Everybody’s confused.  And do you know why everybody’s confused?  They’re confused because nobody knows what they want anymore.    Nobody.   I used to blame record companies for the lack of quality albums that were released.  Then I would blame the artists for selling out for commercial success.  I would complain that I missed that “real” hip-hop.  You know, the post-golden era hip-hop of Pete Rock and CL Smooth actually making good music, or early Black Moon, or basically anything pre-Puffy’s first album Bad Boy.  But I can’t blame artists or record companies at all.    I blame us.  The consumer.  The fan.  The critics.  The hip-hop heads.  Basically, anybody who picks up an album nowadays.  And do you know why?  Because we have NO idea what we want anymore.  We complain about any and everything.  If we get a real street album, then we complain that it doesn’t have any radio singles to make us dance in the club.  If we get a straight club record, we complain that the album forgot about the streets.  If its mostly dance tracks, we complain that the album is only for the ladies.    We want growth, but we want more of the same.  We want the streets, but we want to dance.  We want that “real” (I actually don’t know what that means anymore) hip-hop, but we want some of that new age Neptunes, Timbaland, Swizz Beatz music.  And you know who gets lost in all of this?  The artists get lost.  They don’t know who to make albums for anymore.  I say just make records for the ladies since they are the only ones really shelling out the dough for the latest big name releases, anyway.     In the past three months, we’ve received without a doubt the most explicit examples of this phenomenon known as the confused consumer, courtesy of everybody’s favorite movement, Black Star.  We have the Mighty Mos Def and Talib Kweli.  Both of these cats are emcees worth listening too.  In fact, EVERYBODY checks for Mos Def.  Men, women, hustler, dealer, etc.  Mos is everyman’s rapper.  He can light up the streets or make you think.  That’s a rare quality.  Mos dropped Black On Both Sides in 1999 to critical acclaim and people ate it up.  So what does Mos Def do??  He waits five years to drop The New Danger, an album of growth (good/bad?) and experimentation.  He made an album for himself.  And you know what?  People were confused as hell.  Some critics loved it, some hated it.  There was no middle ground at all.  You either listen to it a lot or not at all.        Campuses across America were wondering what he was thinking with this release.  They wanted more of the Black on Both Sides Mos Def.  They got different but didn’t want different.  So then what happens??  Mos Def sells almost 100,000 copies in his first week.  So let me get this right.  Nobody is sure how to feel about it, but they go out and cop it anyway.  So on everybody’s shelf sits a record that they aren’t sure how they feel about.      Then we have Talib Kweli.  I must say, Talib’s plight has been a hard one.  Coming from out of Mos Def’s shadow is no easy task.  But I’m willing to say that he made it out.  So Talib makes his first solo album Quality and folks were not feeling it.  They liked “Get By” and MAYBE one or two more tracks, but they wanted some of that Reflection Eternal magic, some of  “The Blast” type cuts.  Quality seemed to be more of a personal type album and people weren’t feeling it.  So what does Talib do???   He makes The Beautiful Struggle, an album that is clearly directed at radio and what’s hot right now.  He makes an album for the fans and critics blast it.  He remakes “Get By” into “I Try”, which offended me personally, (talk about taking fans for granted), throws Mary J. Blige on the track and gets some airplay.  And fans STILL blast him.   He gets the hot producers of right now (Kanye, Just Blaze, Neptunes), and the album gets no sales.  Fans want the old Kweli sound, the Reflection Eternal sound.  They want the Kweli that made an album where he said what he felt was important not what the streets want.    Completely…confused.   It happens all over music nowadays.  The only rapper that has consistently given the fans exactly what they want and that the streets can accept is Jay-Z.  In 1996, he told us he was still spending money from ’88.  I believed him.  And in 2004, he’s still got Big Chips.  See, he’s the same ole Jay, different day.  He just manages to come with the fire every time he releases an album, though I myself try to pretend that neither of the Best of Both Worlds, or Dynasty albums exist.  My life is just better that way.   Our confusion has caused the likes of LL Cool J, Snoop Dogg, hell, basically most rappers to give us albums that are, well, crap.  You can’t tell me Nas hasn’t listened everybody.  I wish he would quit listening actually.  Throwing songs geared towards radio play like “You Owe Me” amongst songs like “Thief’s Theme” and “Made You Look” just doesn’t fit.  But Nas makes those songs anyway, because he’s trying to make the streets and fans happy, in turn pissing the streets off and confusing long time fans to no end.    The complaining just doesn’t stop at the quality either.  We get 3 hot tracks, and we want 10.  However, if we get an album like Illmatic with 9 tracks of straight HEAT, we complain that its too short.  We’d rather have 19 tracks to choose from with 4 good songs than 12 tracks and 11 bangers.  Completely…confused.  And the music is suffering because of it.  Our inability to know what we want to hear […]

Under the Paramount Classics banner, "Fade to Black" unspooled before me as I remembered Jay-Z’s previous documentary "classic," an execrable piece of immature backstage concert antics named, well, "Backstage." Imagine my shock and pure joy when "Fade to Black," through fits and starts, eventually emerges to live up to the lofty title of its studio distributor. Filmed with all the gravitas of Michael Jordan’s last Chicago playoff game, "Fade to Black" uses Jay-Z’s last concert as a solo artist before his "retirement" – a star-studded hip hop holiday at a sold out Madison Square Garden – as the backdrop for an intimate look at Jiggaman’s creative process behind the assembly of "The Black Album." Wryly narrated by Shawn Carter himself, the action of the concert is intercut with episodes of Jay-Z garnering inspiration, meeting with producers, and creating classics on the fly in the recording booth. As you would expect, all of hip hop royalty cameos if not performs including Ghostface Killah, Missy Elliott,  Slick Rick, and, of course, Jay-Z’s uber-girlfriend Beyoncé. Surprisingly, there’s a lot going on in this film. Where it could’ve been easy to do a straight concert film, the framing story of Jay- Z’s cross country search for musical inspiration from the finest producers in hip hop and music in general is equally as compelling as the concert – no small feat. When Jay dips down to Miami to hook up with a truly inspired Timbaland – jocking his own (familiar yet tight) beats, no less – is virtually a show unto itself. The very moment Jay discovers Tim’s beat for "Dust Your Shoulder Off" gave me the chills, as it did him.  That’s actually the real movie within the movie: "Fade to Black" as a creative, instructional instrument. Viewing Jay-Z’s creative process is downright inspirational; watching him feel a track is like watching a hip hop fish bob to the surface. Whether he’s enjoying the talents of young phenom protégé Kanye West, inhaling a beat from Pharrell Williams of the Neptunes, or visiting the veteran, multipurpose producer of the song that would be "99 Problems," Rick "Just strange by strange standards" Rubin, it is clear that Shawn Carter is an artist truly in love with music, seducing you with his same passion ("Nothing comes before the MUSIC!"). As far as the concert goes, Jay-Z’s finale is a show of cinematic proportions. Pyrotechnics, theatrics, classy to outrageous costuming – it’s got it all. Injecting new life into old anthems such as "Big Pimpin’" and "Izzo," Jay and the film’s directors do an admirable job of transferring the energy of a live concert to you through film. The Parade of Hip Hop Stars includes a couple of great duets with Mary J. Blige; a now irony-inducing "Best of Both Worlds" set with R. Kelly; and a mink-wearing Foxy Brown who, literally, is popping out of her costume (fellas, her cameo is worth the price of admission alone). Speeding up ("Is That Your Chick?"), slowing down ("Song Cry"), and everything in between, Jay truly is a man of the people, for the people. Not only does he have something for everyone, but also has such a powerful call and response going on with the stadium audience that YOU find yourself hollerin’ back. Watching Jay-Z switch styles from East Coast to West Coast to Dirty South rap mid-show is electric, as is seeing a thoroughly multiracial crowd rapping back to him AN ENTIRE VERSE of a song a cappella. Unlike some self-styled politicians, Jay-Z truly is a "uniter, not a divider." Sure, all of it sounds pretty self-congratulatory – and it is, however justified. But about halfway through, this good concert movie elevates itself to a great film, period. Finally we see someintrospection on the road he’s traveled – not of the I-used-to-sell-drugs-now-here-I-am variety, but more of a social commentary on the state of the rap music industry and his creative role in it. Reminiscing to the purity and quality control of his debut album "Reasonable Doubt," Jay laments how the industry has pigeonholed rappers to be a monolithic group of thugs and gangsters – even if he has to pimp that image to achieve enough commercial success to eventually do a MSG concert for charity the way he is ("See what y’all did to rappers? We scared to be ourselves!"). We see firsthand the fears and concerns that drive one of the most influential rappers today out of the game, a vulnerability usually not afforded the listening public (as is getting a cameo appearance of Jay’s very proud mom!). Damn near impossible to sit still while watching it, "Fade to Black" is immensely satisfying to a hip hop fan. When even my sixty year old mother bobs her head to Jay-Z, you cannot deny the accessibility of his music, and his imprint on our cultural lexicon. With the breadth of musical diversity and intensity, "Fade to Black" is an ode to hip hop disguised as an ode to one man. "What More Can I Say?" Edwardo Jackson is the author of the novels EVER AFTER and NEVA HAFTA, (Villard/Random House), a writer for UrbanFilmPremiere.com, WriteMovies.com, and an LA-based screenwriter. Visit his website at www.edwardojackson.com

