On “Genesis,” the intro to his debut album Illmatic, a young Nasir Jones remarked: “When it’s real, you doing this even without a record contract.” Fittingly then, Nas took it back to the beginning with a free concert in Central Park yesterday (August 15) to mark his ten-year anniversary as a recording artist. “This is real hip-hop,” the Queensbridge emcee told the audience after he entered to “N.Y. State of Mind.” “Not that fake s**t like 50 Cent.” Nas, wearing sunglasses, a wife beater, black jeans, and a pair of Air Jordans, also had some choice words for the Diplomats, which brought more cheers from the crowd. But the attention of the audience quickly turned elsewhere. While Nas was performing an outbreak occurred outside of the concert area as fans that were left out of the show suddenly rushed the venue from all sides attempting to get in. The interruption caused a ten-minute delay as members of the New York Police Department restored order to the concert. During the delay, God’s Son called for peace and ranted against both presidential candidates, calling President Bush a “gangsta” and Senator Kerry a “punk.” As the concert resumed, Nas continued with his hits off Illmatic and brought Q-Tip onstage with him to perform “One Love.” Tip praised Nas calling him the only rapper to represent life in its totality. The former A Tribe Called Quest front man, however, was only the first guest of the afternoon. A few cuts later, AZ and Nas were reunited as Sosa and Escobar when they performed “Phone Tap,” which Nas dedicated to the hip-hop unit of the NYPD. On “Life’s a B*tch,” AZ effortlessly ripped into his verse as he calmly came from backstage to surprise the crowd. Nas, on the other hand, appeared winded as he stumbled over his verse and finished each bar in a jazz scat fashion. Although the Bravehearts, Large Professor and his fiancée Kelis were onstage, Nas went through most of the show without a hype man. That’s until Busta Rhymes inexplicably joined him to ride shotgun on “Hate Me Now.” The animated emcee brought the audience to a high pitch as he did his best Spliff Star impression. “Get your mother f***in’ hands up,” he barked. Mobb Deep showed up to rhyme alongside Nas during “Eye For An Eye.” With Havoc and Prodigy flanking Nas, the trio looked like the Three Kings of QB. Nas then squashed any lingering beef with P as they hugged after a performance of “Got It Twisted.” “I love these n*****,” Nas proclaimed to the crowd. After performing a medley of his hits, Nas told the audience there was one particular song he didn’t perform anymore, which only made them want it more. “Ether, Ether, Ether,” they chanted as Nas easily acquiesced. But after performing only one verse fans began to boo before Nas started the track once more. “Y’all crazy,” Nas said to another chant of “Ether” when he stopped the song again after the second verse. “I got love for that brother [Jay-Z].” Nas closed out the afternoon warning young girls to stay away from R.Kelly on “I Can,” popping to “Apache” before performing “Made You Look,” and catching the spirit on “One Mic.” Earlier in the day, an exhibition of sorts of the Four Elements of Hip-Hop served as the opener. A DJ battle was held between two participants; one a Japanese man who said he lived in Queensbridge only to draw a chorus of boos when he attempted to mix over a Jay-Z track. Crazy Legs and “the new generation” of the Rock Steady Crew participated in a break dancing routine. And members of the Tats Cru tagged a banner throughout Nas and Mobb Deep’s performance. Although spoken-word artist Saul Williams performed, the only MC fans were celebrating on this day was Mr. Jones. Lead by DJ L.E.S., thousand of finger pointed towards Nas as fans recited the chorus to “You’re Da Man.” And on this summer afternoon, he certainly was.

Respecting the Living Legacy of Def Jam: An Open Letter to the Recording Industry from Russell Simmons In a recent Newsweek article by Johnnie Roberts, appropriate questions were raised not only about the future of Def Jam, but also about the future of the recording industry’s relationship with the creative genius of hip-hop culture. The enduring legacy of Def Jam is that from the very beginning we were focused on building stability for the lives and careers of our artists as well as making hit music that authentically represented hip-hop culture. My quotes in the piece by Roberts were not aimed at disparaging or discounting the value and potential for L.A. Reid to profitably lead Def Jam. My concerns, however, are about the future of Def Jam and the industry as a whole as to whether the legacy that Def Jam established will be maintained to the benefit of the artists and the culture. Let¹s remember when LL Cool J first came to Def Jam, he was a runaway at the age of 15. Our first priority for LL was to work to nurture and sustain him as a gifted and talented young man. Now over 21 years later LL represents the best of what hip-hop can do for a young man coming out of struggle. He has become a beacon of light for families and communities out of the darkness of poverty. When artists face trying and difficult life circumstances, will the executives of the industry today care or give a damn about the actual lives of artists outside the studio? I told Chuck D that his mouth was his Uzi and his words of truth were his bullets. We defend Public Enemy’s rightful place in the genre. I would like to think we helped Chuck D define his career. During the time Slick Rick was unjustly incarcerated, Def Jam executives helped lead the national and international campaign with his devoted wife, Mandy, to secure his freedom from a Florida prison. Recently Kevin Liles, Rev Run and I visited Shyne in prison. Will the new transition team at Def Jam see Shyne for the potential he has to become a Spiritual Prophet as he defines himself or will he be reduced to the thug that the street is racing to define him as. Will Shyne become Tupac (a) or Tupac (b), dead or alive? The truth is Tupac was worth more alive than dead. But, my guess is there are some industry executives who are not too sure about that fact. As we worked to broker a peace between Ja Rule and 50 Cent, there were some who thought it was a fruitless exercise and even worked against the national television broadcast aimed at bringing the parties together for dialogue. Those in opposition felt that the broadcast might compromise the record selling potential of one or both of the artists. We prevailed and the broadcast was well received across the nation. It is important to me that today Chris Lighty is serving as a good role model who mentors young men and women whenever he gets a chance. Irv Gotti came to my house last Saturday night and when he saw Chris Lighty he gave him a hug. Irv thanked me for bringing them together and for nurturing their ongoing dialogue. Yet, the best thanks I can receive is the knowledge that Irv will continue to be a great teacher and mentor for the young millionaires he is developing. Almost all of the artists in hip-hop come from situations of extreme poverty and when money is put in their pockets, it is also important and responsible to help them erase the poverty of their mindsets. No one owes an artist anything but a fair record deal, marketing and promotions. But Def Jam always in the past worked hard to offer more. The question that I have for the industry is what will you do to support the evolution of the collective consciousness of hip-hop? Will you water the good seeds that have been planted? As you make future decisions, if you do not have P. Diddy, Master P, or Damon Dash at your table, who will you use to effectively mentor these up and coming young artists? If Damon Dash sells his company, who will be at Vivendi to show Kanye West the ropes? Who will look after Cam’ron and Beanie Sigel? How does Vivendi and the industry in general plan to maximize the gifts of an Irv Gotti? What about Earl Simmons (DMX)? I am asking these questions to hopefully further sensitize an industry that is contemplating its future. I wish nothing but success for L.A. Reid and Def Jam. This generation of today’s hip-hop artists are some of the most talented ever and most committed in their giving back to our communities. They all deserve our best guidance and support. What will Shyne come home to?

My Saturday evenings have been lulled into repetition as of late. I typically wake up from a nap either to the end of Cheaters or the beginning of COPS. Both reality television programs garner pretty good ratings in the southern Ohio area by capitalizing on the guilt-ridden pleasures of voyeurism. While the Cheaters camera crew follows around jilted lovers and is rife with the hilarity of monogamy gone wrong, COPS takes a less comedic stance by pitting the viewer in the drivers seat of a police cruiser and taking them out for a night on patrol in the gritty streets of Any City, USA. I’ve imagined how I would react to being the unsuspecting star of either show. I had found myself playing out a myriad of hypothetical situations, all of which end in me cursing out Cheaters host Joey Greico in reaction to my girlfriend confronting my mistress and I with a camera crew. The hypothetical number of situations that could land me on COPS is significantly lower, thanks to my virtually spotless criminal record. The only imagined scenario I had on tap for COPS is getting my door knocked down in a failed attempt to apprehend some dangerous prey. After all, COPS would be the last television show that Cincinnati would invite into its precincts during a time when alleged race-based police slayings and the resulting riots are such nationwide news that they warranted a Stone Phillips hosted Dateline special, Right? Wrong. Recently the news ran a blurb about COPS being invited to film Cincinnati police to possibly shed the negative image they have unjustly earned. I’d filed this little tidbit of information away in my conversational fodder folder a while ago. At 10:00 pm COPS rolls its credits, and I routinely begin to get dressed for my repetitious Saturday night out on the town. This particular Saturday I had not planned to do much so I just had on some jeans and a t-shirt, making it a lot easier to fit the stereotype. I then hopped into my big white ‘fits the description’ 89 Chevrolet Caprice Classic and made my way over to my homeboy’s house. After a game of pool and a heated argument about whether R. Kelly or Usher has had more Hot 100 hits, me and said homeboy decide to get out and see what’s going on at the local bars and clubs. Apparently in addition to the few drinks I saw my friend have, he had a few drinks before I got over to his house – which probably was why the argument was so heated – because he fell asleep roughly 10 minutes into the drive and stayed that way for the duration. A side being slightly annoyed by the black and mild cigar that he fell asleep freaking* and spilled all over himself and my car, it was the same Saturday night I was used to having. Once we got to our destination, I assessed the situation and decided against dealing with dress codes and cover charges in favor of a more casual-wear friendly venue, and started to make my way to the other local hangout spot. That’s when I noticed ‘the boys’ in my rearview. *freak•ing (fr k ng) adv. & adj. Slang: commonly done by urban youth; the practice of removing the tobacco from a black and mild cigar, then removing the inner filter paper that makes the cigar burn slower and replacing the tobacco back into the unfiltered tobacco wrapping; the inner filter is often referred to as ‘cancer paper’ Any young Black male in America can tell you that once you notice ‘the boys’ in your rearview you stiffen up a bit and your mind begins to race – regardless to whether you are in trouble or not. Earlier I had noticed about four or five police cruisers parked outside of the lounge that I had decided against going into. The lounge in question is patronized by the 25 and older, hard-bottoms-and-slacks-crowd. They rarely require any special police attention. This led me to believe that the officer tailing us was driven more so by boredom than suspicion. Upon further inspection of the police car thru my rearview mirror, I noticed a third person riding in the backseat who I just assumed was some unlucky bastard who’s Saturday night was gonna be spent at the precinct. I loosened up a bit at the notion that the officer was not thinking about me. Through one stop sign… Through two stop signs… At the third stop sign I noticed that the lane broke off into two, divided by a car length white line. Thinking the left hand lane would be turn-only I slightly careened over to the right then back to the left when I saw that I could in fact continue forward. I stopped the car at the sign and proceeded forward. Blue lights. DAMN! I pull over to the right, turn the radio down, unsuccessfully attempt to wake my drunken tobacco strewn passenger and began to think about all the things I could have done to warrant him pulling me over. I couldn’t come up with a thing. As I’m left to contemplate the reasons behind my being pulled over, the officer turns the floodlight directly into my mirrors and proceeds to slowly approach my vehicle. I’m no stranger to the process that ensues, upon being signaled to the right side of the road and between sharp sips of anger and pride I prepare to calmly field the questions that Mr. Officer is about to volley at me. The officer stopped short of the driver’s side window and requested the necessary documentation for operating a motor vehicle, and after rooting thru my wallet and glove box I handed them over to him without so much as seeing his face or a visible badge number. After the request for your license, registration, and proof of insurance, the first question that is typically asked upon conceding to being pulled over […]

