The Georgia Republican State Convention is popping this weekend so it’s time to play “count the negroes.” I will get calls from Black GOP friends and associates regarding the size vehicle you could put all of the African-Americans at this event in at one time comfortably. Escalade seems appropriate because we love ourselves some Cadillacs.
Georgia contains the best Black area in the world, Atlanta, and therefore, the state has many many business-oriented, self-made Blacks who are conservative to moderate on paper. Secondly, outside of Atlanta, Blacks are use to functioning with GOP elected leaders. The opportunity has been there for GOP candidates to enjoy 10, 20, or maybe 30% of the Black vote but they don’t want it because the regular GOP crew would see sizable Black numbers as an indicator of liberalism.
The 2014 U.S. Senate primary on the GOP side could be decided by a few votes. This week, former Secretary of State Karen Handel jumped into the race. This former Atlanta area elected official could have been governor if she cultivated a little of the Black support she experienced in the ATL but she was defeated in a primary runoff by 2500 votes. Of course, the maneuver I am suggesting would have required Black voting in the GOP primary but wise folks know that the Dem team is weak in Georgia so the GOP primary is often where leaders are picked. I do it all the time.
Rep. Jack Kingston is in the senate race also. …Jack…cool Jack….my man Jack. Careful, Jack. Please. One on one, Kingston is one friendly guy but the GOP information (or disinformation) machine requires the delivery of rough talking point (yes, the Dems do the same thing.) Jack is well liked in the Black community from Augusta to Warner Robins to Valdosta because he supports our military bases and farms. So, Kingston should play that Rep. Austin Scott/Rep. Sanford Bishop nice guy role by voting the party line but limited the non-policy attacks on the president from the other party. The Obama administration is currently giving them plenty of real targets so fire away nicely.
Handel or Kingston could get 20% of their primary votes from crossover Blacks who aren’t GOP if they play their cards right. The percentage is more than enough to tip the scales to victory and if Michelle Nunn doesn’t jump into the race, the whole state should vote in the GOP primary.
In the land of MLK, “I have a dream” that one day the GOP—the party of Lincoln- will have a state convention with brothers and sistas with goatees and naturals. I mean the bros should have goatees. You know, guys who grew up on Black self-reliance discussions at the dinner table. People who are uncomfortable with the government being all up in their business. People who don’t need the state to tell them to care for and feed their children.
Surprisingly, Clarence Thomas is one the most afro-centric cats on the nation stage and as Chuck D said about someone else “don’t tell me that you understand until you hear the man.” A new Black conservatism could be based on Thomas’s book about his grandfather. Black southerners are primed to be separated from real liberals and from the thug element of the hip hop culture. However, we can’t find a home inside the Right because the far Right likes ugly talk too much. What’s a brother to do?
The horrific, cowardly acts in Boston last year were carried out by young men who were brainwashed and/or radicalized. An argument can be made that all or most of us could be or have been radicalized on some level when inundated with too much of a particular point of view.
Blacks in America would be a good place to start this discussion. We knew upon arriving on these shores that wrongful actions brought us here. But, we had to patiently wait until the mid-1970s to experience the freedoms of this free nation. Americans who believe in the Christian Bible know our book is filled with references to waiting on the Lord and to me, being humbled by suffering prepares us for heaven as a proposed to those who think they have heaven on earth. Those cats might have a dated with a fire on the other side.
My friends from the Taxed Enough Already Party (TEA) are correct in many ways on taxes but they don’t have the patience of Black folks. If these guys don’t get what they want now, they are ready for an actual revolution…now.
People on both ends of the political spectrum often constantly listen to and read information from pumped-up sources. Too much of these opinions at one time can lead to an overdose. For example, viewers should know how to watch T.V. shows in their proper entertainment context.
Seinfeld doesn’t reflect all of my Jewish friends; Homeland doesn’t reflect all of my Muslim friends and the Real Housewives of Atlanta only reflects the lifestyles of about a dozen families in the ATL.
Oh, we should talk about Married To Medicine, the latest effort of the gay agenda at Bravo to make everyone else look foolish. (Kidding)
When I was a child, people said that politics was show business for ugly people. But, reality television has blown that out of the water…like blowing stumps on Swamp People. Today, the music T.V. channels have no music videos and the history channel has little history on it’s main channel. It’s all about reality shows and the affect of American culture could be cancerous.
The fight between lovely sistas in ball gowns last week on Married To Medicine should in no way reflect the behavior of Black professionals in Georgia. Bravo searched high and low (really low) for people who would trade dignity for instant fame. Oh, I knew as a child that lawyers, bankers, professors and physicians were regular people away from work and subject to the same drama as anyone else. Actually, my college sweetheart contends that her colleagues in the medical profession are socially awkward because they spent so many years in the books while others were learning social skills.
An old adage states “just because you paid for college, doesn’t mean you have class.” We have a problem in the Black community that centers on the desire for wealth. We like people to see us with shiny stuff in shiny cars heading to fancy meals at fancy places. If your natural abilities didn’t provide you the means to get this stuff, you can always marry well if you are smoking hot.
The Mariah lady to M to M is simply hood and will always be hood. The show is produced in some way in association with her production company. So, she sat in a board room at Bravo and pitched this product with promises of cattiness, ugliness and fights. The two lady doctors are classy as is the attractive woman Toya, who was basically jumped by Mariah. Of course, the hood has people without money who have class and they lack of money could be based on their refusal to compromise their integrity wealth.