Bush’s recent (and first-time) win of the presidency should come as a surprise to no one. It has validated the belief of many that America has gotten what it deserves, even after enduring some of the most horribly abusive foreign and domestic policies in American history. The fact that it was even a close call at all is a damning condemnation of those supposedly opposed to the Bush B#######. After four years of lies, murder, back-room deals, dead soldiers, poor education, a faulty economy, reduced civil liberties, increasing crime rates and racial intolerance he still managed to capture the popular and electoral count. This is sad, if for no other reason than the fact that so many people are blind to the truth and simply believe and hear what they want to believe and hear, even in the face of mounting impeachment-worthy lies and offenses. We couldn’t even muster support for the lesser of two evils, which would be laughable if it weren’t so sad. What an embarrassing time to be an American. This election was won on fear–fear of a phantom terror menace and of anything that could potentially hamper our "way of life" in America–whatever that is. Now, without constraints and unchecked, Bush can continue to wage war globally, using U.S. military might to bring the "gift of freedom" of his God to the world. War on who? Why, war on all who aren’t like him and his ilk, that’s who. War on women, war on people of color, war on those who don’t practice his twisted sense of "Christianity," war on those who don’t share his sexual preference, war on children, and war on the less fortunate, the elderly and the infirm. Now the left, and democrats in particular, will have to take a long, hard look at themselves. What went wrong? This was not a stolen election. It was not a hijacking, mugging or a mistake. The left dropped the ball, not so much for lack of trying (especially with the youth vote), but for backing John Kerry–a weaker version of Bush–in the first place. Maybe now the party that is supposed to represent the values of the mainstream left will actually adopt those values and not ignore its own constituency in an attempt to appeal to a more conservative base. Indeed, many at odds with Bush’s illegal wars were left feeling disillusioned by the fact that Kerry, his main opposition, had very similar stances with regards to his overseas agenda. An election this close must make us take pause. Maybe, after all, we aren’t nearly as far along as a country as we would like to believe. And while it’s true that for tens of millions of Americans, Bush will never be our president, all we can really do now is apologize to the rest of the world for validating this simpleton and his racist imperialist policies–and brace ourselves for the worst still yet to come. Apparently, we must hit some sort of new low between now and 2008. Most disturbing of all is that George Bush will have the chance to tilt the supreme court firmly to the right and leave a lasting imprint on the US’s social and political fabric. Three of the nine supreme court justices could well step down in the next few years. Chief justice William Rehnquist, John Paul Stevens, and Sandra Day O’Connor will all probably step down, as two are over eighty years of age and O’Connor, 74, has openly expressed interest in wrapping up her service. Keep in mind that these are lifelong appointments, and that Bush wouldn’t have been selected for president in the first place had the supreme court voted in 2000 to allow the recount to continue in that presidential election (Gore would’ve won). In the coming years, the supreme court is expected to consider some of the most divisive social issues in the US: private property rights and government land seizure, gay marriage and partial-birth abortion. A conservative court can all but guarantee that the outcome will be less-than-favorable for those of us who value fairness, justice and liberty. Yes, America has gotten what it deserves.

This year has been truly a nation wide grass root movement to remind people the significance of voting. With hot topics like the war in Iraq, a declining economy, civil liberties in jeopardy and the welfare of future generation, some of our celebrated superstars have helped bring urgency to the voting process. Hip-Hop jumpstarted a new wave of activism and awareness in the political arena. Celebrities like Beyoncé, Eminem, Will Smith, P. Diddy, Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, 50 Cent, Diddy, Simmons and others have used their brand name to register voters around the country and use their marketable skills to promote social responsibility. For a change, it is good to hear celebrities talking about important issues instead of materialistic things such as cars, jewelry and how much money they have. The Hip-Hop community has strayed somewhere along the way from their revolutionary roots of addressing social, economic and political issues. However, this year our community changed with a sudden 180-degree flip, becoming a predominant influence in this year’s election. The movement has been a great success, organizations like the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network and P Diddy’s Citizens of Change, both of which have registered innumerable new voters. I cannot participate in this election due to my age, but these groups have had and profound affect on me and my generation. Not only has it motivated young people 18 and older to vote, it has planted a seed in the younger generation to become conscious of social issues and politically active. Voting has not only a hopeful action but cool. Everywhere you go you see some one with a “Vote or Die” shirt or registering voters. Younger Hip-Hop fans that are not able to vote are absorbing this conscious spirit and learning how to get involved in their community. People like Russell Simmons, will be pleased to know that the movement is helping young people to realize the power they posse within themselves to make changes in our government. Thousands of young people (including some I know) are serving as interns and volunteers for campaigns and political organizations. We are doing anything from answering phones stuffing envelopes and knocking on doors to register voters. Young hip-hop fans are finding their place in the movement and are doing anything possible to help. On top of that, we are actively challenging our relatives and inner circle to stand up for their views no matter what candidate they choose. Moreover, students joining political associated clubs in their school such as Young Democrats, Young Republican, mock trail and debate teams just to name a few. Students are now making politics a part of their daily life and discovering a connection between politics and real life. This exposure allows them to converse intelligently with their peers about different issues in politics and form their own opinion aside from their parent’s views. But, Hip-Hop moguls, activist and those in the political trend, I have a comment. Going forward, educate yourself on how the political process works so your can further this youth foundation and increase the impact of voting. If this movement continues, the Hip-Hop generation can build REAL power at a political level. It is important that you remember your commitment to the younger generation. Don’t let this go and prove to us that all you care about is photo opportunities, sex, money and peddling your new album on us. Continue to strive for social justice. The real question is after the 2004 election, “Will Hip-Hop continue to be a strong, committed, resolute and persistent force politic and activism?”

Now that Hip-Hop’s been commercialized… I mean, grown into global acceptance, has anyone else besides me stopped listening to what’s new? Does anyone else remember when ‘droppin’ gems on ‘em’ was an emcee’s theme that didn’t involve flashing gaudy jewelry at us? Our cultural vehicle of speech is now driven by corporate influence. Is it worth spreading Hip-Hop around the world at the cost of its potency? This is a little too depressing for me, so I’m going to switch topics. Chrysler recently released the new 300 – if you haven’t seen it, it’s like the working man’s Bentley. When I first saw this car, it became my secret mission to own it. I carefully screened my friends and family to see who could appreciate it before I talked openly about it. Months before it made it’s public debut, I watched and researched it. I felt like I’d stumbled across some great treasure. But alas, those days have long since faded. I see it advertised in TV commercials. I see it driven by folks who I KNOW couldn’t have appreciated it the way I did. Granted, I still love the look of the ride, I can’t help but feel jaded now that everyone and their momma is sittin’ in the passenger seat. Chrysler 300, you’re the love of my life. “Hip-Hop Cockpit Stops” Why is it that everyone sounds the same now As if they’re spittin’ vowels out of the same mouth? Originality’s gone down way south – the quickest way to clout destroyed it years ago. What makes it worse are the fans added That don’t appreciate rhymes as they ride the bandwagon… It’s left me sad and maddened – what folks praise these days isn’t even lyrical. Allow me to make a euphemistic effigy. Today’s bandwagon is a uselessly twisted F machine. It’s a d*ck with invested teams – an entourage of muffed riders. To these groupies, I’ve written what follows – Some tips for those who’ve bitten the bait and swallowed… You’ve hit the base and wobbled – gobbling up rap scraps that scuff the underside of the real empire. You crotch disc jockeys Are more obvious than Liberace. You’re so quick to switch and copy the offbeat. You’re too impressionably soft and sweet. You look so incredibly awkward in the street… So please, take off the white tee and stop bitin’ with false teeth. It’s pitiful, you don’t know what’s lyrical – just choruses and who wrote ’em. Your backside’s got blisters so plentiful I call ’em ‘rodents.’ You’re hordes hoardin’ horse d*cks and scrotums – you’re just along for the ride. To you, this is a game – like equestrian musical chairs. You meddlin’ pedestrians were once musically impaired… You used to be unusually scared – I remember when rap lyrics were too long and strong for your hinds. Watered down now, when you catch wind of the newest rap trend, You pass it around between you and your truest, wack friends. I don’t care if you’re White, Jewish, Black, women or men – research Rap’s real culture and history. I hate the way you’ve jocked and hopped on Hip-Hop’s c### as of recent – You’ve rode nouveau waves on top of the charts in legions… You weren’t around when it wasn’t in season – to me, you’re the epitome of our culture’s stupidity. With each new, lukewarm, ill-gotten fad, You reach with lewd, newborn, thrill-throbbin’ hands. You reek of crude, too worn, silk stocking jock pads – I can see straight through your gay maneuvers. Packaged properly, you’ll ride the road thin On any vehicle left shinin’ in the open… This vehicle of rhyming’s not for groppin’ – So stop stalkin’ Hip-Hop like the fan that never knew her. Stop acting all hot in the pants. She’s not some w#### for your one-night stands. This is more than a rhythm to ride and dance – you bring new meaning to the term ‘crotch rocket.’ Every time the top picks are dropped in, You’ve gotten the topic and copped it… As you blindly mount what’s fresh on the market’s docket with the tiniest amount of hot profits. You look like you’re hookin’ – you do so many d**k swaps that you could be called Hitchcock. What did you do, sit and watch Hip-Hop ’til it got stiff and hot – Waiting for the next big custom to come undone from its sum of seconds? You’re like a closet nympho – you’re so ridiculous. You don’t get excited to ride it ’til you’ve seen how big it gets… That’s when you decide to sit on it and ride ’til it’s painfully unpleasant. So since you insist on ridin’ d**ks, I’ma p### inside your whip. Go on, ride wood ’til the side is stripped – you’re probably too consumed to notice I’m callin’ you out! If you’re bummin’ rides on bum rhymes, take a c### pit stop. If you’re in an awkwardly pitched cockpit, STOP!… Quick looking for the hottest whip rocked – hot lyrics aren’t spit out by who’s ballin’ with the largest amount. So get these weak rap artists’ balls out of your mouths – Quit goin’ down on every enthralling sound. Pick a d**k and stick with a style – stop leanin’ back on hyped energy spent. If Rap was a car, it might just be a Hummer ‘Cause you’d hum its tunes ’til your right nut was left number… Yeah, you drove it while it was hot in the summer – but when it was cold in the winter I wonder, where was your identity then?