Up until now, Bill O’Reilly’s anti-hip hop antics have been so unfoundedly ridiculous we’ve learned to ignore him. From his personal vendetta against Ludacris to attacks on what he calls gangsta rap, Bill finds new ways to criticize hip hop music. But, on a recent show that aired July 14, he went too far. Attempting to discredit Jadakiss for lyrics criticizing Bush on the single "Why" from the highly anticipated new album, Kiss of Death, I watched as Bill began a new attack on hip hop. During the segment, Bill encouraged viewers to dump the stock, Vivendi, responsible for putting out Jada’s records citing the stock had already begun its decline. Hip hop fans everywhere should be outraged by such blatant attacks on freedom of speech. Why? Well, think about how these attacks started. Bill began by pointing out portrayals of violence and misogyny in the music, something many believe is problematic. Bill even had an "O.G." on the show recently who claimed to be a former gang member to co-sign his complaints. How many gang members with influence and authority would go on the Bill O’Reilly show like that? Bill even claimed the guy had "street credibility." It’s laughable just to hear Bill try to make that determination. No disrespect to the dude, but Bill used him like a pawn. The real problem is censorship and freedom of expression. Once we allow others to say what is and is not acceptable, they believe they have the authority to define what the restrictions should be. The man is even against the ACLU, one of the nation’s oldest and most respected agencies that protect civil rights. I know I’m not the only one to see what’s happening here. A good point of reference and discussion: The Patriot Act, devised to keep America safe from terrorists in a post 9/11 world was largely ignored by far too many. Careful study of the document though reveals how the Act actually limits constitutional rights of Americans not some distant predators. Particularly activists in this country are threatened as many of them can be labeled as "domestic terrorists" under the law. Could you imagine being place under surveillance for speaking out publicly about government policies? Sounds like Iraq, doesn’t it? Similarly, politically and socially conscious hip hoppers too must be supported and shielded from these attacks on constitutional rights that provide so many freedoms. Our right to free speech is more valuable than many may realize but could be in danger if we don’t recognize policies designed to limit our freedoms. (Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9-11 is another good reference for further discussion and research.) We need to support artists who take a stand to articulate their feelings about the political state of this society. Failing to do so puts at risk loss of power through the voice of hip hop music and could further water down its content. I say we SHOULD boycott record labels and companies that do not reflect more creative diversity in their rosters. However, signing AND properly marketing artists that take risks and display creativity and true care for the direction our generation is taking would be a good start towards change. I could give a damn what stock people dump. This won’t hurt Jadakiss. A label would be foolish to dump him and if they did another one would be right there to pick him up and offer even more money…because record company people are shady…so people watch your back ’cause I think they smoke crack, I don’t doubt it. Look at how they act…(Q-Tip) Sorry, that was a flashback from the good ol days. Sometimes it seems hard to defend hip hop at times and then Bill gives us good reason. Commercial music promoted today is mostly violent and degrading to women, afterall, WE LIVE IN A VIOLENT SOCIETY THAT HAS NO RESPECT FOR WOMEN! (Videos aside, see also the initial omission of Hillary Clinton as a speaker from the Democratic National Convention.) Why should hip hop be a scapegoat for societal issues? A recent Harvard study even revealed movie ratings are more lenient than ever in accessing violence, sex, and offensive language content. If Bill O’Reilly is really concerned about these issues then he should broaden his scope. Does he go after MTV or movie making production houses the same vengance he has against hip hop? Why not devise a personal vendetta against Arnold Schwarzenegger? Surely over the years he contributed to protrayals of violence in our society. Now he’s Governor of California. wow. We should start a boycott…against FOX, (for its biased media reporting) ClearChannel (for violating free speech), Fleet Bank-now Bank of America- & Aetna US Healthcare (for accepting profits made from the slave trade), Viacom (for promoting images that degrade women and society). I could go on but that will do. Now is a great time to turn off the TV and radio and find ways to be more productive. Catch up on some good reading, check out a museum, or help register your neighbors to vote. Last time I checked, Jada was number 4 on the Billboard Charts. Therefore, WE determine the order and disorder of our generation. November 2nd will be here before we know it, as many join the campaign to get Bush out of office. Its time for some political and social maturity. Time to shift our focus from CDs to guarantees for our future. Thinking about the strength in our numbers and the potential for us to make a political impact in this election and the future, Bill O’Reilly can go back to being a non-issue. P.S. For a journalist, Bill, you sure do a poor job. You should give yourself a more deserving title like Media Advisor to the President. fayemi shakur is a political and cultural critic/writer & served as a senior producer of the National Hip Hop Political Convention held last June.

Adisa Banjoko, I truly thank you for such intellectual nourishment. I can always count on you for some real discussions on the state of our Hiphop community. You are truly a much needed architect on the scaffolds of Hiphop’s cultural development. I appreciate your concerns and comments. Everyone can learn from this. Before I consider accepting your offer to debate the; I am Hiphop philosophy at the Riekes Center for Human Enhancement, let me be sure that you truly understand the position that you are taking, and how you may be setting yourself up for a public spanking. I am truly in awe of your blindness! It is as if someone is putting you up to this. Be honest, are these your concerns or are you simply representing the insecurities of others? As a thinking man you cannot be serious. I ask this because before becoming the Host of One Mic Radio you were the Bishop of Hip Hop. And I knew that you were not literally a high-ranking Christian cleric in charge of a diocese. But I did expect from you a discussion on Hiphop that transcended Rap music entertainment. And your earlier writings as the Bishop of Hip Hop suggested as such. What happened? Be careful that the environment of radio broadcasting has not confused your mind as to the principles of true Hiphop? More personally, have you stopped living Hiphop, or were you just fronting as Hiphop’s bishop to get what you needed from KRS-ONE? Whatever happened to Chicken Soup for the Hip Hop Soul? Is this project still happening? And if so, what then is Hiphop’s Soul? Not Hiphop’s soul as a Muslim, or as a Christian, or as a Jew, or as a Buddhist, etc., but Hiphop’s soul as Hiphop? Before we debate any other issue pertaining to Hiphop, should we not first have closure with the past issues and projects you and I both have invested our time and money into? Your whole challenge sounds like a set-up to me! One rooted in fear and ignorance, and not in truth! But for the protection of Adisa; my dear friend in the struggle, and for the education of all interested Hiphoppas consider this. WE ARE HIPHOP! We are not just doing Hiphop; WE ARE HIPHOP! We are the spiritual, mental and physical activity of Hiphop in the material world. And why do I say this? Because it is the truth! No other culture, ethnicity or religion truly cares about us. They use us and our elements to further their individual causes with little or nothing going back to the preservation and sustainment of Hiphop itself, but they themselves will not claim a Hiphop ethnicity. And why should anyone who is not Hiphop, care about Hiphop above whatever they have invested their real commitment to? We (Hiphoppas) are not their responsibility. We are our responsibility. It is up to us to take care of us. For if we are truly committed to the principles of peace, love, unity and having fun as laid down by Afrika Bambaataa in the mid 1980’s, then it is us (the Hiphop nation) that must achieve such high ideals for ourselves. Such privileges as peace, love, unity and having fun are never truly given to anyone; they are achieved by those who desire them. The question for you Adisa is; are you truly free or have you been freed? A truly free person can decide at any moment to be anyone or anything he/she chooses to be. A freed person relies upon the definitions and interpretations of those people he/she feels inferior to for the survival, meaning and purpose of their own freed lives. A person who has been freed cannot create or even re-create themselves. They are forever defined by interest foreign to their own. Was this not also the intent of the slave trade? To suggest that we cannot re-create our very ethnicity today for our own human advancement and that of our children is to actually re-enslave ourselves and our children daily to interest foreign to our own. Such a suggestion is actually the cause of political stagnation for any group. If we lose the ability to define ourselves; who then is defining us? If we do not offer ourselves peace, who or what shall we wait upon for such an achievement? Who can we really depend upon for our sustained peace, love, unity and happiness? Black people? White people? Chicanos, Asians, Hindus, Christians, Jews? Who is supposed to ensure our well-being? Who are we waiting on? Is it not obvious today that people are more united by interest and like-mindedness than by race, class or religion? Is it not time for those who are making a living from Hiphop to finally stop using the culture and start building it? Adisa, if my plan for peace, love, unity and happiness is unacceptable to you, I humbly suggest that you lay out a plan of your own. Such is the character of true leadership! But to have no plan of your own yet critique and even demean the value of the plan that I lay out is exactly what those who would exploit Hiphop and its elements want from you. Free yourself! Don’t be used as a miter-shaped chess piece that moves diagonally across any number of unoccupied Hiphop spaces-a bishop. In truth Adisa, you do have the authority to become whatever you have the capability to achieve. The decision is truly yours to make. I have decided to live my life as a citizen of Hiphop kulture. If you have not, such is your choice. I am not better than you. I do not look down upon you. In fact, through Hiphop I am better able to love you; to understand you; to empower you. Your decisions on life and its meaning are for you, and my life decisions are for me. Hiphop is my faith! And how can anyone debate the reality of another man’s faith? Such […]

