of that.  You can respect someone for what they have to say and not buy into it.  The problem is, often times people speak without researching their topic or supporting information.  They respond emotionally and not with measured reason.  Far too often, people in Hip-Hop argue with their heart and not their head.  Not unlike when Kobe was accused, Kobe fans came out of everywhere proclaiming his innocence when in truth they had zero knowledge of Kobe the man or the case against him.  Now…1.5 years later, the public perception has changed considerably (as a whole) about Kobe, even though Kobe himself hasn’t changed.  Why…they’re better informed. The same will go on when you challenge a Hip-Hop idol on any level, regardless of whether the truth is on the idol’s side.  It’s been less about the validity of my argument and more about the preposterousness of debunking Nas.  It’s not an emotional issue, it’s a logic issue…one in which the truth, facts and history are not on Nas’ side. Regardless of how talented and brilliant on occasion Nas may be, on this issue, he’s incorrect for the many reasons I’ve listed. How people compare that to Bill O’Reilly singling out Ludacris I’m not exactly sure…other than the obvious, one man daring to speak out against a Hip-Hop idol.  I personally can’t stand Bill O’Reilly, but that’s separate and distinct from acknowledging what he does as a journalist.  I’m also smart enough to know that regardless of what he or any other journalist says, you have to research history and truth for yourself and not take ‘entertainers’ (as O’Reilly is also one) at their word.  This same type of debate I have with Nas supporters on this issue I have with Bill O’Reilly supporters.  It’s not about an ‘agenda’ it’s about facts, truth and history.  Bill O’Reilly himself is a major hypocrite too.  I play no favorites.  If you are aware of my body of work  then this is evident. But I can say that I can wax and wane on both sides of issues because I’ve taken the time to inform myself.  If the primary source of information for yourself in this debate is Nas or another rapper and not a history book or reputable news source…you’re proving my point immeasurably. 3. Why was Nas singled out for the track? Nas was speaking on issues that in my opinion he was ill-prepared to address.  We don’t go to doctors who’ve not studied their subject considerably, we don’t buy houses (hopefully) without first checking the foundation in which they were built.  The messenger is just as important as the message in this case. For example, the issue of family values is relevant.  But to be ‘lectured’ to by Michael Jackson, R. Kelly or even Scott Peterson on the importance of family values would be a bit much to bear.  The fact is that if you as an individual are in effect contributing to the problem on any level, you need to understand that your opinion on that problem is suspect if you’re not including yourself in the naming the problem. I say that to say, of COURSE it matters that Black men may be choosing other women in a higher percentage these days.  Of COURSE it matters that Tiger Woods may not claim his heritage like WE (including me) would like.  But to say that Tiger Woods is MORE of a problem to our community or ‘less of a hero’ than people who debase and demean our women is just simply wrong on too many levels.  That, and I have a problem with being lectured on issues that a person hasn’t done his/her homework and hasn’t thought the problem completely through.  His opinion wasn’t well informed.  You can’t devalue education personally and try to ‘educate’ the masses globally.  The clearest example of why was in his inaccuracy of portraying history. 4.What is your definition of a sell-out? My definition would be, a person who does overt harm to his race and disregards the overwhelming repercussions in a premeditated way.  For example, Baltimore Ravens running back Jamal Lewis may consider himself Black, only date Black women and the like… But the fact that he was arrested and convicted for the distribution […]

While “Ants at Nas’ Coon Picnic” raises some thoughtful and persuasive critiques of the rapper’s diatribe against “sellouts” in media and entertainment, the author’s fundamental premise is flawed, his opinion misinformed, and his tone quite elitist. Morris O’Kelly deserves kudos for pointing out the factual errors in “These Are Our Heroes.” Nas, by saying on wax “whatever happened to Weezy/the Red Foxxes?/never won Emmys but were real to me,” misinformed many unaware listeners, who might use him as a reference in an argument or conversation and get embarrassed when their audience points out they’re wrong. Mr. O’Kelly deserves even more kudos for pointing out that Nas’ praise of Weezy, Red Foxx, and, presumably, their contemporaries are definitely problematic. In the minds of a great deal of people, these actors were the “coons” of their era. The rapper’s unqualified remark ignores the fact that Red Foxx and Isabel Sanford arguably reinforced pernicious stereotypes about blacks in their respective roles. The lyrics also ignore the fact that the black community was sorely ambivalent about the TV portrayals Foxx, Sanford, and others provided for mainstream consumption. Perhaps the strongest point in Mr. O’Kelly’s critique is his assertion that Nas’ clearly calling out non-rappers for buffoonery, but only dissin’ other artists subliminally on the track is somewhat hypocritical and opportunistic. It’s kind of unfair to mention the WB and UPN in a discussion about “cooning,” when Lil Kim is runnin’ around with blue contacts, blonde weave, fake breasts, and is a ‘hood poster-girl for Old Navy. Despite these worthwhile merits, the author’s primary argument- (in his own words) “our castigation of fellow African-Americans for supposedly not being ‘Black enough’ [is] usually misguided…if not all-out wrong…[Nas] is a case in point”- is fallacious. The MC’s observation that Tiger Woods, Taye Diggs, Cuba Gooding, Jr., and Kobe Bryant are sellouts