Their Time to Shine?: Asian-American artists are gradually making their mark in hip-hop. But mainstream success is still out of reach. Now, the task seems to be resting on one man’s shoulders. It’s two o’ clock in the afternoon on a relatively quiet Saturday along the shores of Venice Beach, CA. A couple of rollerbladers whiz by. A handful of street artists line the sidewalk, hawking their own oils on canvas. But in the distance, a rather large crowd is gathered around a huge crane and a plethora of bright lights. Upon closer inspection, it appears the passer-bys are gawking at a camera crew and a group of actors. A middle-aged man and his seven or eight year old son walk by and watch in amusement. "What’s going on?" he asks. Someone shoots back, "They’re making a rap video!" "Oh yeah? Where’s the rapper?" Unbeknownst to him, the star of the video is standing right in front of him: A 5’6" Chinese kid named Jin Au-Yeung. Heads are more familiar with this twenty two-year-old’s alter-ego, Jin Tha MC. He’s been reppin’ the Double-R for a minute now. The video being shot is for his lead-off single, "Senorita", an ode to the mamacitas of Miami. But leave it up to a hurricane named Jeanne to force a shoot relocation from the Sunshine State to the Golden State. Father and son soon realize that the kid with the slanted eyes is why everyone’s here. After a brief look of genuine surprise, he and his kid get back to the task of getting to Point B. Apparently, heads ain’t ready for this. But you can bet that a lot of folks who look like Jin are ready. Mumblings within the Asian hip hop community: Is this cat going to blow the doors open for Asian-American rappers? Is he going to break through the glass ceiling they call the mainstream hip-hop industry? With Jin’s video just dropping and his album set to drop on October 19, many are wondering that very thing…including Jin, "It’s not a position that I chose to be in, but by natural order…by me doing what I’m doing, it put me in that position and I just got to deal with it," he tells AllHipHop. "It’s a lot of weight on my shoulders. Imagine waking up and dealing with a whole race, a whole culture looking at you and analyzing every move that you make, every word that you say." But anxious fans and haters alike have been wondering about some particular words: The ones he spits on his upcoming album, The Rest Is History. When asked about the "few" pushbacks, Jin retorts, "Let’s not beat around the bush. It’s been pushed back a lot of times, not a few. The pushbacks obviously happened for a reason, but the pushbacks help and hurt." So why is so much riding on Jin’s success? There’s no doubt that talented Asian-American emcees have indelibly made their mark in hip hop. You can’t deny the originality and innovation of cats like Lyrics Born of Quannum Projects or the Mountain Brothers, a trio of emcees who were once regarded as Asian hip hop artists on the cusp of blowing . As talented as they are, mainstream success has eluded them; not that they were particularly looking for it. Chops of the MB’s says it goes deeper than race. "To me, it’s not about being an Asian American artist, but an artist, period. End of the day, I’d rather be lumped in the ‘people with bangin’ s**t’ category than any other category." But in the case of Jin, people are going to take notice of his distinctive features. Some have attributed the focus on his ethnicity to what they consider gimmicky music and exploitive characterizations of Asian-American culture. It’s not exactly the case according to Jin. "I respect everybody’s opinion and that’s cool, but you’re not gonna stop me from representing…from putting that movement out there. I’m just doing Jin." Despite a lot of hateration from fellow Asian-American emcees, many up and coming Asian artists from Snacky Chan in Boston to Far-East Movement in LA have Jin’s back. Chan, whose style is more identifiable with underground, even wrote a message to his fans on his website. He encouraged them to support the great yellow hope. "Some of you may be wondering why I should cop this album, you might not even like him or his sound. But the fact of the matter is, the success of his album is extremely important for the Asian-American breakthrough into the music world, and all media in general", Chan writes. "[Jin’s] in a funny spot right now because folks get way too focused on the race thing, and want to dissect and over-analyze the situation", says Chops. He adds, "But it’s not that complicated. It’s music. Artists make music, put it out there, and either you dig it or you don’t. That’s it. Once you start expecting somebody to ‘represent’ for you or for your whole people, you’re expecting too much. You’re setting yourself up for disappointment". Kevnish of Far-East Movement says Asians rappers have got to represent. But he says it needs to be done the right way. "William Hung is a prime example of (something) they’re still thinking about. They still laugh about that kind of stuff…about Asian stereotypes. I got mad love for [Hung] because he’s enjoying his life and he’s rich now, but we struggle. We grind too. People think Asian people got it made. It’s been one of my inspirations lately: trying to tell people that we’re just like you, plain and simple". Marketing VP of Doggystyle Records, Ted Chung points out, "To really knock the door down and punch the hole in the paper, Asian-Americans have to have a film or an artist that authentically tells a story of struggle and how Asian-Americans are part of the American dream. It needs to tell how we come from the same cloth and how we’re here […]

The subliminal messaging behind the G-Unit is truly fascinating. When one hears what the G stands for, there are thoughts of clandestine inner-city warriors, or dare I say, progressive freedom fighters. After all, “units” are associated with military and paramilitary operations. Therefore, it is logical to think that the “G” would stand for Guerilla. However, when you look at the clothing, we are not presented with a Guerrilla, we a presented with a beast. Young men are running the streets with a big “GORILLA” sprawled across their chests, proud to wear the label of a wild animal or even worst yet, a domesticated sub-human anthropoid talking in sign language. With each sale of these clothing items, our young people are paying premium prices to unwittingly degrade themselves. First of all, Gorillas move in bands, Guerillas move in units. Was there some confusion as to which “G” was being referenced? Who made this decision to go with Gorilla Units instead of Guerilla Units? Was this an honest mistake? Not likely. With all of the money these guys are making, there are competent, astute and highly educated designers, marketers, business strategists and financial advisors surrounding them. And 50 Cent is not stupid. They all know a Guerilla from a Gorilla. The only logical conclusion is that this was an intentional move to change the connotations of G-Unit from one of that can be even remotely associated with empowerment to one of subliminal degradation. Instead of inner-cities with covert military minds drinking from the cup of justice, we are witnessing the propagation of overgrown monkeys drinking from Lil Jon’s cup of crunk juice. 50 Cent once said something to the effect that he couldn’t be like Tupac because Tupac cared about the kids and he didn’t give a damn about anybody’s kids but his own. His young son’s foul-mouthed appearance during a Summer-Jam concert attests to this nurturing. Young Buck said that we should forget about the legacy of the southern Confederacy because it’s something that happened years ago. We should forget about it and move on with the s**t. Lloyd Banks said that if G-Unit got political they’d probably be assassinated and that he has no intention of being political. But, then again, what do you expect from a group of talented apes. Jane Goodall would be so proud of them.

October 14th, 2004 Ed Gillespie Chairman, Republican National Committee Mr. Gillespie: The letter I received from you yesterday was quite a surprise. It struck us as just the sort of “malicious political deception” that is likely to increase voter cynicism and decrease the youth vote. In fact, it is a textbook case of attempted censorship, very much in line with those that triggered our organization’s founding some fifteen years ago. I am stunned that you would say that the issue of the military draft as an “urban myth” that has been “thoroughly debunked by no less than the President of the United States.” I have some news for you. Just because President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and Secretary Rumsfeld, and for that matter Senator Kerry, say that there is not going to be a draft does not make it so. Just because Congress holds a transparently phony vote against the draft does not mean there isn’t going to be one. Anyone who thinks that the youth of America are going to take a politician’s word on this topic is living on another planet. By your logic, there should be no debate about anything that you disagree with. There’s a place for that kind of sentiment (and your threats), but its not here in our country. There are questions that the politicians are running away from. How long can we keep 138,000 U.S. troops or more on the ground in Iraq? What if full-scale civil war erupts there, as the CIA has warned is a realistic possibility? Would the next President be faced with a choice of pulling out of Iraq rather than institute a draft? Would women be drafted? What exactly would the draft-age be? According to the Pentagon’s own internal assessment, there are “inadequate total numbers” of troops to meet U.S. security interests. The current issue of Time magazine reports that, “General John Keane, who retired last year as the Army’s No. 2 officer, says the continued success of the all-volunteer military is not guaranteed” Keane has told Congress that adding more than 50,000 troops to the Army would require thinking about a return to the draft.” But you want young people to believe that the draft is just an “urban myth.” I was expecting that you were going to present some facts to back up your assertion. But, instead, you have demanded that we stop talking about it. Although the draft may not be a discussion topic for someone of your age, we have found that young people – Republicans, Democrats and Independents – are very interested in this issue. We believe in the capacity of young Americans to make their own judgments when fairly presented with the facts. That is why we are actively promoting an informed, educated dialogue. I urge you to review the “Debunking the Myths” section on our website where we address misperceptions about the draft. Mr. Gillespie, this is a generational issue. Nothing cuts closer to the core of the very reason Rock the Vote exists. We think young people deserve to know where the politicians stand on this issue and that a generation that could be called to service deserves more than the phony debate they are getting. We believe that it is only by asking questions, not by censoring debate that our democracy can remain strong and vital. Issues such as jobs, health care, Iraq, taxes, and education have energized the electorate, and the draft issue deserves the same serious treatment and candor. Blanket denials do not square with the facts and do not level with the electorate. As far as the possibility that Rock the Vote’s efforts might “decrease the youth vote,” we are feeling very confident at this point that the opposite is true. More than 1.1 million people have used our website to fill out voter registration forms this election cycle. Our street teams and ground partners have registered hundreds of thousands more. Young voters are going to surge at the polls on Election Day and make the difference for whichever candidate does the best job reaching out to them. Despite the strong and often strident tone of your letter, I would hope that we could both agree that honest and open debate is the surest guarantor of our democracy and liberty. Jehmu Greene, President Rock the Vote 1313 L Street, NW First Floor Washington, DC 20005