Blastmaster KRS ONE, For the last few years I have watched you write or speak about the merits of “being Hip Hop” and alluding to some spiritual core power within Hip Hop itself. While Hip Hop does indeed command more power than any other musical art form before it, too much weight is being put on its true power and potential. I believe that your idea on “being Hip Hop” while sounding and feeling good, is in truth weak. I think it is dangerous for those who truly love Hip Hop culture authentically. Following this concept gives the illusion that Hip Hop can and should be equal to other cultures and faiths like African, Latino, Japanese, Buddhist, Judaic, Islamic, or Christian. The sub-culture of Hip Hop is not built to support people in the manner that one can “BE” of other dominant cultures or faiths. The richness of the contributions of other faiths and cultures to Hip Hop are what MAKE Hip Hop great. I submit that Hip Hop is a subculture. Being a sub-culture, Hip Hop is not meant to facilitate such things. It is meant to absorb things that exist already and re-frame them in a contemporary urban environment. To not realize this point, is to mistake the scaffolding of a building for the actual foundation. I love Hip Hop! But I will not pile cultural and spiritual bricks to its structure (especially when I KNOW it was not meant to support such weight). One of the more disturbing ideas proposed in your philosophy is that in order to BE “Hip Hop” one should consider giving up who they originally claimed themselves to be (African, Jewish, Irish, Japanese, Christian, Native American etc.) . However, almost everything “Hip Hop” now is something else from some other culture, that was deemed “Hip Hop” later. Think about it. Were Technic 1200’s turntables, Adidas shelltoe shoes, and Kung Fu flicks, made with Hip Hop in mind? Or did those who claim the sub-culture of Hip Hop embrace them, thus “making” them “Hip Hop”? From this perspective, what is and is not “Hip Hop” is merely an issue of consumerism. Further, was the African oral tradition HIP-HOP?, The martial arts fighting system of Capoeria? The African American political ideologies of Malcolm X? Were the Black Panthers created specifically FOR “Hip Hop”? Or, were these movements and ideals MADE “Hip Hop” by the Hip Hop community? Imagine Hip Hop without the Black nationalistic infusions of Public Enemy and Paris? How different would Hip Hop be minus the Latin flavor of Cypress Hill and the dance movements of Pop Master Fabel? Can you imagine Hip Hop without the eastern philosophical insights from Wu-Tang Clan or Afu-Ra? What would Hip Hop be without the strong beauty of songs like Kanye’s “Jesus Walks” or Talib Kewli’s “The Proud”? Hip Hop has never and will never stand on its own. With or without Hip Hop’s support, approval or understanding those technological advances, clothing lines, movements and philosophies will continue to exist. What is and is NOT Hip Hop is usually co-opted by those in the Hip Hop community from an outside source. Very little in Hip Hop has been “invented” by “us”. However MUCH has been re-mixed and re-framed to fit the Hip Hop subculture. We must be honest about this fact if we truly wish to see our true selves. To do so does not negate the greatness of Hip Hop. Also, racially and culturally speaking, a friend of mine in the U.K., Kevin Sekweyama made a very salient point. “Let’s say the mother is German and the father is Australian. If the kid’s father is a B-boy is the kid supposed to say ‘My mother is German, and my Dad is Hip Hop’?” The mere suggestion sounds ridiculous! KRS, I know you must see how this kind of thinking spirals toward the insane. You must acknowledge the myopic mind state you’ve suggested. We must not get so emotionally caught up in the moment that we mistake Hip Hop for something that it is not. The music of the civil rights era was soul, and R&B…But no one from that era says “I am soul”. We must remember that the MOVEMENT was the source of the music and not the other way around. Further, to paraphrase Hip Hop children’s book author of “Turntable Timmy” Mike Perry. He noted that Chicano low rider culture is a major force in the community. But no one would ever say, ‘I am no longer Chicano, I am a low rider’. After heard your statements I would like to formally challenge you, KRS ONE, to a debate on this subject in a public forum. Know that this challenge is not intended to be physical or on wax- but rather a purely philosophical one . I further assert that nothing in the so-called “Gospel of Hip Hop” will have new concepts. I submit that everything in the so-called “Gospel” will be a previously “eastern” or “western” concept framed in a Hip Hop context. Rather than do that, why not just give those who seek knowledge the real roots of the paths you expound upon (Buddhism, Rig Vedas, Taoism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism etc.)? Isn’t that more honorable than masking other faiths with the veil of Hip Hop? Simply changing the context does not make it new. Is Hip Hop possibly the world’s greatest sub-culture? No doubt. Has it given many people a new passion for politics, their own sense of self and a new found love for spirituality? No doubt. But it’s nothing for us to “be”. It is for us to love, nurture, and nourish with truth as we grow. You should also know that these positions are my secondary reasons for denying the “I am Hip Hop” philosophy. I’d rather tell you the rest in person. KRS ONE, I would like to debate you before the end of 2004 at the Riekes Center for Human Enhancement, located in the California Bay Area. […]

I don’t mean to spit anti-patriotic venom in a land that I probably wouldn’t leave if I could – but when I think of the injustices hidden behind our flag… I can’t help but vent a little. When I think of the high morals that this nation was intended to be built on in comparison to the foundation upon which our government now abides; I can’t help but be concerned. Crooked, slanted and cracked – if you knew your tenement was established on a base that’s become decrepit and unstable; wouldn’t you raise hell ‘til it was razed well?!! Complaining about obvious flaws in the building doesn’t mean you don’t appreciate it; you just want to be sure that it’s built on something that’s steadfast and concrete. You just want to be able to feel pride and security in what you represent and what represents you, right?!! I don’t want some cloth waved over flaws to distract me from the cause – I want what’s broken to be fixed. So America… get that d@mn flag out of my face, stop selling me fairy tale lyrics about how great this place is, and make me proud to be an American-African. Happy Fourth, y’all: “The Marred, Mangled Banner” For what white lies lie beneath the decent, Blue collar pride has been brutalized as of recent. The truth has leaked in – proud faces now blush in instant red. The light shed on Iraqi prisoners’ humiliation only scratches the surface to the depths of white bred arrogance so willingly blatant… This brilliant hatred has long since blind-sided African culture – frequently unique in signature and intensely infrared. I’m not holding my breath ‘til I’m blue in the face for an apology that’s due to my race. True to his name, Bush flushed crimson – he took the mic and bled bright red right into it. His sorrow was genuine – yet, I was quite confused. Was he sorry that it happened or that it became a read sound bite for the news?… Hooray for the red, white and blue?!! – please excuse, but my head’s not in the right mood for this kind of music. Forget a Francis Scott Key. His stanzas were NOT for me. Hypocrisy is what this nation stands for. The good ol’ stars and stripes have scarred our honor for life… Behind bars and in front of pipes, many have a pledge of a defeatist’s thanks to such a sadist plan born. We went from being bold Africans with stoles and pride swollen, To being sold in droves – trapped by men with pride stolen. Our wives were broken – physically, morally and spiritually. My ancestors were introduced to the red, white and blue spectrum with hands fettered, a noosed head and quite abusive gestures… As little white minds rationalized little white crimes behind God’s Word and the fake wisdom of patriotism found in lyrics that jeer at dreams. It’s satirical it seems – how they could celebrate the 4th with fireworks, While they segregated our force with the desire of fire thirst. Such covert drugs were the replacement for the overt thugs of lynch mobs. They drenched sod with red that bled from open wounds and bleached it with white lies – hoping to consume the truth… The cries that exude from such tombs is the anthem of our tune – held within blue blood tainted from winced sobs. A casket, hearse and dirt nap couldn’t trap us worse than that. Such a drastic curse damages the very seams we sing about in The Star Spangled Banner. I’m not anti-patriotic – I’m just creating opposing ruckus for the system that supposedly upholds the justice… The one that’s slowly bludgeoned the flag into a marred and mangled banner.

Less than one year after Mayor Bloomberg proclaimed July 26, 2003 "Rock Steady Crew Day" in New York City, the NYC Parks Department has denied the World Famous Rock Steady Crew access to Bronx public parks for their 27th Anniversary, which is scheduled for July 22-25th, 2004. The Commissioner Adrian Benepe’s office oversees the NYC Parks Department, and it was the Bronx Borough Commissioner, Dorothy Lewandowski, that denied Rock Steady Crew access to Bronx parks, stating that "the community does not want people like Fat Joe up there." RSC President, Richard "Crazy Legs" Colón, went through the proper steps to fulfill the requirements for application (see links below for reference), although various situations cropped up in the Commissioner’s office to delay conversations, including losing the paperwork altogether. A meeting was set up by the Bronx Borough Commissioner’s office with Alfredo Perez, Director Of Special Events for Van Cortlandt Park, on June 18th, 2004. After Rock Steady Crew met every possible obstacle and issue raised by the Parks Department, the Commissioner’s office alluded to everything being okay with the application on June 18th. On June 22nd a letter was issued to Crazy Legs citing that the proposed location sought "is not suitable because it is in a specialized area" and that "the event would interfere unreasonably with the enjoyment of the park by other users." 2004 marks the 30th Anniversary of Hip Hop, a culture that has brought together millions of people transcending race, gender, nationality, and any perceived social boundaries that traditionally have divided people. The Rock Steady Crew originated in Bronx, New York in 1977, and now has members all over the world. Since 1991, the RSC has organized an annual four-day series of events that culminates on the last weekend of July. These annual events were established to honor members of Rock Steady Crew who passed away, and it has grown to honor all significant contributions to the culture of Hip Hop by individuals who appear to have been overlooked. To date, Rock Steady Crew has not taken contributions from alcohol or tobacco companies for the sponsorship of events. Moreover, the RSC Anniversary celebration has been incident-free over the course of its13-year history. The daylong free outdoor concert attracts over 8,000 people, bringing together young people and families from all over the world who come to New York specifically to attend the activities. "I feel that it’s a slap in the face to the community as well as to artists that have spread a culture that was born in the Bronx throughout the world," said Crazy Legs of the decision. "It’s a shame that a small group of people have the power to say and do what ever they please behind closed doors when it comes to making decisions within communities that they do not even live in. For the NYC Parks Department to tell us that our community does not want artists who come from within our community to perform is a blatant disregard for any expression that we have created for ourselves through hard times and a need to be heard. I would like to know why the Parks Department office never called the 6th Precinct or Hudson River Park Trust (Pier 54) to find out whether we were capable of putting on an event of this size with out any major problems. Our history speaks for itself when it comes to throwing events, and they never looked into it." Television and radio stations utilize public parks on a regular basis to throw free concerts and events, attracting thousands of people each time. It is a travesty that a group of people that has given so much to their community would be denied use of the parks with no solid basis. This proclamation from the Mayor’s Office in 2003 (read at http://www.tygereye.net/rsc27) lists a number of reasons why the Rock Steady Crew is a valuable asset to the City Of New York, however the impact of their art and work extends far beyond the city. In addition to receiving NYC honors from Mayor Bloomberg in 2003, Rock Steady Crew received the Key to the City of Las Vegas on February 21, 2004 for their work with the Las Vegas Arts District. Las Vegas Councilwoman Janet Moncrief said of the award: "The Rock Steady Crew has influenced popular culture for three decades. They are aware of their influence on youth and are committed to philanthropy." Crazy Legs and Rock Steady regularly host events at The Point community center in the South Bronx, donating proceeds to the center for their youth programs. It was his dance program at The Point for young people that garnered him the "New Yorker of the Week" Award from New York 1 News. Each year at the RSC Anniversary, sponsorship proceeds from the Celebrity Basketball Tournament go to the Greenwich Village Youth Council, and Crazy Legs donates anniversary concert tickets to the Robinhood Foundation so that disadvantaged children can attend. The Rock Steady Crew performed for the Reagan inauguration in 1980. They were the first B-boys to perform at Carnegie Hall on Jan 19, 2001. The crew also performed in a tribute to the Nicholas Brothers at the Kennedy Center Honors, the Royal Variety Performance for Queen Elizabeth II, the Boston Ballet Gala, and the Lincoln Center Serious Fun! series. Crazy Legs has been featured in such films as Flashdance, Beat Street, Wild Style and Style Wars as well as various television programs and music videos. He has appeared in television commercials and print ads for major corporations including Coke, Sprite, Verizon Wireless, Sean John, Averix and Nike. He participated in the Peabody Award-winning documentary Dance in America: Everybody Dance Now, the Great Performances 20th Anniversary Special, and co-produced the documentary movie The Freshest Kids. He performed in the Off-Broadway play Jam On the Groove, and taught actor John Leguizamo to B-boy for his Tony Award-nominated play Freak. He has choreographed music videos for Wyclef Jean (nominated for an MTV Award for Best […]