is correct! Mr. O’Kelly weakly tries to dispute this observation by highlighting what he thinks is a contradiction in Nas’ logic. The author wrongly assumes that the rapper’s beef with Tiger, Taye, and Cuba is solely that they have white wives. He says sarcastically, “I get the joke. The common thread here is that all three have White wives.” He then tells readers that the real heroes Nas suggests we emulate (eg. Jim Brown, Stokely Carmichael) had relationships with white women too, thus the rapper’s reference to Tiger and ‘em as sellouts is bogus, or inaccurate at least. So happy that (he thinks) he has sonned Nas, Mr. O’Kelly asks an irrelevant rhetorical question: “[since Richard Pryor married a few white women], was [he] ‘less real’ to you, Nasir, than Red Foxx?” He even says arrogantly in a following line, “I’m beginning to think you’re not even sure what point you’re trying to make.” The problem is Nas’ admiration of Jim Brown, Stokely Carmichael, et al, who also had penchants for white women, is easily reconciled with his disgust with the three jiggaboos in question. The theme of “These Are Our Heroes,” as the title so obviously implies, is that “our heroes,” the few blacks that have achieved fortune and fame in the mainstream, are not saying or doing enough for the advancement of black people, especially those of us that reside in the ghetto. Why the pompous author missed the whole point of the song and believed that Nas dissed Tiger, Taye, and Cuba just because they had white partners, I can only speculate. Not everyone is preoccupied wit’ white folks. Jim Brown, Stokely Carmichael, Red Foxx, even Richard Pryor, who the author also mentioned, all were clamorous about the racism and relative poverty that African-Americans still endure, despite the personal hardships such outspokenness brought them. Jim Brown’s grassroots organizing efforts are well known. Stokely Carmichael’s work on behalf of black folk is nearly legendary. Red Foxx and Richard Pryor both became famous for stickin’ it to mainstream America. In contrast, Tiger Woods will not even publicly acknowledge he is black, never mind say anything about anything or do anything substantial for the rest of us. (Can you pronounce Cablanasian?) What else has Taye Diggs done concertedly for blacks besides pave the way for other, similar-pigmented actors to participate in scripted interracial relationships on screen? Cuba Gooding, Jr. embarrassed us all by literally doing a back flip for winning an Oscar, for best supporting actor of all honors, for a grossly offensive role in Jerry Maguire. (Show me the money!) Media outlets everywhere captured his unbridled hysteria with snide humor long after the end of the ceremony. His shall indefinitely remain the most undignified, dare I say, stereotypically slavish award acceptance. Kobe Bryant, who has not exhibited any solidarity with his fellow (mostly black) ballplayers until late, mentioned another black man’s name in a police interrogation room. (They call that snitchin’ where I come from!) He intentionally slandered his own teammate, Shaq, without provocation; while completely aware of the consequences his allegations could have on the latter, even if false. In other words, he nearly marred another black man’s persona in order to deflect attention away from himself. What could be more slavish, more “coon” than that- tellin’ M#### bout da otha field hands to keep da whip off of ya own back ‘n earn da ova see’as good graces? Again, how Mr. O’Kelly missed the obvious juxtaposition of the “heroes” and the “villains” of the track is somewhat mesmerizing. Perhaps, the message eluded the author because he ostensibly is not a fan of Nas or rap music in general. Anyone who would write and have published the words, “You [Nas] specifically and Hip-Hop historically have not [held education in high esteem],” obviously knows nothing about the MC or his genre. He must not have listened to or understood “The World Is Yours,” “Poison,” “The American Way,” among other songs by Nas, which would also explain his simplistic, inaccurate depiction of Nas as a misogynist. Who else nowadays would release “I Know I Can” as one of only two singles from his LP? Mr. O’Kelly […]

Very recently, I asked the question as to what is a “sell-out” in today’s world. The premise of the article was to find a common ground as to the moral center of the African-American ideology and also expose the historical double-standard of how the term ‘sell-out’ has been applied over generations. In the end, I surmised that often times our castigation of fellow African-Americans for supposedly not being ‘Black enough’ was usually misguided…if not all-out wrong. Case in point… There has been much discussion about the song, "These Are Our Heroes (Coon Picnic)” by rapper Nas. You can imagine where this is going. I waited to see how the Hip-Hop community would address it first. Would this record be embraced, disregarded or met with a response somewhere in between? Would Nas be categorized as a ‘conscious MC,’ who ‘said what needed to be said’ or would he be found ‘out of turn’ for his remarks? Nas is a brilliant lyricist, without qualification. He is an exceptionally talented and passionate writer with a sincere emotional bond with his people. In short, there are few negatives that you can say about Nas in relation to his contributions to Hip-Hop. (Notice I used the word ‘few,’ not zero). I’m here to also tell you…NAS is incredibly way off base with his recent audio monologue on who supposedly is and is not a ‘coon.’ How dare he… No, he’s in way over his head and way out of his league. That, or just trying to sell records like the “pickaninnies” as he termed them in this song. Either way, I have a big problem with Nas trying to “enlighten” the masses on who is or is not ‘Black enough.’ Nas, has no business trying to persuade others as who he thinks is more or less in alignment with the idea of a ‘real’ African-American. Of course I’m going to break it down why. Granted, this is a free country in terms of expression and yes, everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion. But neither of the aforementioned in any way validates or justifies the level of hypocrisy and ill-informed rhetoric that Nas spits on this occasion. For far too long, our young people have been too easily swayed tend to think that simply because it’s on our ‘favorite rapper’s mind’ it’s somehow relevant or even more incredibly, factual. Sorry, but that’s just not the case. Let’s took a closer look at what Nas has to say… “Let’s hear it, one for the coons on UPN 9 and WB Who "yes M####" on TV What ever happened to Weezy? The Redd Foxxes? Never got Emmys but were real to me” (sigh) See, that’s the first problem I have with this record. If you are going to ‘lecture’ the masses, the first prerequisite is to be factually correct. ‘Weezy,’ Isabel Sanford won an Emmy in 1981. He mentioned ‘The Redd Foxxes,’ i.e. Black comedians of that era. Redd Foxx contemporary, Flip Wilson won 2 Emmys in 1970 for ‘The Flip Wilson Show’ but was also highly criticized for the supposed renewing of black stereotypes in the variety show. Already, Nas’ viewpoint is pretty shaky and flawed from the beginning. Not only were the ‘real’ African-Americans (as he put it) actually winning Emmys, they were also receiving considerable flack for the roles in which they won them. Know thy history… I understand what point he is trying to make. The many ‘Black’ shows on UPN and WB networks today seem more like minstrel shows than television shows. There’s some merit to that and must be acknowledged. At the same time, to ridicule the shows on television today, yet have NOTHING to say in reference to the buffoonery in Hip-Hop music and videos is hypocrisy beyond comprehension. To criticize shows that DON’T refer to us as –ggas and/or –tches, yet not even mention his own albums past and present that DO, seriously undercuts the strength of his argument. And just FYI, the “Meth & Red Show” (FOX) was far worse than anything EVER on UPN and WB, put together. Nas’ selective amnesia must also be noted here. Turning a blind eye to everything reprehensible in Hip-Hop yet speaking out on the ‘ills’ of the hurtful imagery in media is borderline laughable. Moving right along… Nas spends the whole first verse of the song abusing Kobe Bryant. I can’t even begin to reprint the lyrics in all of their vulgarity here, but here’s a sample… “From OJ to Kobe or let’s call him Toby First he played his life cool just like Michael Now he rock ice too just like I do Yo, you can’t do better than that? The hotel clerk who adjusts the bathroom mat? Now you lose sponsorships that you thought had your back Yeah you beat the rap j####### fake -gga you” For everything I dislike about Kobe Bryant, I would never liken him to a sell-out, a j####### or worst of all to an actual slave. But, like I said, everyone is still entitled to their own opinion, even when it’s absolutely ridiculous; as it is in this case. I would respond to Nas that anyone who willingly drops out of school in the 8th grade (such as he did) and ‘grows up’ to call our women –tches and hoes in his ‘job’ (such as he does) probably shouldn’t be pointing the finger at anyone in regards to uplifting or embarrassing African-Americans. And THAT’S real… But I digress… “Tavis Smiley, Michael Eric Dyson, Stokely Carmichael let’s try to be like them Nicky Giovanni poetical Black female Jim Brown to the people who sing well from Fela to Miriam Makeba The mirror says you are the next American leader” I really don’t have any problem with anything Nas says here except the inherent hypocrisy contained therein. All mentioned here are great role models, but none of them would endorse calling each other –ggas and our women –tches. So what’s the point of doing roll call […]

I decided to suggest some resolutions to Hip-Hop’s biggest wigs starting with… Jay-Z, president of Island Def Jam “The industry shady, it needs to be taken over.” Well, Hov my first resolution is for you, because you seem to be the most powerful rapper in the industry. It’s time to put your supremacy where your mouth is. I’m not certain that you knew where you would be career-wise when you wrote that classic Rap line from “H to the Izzo,” but it’s high-time that becomes a prophetic bar. Truthfully, nobody’s been this influential since Biggie or ‘Pac so its time to take your legacy to mythic level like a true Rap god. The songs with Talib, dead prez and the Punjabi MC joint were and indication of your heart’s intent. Now that you are in the heart of the “machine,” what will prevail? Money or The Takeover. So, Def Jam appears to be in a quandary and I’m pretty sure there is going to be compound pressure to produce. We all see that Foxy Brown and Lil’ Wayne have already written their names on the wall. But, try to get back to the basics. Artist development and breaking newbies – not just resigning established emcees. Buck the radio and break the lack of creativity in Rap that you were critical of in Fade To Black. Let artists be themselves, not a construct of a flimsy marketing plan. VH1, television network I admit, I used to hate you VH1. You were promoted to me as the place that wouldn’t roll with Hip-Hop and that offended me many moon ago. Well, seasons change and I have fallen in love with that which I once despised. Some inside the Hip-Hop industry have been critical of you, but my resolution to you it to keep what you are doing. In fact, do more of what you are doing. The Hip-Hop Honors show dwarfed anything that any other Rap-related entity (with all due respect to the other exciting awards shows). I was fortunate enough to attend the ceremony and wallow in the old school heaven that you created this summer. From Flavor Flav and Biz Markie having reality situations to a B-Boy/B-Girl version of your My Coolest Years series – I suggest you show MTV and BET how to do it. R.Kelly, singer It’s pretty evident to me that you just need to leave the young chicks alone. And, stop holding back your talents, because musically you are better than songs about chicks that like the Johnson inside them. The Feds, federal policing agency Here is a resolution for you guys – ARREST SOMEBODY! You keep making these mini, headline making arrests, but you continuously toying with these Hip-Hop cats like The Inc. Meanwhile JMJ/Tupac/Biggie can’t see any justice. Arrest ‘em or leave ‘em alone! DMX, rapper F**k crack, man. That s**t is so Ronald Reagan-era! I remember you DMX. I have all the “best of” mixtapes that featured you and recognized that you were 50 Cent before 50 Cent. Screw these rooty-poot, mascara-wearin’ kitty cat rappers. Dog, get back to your vicious spit game and tell the demons to step the f**k back for a few years. Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane and Rakim You three embody everything that Hip-Hop is, was and should be. Make my year and come out. Nas, rapper Nas, you need to make a couple changes in 2005 as I see it. Stop being (or trying to be) an enigma. With Street’s Disciple, you crafted one of the best albums of the year and arguably the best double CD in Rap’s history. But, while we got an interview with you earlier in the year, you pushed your coveted work of art like it was a Lost Tapes bootleg. Hopefully Kelis’ milkshake can bring Nas out to the yard in 2005. The Game, gang banger and rapper Pledge to stop name-dropping so much. We know you ride with Dr. Dre/Eminem/50 Cent/ G-Unit/ Young Buck/ Interscope/Eazy-E & NWA/Biggie/ Pac and everybody that’s anybody. Damn, homey – Just shine. Eminem, rapper/ mogul Eminem, you represent a lot of things to a lot of people – whether that’s positive or negative. In 2005, I’d like to see you usher some new life into the urban genre like you did years ago. So, when you are signing rappers, leave the gangsta demos at the bottom of the box. Like Jay-Z, you are an artist with influence so let a different sort of artist get Shady. OK, I’ll stop bulls**tin’ you – you can make more white people like REAL, AUTHENTIC HIP-HOP. The underground needs to make more money so we can keep getting good underground records. Say, making those Phoarohe Monch rumors come to life would be a great start. (Do that and I’m like, “What tape?”) Russell Simmons, Sean “P.Diddy” Combs and the National Political Hip Hop Convention You three entities represented the frontlines in the so-called politicization of the Hip-Hop Nation. I was personally disappointed by all of you. Without detailing all that let me down, allow me to progress beyond that and offer some resolutions for each of you. P.Diddy, you are the master of marketing and promotion when it comes to Rap. Hell, I remember when you used the “Big Mack” campaign to push new artists Biggie Smalls and Craig Mack. Since you have already proclaimed that your philanthropic group Citizen Change is going to continue, why don’t you take actual community activists and promote them like rappers? Make the activists popular and therefore the youth will see that they can hobnob with the greats while bettering their surroundings. So, when you had the MTV War Room, you could have hypothetically brought Davey D or Rosa Clemente in with you to kick some facts. For Russell, the same thing applies, but you have got to mend the riff between you and the community, as your New Year’s resolution. Many were pleased with your work against the Rockefeller Drug Laws, […]

I wonder if anybody else has this problem I’m driving down the street listening to Youngbloodz "Damn", a musical masterpiece in my mind, at extraordinarily loud levels. After all, this song is just perfect for riding down the block and knocking pictures off a wall. I’m cruising along, then I notice the street light turns from green to yellow to red. So I start to slow down and then do the unthinkable… …I turn the volume down. I often find myself looking around at the cars around me not wanting to force my music upon them, almost as if I’m ashamed at what I’m listening to. I look for impressionable young kids in the cars or elderly people who might have a heart attack or conniption if they hear Lil Jon scream "YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH" too loudly. I usually only don’t bother to change the volume when the cars surrounding me look like they are being driven by college students or people that might jack me given the right opportunity. This makes me wonder… When did I actually start to care? I literally care about my music nowadays. Youngbloodz don’t give a damn, but you know what? I do. And this brings about my biggest fear. I’m becoming an old head in a young head’s game. People say when you get older you tend to get more conservative. Well, I used to laugh at those people and say, "Ain’t nobody gonna make me change my ways.” If I want to listen to music as loud as I want to at 4am, then it shall be heard at 4am. You know, typical rebellious stuff. And it turns out, nobody made me change up anything…it was all me. Truthfully, I’m even respectful of people now when they get in my car to not play anything they might find particularly offensive. This from a dude whose favorite album is still and will always be NWA’s "EFIL4ZAGGIN." I remember when I was in high school getting kicked out of neighborhoods for driving through and playing my music extremely loud. When I was told to turn it down and leave…I would turn it up and drive off. The thing is…it’s mostly because of the music I’m listening too. Mary Mary doesn’t really lend itself to being played at the highest decibel level you have, nor does Frank Sinatra. Linkin Park does…but you’ll mess around and go deaf listening to that too loud. The only music that tends to lend itself to overly loud consumption is…(drum roll please) hip-hop, which is where we often get in trouble, because really, hip-hop is what we do. This phenomenon bleeds into other areas as well. You just can’t go out with your friends anymore when they all look like they only shop at Banana Republic and the Gap and