October 13, 2004 Ms. Jehmu Greene, President Rock the Vote 1313 L Street, NW First Floor Washington, DC 20005 Dear President Greene: It has been brought to the attention of the Republican National Committee- and was confirmed in the Los Angeles Times yesterday- that your organization is sponsoring and promoting a false and misleading Internet campaign designed to scare America’s youth into believing that they may be drafted to serve in the military. In the Times article your Political Director said, “I don’t see why candidates get to talk about war all day long and we can’t talk about the draft.” Yet, as you must be aware this urban myth regarding a draft has been thoroughly debunked by no less then the President of the United States, who explicitly stated, “We don’t need the draft. Look, the all-volunteer Army is working…,” as well as the Vice President, who explained, “And the notion that somebody’s peddling out there that there is a secret plan to reinstate the draft, hogwash, not true.” Additionally, the Secretary of Defense, “heatedly denied yesterday that the military plans to bring back the draft and boost reserves and National Guard callups after the November election. ‘That is absolute nonsense,’ [Donald] Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services Committee. ‘It’s absolutely false that anyone in this administration is considering reinstating the draft.’” In light of the above statements, the only conclusion to be drawn is that your Rock the Vote “Draft your Friends” campaign is being conducting with malicious intent and reckless disregard for the truth. As a “non-partisan” organization that enjoys the benefits of being formed under 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code, you have an obligation to immediately cease and desist from promoting or conduction your “Draft” campaign. The Republican National Committee shares the goal of your organization to encourage voter registration and “empower young people to change their world.” In fact, our aggressive outreach efforts have produced more then 65,600 student Team Leaders and more then 26,000 young professional Team Leaders engaging their peers at the grassroots level to register voters and spread the party message. We’ve visited college campuses, NASCAR races, World Wrestling Entertainment matches and scores of other events that are packed with younger voters- including appearing on MTV’s Total Request Live. We’ve found that younger voters care about the same issues that older Americans care about; winning the War on Terror, creating jobs, improving our public schools, making health care more affordable, etc. It is unfortunate that you feel the need to engage in a misinformed campaign regarding an alleged draft to energize young voters. This is the sort of malicious political deception that is likely to increase voter cynicism and in fact decrease the youth vote, as well as raising serious legal issues regarding the political motivations of your efforts. Thank you for your immediate attention to this matter. Sincerely, Ed Gillespie Chairman cc: Randel A. Falco, President, NBC Universal Television Networks Group Vincent K. McMahon, Chairman, World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. Judy McGrath, Chairman and CEO, MTV Networks Jonathan F. Miller, Chairman and CEO, AOL Richard D. Parsons, Chairman and CEO, Time Warner Inc.

“Don’t get me wrong, America is a great place to live, but listen to the knowledge I give.” -KRS-One – 1988, “Illegal Business” I give up. The KRS-One debacle caused an epiphany for me that has basically changed the course of my life. Strange, right? Its weird to me and I consider myself a weirdo. Nevertheless, after KRS-One said his boneheaded comments that African American’s “cheered when 9/11 happened,” I woke me up in many ways. Well, I can proudly state that KRS-One’s views were wrong, and clearly had a flawed presentation. While, he clarified later, the damage was done. As email after email flooded into our company, my epiphany started to take shape – I began to get enraged at what I read. The one-sided, overtly opinionated article by the New York Daily News had done its job well. It unearthed the ugly, white racism and Hip-Hop hatred that I knew existed but had thought was long suppressed by basic human progress. See, much of my life has been one that has attempted to fight racism – literally. In my early years my peers and I plainly would fight anybody if they called us something as simple as “n#####.” My best friend smashed a white boy’s head against a school bus window for such an infraction. He was booted off the bus and his desegregated ass had to find a way to get to school daily, a half hour drive. See, I’m a different sort of fellow from those young people that readily allow those of other persuasions to call them “n#####” or “n####” with no problem. I generally want to tear throats out of necks when it’s a white person using the word and normally let Latinos slide (because they are relatives in my eyes). Yours is a sick, illiterate and unproductive culture, and death should be your reward. N#####. Those were the early years of hate in my middle class neighborhood. But, as time moved on, it got realer. My father moved the family into an area that was paler than usual. He readily slept in the car with his rifle in our station wagon – ready for whatever. Growing up, I understood “it” was more than name-calling. The KKK wasn’t far away. The people in this new ‘hood weren’t so integrated. They were more isolated. Nevertheless, I maintained friendships that transcended race and Hip-Hop (and other commonalities) cemented many of those relationships. But the unattractive reared its head through teachers, elders and others apart from my friends. THE BLACK COMMUNITY VOTES DEMOCRAT 96.2 % OF THE TIME FOR ONE REASON: TO PROTECT WELFARE. HOW SAD. Adulthood. Long gone are the days where I have most of those Caucasian friends, in fact, its down to one – James. And a dear one, he is. He’s a staunch Republican, something that astonished me when it was revealed just a few years ago. Me, I’m neither Democrat or Republican. You could consider me Independent, with a penchant for voting for the lesser of two evils. You could consider me a person that understands both sides of the fence because I was raised in both worlds. I look at the surface and start digging. My friend and I, no matter how dear, have fundamental differences in our views and thinking. Those points of view might be based in race, but regardless, they are so pronounced that we don’t really talk politics any more. It’s truly something that could cause a rift in our 20-year friendship. I speak for millions when I say to KRS-1, AND EVERY OTHER AMERICA-HATING N#####, LOVE AMERICA OR GET THE F**K OUT! SEE HOW MANY RAP ALBUMS THEY’RE BUYING IN AFRICA MOTHERF***ER! Jonathan, another friend, came to me a few days ago and said, “Yo, man…I’m buying a gun. Some s**t is going down.” Far from a thug, but farther from a punk, Jon explained his reasoning. In his eyes, America is becoming more and more segmented. Evil oozes in the music we listen to (promoted by big business). Common men clash to turn the clock backward on race relations. The politicians are far more brazen with their shady ways. As rapper Immortal Technique says in his new song, “Bin Laden,” “Fahrenheit 9/11, that’s just scratching the surface.” And I believe that. I believe all my efforts to change racism have been in vain and Jonathan’s realized everything that I denied. Some s**t is going down here in America. KRS-One’s comments might have been out of line, but if you delve beneath the surface. There is a certain level of reasoning with what he stated. Please have KRS come visit me in Texas. He’ll only need a one-way ticket. Again, this is not to agree with KRS absolutely any more than it is to excuse the racist, over generalized reactions of those that accepted a hack job story by the New York Daily News as fact. But, I won’t try to convince you all that Hip-Hop didn’t cheer when 9/11 happened. Many of us cried, many of us questioned, “Why?” and others like, 50 Cent were most concerned with a lack of concern with everyday violence. [For example, why didn’t that Emergency Alert System [EAS] come on during 9/11 like it does through my favorite late night shows?] I think I am going to just follow the lead that my father set years ago, because some s**t is going down. It just won’t happen on my watch. Items in bold italics are actual emails from people that have visited AllHipHop.com. Click here to read some. Email me at illseed@allhiphop.com.

The views expressed inside this editorial aren’t necessarily the views of AllHipHop.com or its employees. It’s been almost 20 long years since Robert Townsend first released his classic film “Hollywood Shuffle.” This breakthrough movie was a satirical look at the relationship between big time producers and African American actors scraping for a piece of the glamorous Tinsel Town pie. While Bobby Taylor (Townsend’s lead character) hoped to land more heroic roles that positively represented Black folk, he was always forced into demeaning and distasteful stereotypes. Although in recent years we have seen some sweeping changes in the industry with Black actors landing leading roles and receiving accolades for their performances, much has stayed the same. Most of us African Americans quietly felt as if Denzel Washington and Halle Berry’s monumental Oscar winning night solidified our acting movement – even if their roles weren’t their finest. We all know “Malcolm X” was the one for Washington. It now seems as if those Oscars were simply a pair of massive S### biscuits to keep Black people smiling for a few years. Although Denzel, Halle, Will Smith, and Samuel Jackson continue to thrive, many of our less fortunate African American actors are put between a rock and the wall by either working as an unbecoming character, or not working. Recently, many of our most revered Hip Hop artists, who placed their acting skills in the Hollywood arena, have been put in industry headlocks just like ol’ Bobby Taylor 20 years ago. Awwwww, pat them on the back because they really don’t have much of a choice or do they? So let’s advance a step further for those actors who feel the desperate need to work at any cost to their dignity regardless of the effect on the general population. I have a developed an introductory course. Coonology 101 will teach each and every Black actor how to work professionally in Hollywood for an entire lifetime. Follow this simple course guideline and you’re guaranteed to land roles in major productions-FOREVER. Course name: Coonology 101 Required viewings (not complete): TV Shows: “Doggy Fizzle Television,” “The Parkers,” “The Little Rascals,” Movies: “How High, “Soul Plane,” “Malibu’s Most Wanted,” “Bamboozled” “Hollywood Shuffle,” “Bringing Down the House,” “Jerry McGuire (Cuba Gooding),” “White Chicks,” “Juwanna Mann,” “I Got Da Hook-Up” Topics of Course Discussion: 1. The Evolution of cooning Back in the day, we would buck our eyes out and tap dance all over the damn place. This is something that truly opened the doors, which were barely cracked in the dawning of film and television. Black America would never go for that type of basic cooning now. Today we must coon by making light of other new millennium stereotypes that have been placed on our people. Spike Lee referred to this as an “advanced form of coonery and buffoonery,” when referring to “Soul Plane.” 2. The African American Sex drive A coon, must salivate and chase every b######## tail or set of huge breasteses that we see. This testosterone overload could lead to multiple babies’ mommas or baby daddies. For all the hypersexuality, the interracial dating is still forbidden. 3. The White Black contrast Coons must always emphasize the stark difference in Black and White people. These differences can come in the form of language differences or cultural differences. However, you must slip your coonery in under the guise of making fun of how corny or bland White America is. Or you have to laugh until your eyes bug out of your head. 4. Voice inflection To portray our people effectively, you must have proper voice tone and inflection. This means that your voice goes from loud, to louder. Never calm, never rational. At times it can fluctuate into a high-pitched scream like “DY-NO-MITE!!” “OHHHHHH SHIIIIIT,” is very popular today because even Black men can hit an octave that rivals Mariah Carey with it. In the 70’s, “You, jive a** turkey” was an appropriate term and now its either “n***a, b***h, punk a** mother f***er, b***ch a** n***a, b***ch a** mother f***er, mother f***n’ mother f***er, b***ch a** b***ch or innumerable combinations. 5. Language The use of certain words is essential in coonery. N***a is the most important word that you have to us it like a crack head uses crack – as much as possible. Other words that demean women are important too. B***ch is the most popular, but ho, w#### and s### are gaining fast. In the movie “Soul Plane,” a movie written by a hip-hop label head, an astonishing 146 “n***as were reeled off by the actors. This took the movie to new heights of coonery that would make a normal person’s nose bleed. 6. Food and drinks Learn how to stomach a 40 ounce of OE. Weed is an essential daily intake. And the usual chicken, collard greens, and watermelon are a must. Learn how to drink, smoke and eat all of these items. Remember you can’t do without these delicacies in film video or movies. F**K water and bread. Learn how to eat n***a style. If you go to into an upscale restaurant where these Negro treats aren’t served, it’s a must that you mask your inability to read a menu correctly. Redd Foxx did this so eloquently in the hit series ‘Sanford and Son.’ Botch up all the words, then get frustrated and say “ That s**t gives me gas.” 7. Under qualified Always appear under qualified for every important position. Whether you are a pilot afraid of heights like Snoop in “Soul Plane,” or going to college like Meth and Red in “How High,” you must be placed in your position on a technicality or a hook up by one of your n**gas. Another great example is “White Chicks,” which stars the Wayans Brothers. The pair play two disgraced Black FBI agents who have to resort to “becoming” white women to keep working. Another tip is when things go wrong, always look scared or disheveled when attempting to work it out. […]