The Hip-Hop Nation is still mourning in the aftermath of soul icon Ray Charles’ death. Funny thing is, people may not know that they are mourning – the loss is just that widespread. There is a tremendous lingering legacy in the absence of Brother Ray. And, for some reason, Hip-Hop didn’t directly embrace his work via extensive sampling like say James Brown, George Clinton or Roy Ayers. Maybe its because he owned his master recordings, maybe it was a sense of respect, or maybe Ray was simply untouchable. Whatever the reason, we still loved him, whether it was his moving rendition of “Georgia” or his highly touted Pepsi commercials (“You got the right one, ba-bay –UN-HUH!). He was a class act and he never stopped smiling (at least when we watched). Below are a just a few of the comments that we received from those who enjoyed, were inspired or just loved the legacy of Ray Charles. Aretha Franklin, Soul Singer I was really saddened to hear he was so ill. I had no idea that he was as ill as he was until quite late. Of course, a great soul has gone on. He was a fabulous man, full of humor and wit. A giant of an artist, and of course, he introduced the world to secular soul singing. Undoubtedly, the music world will miss his voice. He’s the voice of a lifetime. Neil Portnow, RIAA President "The world is a quieter place today as we mourn the passing of 12-time GRAMMY-winner Ray Charles. A member of the Recording Academy for more than 45 years, Mr. Charles was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987 and this past February, we bestowed upon him the prestigious President’s Merit Award. With a mix of blues, gospel, jazz and soul, Mr. Charles was the preeminent American musician – with a heart as grand as his talents. The Academy has lost a dear friend and the world has lost a musical legend." Michael Jackson, King of Pop “I am saddened to hear of the death of my friend, Ray Charles. He was a true legend…an American Treasure. His music is timeless; his contributions to the music industry…unequalled; and his influence, unparalleled. His caring and humility spoke volumes. He paved the way for so many of us, and I will forever remember him in my heart.” Charlie Braxton, journalist: Ray Charles is easily one of the greatest American recording artists to ever set foot in a recording studio. Ray took chords from traditional gospel tunes and married secular themes to them, much to the chagrin of gospel music fans. This formula is best illustrated by the his smash hit "Baby What I Say. His unique blend of blues and gospel laid the foundation for modern soul music. Without him there would be no Musiq Soulchilds, no Kelly Prices, no soul to put neo in front of. The hip-hop generation owes this great artist a huge musical debt. DJ Vlad, Spin Doctor (DJ): My main memory of Ray Charles was seeing him decked out in the ill suit with the fly honey’s singing ‘you got the right one bay-bay’ in those Pepsi commercials. Homeboy was pretty old back then, but you could tell he was still a player. Dasun Allah DX21, Hip-Hop Journalist & Radio Personality: Ray Charles is a Grandmaster. Many seem to think our musical traditions emerged from a vacuum, without any context. Our generation deals with what has been dubbed "neo-soul" but it was Ray Charles whose scientific melding of blues, gospel and R&B gave birth to what is called soul to begin with. Our generation must know that it stands on the shoulders of those who have come before. For instance, look at the direct influence he had on Stevie Wonder who in turn has influenced countless singers within the Hip-hop generation, and that was just one individual. This man created entire genres! He was accomplished in so many genres and he did it his way. Even Frank Sinatra hailed him as the genius. Paine, AllHipHop.com Features Editor Ray Charles was somebody I grew up admiring. Not because of his early and classic catalog…but because of my favorite childhood film, the Blues Brothers. Ray’s cameo and performance spoke to me as did others by James Brown, Cab Calloway, and John Lee H#####. Without a doubt, Ray’s a big part of Hip-Hop. He isn’t somebody you’re likely to hear scratched on a record. But as far as soul…Ray’s got Triple Five Soul and without Ray, you can forget about Jimmy Castor Bunch and Debarge. Patti LaBelle, Singer When I heard that he, Ray Charles passed, I dropped and started crying. It is a big loss to America. Although I knew him as a friend, he was nice to everyone and even though he was blind, he saw people in his own special way. We’ve lost a great angel. Quincy Jones, Producer, Ray Charles protégé I truly have no words to express the deep sadness that I have today. Ray Charles was my oldest friend, my brother in every sense of the word, and bigger then life. We first met when I was 14-years-old and he was 16 in Seattle and we had the blessing of God to realize all those boyhood dreams together. As a musician, Ray Charles was unmatched. A musical genius that made every song he performed his own. There will never be another musician who did as much to break down the perceived walls of musical genres as much as Ray Charles did. Ray used to always say that if he had a dime, he would give me a nickel. Well, I would give that nickel back to have him still here with us but I know that heaven has become a better place with him in it. Like the loss of my brother in 1998, this is absolutely devastating. Karu F. Daniels, Entertainment Journalist/The RU Report: "Ray Charles was and will remain an eternal force to be […]

From his directorial debut in “New Jack City” to his latest role as the ultimate Badasss, actor/writer/director and producer Mario Van Peebles has portrayed many facets of Black life through his diverse characters. From street hustlers to cops and even grappling in the wild Wild West, Van Peebles never measured his success through the box office numbers. His gratification came simply from being a player in the game. His focus emerged at a young age. He got his fervor because his father began thugging Hollywood long before any of todays’ new jack’s were even a flicker in tinsel town. Melvin Van Peebles was a veteran filmmaker who wasn’t trying to hear what Hollywood had to say. In 1971, he independently crafted “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song,” a rebellious film that jumpstarted the blaxploitaion era. In the current movie “Baadassss,” the younger Van Peebles recreates his revolutionary father’s journey to the big screen back in the early 60’s when quality roles for blacks were scarce to say the least. Mario talks to AllHipHop Alternatives writer Octavia Bostick and explained the rich cycle of Black filmmaking. ******************** I think what we’re seeing right now is a lot of folks are forgetting that we can be the HNIC that we can run stuff. You’ve got a new rise of the black entrepreneur in our culture that’s happening. You’ve got young folks coming out with their own clothing lines, and they starting to realize you vote with two things, you vote with your ballot and you vote with your dollars. They know you can go to movies and see [Black people] clown everyday ‘cause the studios will make a movie with us clowning and being ignorant and there’s a place for that. But for us to see a movie now about a brother who ran the show, about a brother who owned his own movie, about a brother who had a dream to have white folks, black folks, women, Hispanics and made it work. now you’ve started a whole thing where after that the studio’s made Shaft, Superfly and Coffey Brown and movies that changed the game for us to see that we could win and we could and we could do it as powerful with chemistry which they often don’t want us to know about. Truly there was no difference playing my father [in “Baadassss”]. I just put the shoes on and it spoke for itself. I didn’t have to mess with it. The story of one man who went up against this studio machine and instead of saying we shall overcome someday, he said no we shall overcome today. Malcolm said it best, “If they don’t want you in their restaurants, make your own restaurants, and they don’t want you in their movie make your own movie.” If you make movies for the studio your gonna just be hip-hop comedy but you make your film independent you can show strong brothers winning. Yes we can have humor but we can still be intelligent we can show we are all that, just by making a movie saying we are all that based on the truth and that’s all I was doing was trying to tell the truth. I saw it I grew up with it and I’m just sharing that truth with everyone else. Hollywood makes movies like “Casualties of War” and “Apocalypse Now” and all these Vietnam themed movies and eventually folks don’t go see those movies anymore. Hollywood keeps track of the economic negligence as folks just aren’t going to see Vietnam films anymore, but they don’t blame that on the color of the actors in the movies do they? But if they make “Shaft,” “Foxy Brown,” “Superfly,” and those movies in the “ghetto urban action pictures” stop making money, they won’t blame it on the genre they’ll say it’s because there’s black people in it. That’s black exploitation. “Sweetback” was about a brother who made being a revolutionary hip. Who made understanding the game and owning his s**t hip. The Black Panthers loved it because it made being a revolutionary hip. Then the studio’s co-opted the game and made “Shaft” into a black cop and then our subsequent films they often made being a cop or working for the white man hip or even being a drug dealer hip. You see the difference? Look here, spoken word starts with the Last Poets and Gil Scott (Heron) and moves up to Chuck D but when they took the mic from the folk that’s saying something relevant and gave it to the mic talking about guns and 40’s what are we dancing to? They take the revolutionary core out because it’s filled with the stuff they don’t want you to know and that’s what “Baadassss” is about. If the studio’s are making movies about us it will be us clowing on a boat on a plane in a car and that’s ok, as long as we can also show the flip side. I don’t care they can have “Dumb and Dumber” but where’s our “Lost in Translation?” The thing is we just don’t have a large spectrum. It’s a lack of choice so this year we have “Baadassss” opening. It has fun, it has the sexy aspect, but it also has us winning. It’s the truth and that’s what I’m about. You can be a part of sitting around complaining about they don’t do this or don’t do that or you can be a part of saying I’m gonna be a part of shedding the light. We want to shed the lights camera and action on how we can be because we can be beautiful. Like my dad said “Black is not only beautiful.. It’s bad too, it’s fine, classy, ass-kickin and name-taking too, that’s why they call us “Baadasssss!”

