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The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of AllHipHop.com
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By I’m not one of those old-head Negroes who think my generation of youngsters was better than the current generation of youngsters. I’m no prude! Hell, I’m still writing for hip-hop! We did silly s### as well, like “Streaking”—running bucket-naked across a football field to the delight of a cheering crowd—or egging someone’s crib who had offended our youthful sensibilities—or swimming in the canals of Miami, even though we were fully aware that alligators were in those murky waters.
But got damn! This new ignant craze of lighting one’s self on fire? Hold on! This is some idiocy on some other! I hate to even post this video of this ignant dread-head doing the Fire Challenge, but here it go!
Black people are forever doing things that hearkens back to that “Peculiar Institution” (a euphemism for slavery) and Jim Crow America. A few years ago blacks (and white people) were “Planking”—an eerily oversimplified game where youngsters were laying side-by-side on the floor, reminiscent of planks—boards on the slave ship. Indeed, many black folk cried foul and said the game was racist and that white folk were making fun of and exploiting black folk; that they were replaying the way Africans were packed in the hulls of slave ships like sardines. People were planking in Burger Kings, restaurants and grocery stores! What an effing game—creativity aside! I wrote on that s### too! (Checking out “Planking: Treading on “The Souls of Black Folk.”” on The Khalil Amani Reader: http://j.mp/naiPlb )
From there, here we are at the “Fire Challenge”—a game where young black men pour rubbing alcohol on themselves and set themselves ablaze! Smh. What kind of coonerific game do we have here? Like, we all know the end result! Do they think they are invincible against the raging heat that alcohol and fire produces? What’s the f###### point? Is it for the amusement of those trifling onlookers and Internet trolls voyeurs? Are they seeking some kind of fame from these flames this ignorance? I might be old, but I’ll be damned if this is a game I would’ve played as a young man!
This is what I pray; that any person who would defy the laws of fire receives the maximum burnage and subsequently dies! I need you to be the martyr for the Fire Challenge Movement so that this will cease immediately! I need that fire to give you—not first degree burns—not second degree burns—not third degree burns, but fourth degree burns—the kind of burns that extends through skin and into the underlying fat, muscle and bone! (And you n##### playing the “Breathing/Pass Out” game I hope you too, stop breathing so others won’t have to endure death as well!)
The fire challenge is only slightly amusing to those watching how the victim handles the heat and we all know the end result! Fire will have the toughest n#### screaming like a b#### and running for the shower, so why even play such a dangerous “game?” I’ve only seen one man handle fire without a peep and he was a Buddhist Monk who was set on fire while in a trace-like state in protest. He handled that fire with some unrealness!
None of you b####-ass n##### are built for a real “Fire Challenge,” so cut the shenanigans (in my Joseline Hernandez voice).
Now let’s go back in history for a moment. While these young black men are playing the “Fire Challenge” game let’s not forget about the thousands, yea, millions of black/Africans that were burned at the stake because of the color of their skin! And this is how we honor the Ancestors? If you asked any person participating in the Fire Challenge game they would say that this has nothing to do with slavery or their African ancestors. Of course! Willie Lynch in full effect! They haven’t a clue that this self-mutilation mentality was planted in the mind of the slaves on the banks of the James River in Virginia in 1712 by a cracka that was hell-bent on keeping slaves “slaves” even if freed—Willie “Muthafuckin” Lynch! Willie who? Yeah, right! Here it goes for you lazy Negroes. Willie Lynch letter: The Making of a Slave
White men have been burning up black people for over 400 years and this is the “game” you’ve come up with in 2014? F### outta here! You need your ass beat for playing it! Straight like that! Every time you play this “game” you’re s####### on the graves of untold Africans that were tortured, raped, lynched, burned at the stake, hung from trees and murdered in ways that your puny mind can never conceive! Don’t get it twisted and say the old fella is reaching. What you find flippantly funny I find sickening! Watching people burn in 2014 is that same amusement white men (who had no Internet!) leered at 50, 60, 70 years ago! Willie Lynch got you doing it to yourselves now.
But if 1712 is too far to reach back for your fragile imagination and you need an in-your-face, 2014 example on what fire can do to the human body, I’m sure my good friend, the “Dougie King” Kenny “Ken Dawg” Matthews would prolly have something to say about this ignant “game.” You might remember him from his Worldstarhiphop.com video. Dude was burned as a child from head to toe and struggles everyday with his disability—yeah; one of your hip-hop/black brothas—and this is how you’re acting? You don’ created a “game” with fire that has left millions of people like Kenny disabled and disfigured and you find entertainment in this?
(Follow Kenny on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook @ iKenDawg) Read his story “Dougie Dancer Ken Dawg: Beautifully Disfigured” on The Khalil Amani Reader: http://j.mp/q4Hk2F
Black youngsters! Stop this b#######! There are hundreds of “challenges” that you should be engaging in, like graduating from high school, getting a college degree, helping your family, quitting using and selling drugs, not getting preggos, fighting others for Worldstar amusement, reading books, etc. How about challenging yourself to not get caught up in any of society’s ills? How ‘bout dat! How about learning the difference between “your” and “you’re” while you’re all on these Internets exhibiting your ignorance? How about that? This “Fire Challenge” is idiocy on some other! Got dayum!
Khalil Amani is a blogger for AllHipHop. He also writes for DJ Kay Slay’s Originators Magazine & Straight Stuntin Magazine. He is the author of six books, including the ground-breaking book, “Hip-Hop Homophobes…” iuniverse.com 07). Amani is gay hip-hop’s self-proclaimed straight advocate. Visit The Coonerific One athttp://www.khalilamani.ning.com Follow on Facebook/Twitter @khalilamani. Instagram @khalil_amani, Youtube @ yahweh 12 Khalilamani@yahoo.com