Posted by Min. Paul Scott on 7/19/2001, 11:58 pm Article Dated 3/20/2001 With her legacy of slavery and oppression, to say that this country has done some bad things to black folks is an understatement. We all know about the African Holocaust (the slave trade) and the Tuskegee Experiment as well as other examples of the mistreatment of Afrikan people by the European. But in a society that has corrupted everything "black" to serve its own evil purposes, how can we think that "hip hop" would be exempt from its evil schemes. We all know the well told story of how when Hip Hop first started in the early 80s, it was about partying and how the Hip Hop nation under the leadership of president Chuck D and vice president Flava Flav, young black America was exposed to the teachings of Malcolm X and Huey P. Newton. We are very familiar with the story of raps golden era as it is known among the cool, hip hop insiders who remember when breaking meant more than someone's arm being broken in response to a diss And when graffiti on a wall was an easily overlooked misdemeanor and not a felony perceived as a glorified death warrant against someone based on the color of the bandana wrapped around his head. So the million-dollar question (since its all about the benjamins) becomes. How did the sound of sweet soul music become sour or better yet as Public Enemy asked in the early 90s Who Stole the Soul? Let us begin in 1988 when so-called gangsta rap began to emerge out of California (West Side!!!) and spread across the nation. I remember my first time hearing Gangsta Gangsta by NWA when I was a young intern /wanna be rapper /college student at a local radio station. After listening to the promotional copy of "Gangsta" about 10 times in a row, I remember busting into the program directors office yelling Man, you gotta hear this record, its so dope (excuse the outdated hip hop slang). The PD just looked at me and said, We aint playing that mess, kids are riding around shooting at each other playing that song. I remember thinking to myself how out of touch he was and if an old man (30 something) could not get with the newness maybe he needed to retire. At the time, my 21-year-old mind could not conceptualize a piece of wax having so much power over someone's mind that the person would be enticed to ice someone, but as they say in the church, where I was blind, now I see. For a time "Conscious rap" and Gangsta rap coexisted in almost perfect harmony, a musical ying and yang so to speak. When the elders would criticize the lyrics of some to the songs, the conscious rappers would serve as ambassadors of goodwill for the Gs" and quickly point out that the rappers were just being attacked because they were young black men saying something that white society did not want to hear. After all, they were just calling it as they saw it or in the hip vernacular, they were just keepin it real. How many times have we heard the worn out Arnold Schwarzeneger excuse, Well, he can kill 100 people in a movie and nobody says a word, but when we
. To a point they were very right but to a point they were very wrong. The young rappers underestimated the depths that this society would go to prevent the " rising of a Black messiah," or to destroy anything that would serve as a catalyst for social change. As a wise sister once said "if you do not understand white supremacy, everything else will just confuse you." In the early 90s the Anti-gangsta rap forces in the black community formed a dangerous alliance with white conservatives that had no love for black youth from the giddy up. They took the lead on the gangsta rap issue under the guise of family values. So the battle against negative lyrics became an attack on black youth. Instead of rap that talked about drugs and violence being attacked, all rappers that rapped about anything stronger then Parents Just Dont Understand (Will Fresh Prince Smith) were seen as the enemy. Since the Pan-Africanist community, who could have attacked the negative rap but not the rapper, or love the sinner but hate the sin, were still banned from the media , the only people that our youth saw preaching against negative lyrics were old preachers and civil rights crusaders. The media loved promoting the image of the C. Delores Tuckers as the poster children of morality in music. For over two years the battle raged between the Hip Hop Nation and The Family Values Nation. The real turning point came with the LA Rebellion (called by the white media the LA Riots or the Rodney King Verdict Aftermath). Until then, the effect of rap music on the minds of black youth was still a matter of debate. Could the rebellious words of the rappers, actually be manifested in the actions of Afrikan youth? White America wondered, If we really ticked black people off would they really Fight the Power, as rap group Public Enemy urged?" In May of 1992, white Americas worst nightmare was realized when thousands of black people took to the streets with rap music supplying the background music. White reporters were shocked when interviewing gang members that they could articulate the oppression of Afrikan people both nationally and globally. Rap with a message had to be stopped by any means necessary. When the dust settled the gangsta rappers emerged stronger than ever, the Family Values people emerged with more political clout and the only casualties of war were the conscious rappers. Was it a coincidence that the majority of rappers who did not make it through "Rap Armegedon were the conscious rappers (Sister Souljah, X Clan, Public Enemy, Paris)? And, the ones that did make it did a 180 degree turn and got smart, finding out that the gangsta style was the safer and more lucrative wave of the future (i.e. Ice Cube). So in the end, it was not gangsta rap that destroyed positive rap it was the anti -gangsta rap forces that put the nail in the coffin of pro-black rap. So what was left was symbol without substance or as the Temptations sang, a ball of confusion. All of the energy that was created by Public Enemy and Paris had no outlet. Our children knew that they were being attacked but without the guidance of the Pan- Africanist community, had no idea who the enemy was. They became modern day rebels without a cause. During this period, most of the black radio stations were in the process of being brought up by white mega- corporations and most of the black issues talk shows had been taken off the air. So the minds of our people were ripe for the picking. What corporate America said was cool, was cool what corporate America said was black was black. So Vanilla Ice and Eminem could be black because they fit the corporate image-- (baggy pants, lots of profanity). The enemy was no longer the man or a racist oppressive system, the media promoted the idea that the black man was the enemy who must be destroyed. We were no longer brothers or "Strong Black men" we were niggas , real niggas doing real things looking to bust a cap in another nigga. We were not Nubian Kings, protecting our Nubian Queens, we were their pimps and they were our ho's. Any remnants of positive rap became easily corrupted so the Revolution that would not be televised became "basketball" (according to the Nike commercial by KRS-One). Even the new "conscious" rappers talked about "blunts" and used profanity so much that their positive message seemed to get lost in the clutter. It seems that the music that we created has become just another tool for the oppression of the Afrikan mind. So that is why today all of the music sounds the same. The music of 1990 sounds the same as the music of 2001. Our youth seem to be all talking, acting and dressing the same. Why, because it is easier to control a monolithic people. As it is said once you control a mans thinking, you do not have to worry about how he will act. Our challenge to day is to regain our power to define. What it means to be black and what it means to be a "freedom fighter." We must come back home to our Afrikan selves. Most people would not place the solving of the Hip Hop Conspiracy in the same category with where is Jimmy Hoffa or who shot Martin Luther King? But does it matter for those of us Afrikans still in the struggle You bet your Timberland boots it does. Min. Paul Scott is founder of the New Righteous Movement based in Durham NC. email: operationmedia@yahoo.com For more discussion on this article and to see what others have to say click on the link below to go to discussion forums. Send your comments and suggestions about this article to: Editors@tbwt.net
The Hip Hop Conspiracy
By Min. Paul Scott
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