While my brother and sister loved the Three Stooges, Abbott and Costello, and cowboy shows on TV; I only remember liking one show and that was The Twilight Zone. I thought Rod Sterling a genius. Though he only lived until age 50 he left a legacy of creative shows that will never be seen again. Why do I bring up Rod Sterling? Because I was watching President Bush today when he came out from his “conversation” with the 9-11 Commission. Cheney, the Puppet Master” must have been just out of camera range. All I could think of was Rod Sterlings movie, “It’s a Good Life”. In this movie six year old Anthony can control the town he lives in by disfiguring people (wishing them into the cornfield) who don’t think happy good thoughts. Everyday is a living hell for the people in Peaksville, Ohio. On a given morning not too long ago, the rest of the world disappeared and Peaksville was left all alone. Its inhabitants were never sure whether the world was destroyed and only Peaksville left untouched or whether the village had somehow been taken away. They were, on the other hand, sure of one thing: the cause. A monster had arrived in the village. Just by using his mind, he took away the automobiles, the electricity, the machines-because they displeased him-and he moved an entire community back into the dark ages. Anthony lives with at the Fremont farm. One day Aunt Amy began to sing aloud Now, the monster doesn’t like singing, so his mind snapped at her, turned her into a smiling vacant thing. She sings no more. The people in Peaksville have to smile and they have to think happy thoughts and say happy things because once displeased the monster can wish them into a cornfield or change them into a grotesque walking horror. When Anthony looks at you you’d better be thinking happy thoughts. That was Anthony. Now we have George and his happy thought friends, who are writing up all kinds of laws about what you can do, say, and think. Johnny doesn’t like breasts, so all the breasts of nude statues have to be covered in drapes. Donald likes killing. The lead soldiers he had as a kid are now flesh and blood. He can order thousands, why millions, away from their jobs, kids, and homes; to fight his forever and forever wars. Our husbands, kids and grand kids. Not theirs. Colin and Condi aren’t sure who they are. Their job is to tell everyone what George really means when he talks. It displeases George to talk in public. It displeases him very much. Mr.Powell knows, that if he doesn’t say the things that George tells him to, he’ll end up in the cornfield. And so Colin told this ridiculous story in front of the UN people about aluminum pipes, traveling biological vans, and scary stuff about vials of powdered poison. Nobody laughed when Colin told these made up stories because they’d all end up in the cornfield with Colin. People are pretty careful about what they say today. Mostly they’ve just stopped talking to each other. What’s OK today might be against the law tomorrow? George has already told everyone, “Those not with us are against us”. So everybody started to think happy thoughts. Better yet, no thoughts. George says that God talks to him. George says that he’s the War President. George says that it’s a big country and that the terrorists are everywhere. And now everybody is scared every day. Airports are evacuated if a shopping bag is left behind. Some days it’s chemical factories, and other days it’s nuclear facilities. Today it’s malls we need to be vigilant about. George and his very good friends have bunkers built all over the country, in case the rest of the world gets sick and tired and really decides to come and get us. George says that plastic sheeting and duct tape should see us through any crisis. And if not? Well–that’s the sacrifices of war. Everyone wonders deep inside themselves if maybe it’s not really God talking to George? But, yikes, you wouldn’t dare say this out loud. So all the pretend ministers march into George’s house and pray with him. Then George tells them who God wants to kill next. And they say, “Amen and Amen!” Well, God doesn’t say “kill”, He uses words like pre-emptive, regime change, liberation, etc. God only kills people in lands with oil or other good stuff But you can’t talk about this because God is supposed to know what He’s doing. George says that God wants terrorism wiped off the face of the Earth. Now nobody is sure how this will happen? Nobody asks, “When will we know that the very last terrorist is dead?” Will God tell George? It’s kind of like telling people they should go out and catch all the fog of the earth in bottles. Millions and millions of jobs have been lost since George was selected. But, George says we’ve turned the corner, and the economy is looking good. Now all the people who live in towns with boarded mills and factories don’t believe this. None of the farmers who’ve lost their land believe. The computer people, whose jobs are in India don’t think we’ve turned the corner Everybody knows it’s a joke and a lie but the robot people smiling–always smiling on TV, just tell us what George thinks. That’s all that matters. George likes happy thoughts. He likes flags, and people standing behind him, smiling like nitwits when he talks about the tax breaks for the rich being such a boon for the economy. He likes lots of cheering soldiers, yellow ribbons, his ranch and baseball. He doesn’t like dissent of any kind. TV never shows people with signs of protest. Only happy people in happy land saying “Yes George it’s good. It’s very, very good that millions don’t have jobs. It’s good George that God […]

OK, HIP-HOP, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. I am here to stand up for hip-hop heads across the nation and to state emphatically that we aren’t going to be railroaded out of our sense of style. I’ve been quiet lately watching the sweeping fashion changes that have unfurled this year. Yeah, I am not opposed to change, but you avant-garde ass knuckleheads are not going to force me into copping a closet full of stripped button-up s####. Please. At a recent SOB’s appearance, KRS-One, the self-proclaimed Teacha, was draped in a blazer with a graffiti scribed tee-shirt underneath. I got recent reports that Skillz (aka Mad Skillz) was also rockin’ a blazer as he embarked on the Okay Player tour. Let’s face it; it’s a phenomenon that’s sweeping the grown-man sector. Now, obviously this seemingly started with Jay-Z, who has adopted a grown-up attitude the more he creeps deeper into his 30’s. Jigga didn’t start it but, there is nothing wrong with being an adult, right? No, not inherently… The problem is this MOVEMENT of square pegs that are trying to tell me that WEARING A JERSEY IS WRONG. Now, wearing a sweat suit is wrong according to people like Farnsworth Bentley. OK, Bentley…I’m not hating, because I don’t knock the hustle. But truthfully, you can’t be Diddy’s manservant and have your jeans sagging. You have to play that role to the tea and you did that well. On the other hand, I live in Brooklyn, New York (BK STAND UP, PLEASE) and I’m not walking the streets wearing a suit, with the flower-looking hanky coming out of the pocket. I think it’s corny, to be frank with you. Moreover, that style IS NOT ME. That’s you guys. When Cam’ron decided he wanted to wear pink, he didn’t try to convince everybody that it was the cool thing to do. He didn’t sell it to hip-hop, but hip-hop bought it. Now, I walk into Dr. Jay’s and I see all this pink garb. Similarly, Andre 3000 has been successful in doing what he does (which can be straight weird!) without trying to push his agenda on us. BUT we value him much more for the way he manages his originality. So, why is a cat like Kanye defecating on jerseys and throwbacks. I don’t trip when he puts on a sweater with pink snowflakes and then tosses a suit over that with some jeans. When Bentley was using a pink and green Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Umbrella to demonstrate his style, I didn’t say a word. I said, “Duke is really doing his thing and has come a long way from Diddy’s manservant.” That’s respect. So, why the hate to what I do? “The gentleman movement has begun,” he told MTV.com, “throwback jerseys, I’m not impressed/ My attire stays pressed.” And Bentley raps, but he swears “I’m not a rapper, I am a renaissance man. You have to create a whole new category for me. What I do is dissertation over instrumental.” I’d say that quote is a probable candidate for XXL’s “Negro Please” segment. As for me, with all the peppiness going around, I pondered my position as a card carrying hip-hopper. I began to think what I was doing was wrong – for about 10 minutes. Then I said, “FUNK DAT” and I went out and copped MORE JERSEYS, MORE TIMS, MORE HATS. I admit I copped a couple button up for the spring and they are still hanging in the closet. On some points, I agree with Bentley – a gentleman movement is needed in hip-hop. I’m sick of all these maggots trying to push a certain type of rap on us, but at the same time I don’t think somebody like Bentley should necessarily distance himself from us. If you rap, say you rap, but represent a different chamber. When De La said “This is the Daisy Age,” they didn’t try to go head up with N.W.A. In fact, the people embraced both sides as that much-needed balance in our culture. Furthermore, a “gentleman movement” would include me despite my “dated” throwback, because I do all the things that a gentleman does – including opening the door for my lady, sending my mother roses and having good manners. So what if I wear Tim boots? If you look at history, you will see that what Kanye, Bentley and Hov are doing is hardly new. Way back, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (of which mogul Andre Harrell was a member) ALWAYS rocked full suits. Slick Rick embodied style. Big Daddy Kane was quick to push the envelope even if he got chided for it from hip-hop. (If I am correct Mr. Bentley is down with Harrell.) I’m hip-hop…but… A few years ago, I would go to these snobbish First Friday’s with Black cigar-puffing, suit wearing buppies that thought they were a step up from the rest of us. While I loved to play “dress-up,” because I enjoyed it (and the attention from the ladies), I hated the attitudes that prevailed from these cats that went back to the daily grind on Monday just like me. I’m just like nobody, homey. But that’s the charm of hip-hop, it’s got the ability to allow the eccentricities of Farnsworth Bentley and the raw, hip-hop sentiment that I bring to the table. Jerseys, boots, hoodies, sneakers, sweat suits and other fashion statements are staples to hip-hop so be careful about distancing yourself from them – they’ll be here long after you are gone. To make a long editorial longer – I Won’t Hang Up My Jersey, Chump! The views expressed in this editorial are that of the writer but hit us up and let us know what you feel. Editorial@allhiphop.com.