Like everyone I was shocked to read that I and other African-Americans actually “cheered when 911 happened” and that I have “declared my solidarity with Al Qaeda”. When I read my words taken out of context I was shocked and disappointed that the Daily News would go this far to assassinate my character and distort my views. Such statements with no follow up explanation or interview from KRS-ONE as to what he may have meant or even a complete quote of my point is simply irresponsible journalism on the Daily News’ part. I would never just say something as crazy as “we cheered when 911 happened!” I was making an objective point about how many Hiphoppas as well as the oppressed peoples of the world felt that day. I am a philosopher and a critical thinker, I speak truth and I urge people to think critically about themselves and their environment. Yes, my words are strong. Yes, my views are controversial. But to call me a terrorist is simply wrong! A young lady asked about what we can do beyond voting to change the political state of things in our country? I responded not by irresponsibly stating that “America has to commit suicide if the world is to be a better place” and that’s all. I am a poet and I speak poetically. My full statement was “America has to commit suicide if the world is to be a better place. If you want to go beyond voting American interests must put a gun to its head and commit suicide because as long as we are only interested in American interests we go out and invade the rest of the world. The real question is are you a citizen of the United States or are you a citizen of the world? And so for me, I would say voting in a corrupt society adds more corruption.” I was asked by the New Yorker magazine to discuss “different and personal beliefs musicians hold and the contribution artists like myself can make to the nation’s political dialog”. My views were indeed different and most were personal. However, when I was asked about why Hiphop has not engaged the current situation more (meaning 911) my responds was “because it does not affect us, or at least we don’t perceive that it effects us, 911 happened to them”. I went on to say that “I am speaking for the culture now; I am not speaking my personal opinion”. I continued to say; “911 effected them down the block; the rich, the powerful those that are oppressing us as a culture. Sony, RCA or BMG, Universal, the radio stations, Clear Channel, Viacom with BET and MTV, those are our oppressors those are the people that we’re trying to overcome in Hiphop everyday, this is a daily thing. We cheered when 911 happened in New York and say that proudly here. Because when we were down at the trade center we were getting hit over the head by cops, told that we can’t come in this building, hustled down to the train station because of the way we dressed and talked, and so on, we were racially profiled. So, when the planes hit the building we were like; mmmm justice.” And just as I began to say “now of course a lot of our friends and family were lost there as well” but I was interrupted. My intent is never to demean or disrespect anyone’s loss or gain; and of course I did not literally “cheer when 911 happened”. I made an objective statement about the feelings of those who were oppressed by world trade policies. I was just as saddened as everyone else on 911. However, for many of us that were racially profiled and harassed by the World’s Trade Center’s security and the police patrolling that area as well as the thousands of American protesters that spoke out against the World Trade Organization months before in Seattle, Washington there was a sense of justice, a sense of change, a wake up call watching the twin towers fall. These are not my views only; these views represent a popular truth that few people are really ready to hear. No one wished death on anyone or just sat and “cheered when 911 happened”. But some of us can see through the b#######! America must change its approach to the world and its citizens. This, I believe is what all Americans should be thinking about. How do we make our country better? For years my career has been one of promoting peace, love, unity and having fun; such has always been Hiphop’s cultural principles. So how all of a sudden now can I be aligned with Al Qaeda? What happened to honest debate and freedom of speech! I don’t speak for the African American community exclusively, I speak for HIPHOP! And let me be clear here; most of the Hiphop community is against the war in Iraq! But to align me with Al Qaeda is clearly an attempt by the Daily News to interrupt the street voice of our Hiphop community, KRS-ONE’s leadership and the increased momentum of our Hiphop political movement. I don’t think Al Qaeda needs my solidarity nor did I ever offer it, so what’s the point. For a major news organization to now align KRS-ONE with Al Qaeda shows the unwarranted contempt that such an organization has for me. Such is grounds for a law suit! Finally, no one should ever believe anything that the one-sided Daily News has to say about the same Hiphop community that it (the Daily News) has tried so desperately to undermine for years. The only thing the Daily News seems to be interested in is scandal and controversy and for years I have challenged the Daily News on its depictions of Rap artists and Hiphop as a whole. I know they don’t like me. However, I don’t give a —- either! They never cover our efforts toward […]

In hoods all across America, there’s a war going on in tha streets, nowhere to run too. People are standing up and willing to die for their colors. Either you ride wit the boyz in red or the boyz in blue. Being neutral is not an option unless you want to get a beat down courtesy of both groups. Contrary to what some may believe, we aren’t talking about the Bloods and the Crips fighting to rule a small city block, we are talking about the gangsta Republicans and Democrats fighting to rule the country. The late, great full time THUG and part time REVOLUTIONARY, Tupac Shakur once made a brilliant analogy of how the Republicans and Democrats are rival gangs. While this may be written off by some of the elders as nothing but that ole Hippity Hoppity mumbo jumbo, this analogy makes perfectly good sense when analyzed within a discussion of the color wars that have been waged within the Black community. Especially when it comes to politics. The division over colors has long plagued the Black community from the infamous Willie Lynch light skinned slave, versus the dark skinned slave diabolical divide and conquer plot, to the (red) Bloods vs. (blue) Crips street battles, to the current battles over political colors. The color thang has always divided the Black community. One color argument that is rarely examined is the conflict between Black folks who represent the Red, White and Blue and the Black Nationalists (affectionately known as the AFRIKANS) who represent the RED, BLACK and GREEN. This beef started back in tha day between WEB Dubois and his crew and Marcus Garvey’s RB-G Unit. One representing an integrationist point of view (i.e. working within the system) and the other reppin Universal Afrikan Nationalism. Unfortunately, this beef was never squashed. The integrationists went on to become part of the American Dream and thusly, gained all the benefits of that dream including the role of gatekeepers of the Black media able to create a pseudo black nationalism and smooth talkin pseudo Black Power activists that have as their strongest hold card, voting for the lesser of two evils. We’ve been used and abused Brothas and Sistas! (Yes!) We have no jobs! (Right On!) We have been reduced to second class citizens! (Chuuuch!) We are on the verge of being destroyed as a people! (Go head and tell it!) So the solution, my Black Brothas and Sistas is to register to VOTE!!!! (Huh??) The Black Nationalist views voting as just another chapter in the By Any Means Necessary Handbook. For members of the Black Nationalist community it is not a matter of voting or not voting, as probably 90% of Black nationalists are not political atheists but political agnostics. The issue is the emphasis that is put on voting as a solution to the problems facing Afrikan people. It must be noted that according to the tenets of Afrikan spirituality, we cannot separate our spirituality from our politics. So the question ‘would Jesus (YESHUA) vote?’ is more than rhetorical. Also, the Black Nationalist idea does not mean that all Black folks have to necessarily get on a big boat and go back to Africa. But Black Nationalism is a state of mind that says that above all, Race First! And this philosophy has survived for decades, even though many have worked to turn the possibility of Black Nationalism into an improbability The question must be asked, if thousands of Black folks under Marcus Garvey with little money and resources could have a vision of Black Nationalism in the early 1900s, how is it that thousands of Black folks in 2004 with fat pockets have lost that vision? What if Marcus Garvey had been rollin with Russell Simmons type money? How much closer would he have been to his dream? So, I guess it’s better to have a vision but no means, than to have the means but no vision. It is much too easy in a critical political year (When is it not critical for Black folks?) to write those off who question the value of voting as being stupid, apathetic or just plain lazy and the Vote or Die folks try to put us in the same box as those folks who think that the Electoral College was the school that won the Sugar Bowl last year. It’s not that simple. While there are often debates among Black folks during an election year over different political strategies, those who represent the RED, BLACK and GREEN are never invited to take a part in these discussions. We are treated like that crazy cousin who you lock in the basement when company comes over at Christmas. This year, even the Hip Hop gangtas have been invited to the discussion and it is not unusual to turn on the radio and hear your favorite THUG yelling ‘Yo n####, you betta vote or I will come to your crib and personally, beat your @ss!’ Maybe if there was some dialogue between the two ideologies some common ground could be found. Could it be that with all the ill stuff that has happened to Afrikan people, globally, over the last four years, even the most militant Black Power activist could be persuaded to disguise himself in a pair of old Humpty Hump glasses with the fake nose and a fisherman’s hat and sneak into the polls early Nov 2 and vote before tha Brothas see him and charge him with selling out? Or could there be a compromise made by the Get Out to Vote folks that before they bum rush the next Brotha coming out of the grocery store to register him to vote, that they will take a solemn vow that what they do, they do in the name of BLACKNESS and then break into a funkdafied version of ‘Say it Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud?’ The possibility is there. We all must all admit that these are crucial times for […]