you look like you shop at AnyGhetto Outfitters, USA or stepped right off a rap video shoot. Happy hour used to be that time when I’d get back to back episodes of A Different World while drinking Kool-Aid…now its an after work stop where I have to be dressed appropriately. This scares me. It’s like I’m getting to old to dress how I want to dress and now I have to start dressing how people who are my age are supposed to dress. For the record, I’m only 25, but the problem comes in when your peers are all these people with degrees and are attempting to make their way in professional society. Professionals tend to "act" a little bit differently. Especially black professionals. It’s almost as if a lot "forget where they come from." (*gasp*) Not that I don’t understand, there does tend to be a different set of rules. I just haven’t let them change me yet…too much. And it affects nearly everybody in the hip-hop generation, male and female. When Tanisha was 18, she didn’t care who saw her drop it like it was hot. Hell, she probably dropped it like it was armageddon. But now she’s 25 and cares about what people see and think. This is a problem facing a lot of us young urban "professionals" nowadays. The gap between what we used to do and what we are now supposed to do. We tend to think that folks who act a donkey on the dance floor now need to grow up…and further, my peers tend to not even go to the kind of places anymore where people would drop it like its hot. And it gets even crazier to think about age 30. Can I dress the way I do now…AT ALL??? I’m not a rapper. Or a ball player. This means that people won’t look at me and not care what I have on, or how loud I play my music. Not sure if its a testament to the lack of intelligent credibility we give these people, but we expect them to do things like that. You know, wear bandanas with tuxedos and only listen to 50 Cent…on the way to church. And yet if I do it, people are really going to be looking at me crazy. Thing is…maybe I’m making this up. Potentially, nobody cares. So why do I care so damn much?? Why is it that now I really pay attention to how loud I’m playing my music and who might be able to hear it…or go out of my way to make sure I’m dressed appropriately for any occasion??? Luckily Jay-Z said, "I don’t wear jersey’s I’m 30 plus/give me a fresh pair of jeans, n**** button-ups…", cuz at least then young males started rocking more (and I hate this term) "grown and sexy" apparel, like I’m supposed to do. I’m just interested in knowing why the hell I care so much now. Why do I worry about being offensive to other people and respecting other people’s space? What changed for me on the inside…is it because I stopped watching BET?? I mean I still listen to the same music, curse […]

"We should be ashamed of ourselves," he said. "Rockefeller drug reform – ha! – I don’t think so." State Sen. Thomas Duane (D-Manhattan) While many are praising the recent reform of the Rockefeller drug laws, many more are not. Although the reform bill will reduce the most severe mandatory sentences for drug offenses, according to data from the New York State Department of Correctional Services, the reform change will affect only 446 prisoners, 15,600 felons imprisoned under the drug law will remain imprisoned. Even with the proposed revisions, New York still has the harshest drug-sentencing laws in the country. According to Donna Lieberman executive director of the New York Civil Liberties, "Absent structural changes to the Rockefeller Drug Laws – which requires restoring to judges the authority to order treatment as an alternative to sentencing – we will not have meaningful reform." According to the NYCLU the new law will leave in place sentencing procedures that give prosecutors authority to charge and sentence. Judges have no discretion over sentencing. Prosecutors can demand a sentence of ten years for an addict with no criminal record who is induced by a dealer to deliver four ounces of a drug to a buyer. A judge who believes justice — and the public interest — would be best served by ordering the defendant to treatment rather than prison is prevented from doing so and if the judge did have discretion to send the person to drug treatment and nowhere in the reform bill is there funding for drug treatment programs. The new law will also do little or nothing to reform the harsh sentences imposed on "B" felons, those charged with lesser drug offenses, the NYCLU said. For example, an individual who is caught with a gram of a controlled substance, but has a prior offense still faces 3 _ to 12 years in prison. The majority of drug offenders serving time in New York prisons are non-violent B felons. So once again the Hip Hop community, who are the overwhelming victims of these drug laws, have been hoodwinked. "It’s because of the artists. There’s no way that it would have happened without the help of Jay-Z and Puffy and all the people who contributed," Simmons told AllHipHop.com. "All those people really worked hard, they pushed, and it’s really the power of hip-hop that made that happen. People came out, it was a big deal." Unfortunately, once again Russell Simmons is wrong, misinformed and his praise of this reform bill has me questioning the relevance of him and his organization. I know that by even critiquing the so called "Hip Hop leader" that I open myself to attacks, some folks will say I am player hating, but what can I do, I am a true Hip Hopper, I try to be a voice for the voiceless and ultimately I am more concerned about the impact of this sham and the 15,600 majority Black and Brown folks that will continue to sit in upstate prisons. As someone who has been part of the campaign to repeal these laws, repeal not reform, I along with many activists are not at all happy with this compromise reform bill. Once again, our elected officials, those that are supposed to serve the interest of the people, have pulled the wool over our eyes, and just at the right time. November 2005 is a huge election year