The savage murder of Nick Berg has shocked and horrified many Americans, regardless of their stance on the war. For many Americans this registers as a new “high” or “low” depending on how the war affects them emotionally. I have tried to debate the various reasons why I have been against this “fight for liberation” countless times. Eventually I came to a simple conclusion, and my position is not a “conservative” or “liberal” one, as I am not speaking as a Democrat or a Republican. I am speaking as a man, tired of the violence before him. I speak as a man working hard to ensure that there is peace for the youth in this day and the days to come. Simply stated, we cannot give what we don’t have. We cannot export that which we don’t create. This is the American dilemma in our quest for “peace” and “democracy.” Recently a homeless man asked me for a few extra bucks. I normally would have given him some, but times are hard and I had just bought my kids lunch. I had nothing to give him and hated that fact, but had to be honest with myself. Similarly, America has not been able to bring peace and economic stability to the Bay View Hunter’s Point section of San Francisco. It has not been able to do it in South Central Los Angeles, Houston, Boston, New Orleans or the South Bronx. Now America is going to give a people that it has numerous linguistic, cultural, dress code, religious, historical and philosophical barriers with – PEACE? How is this possible? America has more in common with Bloods and Crips with regards to language, dress code, religion, history, etc. than it does with Iraqis. How can we give the Israelis and Palestinians a peace we cannot give the Bloods and the Crips, or Big Block and Westmob? We can’t stop violence between Nortenos and Sur sets, but we will stop the ugly clashes between Shiite and Sunni Sects? Unarmed Black men are murdered by police without justice being rendered but we will lead the cause for justice over seas? Obviously the American government’s arrogance has overridden its clarity of thought. This incredible mistake of vision and lack of authentic follow-through will cost this generation and possibly several after untold amounts of lives and dollars. We have failed to see that true peace cannot manifest from looking at poster images of past injustice. It does not come about by regurgitating clichéd lines from past movements and outdated icons. True peace begins inside each one of us. Most of us find it through faith in something greater than ourselves. This peace radiates out to those we love and those within our communities, and hopefully, if we are blessed enough, throughout our nation. Only by achieving this peace can we go abroad and have the moral authority and the hands-on know-how to give another people anything good that we may have to share. Start your peace movement today, within yourself. I will try to start mine. If we can begin to do it personally, eventually, we will be able to give it out globally. While we are working on the above, let’s make sure we vote Nov. 2nd and GET BUSH OUT!!! Adisa Banjoko is host of "One Mic Radio", downloadable at www.iciclenetworks.com . He can be contacted at soulpolisher2001@yahoo.com .

The word’s out! New York’s beloved Police Department has finally admitted to the existence of a surveillance task force targeting our culture’s hip-hop icons. You know what this means, right?!! Perhaps we can finally bring some closure to hip-hop’s greatest unsolved murders in what has become a growing epidemic of iconic martyrs. Or maybe this just means that the police no longer have to deny the existence of covert operations that take racial profiling to even higher degrees of civil violations. Let’s go with the latter of these two assumptions. Without getting too deep, consider the following. What if crack was introduced into this nation to control certain populations of people? Police don’t orchestrate large scale moves like that; they merely enforce them. For that reason, beefin’ with police has become a favorite past time for many of us. But don’t get it confused – it does not pay to be either too naïve or too suspicious of conspiracies embedded in this nation. Nor is it fair to assume that all cops are out to brutalize and harass our own. However, for the ones that do enforce such heinous injustices, we’ve had our eyes on you, too: "The Black and Blue Beat" a.k.a. "Dark Blue Streaks" This is for those cats in the blue coats and flak jackets misusing their posts. Who kick back on cruise and coast only to track and confuse folks, Then attack with abusive tones that pack the sting of being smacked on a bruised nose. This goes to those who dish out crap about do’s and don’ts when it comes to crack for losers who smoke, But snatch packets to redistribute and use coke. Who act tough when cuffs are bruisin’ bones, Crackin’ the back of subdued domes with bats and brutish holds. This is for rats who infuse Judas quotes by forcing men to stab backs with maneuvered notes. Forming pacts that are usually revoked once the facts have backed their duty’s goal – Tearing the backs out of Black community homes by inducing attacks that produce distrust of our own. This is for those that invoke black and blue toasts by packing Gats that are used too close. Thus, evoking black and blue funeral notes composed for dudes in caskets with suits too soon disclosed being stacked and viewed from pews in hues that host ghosts – floating and decomposing in ashes – gone with a wind that blew too close. This represents Blacks whose fuses are blown – I combat for you with truest prose like facts from Jewish scrolls. I’m jackin’ Jake up with this fluid poem. I’m takin’ back what he stained up and truly stole… The pride of Blacks – a beauty to behold.

Baby Got back, but Baby needs backbone/Get off the video screen and put some clothes on… Brother Khamisi (Revolutionary Son) Back in tha day, a radio program director told me that heavy metal was marketed to 16 year old white boys who were mad because they couldn’t get a girlfriend. Fifteen years later, we must ask what is the marketing scheme behind Sex Guns and Hip Hop. I’m not saying that some Brotha with a bad rap is somewhere sitting alone in his bedroom pumpin’ G-Unit while throwing darts at a picture of his ex-girlfriend screamin’ ‘Take that you s###…Westside!!!!!’ But we do have to look at the way sista’s are portrayed in videos today through the eyes of marketing executives who spend millions of dollars psychoanalyzing Brotha’s in order to pinpoint our weaknesses and find ways to exploit us. Now be honest, Brothers, if you had to choose between looking at a centerfold of the sista from the Outkast video and reading this article, which one would you choose? (That’s what I thought) So they are experts at appealing to our attraction to our Nubian Queens. Instead of denying our attraction to beautiful black women we must learn to discipline our natural urges. In other words we can’t let the size of the booty blind us to the beauty of Afrikan Brothers and Sisters working together to ensure the future of little Black children. Also, we can never look at any issue concerning Black folks without putting the discussion in the context of the battle of Afrikan people against the agents of white supremacy. Since the Hip Hop Nation has all but called a truce with the white power structure, this issue will not be raised from those who view reality from a purely ‘hip hop-centric’ point of view. Many of the videos today feature a beautiful black woman prancing around while 20 Brotha’s are rapping, ‘Get off my block before I shoot, you, fool!’ Those of us who are not sleeping while standing up must pose the question’ what in the world does a half naked sista have to do with drug dealin’ and Brotha’s blastin’ Brotha’s?’ This is an obvious attempt to kill two birds with one stone; a case of cross promotion of negative stereotypes. Historically , it has always been a goal of white America to portray the sons and daughters of Africa as animals lacking souls, culture and moral character. So Black women have been portrayed as disparate over sexed, Ho’s and Black men have been portrayed as blood thirsty rapists and sexual predators. So when a diabolical tool of oppression meets with a billion dollar marketing scheme the result is what you get gyrating across your favorite music video channel 24 hours a day. Back in the day when the 2 Live Crew had Sista’s ‘movin’ sometin’’ to the sound of ‘Me So Horny’ the excuse was ‘Well. What about them white girls that be all up in tha videos, HUH?’ But in 2004, the white video vixen is more or less, a thing of the pass. While Heather White has long since traded in her G-string for a government job, Shorty Doo Wop is still holding down her 9 (PM) to 5 at tha strip joint. The reason being that the entertainment industry has found their niche market and will exploit it until the well runs dry, until there is no such thing as a normal relationship between a Black man and a Black woman. With thousands of Black men in jail , the future of the Black family is in danger. Most black men live everyday of their lives with the fear of winding up in jail before night fall, whether guilty or innocent. The music industry has capitalized off of this fear by manufacturing the ‘we don’t love them Ho’s mentality.’ For the Brotha who is looking at twenty years in the slamma a Sista becomes nothing but a quick hit while he is out on bail. Why market a video concept about long lasting caring relationships when you have created an environment where most of your market will be spending 20 years of quality time with Big Bubba in cell block D ? Where the saying that made a Sista’s blood boil back in tha day was ‘women are only good for two places; the kitchen and the bedroom;’ in Hip Hop, for the ride or die chick, they are also good for hiding a crack stash and working the strip club. (How many children out there who have to visit their incarcerated mother once a week because she caught a conspiracy charge for being in the car with drug Dealin’ Darrell?) What would happen if we turned this Mother’s Day into Black Queen Restoration Day ? What if Afrikan Brothers and Sisters across the country joined with sisters like those of Spelman College or LaFonda Jones (Operation ’hood Freedom, Durham NC) and demanded more positive images in videos. What if an army of Angela Davis/Assata Shakur, kente cloth head wrap wearing Sisters rolled up on rappers like Trina and ‘made’ them understand the damage done to the self esteem of young Black girls through songs such as ‘Big Ole D@### ?’ As the saying goes, a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Isn’t it time that we started steppin’ in the name of love for Black women?