I’m a liberal.    Which to me only means that I’m for affirmative action, not against gay marriages, am pro-choice and women’s right to choose, and believe in fixing the public school systems while legalizing marijuana and not acting like kids don’t have sex.    Because you know what?  They do.    I also love hip-hop.  There seems to be a natural marriage there.  Liberal, to me, means being open-minded enough to not judge everybody’s circumstance against some superficial moral barometer that most people claim to live by, but fail to measure up to everyday.  And to me, that is the essence of hip-hop.  Everybody has a story, some good…some bad.  At the end of the day though, everybody’s story is his or her own, and it isn’t my place to judge their choices, as long as there is a good beat behind it.    From DJing, to graffiti art, to b-boying, it all seems rooted in a rebellious spirit that a close-minded person wouldn’t be able to understand.  The ability to appreciate the art of sampling, or distorting a record to create a new sound through scratching, or taking a plain wall and bombing it to create a work of art seems to require the ability to throw caution to the wind and respect the different points of views and trains of thought.  Which to me seems so…liberal.    In the past decade and a half, politics and hip-hop have begun to intersect from all angles.  From Tupac and dead prez making political statements on wax to Russell Simmons and Puffy getting involved in political activism.  And in this vein, it seems like hip-hop takes on that liberal political ideology.     So I have to wonder, where does the conservative fit in hip-hop?  And further more, what does the young conservative get out of listening to hip-hop?    As a matter of opinion, the conservative mindset seems to be so judgmental.  The liberals are dooming the world to “hell in a hand basket” with their stance on gay marriage, and stealing America from hard-working individuals with affirmative action while killing innocent children through abortions, and not being tough enough on crime.  Maybe if I grew up under different circumstances I’d think the same way too.    So what does the conservative get out of hip-hop, specifically the music?  It’s the music of the streets, the common man, and the struggle.  Granted, hip-hop is inescapable nowadays.  You can’t turn on the television, the radio, or go to church without hearing some elements of rap music somewhere along the way.  But most of the messages in hip-hop are that of somebody’s ability to make it against the obstacles placed in front of them, be it race, class, etc.  Hell, even Eminem has a compelling story.  He’s made the almost poor white struggle popular (which is just like being black and completely poor).  The conservative stance would tell you that race isn’t the obstacle it used to be and that lack of personal responsibility is as much to blame if not more than the “man” when it comes to keeping people down.   Most young conservatives seem to have a firm rooting in their faith.  Not to say that liberals are all heathens.  A lofty percent of liberal individuals are probably firmly entrenched in the church.  But younger people tend to be on journeys of exploration.  And many of those journeys happen in the religious realm.  The number of young people out there who experiment with religion is astounding, if they have any religion at all.  I myself have explored all kinds of religions…just because.  It is this open-mindedness that draws people to hip-hop and its accepting folds.  So it’s easy to see how so many young people are into hip-hop and conversely consider themselves liberals.  And it would almost make sense that a firm rooting in the church would exclude one from listening to Tupac, 50 Cent, and the like, for obvious reasons such as the overt violence, sexual nature, and all around pride.  The latter of which is a deadly sin.    Yet, church is the very place you can find all those same people who listen to the 50 Cents, and Snoops, and hell, anybody popular.  So I guess it isn’t far fetched to assume that young conservatives listen to the rap for the same reason as anybody else…entertainment.  Everybody needs entertainment, and if you are young and black, liberal or conservative, rap is probably your vehicle.  I’m also assuming that anybody who would go out of their way to consider themselves a liberal or a conservative has probably spent some amount of time educating themselves.  So maybe the ability to separate the fantasy from the reality is a little bit easier.  Educated people listen to 50 Cent because the music is just undeniably good (well at least Get Rich of Die Trying, anyway), not to learn about the code of the streets or hear about murder.    At the same token, those same young conservatives who listen to it for entertainment condemn the messengers behind the music.  The same rappers that they buy are the same ones who are complaining about their circumstances, and when they say they had to do what they had to do to make it, conservatives claim that they made the wrong choices, because if everybody wants a job, or wants to eat, there are enough jobs and food for everybody.  If you don’t get it, you don’t want it.  Once again, being judgmental.  And therein lies the disconnect.   There is no room in hip-hop for passing judgment on people, aside from the standard album review, because let’s face it, bad music is bad music.  Creating a work of art for public consumption leaves itself open to criticism.  It’s how the world works.  But judging the art from the vantage point of morality or against some long set aside standard is problematic.  And being a conservative with an already judgmental opinion of the […]

Right about now, there is a resurgence of consciousness in Hip Hop. It reminds me of what was once known as "The Golden Age of Hip Hop". This new consciousness is evidenced in the rise of Dead Prez, Talib Kweli, Paris, Zion I, Common, Mystic, Mos Def, Encore, Shamako Noble, Immortal Technique, the new tracks by MC Ren, and others. This is a beautiful thing to watch, and something that makes me proud to see. The Black Panther Party for Self Defense used to have a ten point program to rebuild the Black community. It was something to help keep the Black community focused how freedom was to be achieved. Unfortunately, the masses did not listen to them as well as they should have and many people lost out due a lack of follow though. This is a twelve point program I have constructed in hope of rejuvenating the Hip Hop community and industry across the board. I believe without fail that if these ideas are put into action that Hip Hop will gain a higher status in the minds of those who love it as well as in the hearts of those who hate it. This list can be used by anybody (regardless of race, faith, or culture) who is an MC/rapper. But for those that TRY to be conscious, I feel these things are a must. Big props to Scape Martinez for helping me refine this (even though we disagree with some points). 1. Stop the cursing. If you are going to reach the people, you need to be refined lyrically. You will have one up on the radio industry who tries to ignore you. You must also make yourself loved by the parents of the children who love Hip Hop. Keeping it clean on wax is an easy way to gain an upper hand in the streets and in the industry at the same time. Plus you don’t have to always make clean versions of everything- so it saves you money. In the movie Malcolm X’s original mentor says that a man curses because he does not have the tools to tell you what’s really on his mind. So chill out and tell us what’s on your mind. Gangstarr’s Step in the Arena is a perfect example of how you can stay REAL and not curse. 2. Stop using the word "n####". The word "n#####/n####" was a lyrical tool of empowerment for the Hip Hop movement during the late 80’s and early 90’s. It came at a time when Black people needed to counter the hateful words being put upon them for so long. Now, the word has indeed been diluted in its power (it does not hurt most Black people to be called that name anymore). However, it also lost its painful historical relevance. We need to remind people of where the word came from, so it is never taken lightly. If you are unclear on the history of it, go read "100 Years of Lynchings" by Ralph Ginzburg. 3. Read. The more you know, the more you can rap about. Read about the history of your people as well as the histories and cultures of others. Nobody is asking you to become Nerdball McGee- but you should open a book. Choose a topic and go learn something you did not know the day before. Then bring that into Hip Hop. Ice Cube, KRS ONE and Tupac Shakur were arguably at their best when they were reading. 4. Rap about YOUR Struggle. MC’s and rappers who are remembered are story tellers. Slick Rick, Ice Cube, Tupac and Rakim are able to bring you into their world and allow you to see from behind their eyes. This should be your goal as an MC. Tell us about your fam, your area, your personal journey in a way that no one else can tell it. If you cannot do that, you will certainly fail to impress and inspire. Tell us about your city. Nobody cared about the Queens, Compton, or Vallejo until MC Shan, Eazy E, and E-40 told the world stories about where they came from. 5. Stop following trends, create them. The rap industry tries to create cookie cutter rappers now. They all come complete with pimp cups, loc’s, butt naked women and saggy pants. That has its place. But we need more people pushing the lyrical envelope. Brothers and sisters don’t try to flow with originality anymore. They just try to copy a carbon copy. Do not be afraid to find out who you are and challenge the trends across the board. N.W.A., Biggie Smalls, Beastie Boys, Common, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Public Enemy, Kwame, Paris, De La Soul, Queen Latifah, and Eminem (YES, I said EMINEM) all take creative chances musically and lyrically. From your look to your flow, be original in your life and on wax. 6. Respect Women. This is a subject that cannot be discussed too much. We need to stop using the word b#### and hoe (I’m talking to myself as well as y’all). We need to stop objectifying all women. By undermining them, we undermine the cornerstone of all civilization. This is a serious thing. You can still make a dope jam and show respect to the women. Remember that every "hoe" and "b####" is someone else’s sister, daughter, mother- maybe even yours. So clean yourself up. I’m not asking you to take estrogen shots, watch Oprah 24/7 and wear a wig. Just show some respect. 7. Don’t forget to rock the party. This is a major problem in Hip Hop. Most of the MC’s who try to be conscious. They get so caught up in their mission that they forget to have fun. If all you do is spit politics and stuff, people never get to see you shine creatively. Show the people you have skills to rock the party, and then give them something to take home. 8. Learn an instrument. Since its inception Hip Hop has […]