in New York, what a perfect way to appease the electorate. Governor Pataki and other elected officials are up for reelection in 2005, we should remember this betrayal when we go to the election booths. The Governor and his Republican and Democratic cohorts knew they had to do something, and so they did nothing. For over twenty years, activists like Randy Credico, Anthony Pappa, and Elaine Bartlett have fought tirelessly to repeal these laws. Randy director of the Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice and an organizer of the group Mothers of the New York Disappeared said in The New York Times that he is faced with calling many of the group’s members, he said, and tell them their children "are not coming home." In the last five years the Drop the Rock, a coalition spearheaded by Robert Ganagi and the Correctional Association of New York and composed of young community activists, veteran criminal justice reformers, artists, students, former inmates, politicians, and religious, civic, and labor leaders have also worked hard to repeal these draconian laws. What happened in Albany 48 hours ago was a de-service to all the people who dedicated themselves to this movement. So it’s now time to dust ourselves off and dig into the trenches. We should no longer as a community be satisfied, with answers that leave more questions. Amilcar Cabral, leader of the Guinea-Bissau liberation struggle once stated, "Tell no lies, expose lies wherever they are told, mask no difficulties, mistakes nor failures, claim no easy victories." We cannot claim victories that are not real, when Russell stated in the New York times "I am very, very happy" we must ask the question what is he happy about. It is time Hip Hop start speaking truth to power, loudly and clearly, whether we speak loudly to a Governor or a "Hip Hop mogul" the point is that we speak truth, anything less would be a disservice to Hip Hop culture and to the 15,600 brothers and sisters that will stay behind the walls. Rosa Clemente is a Hip-Hop activist, a journalist with WBAI Radio in New York City and a member of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. She can be reached at Knowthyself@mac.com

So what’s the formula for success these days for young rappers trying to make a name for themselves? Is it being able to lyrically finesse and good looks or being politcally correct with good hooks? Nope. Maybe it’s having heavy bass lines laced with lines about leaving the crack game. That’s it – nowadays it seems to be a given that having a criminal record validates an artist. Now I’m not knockin’ those who are trying to beat the odds and the streets by scribing words to beats as their outlet and last hope. I’m knockin’ these unoriginal, talent-lacking artists who see this formula of success and mimic it as a gimmick as opposed to making a name for themselves on their own merit. I mean honestly – what does that say about us if our artists would risk it all (life, liberty and all the lies that make this country so great) by stabbing someone at a televised event for sucker-punching their mentor? I made up this fictitious scenario as an example because it’s so asinine and random that it could never possibly happen in real… oh wait, it did happen. So the real question then becomes this: where does the music and us as a people end up in this vicious cycle? “By Any Means Necessary” a.k.a. “The Diary of a Mad Rapper” Note to self – my goal is wealth. I don’t care if it’s stolen in stealth – I will hold the belt! My flow shouldn’t go unfelt – I should be wearin’ the crown! Dear dairy, I want folks to fear me entirely. I want them to hear my dire deeds… I’m here and dyin’ to breath – give me space in Hip-Hop or I’m tearin’ it down!!! I’ve got a strong bill like Clinton’s presidential payroll. Yet and still, I get my ego parked like some decrepit little Winnebago – So since I’ve got talent out the a-hole with no one willing to say so – I’ll make controversial songs to blow the door open. By any means necessary, I want all eyes on me. It’s up to the public whether it’s by my skills or being ornery… Folks are going to see – my dauntless verses will haunt every person ‘til I get noticed! You don’t have to take my arm and twist it To get me to spit bars that are misogynistic! D*ck and tittie skits are skittish – no one takes them seriously. So what if my lines demoralize women?!! – It’s not like I’m the guy who w##### or despises women… My rhymes just glorify the image – I’m just raping lyrically. What’s wrong with me saying ‘When it comes to el BJ, I’m trying to rise to the top like LBJ – President Johnson – head of state in the oral office!’ It sounds like bad p###, doesn’t it?!! – But despite the topic, there’s mad form under it… Some call it poor judgment – but I choose skills over morals often. When it comes to material things, I’m keepin’ it real – I’m out for the *bling* I’m comin’ out for the rings – forget Ming, I’m talkin’ Bull’s dynasty! Vivid storytelling based in cultural enlightenment? I’d rather get the glory of selling base as a cult hero and heighten it… It’s not like this persona’s my true likeness – it’s just a foolish hype machine. When it comes to negative images – That’s what I’m developin’ in an instant, kid! If I have to, I’ll sell my relatives’ businesses – nothing’s sacred or off limits. I’ve pawned my soul and recollected it on several occasions. It’s even been repossessed by federal agents… Every time I bail out, it helps me sell out with incredible flagrance – that’s why I break laws and scoff at their visits. When it comes to being a role model, you can’t hold me responsible. How I walk doesn’t dictate the road your seed follows. That’s unconscionable – I’m in the spotlight, I can’t see who’s in the audience. I’m living my dream – I ain’t got time to be a parent for y’all! Besides, having a clear conscience is an obnoxious character flaw… I dream in red, white and blue, I’m American y’all – born to actualize gaudiness by capitalizing off tawdriness.