Hip Hop culture has been gaining so much attention in the political arena over the last few years. It is a beautiful thing. Unfortunately, it is surprising to see so much self-hating Black men and Hippie’esq types trying to paint a multicultural myth that has never existed. First understand, that I LOVE Hip Hop. I also love those who say they love Hip Hop. But it is disrespectful to watch people actively lie about what Hip Hop culture has done, as well as it’s roots. You have many Black people today who apologize for the Black roots of Hip Hop. Recently I was speaking at a Hip Hop event and the subject of race and politics came up. My question, was “Where does the Hip Hop community’s contemporary needs separate from the needs of the immediate needs of the African American community? Other people in Hip Hop have needs.” My point was that Asian and Latino women and men may have needs very different from my political and social needs as a Black male and so on. So how will Hip Hop address such a wide spectrum of people under one umbrella? We ALL deserve political, social and economic attention. One guy, who will remain nameless jumps up and says that Hip Hop is not a “Black thing”. This is more than disgusting because he is an African American. We go back and forth on this point (which is so sad really). I explain that Kool Herc (Black man), Grand Wizard Theodore (Black man), Afrika Bambataa (CLEARLY a Black man) Jo-jo (Black man), the N#### Twins (you guessed it, still Black) and countless other African Americans were at the roots of all the elements REGARDLESS of who else got involved later. To establish this as a historical fact does not in ANYWAY negate the contributions of Asians, Latinos (Puerto Ricans and Mexicans specifically) as well as Europeans and others to Hip Hop culture. His point was that because he was a graf writer and ran and tagged with Europeans, Latinos and others that Hip Hop is NOT Black. No doubt, that the graf element is the most innately multicultural. But visual ART is a more multicultural thing in itself. My point was that the art of Black men like Phase2 or Basquiat gave early attention to graffiti. The world was highly fascinated by the African American males latest artistic expression. It was illegal, mysterious and left temporary imprints of what was on the Black mind of the 70’s and 80’s. To acknowledge this does not make the graffiti works of someone like Seen, Dug One, Scape One or King Dream any less relevant. Later, this guy walks up to me and we continue to debate. He tells me that part of my problem is that I am debating with him as a Black man. He then goes on to tell me that he is NOT a Black man, but that he “is Hip Hop”. First, the idea that people shed their historical, racial and cultural selves to “be Hip Hop” is mind-boggling. Next time his Black butt gets snatched by Oakland PD, we’ll see how “Hip Hop” he is. That though, I will save for another rant. I responded to him that I was talking to him as a Muslim first (as I choose to define myself spiritually first), but that my Islamic spiritual filter forces me to embrace the truth. The true history of Black people being the founders of the culture are not personal, but factual. I am a Black man and I naturally love Black men, women, and Black children. Coming from an oppressed people I naturally love ALL people (and want peace, justice and equality for everyone). However, the racial makeup of the founding fathers in Hip Hop speaks for itself. Where these brothers came from, who their parents were and how they responded to oppression were direct results of being born Black men in America. This fact would remain true if I was an Indonesian Buddhist, or an Irish Catholic. I just happen to be an African American Muslim. Malcolm X in old speeches used to talk about “house n#####” before. I hated the word. I never even used it really, until now. Because I SEE so many house n##### in the game today. I see them trying to lie on their own people’s achievements, so they can make others feel comfortable within the culture. Others do it so they can get an extra dollar. This a growing problem in America, and in Hip Hop. We have a race war in Hip Hop culture. A race war rooted in certain Black people denying their own contributions, to gain favor with the new global Hip Hop community. It’s creating a multicultural myth. This myth keeps the true multicultural reality from truly maturing to fruition. A few White guys, Latinos or Asians who participated or were open to the beauty of Hip Hop in it’s early stages does not undo who the founders were. I love what all races have contributed to Hip Hop. I think it is the greatest strength of Hip Hop culture. But, if we can’t be honest about the history of the art, how can we authentically mobilize it politically and socially? How can we have any real focus or honest platform? If we deny the authentic Black roots of Hip Hop today, when we have the power and the technology to define our history now, what can we say 50 years from now when we are written out? We will just appear as a footnote as poor folks who “just happen to have been there” when the multi-culti trend took over the world. This historical crime will be done by Black men, denying their own to get a dollar. Does Hip Hop bring all kinds of races together? Absolutely. Are we one big happy family? Hardly. We’ll never be a happy family, until we can talk honestly about who we all are, […]

Jay-Z and Roc-A-Fella records caved on a lot of their promises concerning the Black Album. There was indeed promotion, when said there would be none. There were singles (and poorly picked at that, in my humble opinion). There were overlapping producers and the final list was nowhere near the projected opus. But despite all my pessimistic criticism, I still consider the Black Album a classic for one quality that Jay-Z not only promised, but delivered: No guest appearances. With the exception of background vocals (laid in the beat) from Pharrell and Madonna, you won’t hear any guest drops on the album. This, from a man who could’ve had verses from anybody (living or dead). This, from a man who five years ago clouded his Volume 2 LP with every notable guest imaginable. Jay-Z did the unthinkable for a successful major market Hip-Hop album in 2004. And it got me thinking… Remember when collaborations in Hip-Hop used to be DOPE? Like Nice & Smooth and Gang Starr on “DWYCK.” If you dare pull any of the four minds behind that record out, it falls. What about The Juice Crews’ “The Symphony”, Organized Konfusions’ “Fudge Pudge”, or De La’s “Buddy”? I know, I know. I’m being that guy that lives in the way back past. But no. There were great collaborations in recent years like “I Shot Ya”, “Scary Movies”, or even “Off the Books.” All great. It’s not just an East Coast thing either. Shyne and Kurupt smashed it on “Behind the Walls” a few years ago. Tupac worked with every artist from Oregon to San Diego in his last days. In the South, Trick Daddy and Cee Lo’s record last year was blazing, and arguably the best Nas guest verse ever is found on Scarface’s “The Fix.” By the way I’m talking, you’d think that collaborations were good, and you’d be wrong. Journalists dwell on guests on an album. It’s basically a flashy way of asking “who are you down with, this year?” And, it’s bullsh*t. For the majority, the collaboration has made Rap music look more and more like tag team wrestling. “Jay-Z is recording with 50 Cent. Nas has been seen with Irv Gotti and Murder Inc. lately.” Yeah, don’t front like you weren’t buying into that a year and a half ago. Many of today’s stars don’t even record with the producer, let alone whoever else they decide to tack on. What’s the point? The label can’t afford to make it a single anyway. They’d have to break off royalties, and pay out of pocket to try to get a video made with out-of-house artists. Do you realize how hard it must’ve been for the Ruff Ryders to make “World War III” a few years back? No wonder Jin gets pushed back monthly. Another thing that gets me is this “charge.” Both Fat Joe and Too Short have actually spit verses in regards to how much it costs to get them on your album. I love Joey and Todd Shaw, but come on. If you have to pay artists out of pocket to get them on your record, save it. Now, in major labels, there’s an exception. If you’re on a major, sure. Use your album budget. Blow the label’s money and put crisp bills in your peers’ hands. Write a check to your homies and give some back. But when I see these hood-rich amateurs advertising their indie albums in magazines with guest drops from Daz Dillinger or Lil’ Cease, I’m going to wonder. Is it hype? Do you know how many records a cat like Daz gets on? Open a Murder Dog magazine. Most of these “reaching” collaborations don’t show any real chemistry. Most of the time the guest spots look like tax write off’s used to show just how allegedly real an artist keeps it. If there is a purpose in a collaboration besides making a dope record, it’s giving back. For Jay-Z, that meant making tracks with mentor Jaz while they still got along. To boot, those early efforts were incredible. For Nas, it meant putting MC Shan and Craig G on for building his Queensbridge Hip-Hop reputation. For other folks, like Lord Finesse or Big Daddy Kane, it has always meant giving it back to the family and neighborhood with fresh mics for fresh voices. There’s also something to be said for how much the listener respects the artists’ opinion. Because Nas premiered AZ, suddenly Nature, Jungle, and Lake were worth consideration. These are tolerable and encouraged conventions of the collabo. But for the “Featuring Featuring Featuring”, save it for the producer’s compilation. The R&B/Rap collaboration? Save it for Ron G and Puffy. Do you truly think it’s Hip-Hop when Kelly Rowland and Nelly hum nursery rhymes back and forth together? That garbage of “cross-promoting” fills OUR space on the countdowns? Nelly appeals to the harder side of the soft, and Kelly Rowland appeals to the Pop masses. Mary J. Blige’s remixes to the 411 album. Those were Hip-Hop. Gang Starr and Total or K-Ci and JoJo, both…dope. I thought Mariah Carey and Jay-Z’s “Girls Best Friend” was even tolerable, as was Truth Hurts and Rakim’s single. But if you keep making Hip-Hop slow down to R&B tempo, it will lose it’s voice of rebellion. The genre-mixing collaboration is too often a marketing scheme. That goes for you wackass Rock stars that put rappers on your albums just because. It’s almost never a single, so why try? Remember when KRS-One and R.E.M. did “Radio”? That was art. How about Public Enemy and Anthrax, that was bold. But for some reason, it deeply hurt me to see MTV finally recognize the X-ecutionerz AFTER Linkin Park spotlighted them. Any press is better than no press. But I hold a grudge. Ultimately, I think very few MC’s can spit forty-eight bars on the same topic. Today, a verse is a song. If you bring in enough others, you’ll cover your weakness. This is true across […]