“I couln’t help but notice your pain [My pain?] It runs deep Share it with me!”-Intro to Tupac’s “Pain” Where are all the crippled MC’s? The blind ones with lyrics of fury? How about the ones who got maimed in a freak accident, like say a javelin through the face at the high school track meet after being assaulted by gang members during initiation? I’d wager anything most of them can flow as well as suffering’s poster boy 50 Cent and have the story to boot. He wasn’t the first with a sordid, captivating story, but 50 Cent raised the bar for the minimum requirements for a rapper’s biography. 50 Cent was shot nine times, mostly in the legs, even though he caught a ricochet or so in the grill and hands. Ouch. Agony and suffering has been a reoccurring theme from urban (and un-urban) lyricists for decades, well before Hip-Hop. But one can’t deny that rap music had taken it, packaged it and sold it to billions. And like any product, the later the model, the more the upgrade is expected. Who would have thought that Pac’s five shots and real-life strife would have taken to a new level with 50 Cent? We didn’t even know much more about 50 Cent or even care about some of his equally interesting parts – just that he got shot. But see, the scope on pain has also gotten wider too. For example Roc producer Kanye West often acknowledges that his near fatal car accident created the climate for his success via “Through The Wire.” So, while people weren’t quite feeling Kanyeezie before the chin plate, they started riding afterward – danger thrown to the wind! Others like Eminem flourish with their captivating stories while Jadakiss, Canibus and Ghostface sort of fall to the wayside because of their lack of a compelling saga. Or their refusal to dramatically capitalize off of it. To this day, I’m not sure why Ghost used to rock a stocking cap mask, even but we all know there is a great story behind that disguise. These stories (or lack of) lead me back to the blind, crippled and truly crazy rappers. Why isn’t the industry capitalizing on most extreme sorts of pain, like say some of the vets coming home from Iraq with limbs missing? I KNOW they have a story to tell, but you can’t even get their story on the daily news – much less rap. Or is that too real for the master masquerade makers in the music industry? There was a rapper on Capitol Records named Supervison, who was blind in both eyes, but his true tale wasn’t up to par. You know growing up all blind and whatnot. I guess being the rap Stevie Wonder wasn’t enough. Dip Set used to run with a dude with one leg, but he got ousted from the group. Well, what about the rapper that got shot in the chest like the homey Damu out in San Diego? He got bucked and ran into the studio too to records. Doesn’t he deserve some credit for his pain? Back in the days, I recall b-boys break dancing with no usage of their legs and all that. Don’t expect that pain is leaving Hip-Hop anytime soon. These days the woe in your life is just as important as your skills as an MC – if not more. Pain + Rap = Sales if properly peddled. It’s not even good enough to be from the hood or have roaches in your cereal like Ghostface once rap about. DMX remains in our consciousness because of his constant bouts with himself. Hell, both The Game and Lloyd Banks of G-Unit have been shot, but does that matter? NO. They are going to have to get shot at least 10 times, by the Russian Mob and come back after being dropped by S. Carter Records to truly be as big as 50 Cent. And, oddly enough, both are better rappers than the Gorilla chief. Gone are the days of mystery in Hip-Hop with secret wars that are lost in folklore. The days where you heard of Kool G Rap nearly engaging in a gunfight with NYPD are gone. When PMD almost was allegedly bodied by his own partner – and we discover the whole story years later. When going to jail was something you hid. When your pain was a private matter. In some ways, I can appreciate the pain though, because my name illseed is rooted in pain on a number of levels. But, those roots are deep in the dirt and I don’t really know if I want the world up on that quite yet. I guess that’s why I gave up rapping years ago and started writing columns, huh? Like Supervison or the others, the world isn’t ready to hear about my pain. Still, there so much of it. Hey, share your pain with me through email – illseed@allhiphop.com.

Like the child who cried "wolf! " too many times and was eaten when he really needed the help of people who had grown to ignore him, the media and Bush administration are faced with such massive lack of credibility issues that we now must adopt a contrarian stance when taking what they say into account, especially when it comes to terrorism. From the degrading and deplorable Abu Ghraib Iraqi prison scandal, to the wag-the-dog-like U.S.-implemented and staged beheading of Nicholas Berg, to the recently expressed desire for war with Iran, it’s apparent that the Bush Administration is scrambling to create further diversion and feelings of fear and division to rally support behind its wicked and out-of-touch policies. So what can we do? Well, aside from community outreach and living by example, one of the best solutions is voting. The trouble is, I’ve read a lot of articles and heard a lot of discussion lately from people in our communities openly questioning whether or not we have any business voting. We do.The simple fact is, if you can’t offer a concrete, tangible alternative to us exercising our rights and becoming a part of shaping decisions that affect us, then you have no business being opposed to galvanizing young people and people of color as a unified political force at the polls. Besides, y’all ain’t ready for revolution. So before you go saying how I’m "buying into the system" think about what it is exactly that you would do differently – and then ask yourself why you don’t. Like I said – it’s only a part of the solution. The strategy we must adopt is one that employs all of the tools that we have at our disposal to progress. Voting is one of them. Are we are too lazy or disillusioned with the process that we won’t exercise rights that people who came before us died for? Voting doesn’t cost anything, so we can’t say that we can’t afford it (even though elections are held on Tuesdays, during work hours for many). Of course, it’s easy to say "f**k voting," spark up the weed and turn on 106 & Park, but at what cost? We’ve seen the results of not voting – an illegitimate impostor in the White House, rollback of Affirmative Action legislation, poorer economic conditions and lack of employment opportunities, reductions in budgets for education and social services and increased instances of violence and police brutality – so why not opt for change? Now I know you might not feel either of the major presidential candidates, especially with our recent discovery that they’re related – many don’t. But voting is larger than just the presidential race. What about the economy? Record unemployment and underemployment? Out of control gas prices? S##### and unequal education? Lack of affordable housing? Why give conservatives and the existing powers that be an easy way out by not participating? They vote, and have an often unified support base that stresses the importance of participation to maintain their quality of life, often embracing policies and supporting politicians that don’t represent our best interests. It’s important that we participate too.If we aren’t effective and our voices don’t matter, than why do they feel the need to cheat? To steal elections and keep us from the polls illegally? To establish a conservative media network? To keep us feeling disillusioned and disenfranchised, that’s why. To keep us thinking that we don’t matter.How many people have you heard say that they’re not political? Here’s a news flash for you: you don’t have any choice but to be political nowadays, because everything is politicized. Politics is now pop culture, so you’d better adjust and become aware of the way things really are and what you can do to change our condition.Opposition to voting often comes from the same people who don’t see the value in a college degree. Why is that? By not having the necessary credentials we give other people an easy out when it comes to dealing with us. As a rule, use every tool, every angle and every resource you have available to you to get ahead. As a people, we don’t have the luxury of adopting a stance of non-participation in anything that can be potentially beneficial to us. For too long we’ve sat by and allowed others to dictate the terms and conditions of our lives in our own communities.We constantly hear commentary from conservative pundits on the state of things – barking about why it’s not right to question our "leader" during wartime – and calling anyone voicing dissent "treasonous" (and getting wealthy in the process). Think Sean Hannity (of Fox News) represents the everyman (he makes an 8 million dollar annual salary)? Or Bill O ‘Reilly (6 million)? Think again. (Funny how they dis easy-to-pick-on rappers but never discuss the profanity and imagery on Fox’s own Nip Tuck, the racism of COPS, or the misogyny of The Swan – but that’s another article.) These people vote. And they rally others who feel the same as they do to vote too. We hear them say how much worse life was under Hussein in Iraq, and how U.S. troops are fighting to protect our freedom. But WE WERE NEVER IN DANGER from Iraq…and U.S. troops are being used in the worst way. They are there only to protect the big business interests of Bush‘s buddies in high places – they ARE NOT protecting our freedom. The fact that Bush just signed a $417.5 billion wartime defense bill with an addition $25 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan pretty much drives my point home. The world is full of dictators, but, luckily for them, they don’t have oil. Sorry-ass Saddam and his weak country would still be among the living nations if they had not had oil. Also still alive would be over 900 American servicemen and women, tens of thousands of Iraqis and hundreds of thousands of wounded-for-life people.This is especially important to us because we’re […]

Aight. I admit…I don’t think it was really a lobster. I don’t know what the hell it WAS though. Yesterday I went in the bathroom to take a shower and pulled the curtain back. There it was, on its flipside (or not). I immediately called for help. “Baby, you gotta see this,” I said. It had about 80, or so legs. Kinda camouflaged, leafy color, with long ass antennae. I was approximately the size of a thin thumb. “What is that?” “I have no idea.” “Nah, really….what the hell is that??” On a whim, I then dubbed it the “fantastical lobster” and we washed it down the drain with hot water. A lot of scalding hot water. If it wasn’t dead, it was boiled back to the essence after 30 seconds. Our water is very, very hot. I am going to admit to being a big baby and confess that I was really shook. I was shook of the fact that it could have been playing dead and then hopped up. I don’t know if it could fly. I don’t know if the thing could speak and shoot venom. On thing I do know is that it had a lot of legs. A lot of legs, moves fast. Not so much of it attacking me, but of it running somewhere in the apartment where I wouldn’t be able to locate it. To lose it means to not get any sleep whatsoever in my house. I’ve been absent from AllHipHop all for a while (no segue here) so I make my return now! It’s been a very big and long learning experience especially in the past few months. The rap game and just myself personally. I’ve moved into a new place and I’m dealing with all the things that go along with moving. I know a lot of people know what I’m talking about. Something new everyday. There comes a time when you just have to laugh at stuff. I have a phone bill, but didn’t have phone service until last week, we used it once and now it’s dead again. No dial tone, nothing. They kept doing line tests and putting me on hold. I kept telling them it wasn’t going to work, I thought it was an inside wiring problem. After 8 phone calls and 9 wire tests, they told me it was an inside wiring problem. Turned out, the jack in the house was in no way connected to the telephone pole. First they had said “Can you guys find the phone box and switch the wires?” What phone box? Where? “Go ask your neighbors.” “Man, this isn’t Richtownvilleton. This is Brooklyn. Like I’m REALLY going to wander around in somebody’s apartment looking for a telephone box.” So, they fixed it. I think the storm knocked it out now. I think I might not call them back. We have window access to the backyard. It’s a big yard. It is also a rainforest since our neighbors(who have access) aren’t going back there. I don’t blame them. You could stash 20 bodies up in those shrubs. When we first moved in last month, I looked out, like wow… That could be really dope for a barbeque, especia – heeyyy. That’s a dead rat being eaten by flies! One of the stray cats took the rat, I think. I wish we could get Punchy over here to punch out a hole in the wall so we could get back there….theeen, part of me doesn’t want to be like the kids in “Stand By Me” and find some s### I’m not supposed to find. We bought plants, but I killed them. I love plants. They just die around me. I don’t want them to though. I talked to them and even gave them names. But they still died. One of them has been resurrected, but I’m afraid to touch it. I want it to live. I’m looking at it right now. I shouldn’t look at it too long. I’ve been very concerned about my writers block. I want to write so badly, it’s the worst when nothing is there. That first line, if I could just get that first line everything could fall perfectly into place. I can’t slack off, I can’t. Maybe it was so much I was doing in such a short period of time. I gotta rap replenish. Two albums that are ready to go though. I went on some rap marathons. In London, I was just cranking joints out one after another and of course for the Jeanius album. 9th introduced me to Vivarin, which probably induced some sort of rap trance I was in. Funny, the This Week album took so long (lots of stuff in between though) and Jeanius, we did in 5 days. Rap marathon. It’s like the scene in “Old School” where Will Ferrell is at the debate and rattles of this crazy answer and then almost blacks out. Switching topics again. Photo shoots are interesting. My favorites are the ones where you go, “Gimmie hot sneakers” then they bring feathered jackets and bikinis. No kicks. Oh, here’s something interesting I learned about shoots. See, when people bring you clothes and the sort, they take off what designers call the “sample rack”. Samples are mostly made in size 0 or 2. Samples are not conducive to my body. I will say it is a very cool thing for you to see all that stuff. Get people all “ooh and ahh,” but generally…hard to squeeze into. Also, bikinis don’t really go with my whole, uh, theme. On my size listings for people, it says “STUFF”. Next to jeans and shirt sizes. I don’t think it was working. Now, I bring my own stuff. I have learned. If I had the capital, I would make a clothing line for us kinds of women. I hear complaints all the time. We need some help in the pants department. Smaller ones ya can’t pull over your ass, […]