Everytime I turn around now, I see someone bashing another persons faith, race, country or culture. People really think "the world would be better without the Muslims". Or, "The Jews are really trippin’ right now and they are shady". Other times it’s "Whitey’s on a world wide rampage right about now"!!! The next one is like "You can never trust these Nigraz, I mean ‘African American’s’- they are all crooks"!! How foolish we all look. If you allow the worst of those from a race, or a faith to be the representation of the REALNESS of that faith or people- you will have everybody. Why let terrorists videos represent "real Muslims" in your mind more than Malcolm X or Muhammad Ali? If you are talking about Islam today in it’s current state, but you don’t know who Hamza Yusuf, Zaid Shakir and Abdullah Bin Bayyah are, you are out of touch. Why let Sharon be your mark for "realness" of what a Jew really is as opposed to or capable of rather than Peter Z Vogller or David Grossman? I know all kinds of Jews who are beautiful people. But it’s the same thing with race. Why let white American Christians who were slave holders be how you see "real Chrisitans" instead of the Christian abolitionists or white freedom riders from the civil rights era? Why think of Jerry Falwell as more of a "real Christian" than MLK Jr.? The best man I have ever known on this planet is my father. He is Catholic. Why let the Black man who stole your car be the benchmark for Black integrity? Why let some white kid who called you a n##### in school be your measure of all white people? Am I making my point? Every faith and people have their nutjobs and skidmarks. Even Buddhists have had their wackos. Remember that guy in Japan a few years ago who who blew up the trains with the sarin gas? No faith is immune. No culture is immune, no race is immune to having it’s fools. What religion has not been hijacked by evil people at some point? What race does not have it’s absolute scumbuckets thats make us all hang our heads? Is is not the same thing in Hip Hop? All of the mainstream American folks know more negative frames of reference for this sub-culture than positive. They know somebody got stabbed at the Vibe Awards, but they never knew about the B-Boy Summit. They did not make it to the last b-boy jam at the Riekes Center for Human Enhancement. So they missed it when the electricity went out and a live band played jazz breaks while American b-boys and b-girls of all races threw down with their bretheren from Korea, Japan and other countries. Most know Tupac and Biggies lives ended in blood and bullets. But they don’t know how many times Hip Hop has brought people with serious conflict in they hearts together. They don’t know how many murders and suicides have been stopped by Hip Hop. I let the BEST Muslims, BEST Christians and Jews, Buddhists and athiests be the mark by which I judge the REALNESS of their faith. I let the best Hip Hop producers, lyricists, dancers and graf writers show me what the sub-culture is capable of. I think thats why I have come to accept so many people not like me. Even when I don’t agree with them all- I still love them. I also don’t let my disagreements overshadow the the things I respect and admire about them. Right now, there is a conversation happening in another country and someone is saying "Those immoral AMERICANS are at it again"…They are judging us, by what George Bush, Condoleeza Rice and other neo-conservatives are doing. But do they represent the REAL compassion and empathy most Americans have for the rest of the world? We all know the answer to that. At the end of the day all we can do, is TRY to be the best person we are. Be us Christian, Muslim, Jew, White, Black, Latin, Hatian, Hip Hop enthusiast, Spoken word poet, Republican, Athiest, Jazz singer, Democrat, martial artist, Green Party activist- whatever. We have to refine ourselves and give others the space and time to refine themselves as we grow. Only than can we know how real WE are, as human beings. Not just America, but the global family, is at a crucial crossroads. Our ability to BE really human, and find the humanity in others in this age will be the yadstick by which REAL peace, or total war is measured. Good luck in your quest. Adisa Banjoko is the author of "Lyrical Swords Vol. 1: Hip Hop and Politics in the Mix". Buy one today at www.lyricalswords.com.