p> Kanye West, sensational Roc rapper/producer, has spurned a sharp resurgence of creativity and hope within the young Hip-Hop culture that is marred with the sting of a double-edged sword.  All around the city and as far-reaching as the northwestern suburbs, young aspirants are rabidly embracing the image of what this rapper/producer represents:  pulling oneself up by his bootstraps and walking the beat less taken.  Where doors are normally bolted shut, Kanye has shown that you can get into the establishment of success by many means necessary For Kanye, this included dropping out of college for greener pastures in the rap game. Kanye is the proverbial exception to the rule.  So, at what point do we as a people allow the empowering image of getting an education to be smeared further in the already tainted minds of some of our youth?  At what risk do we promote a career that can overshadow raw talent with being in the ‘right place at the right time’ AND the right network of people with the same stats as professional sports?  The chances of being successful as a rapper are about the same as getting to the NBA – period. I don’t feel Kanye’s view by suggesting to our African American youth (and youth in general) to forget about education – a right that we fought, bled and lost lives to achieve?  The success of Kanye’s The College Dropout answers these questions in his highly creative, entertaining way and frank way.  Without the knowledge and drive honed through SOME form of education; this concept has its own A&R that promotes an already growing trend of instant gratification.  But how is an aspiring youth to deal with high expectations with minimal input without stressing the importance of some type of backup plans?  Obstacles arise in ANYTHING worth going after.Here is something I wrote for Mr. West. Enjoy.    “The College Sit-In" 3/16/04 Aiight, Kanye – you had a few jokes billed to my expense. You had some good laughs off college grads with pokes of ill-content. But we rolled in the trenches, took our hits and graduated. I’m glad you made it, but don’t ruin the path that lies behind you by attaching your wrath that blinds youths’ mind to what you’ve so kindly supplied to the masses that attacks getting an education.   I made it past the obstacles that blocked your view with a swift ass kick. But even so, I laughed hard at the dude in your last skits. I have my own hang-ups with the system in place that I took advantage of. When my walls fell down from false security, All hell from tall tales hailed from a farce in obscurity… So I understand – when it all falls down, tall gall’s bound to look down from a vantage snubbed.   I was told that a job was promised if I worked hard and made it through college. That knowledge was short-lived once Bush stole votes with systematic fraudulence. I wasn’t told that Congress also had a say in the progress of how I got paid… After I was laid off I gave some thought to the true lies behind diplomatic documents.   What one gains with a degree from a school of hard thoughts is the same as the streets that breed a school of hard knocks. Hard locks are hard to pop if you don’t possess key lessons learned. Keeping your eyes on the prize with a backup plan keeps drive alive as long as you stack up plans… It’s guise is determined in wise discernment when potential is lessened or returned.   Being told ‘No’ or that ‘You can’t make it’ are situations that each of us must be faced with. Many options are taken to overcome such adversity. But you can’t turn the key away from a child before they’ve latched on to what they freely see in agreement or denial… You’re tainting thousands by basting in talcum outcomes tasted in bitter uncertainties.   You can’t turn kids’ key ridges away from school with your lyrics. You can’t burn uncrossed bridges that sway with such school spirit. My gift of writing was well prepared in Delaware – where my alleged legend was placed in. Your humor was as hilarious as In Living Color – you kept it hood, ‘Ye. But when you tarry us, you’re a n####, not our brother – ‘And I don’t mean that in a good way…’ There are ways out of any circumstance – one being the pleasant methods of education.    I’ve got two bitter tastes left in my mouth. One from higher learning, the other from what you let leak into our culture’s house. Speakers can speak worse than hearing Big Momma curse – kids regard them just as high. It doesn’t matter what stereos they typically own, What you amplified stereotypically phoned home… As the tones blown extend a warranty many children are looking to justify.   You mentioned your grandfather’s sit-ins – Those types of rallies got us college admissions! You can’t just diss it with condescendence and get away with it. You made some pretty rude skits that can hurt worse than a virgin immersed in a Pretty Huge D*ck… How you gonna have a PHD with a little Jimmy? – every style isn’t made to fit.   Play with it – reread that last statement. I’m not talking about sex, I’m talking about methods of education. My man’s in Atlanta getting his Doctorate’s – little Jimmy belittles Femi. This cat is a Longshot from his native land, But he came hear with a stated plan… His Ph.D. will make his keys to unlock doors with the stocked force of a Nigerian HEMI.   It’s obvious you’re so self-conscious – you seemed awfully curt in those skits. Your production IS monstrous – but you came off like an offbeat jerk with those riffs. I’m exposin’ it no matter how phenomenal the skills are that you demonstrate. I’m glad […]

Since when has America become so self-righteous that we are, all of a sudden, the benchmark of all that is decent? This country was built and started on indecency. America is the world’s most dominant force due to indecency. We have laws that were created from the bowels of indecency. For centuries, America’s middle name was corruption and its next of kin was segregation. America is now pregnant with twins: immorality and deception. Who are we really kidding here? As the (new) story goes, Janet Jackson is the spark that has set off and engulfed America into this attitude that we listen to and watch too much immoral and unclean content. It is this sort of hypocrisy that runs through the veins of this country. If you have listened to any State of the Union addresses in the last four years, you should know that, in itself, is immoral and unclean content. Deceit, separatism, capitalism, and rebellion all make up the messages that have been spewed into your ears by good ol’ Dubya in his first term. As of February 26, 2004, moral fiber is the diet of the day, and not many people are digesting this comfortably. The Federal Communications Commission is the new referee in this fight over how questionable content is presented to the public. They are basically the end-all and be-all of how images and ideals are to be portrayed over TV and airwaves nationwide. What is stifling to my mind is why they chose the incident at the Super Bowl to be straw that broke the camel’s back. “Questionable content” is what has made television so entertaining in the last 20 years. In a technical sense, reality TV that shows people eating horse testicles and roaches for prize money is “questionable content.” Boxing, with all the gore and barbaric action that fans are accustomed to, is also “questionable content.” Two women kissing on stage in front of a worldwide audience is (in my own opinion) astonishingly questionable. In these cases, there has been absolutely no backlash at all. No person with any meaningful title attached to their name made any sort of stink about these instances. Poor Janet and her overly exposed C-cup! The Super Bowl halftime show has caused a fracas unknown to this country since the DC Sniper incident last year. Was it because her breast was pierced? Or was it because it was broadcast on the biggest event of the year? It was neither one of these reasons that this caused such a big fuss in this country. One could definitely play the race card (how dare a black woman expose her breast to a worldwide audience!), but doing that would cheapen this editorial. Maybe it was because too many children witnessed this event in sheer horror. Well, judging by the attitude of abortion in this country, I dare not believe that we are suddenly advocates of a child’s innocence. From what my eyes can tell, it’s only these self-righteous, self-indulged, pro-religion, close-minded robots that are elevating this issue to the point of no return. The FCC is nothing more than a federally mandated group of degenerate power mongers specifically designed to influence what it is you do and do not watch. They have nothing better to do than to attempt to take your “freedoms” away by pushing policies in our faces. As a result of these policies, radio stations have now implemented their own zero-tolerance policies to further police what disc jockeys can say on the air. This clearly spells the doom of talk radio. With this new policing, Hip-Hop stations will begin to mysteriously shut down its operations due to the lyrical content. If the FCC is planning to be the leader in consistency, rappers have to either rid themselves of “gangsta” and misogynistic messages altogether, or be assured to have little or no listening audience. How is Hip-Hop the powerful marketing venture it is without hundreds of scantily clad women in their videos? A fraction of Hip-Hop’s overall success does not come from the lyrics that are sung. Imagery has clearly catapulted Hip-Hop to the next level. And with the guard dogs of the FCC looming in wait, this will surely have an impact on Hip-Hop music. Hip-Hop will not be the only genre music affected by the FCC’s sudden longing for moral quality. Gospel music may take a hit for a variety of reasons. Since many people believe God to be an ideology at best, the FCC may deem it inappropriate for such language and ideas to be broadcast. Rock –n- Roll has tread on thin ice for many years with the stage shows and types of programming it has offered to its fans. According to the swift measures the FCC is taking, those days are all but over. Even major networks will have to revamp certain shows in primetime, as reality TV has certain gone awry in terms of what the FCC is looking for. Michael Powell, the chairman of the FCC, was once quoted as saying, “no regulator, either federal or state, should tread into this area without an absolutely compelling justification for doing so.” How is this man compelled, or even justified in making such inane changes? Who gave him the right to take away the rights that we have to choose to watch or listen to whatever we like? Just because a few moral crusaders do not exercise their right to change the channel, the country as a whole has to suffer? I do not agree with this at all, and it is time that we take a stand against this. In modern speak, that phony piece of paper in DC (formally known as the Constitution) says we have the freedom to watch, listen, and say whatever it is we choose. Has the viewing of one boob (accidentally or intentionally) basically rewritten the entire landscape of that document? So it seems. Slowly and quietly, these rights are being taken from under us. This democracy […]

Imagine if presidents were only allowed to declare war if one of their loved ones had to be at the front. Imagine if there were a law that stated that for every tank, there had to be a new school and for every war helicopter there had to be a new hospital. Imagine if every time a rapper screamed the name of his city or borough, they had to make a contribution to a computer literacy program. Imagine if every Pop Diva that millions of young girls adored and emulated and young men desired had to list all of the cosmetic surgery they’ve had and how much of their bodies are artificial or enhanced. Imagine if every bragging rapper had to post a financial statement showing how deep in debt they are. Imagine if every so-called Hip Hop Mogul had to list how they got their money, who financed them and how much and what they owe to that other person. Imagine if all those booty shaking, scantily clad “ladies” in Rap videos had to disclose their STD results. Imagine if all those rappers showing off their 50 cars and Olympic sized game rooms had to show where they actually got their money from and how much of their collection of cars and jewelry is actually rented. Imagine if those macho, he-men rappers, actors and superstar models were outed and it was revealed how many men they had to sleep with to climb the “Star Ladder” and how many of these “Gangsta Ladies Men” were really bi-sexual. Imagine if all these “Black Leaders” were forced to show how much money they made in the name of their “Brothers” and “Sisters” and how much money they make from lectures and Hip Hop forums in the name of “progressive movements” and “gender related” ssues. Imagine if rappers did not have to curse to rhyme and all references to the “N-word,” and name clothing, sneakers, liquor and rims were not allowed to be mentioned. Imagine a rap video without the males acting like fools with mouths full of gold teeth and the women were no longer displayed as disposable and interchangeable objects like razor blades or socks. Imagine rappers being forced to wear shoes instead of sneakers and chains that cost over a thousand dollars being banned from their videos. Imagine a video cam being placed in the oval office so we could see all of the loot, deals and lies that went on in our names and the waste of our tax dollars. Imagine a video cam in central lock up, so we could see the way prisoners are actually treated. Imagine a law that said that in the richest country in the world, no child or senior citizen would go hungry or need a place to live. Imagine an investigation into where all the billions of dollars in lottery money that is supposed to go to education is actually going. Imagine a real war on illegal drugs and how many police, millionaires, politicians and other pillars of the community would be sent to prison of life. Imagine rappers publicly stating that they not only accept the fact that they are role models, but planned to take that role seriously. Imagine an investigation into the music video “Pass The Courvosier” and finding out who got paid what do a free liquor commercial in violation of F.C.C. rules and why they chose to make it an ignorant racist anti-Asian video. Imagine Hip Hop pioneers and legends actually being given the respect and jobs and money they deserve. Imagine a true Hip Hop magazine. Imagine magazines that call themselves “Hip Hop ” magazines actually hiring Hip Hop Photographers and not folks that are ignorant to the culture. Imagine so called “Hip Hop Radio Stations” actually playing Hip Hop. Imagine replacing the “N-Word” with the words Brother and Sister and meaning those words and not looking for as paycheck for using those words. Imagine a real choice for president. Imagine an “Activist” or so called “Leader” that did not want to line his pockets and get the blessing of the media or who was not a “media w####” or who did not crave the spotlight and fat checks to lecture and speak out against injustice. Imagine a political party that was really “for the people”. Imagine young people loving music, because they loved the beats and lyrics and not because they were bombarded with the video and endless, countless radio plays. Imagine a magazine that allowed young independent people to rate new albums and not the cowardly, paid, jaded, shallow folks trying to hold onto their jobs and get a toe into the music industry. All content is the opinion of the author Ernie Paniicioli