I was both shocked and amazed by Bakari Kitwana’s piece about Hip Hop NOT voting for Kerry entitled “Why We (Hip Hop) Shouldn’t Vote For John Kerry”. I understand his frustrations with the Democratic party. But to vote for Bush is political suicide. You don’t believe me? Ask the Arab/Muslim voters who liked Bush over Gore in 2000. They regret that one BIG TIME right about now. But any African American could and should have told them better. Now Hip Hop is testing itself in the political arena and getting beat down worse than Stevie Wonder fighting Tyson in his prime. The Democratic Party has done SO LITTLE for all minorities. Who could argue that? They have been phony for so long. They have coasted on Civil Rights Era achievements for SO LONG it makes me sick. They owe AMERICA so much more. No one will deny this. But the Republicans make it their JOB to shut out and deny all minorities as a rule (Condi, Powell and a few others are accept ions to this rule). But lets be clear about that. The truth of the matter is that who is in office, has NEVER been the sole solution to our problems (African Americans, minorities in general and Hip Hop cats specifically). Regardless of who is in office. We need to make steps to create business. We need to get our credit straight so that we can own homes in the communities we live in. We need to be buying up clubs and making safe havens for Hip Hop to exist in. We need to be owning buildings so that we can have after school classes on b-boying, MC’ing, parental counseling and money management. Neither Bush nor Kerry can do that for you. What president has ever “delivered” the people? None. The people deliver themselves. You see, Bakari Kitwana’s article, is the REASON why Hip Hop is not taken seriously as a political tool. It is the reason, O.G. politicians laugh at us, or ignore us straight up. Because we flip flop all day. We don’t have our positions concrete. They (politicians on BOTH sides) know this. Is Hip Hop for abortion or against it? Does Hip Hop support gay marriage or do we not want that? Does Hip Hop support reparations for African Americans? Does the so-called “Hip Hop Nation” step in stride WITH the African American community or is it apart from it ideologically? So many questions and so few answers. Welcome to the real world Hip Hoppers. We don’t have the power we think we do. WE don’t have the strategies we need to win. We are newbies to the political fight and this is our first reality check. Hip Hop is not going to save the world- know this. All it can do is give us a medium to present issues on. Hip Hop is a great political tool because it facilitates global communication on social, spiritual and political issues. But Hip Hop itself will never be the reason anyone stays IN or is put OUT of the oval office. This art and sub-culture is not single minded in its nature and was never meant to be. But don’t take my word for it, get informed. Go see Michael Moore’s movies. Go get “Aftermath: Unanswered Questions from 911” at www.guerillafunk.com . After that, if you feel like staying broke, if you feel like dying Iraq is what you need right about now, if you want Bush, Cheney and Haliburton to cash more checks with your blood- go ahead and vote Bush. Or, if you want to stay here, and die broke, again vote for Bush. Maybe, you can vote for some weak third party goon like Nader (who is the reason Bush got in anyway- among others). But no president will deliver you. Understand that you’re gonna have to man up, woman up, read up and live up to a higher understanding of self and get a new political standard. While your working on that- VOTE FOR JOHN KERRY WITHOUT FAIL. Vote like your life depends on it- because it does. Adisa Banjoko is a pioneer Hip Hip Hop journalist from the Bay Area and author to the new book “Lyrical Swords Vol 1: Hip Hop and Politics in the Mix” available now at www.lyricalswords.com.

When I say to hip-hop kids that perhaps we shouldn’t vote for John Kerry, the universal first response is raised eyebrows. Then come a flurry of questions, mostly critical and heartfelt ones. These are reactions I’ve come to be expect, especially from a left leaning emerging voting bloc. This election year, the emerging hip-hop voting bloc-the potential group of young voters regardless of race, age, sex and class who routinely make hip-hop artist go platinum almost overnight-has reared it’s head like no other. Many hip-hop voters even those well over 18 are coming to participate in the electoral process for the first time. We’ve mostly remained out of the process but are now eager to flex within it. The hip-hop voting bloc may be America’s only hope of saving our democracy from what it’s become, a playground for the wealthy and corporate elites. But if we aren’t careful, we’ll be eaten alive by a fine-tuned machine that welcomes us in the door, gracefully escorts us to a seat, entertains us to the max, secures our vote and leaves us scratching our head after November 4th, asking, what just happened? Better still, what was our role in making it happen? Which brings us back to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. Senator Kerry seems like a nice guy. A decorated Vietnam War veteran, something he wears on his sleeve, sometimes annoyingly so, but understandable in an election year when the sitting president took the easy way out. A Yale graduate; in the Senate for two decades; the father of two daughters. You gotta love him. On the personal political record tip, he now says he’s for affirmative action, although in 1992, in a lecture he gave at Yale he described it as “reverse racism” and “divisive.” On his voting record in Congress, his Republican critics hit the nail right on the head: Kerry tends to talk out of both sides of his neck. More troubling than his doublespeak is Kerry’s insider elite background. Of the 40 millionaires in the Senate, he’s the richest, worth over $160 million. This doesn’t include his wife’s family net worth, which is estimated at nearly $1 billion. Wealth aside, Kerry’s wife Teresa Heinz Kerry, feminist advocate that she is, defected from the Republican Party to become a Democratic just last year. This and more regarding Kerry, is the stuff that makes you go, hmmm. But when it comes to the hard decisions that will come after the election-from administration appointments and to advancing policy changes, it is no longer simply the Kerry show. As such, the Democratic party’s track record and it’s corporate elite associations are a better indication of what Kerry will do to help or hurt us rather than Kerry himself. So don’t get caught up in how good Kerry (or his daughters) looks or what he says he’s going to do from jobs to affirmative action. Just as any other president if elected he’ll be beholden to a ton of agendas. Somewhere in the process is a way of getting our issues on the table. But we aren’t there yet. More important it’s what we do between now and November as much as on November 4th that could determine if we as a voting bloc will ever arrive. In this election, just as it’s been for the last several decades Democrats are not offering the hip-hop generation anything to get excited about. Even when the Democratic Party is speaking out on issues that matter to hip-hop voting bloc, when it comes to outlining solutions, they aren’t willing to go far enough. As brilliant as Barack Obama was during the recent Democratic National Convention, and as inclusive as John Edwards tried to be, both did what they were supposed to do. They were given a national platform to rouse our emotions, but charged with the pretty transparent task of not departing too far from the script. In June the first ever National Hip-Hop Political Convention convened in Newark, New Jersey. Delegates from around the country worked diligently to create a national agenda of issues that matter to the hip-hop voting bloc. In short, the agenda calls for universal healthcare, living wage jobs, reparations, education reform, and an end to mandatory minimum sentencing, among other critical human rights concerns. Attempts to present the agenda at last month’s Democratic National Convention were at best lightly entertained, but ultimately ignored. National Hip-Hop Political Agenda aside, not two minutes, not one minute of Democratic National Convention airtime was given to the hip-hop voting bloc’ s issues. Contrast this to stem cell research, a debate hardly in need of a public hearing. This isn’t to say that the Democratic Party doesn’t pay lip service to issues like higher paying jobs and education reform-both issues that matter to hip-hop voters. However, not any of their proposals go the distance that most hip-hop voters require to see substantive change in our lives that we can measure on a daily basis. For example Democrats propose raising the minimum wage to $7/hour. They also call for a tax credit of $1000 to offset college tuition costs. Any hip-hop generationer can attest to the fact that $7/ hour is hardly a living wage and that a $1000 tax credit won’t put a dent in the college costs. Our generation came of age victims of a deteriorating public education system, working class jobs without benefits, rising college tuition costs and ever increasing limits on financial aid. We also saw far too many of our friends and relatives head off to prison after casting their lot with the drug game, even as they knew the odds were stacked against them: their motto was live a little rather than not at all. Repairing at least some of the damage done to youth in the 80s and 90s is part of the critical distance that Democrats should go for our vote. And the name of the game is politics, not the-Republicans-are-too-evil so-we-can’t-really play-the-game. Taking the position that the Republican […]