When Jay Z said back in the day “Streets Is Watching,” obviously beyond the metaphor, he knew that there are few black named streets and cats own no blocks. Surely the fact of the matter he could’ve used when it comes to the rap game the “Kids Is Always Watching” regardless. Now the youth is watching cats 10, 20 and 30 years older than them that appear insane. Amerikkka claps loudest when black folks exhibit our worst. Or should I say white folks have been applauding when black people in public have been terrible. Or perhaps the world is puzzled when Amerikkkans appear to be at an all-time dumbstate. This piece transcends the normal Hip-Hop column, you tell me. From R Kelly-Jay-Z fiasco, the Vibe awards, ODB’s (R.I.P.) treatment after his passing, the Indiana Pacers-Detroit Piston riot…it shows that niggros don’t know how to act and thus are even rewarded with twisted publicity in the process. All of this comes under the fresh 4-year shadow of the second coming of son of a Bush. On the Vibe Awards, as much as I love Mr. Quincy Jones, the magazine has always been a comic rag. The man has done so much, so he shouldn’t feel the need to tell these cats he’s an O.O.G. from Chicago. Let them elevate, because a fake ass gangster don’t appreciate. Dr. Dre, who I’ve known for years, is a nice guy who has co-signed so much niggitive on the black race, how can he not expect that karma to somehow circle around? There’s never peace if you never loved it from jump. And we can’t blame Suge for everything can we? What was going around in Young Buck’s mind stabbing a cat in front of national cameras? Being that he’s signed to 50 Cent, who’s from Eminem ,who’s from Dre, shouldn’t head white man Jimmy Iovine train these people since he stands to profit whether the artist is dead, alive, jailed, or roaming in the so-called streets? I’ve commented on the Shyne debacle of someone who gets a bidding war and a fat contract while doing time as if he absorbed Millennium Robert Johnson twisted blessings. Beanie Sigel does five videos on his way into jail, to keep the streets hot so he can be celebrated when he gets out. Over a million and a half folks in jail, but should the have-nots support rappers or celebrities that do short bids, when many don’t have the opportunity or clarity to see it for what it is? Like who gives a f**k really? The rap entourages become bigger as times become harder, cats show off their excesses more, and bodyguard security gets more massive. Cats are saying all the worst s**t about each other in the press, TV, magazines, recordings, while never doing eye-to-eye anything, because they’re buffered by their well-paid personal armies. You will never see Ja Rule, 50, or JD in your local supermarket picking up some milk for the family, yet they supposed to represent the increasing have-nots, while showing off what they got? Too much dollars time and no sense, had frustrated, burnt out Ron Artest looking for a break from an NBA career to promote his R&B group. It’s because he has to spit what’s on his mind because ESPN’s three 24-hour networks ain’t enough platform for him. Nah, maybe it’s a message to the hood, or I should say black people. A fight is a fight, but the rumble at that Detroit ball game is what the masses of Amerikkkans that re-elected Son of a Bush expect out of the projected, privileged, protected, financed, and endorsed black male. It was as if cats acted out their wildest rap fight, video game, gangster rollin,’ WWF fantasy. And the fans that pay to see the thugworld overlap into the game, get close to their money makin cats in action. It’s as ‘the worst of both worlds’ – rap and basketball – emerged to say that they are no longer enough. And anyone who doesn’t think racism plays in any of this, peep it. The coaches, managers, general executives, record presidents, and of course lawyer’s who MADE them ALL sign a contract, but claim to can’t make them do little else as they profit off them, now start to shake a bit as their high priced slaves seem out of control. They wouldn’t allow many of these cats in their cribs. Neither will many of you that read this piece. Besides they’re the new elitist haves. Why would they give a damn about you “have nots?” It’s a shame that there the complaints about the big “white man” David Stern putting the smackdown on basketball, as the other big “white man” Bush says “WHAT” to Amerikkka, the world, and Democrats way harder than the rap Noreaga. Now with all the ‘zoo’ madness does hip-hop expect a big ‘white man’ to restore order to the form past his profits? You tell me… R. I. P. ODB. My thoughts are that I’d already been saddened since his release from prison. I had heard from inside sources that he had been kind of unstable and that he was signed by the ROC c mp. Just judging from the sources and the interviews he was doing, you could hear cries for help, but don’t let me be the in-retrospector. It’s just that I felt that the Wu Tang camp stabilized him somewhat, and alone it could’ve been a bit cloudy. All this Dirt McGirt talk and Roc-A-Fella trying to ready his release showed the exploitation of an unstable mind and soul. I think just feeding an unstable condition money, and opportunity just isn’t enough to fix s**t without repairing or at least recognizing the ill. Flav was really affected as he was offering his help to ODB and was about to do collab. Let his soul rest…and not make everything seem like entertainment in ones life. Chuck D mistachuck@rapstation.com