So, people across America watch messy T.V. about groups of Americans they don’t know and formulate faulted opinions. “He is not this child’s father…either.” Then during the news hour, Fox News tells you that you are paying for these people to hang out all day while you are at work making money that a Kenyan born president will take from your check. On the other side of the extreme, MSNBC is doing the same thing from the stay point of “the government can fix all the problems in the nation with enough tax money….no one in America should be outside the middle class.” Huh? Can everyone be middle class? Isn’t the government ensuring a minimum quality of life basically socialism?
Fox, MSMBC and Bravo don’t brainwashing as well as the hip hop culture. Did I love hip hop as a college student? Yes sir, I was proud that urban youth created an art medium to reflect the realities of their situations. But today, life is imitating art because youth are glamorizing thugs and strippers while some students are actually downplaying their academic success. On his quality reality show last week, rapper T.I. told his kids that he never met a thug who wanted to be a thug. My man told them to rap about having a nice life. T.I. is the king of the South.
In summary, we need to be careful what we watch and hear because forces can radicalize you before you know it. In a diverse nation, there is no substitute for getting to know (humanizing) others. When we know each other, we can start the process of explaining now personal choices and decisions have consequences. If not, the next generation of Black southerners might include people that some people (including positive Blacks) will want to rightfully avoid.
School choice and family planning are two topics I would love to hear discussed in my community because they are at the foundation of our futures. However, I want that discussion to take place around a discussion table sixty or seventy years ago.
A.G. Sadler Sr., third seated from left
A photo of my father and his fraternity brothers meeting at the local Black college hangs in my mother’s den. The organization wore Black and Gold and he was old enough to actually know founders personally but it could have been a meeting of any Black fraternity or sorority of that time because they were all committed to moving the race forward. You can see the steely determination in their eyes: we as a people would have the opportunity to learn, earn and prosper in this great nation and the sky would be the limit once those doors of opportunity opened.
If we had a time machine or a portal to the past (like a smart phone app), we could tell these gentlemen that we were from 2012 and that a Black man was in the White House…a Black man without a mop. Since most of the men in that picture were college professors or public school educators, I want to know their opinions on school choice.
Today, we recognize that public school K-12 education needs a top to bottom overhaul. I personally think that the teachers enter the profession ready to teach and that the facilities are generally acceptable in my area. For a myriad of reasons, some of the kids just aren’t ready, willing and able to learn. I think the foundation of education is discipline or obedience learned at home and church.
Those guys in that photo didn’t question their parents in their generation and neither did we in my generation. Today, I hear kids ask their parents “What?” and “Why?” with a tone that would have never happened in my day. One of the men in that photo was likely the dentist that my father would have taken me to see after he knocked my teeth out for saying “What.”
We should discuss parents having a tax credit or voucher to put their children in the best quality educational situation. When schools in the South were integrated, White private schools popped up in every county. But, I can remember the dedication of the educators from the all-Black schools. A period of “separate but equal” would have been fine with many Blacks because they wanted fairly funded schools more than forcing us to attend school with people who thought of us wrongly.
When we debated school choice as congressional staffers in the 1990s, I would always argue that private schools would cherry-pick the best students and those remaining in the public schools would be students from families that couldn’t afford to get out. If the best 20% opted for private schools, the worst 20% should have a voucher to attend a special school after getting kick out of regular school.
Public policy can’t solve the education problem because the ultimate problem is that some people are having children before they are prepared to raise and nurture them. To me, people shouldn’t get married until they are around 24 years old and they should then wait 24 months before having kids (a waiting period to ensure that the marriage is viable.) Before 24 years of age, people could be finishing their education and training, moving up in the workplace and having fun socially. Children should come into the mix when folks are ready to be parents like those Alphas in that old photo. Instead, we have kids having kids and early grade teachers are half educators and half parents.
Current conservatives trip me out with talk of abortion and welfare. The guys around that table never envisioned people having the government deeply involved in their lives. They were concerned more with anti-lynch and opportunity. The conservative men in that photo would have a lot to say about the long-term effect of LBJ’s policy that would come in a decade or two.
A recent study indicates free birth control dramatically reduces abortion and teen pregnancy. Since the far Right conservatives are rightfully concerned with governmental spending, they should know that abortions and public assistance goes down if fewer pregnancies occur in the first place. The guys in that picture could discuss the wrongness of abortion and premarital sex as well as the wrongness of hungry children and struggling families. Reasonable people know that you can’t always push your faith’s beliefs into the public policy of a diverse nation.
The achievement-oriented Blacks of my fathers’ generation would be disappointed to learn that music is crime and sin-based and hip hop shapes the mindset of our youth more than parents and church. If those guys in that picture were transported into current times, they would figure out a way to get the best education for their families. Unfortunately, those pioneers in education would be compelled to seek schools for their families that kept their kids away from certain elements without regard to race. Oh, I would teach government and tennis at an all-male school that brought academic heat all day every day–a place where gentlemen were built.
Teaching the guys in that photo was easy because they were enthusiastic about learning; it was learn or be an unofficial slave during Jim Crow. If they had a window on today at that table, they would be flabbergasted with the way our youth are carrying themselves and disappointed with the squandering of opportunities.
I enjoyed hearing this speech by Kappa founder Edward G. Irvin.
It’s madness to do the same things year after year and expect difference results. So, I decide to acknowledge the brilliance of the guy who started the Khan Academy to reform education. But first, I would like to invite anyone to join our ESPN NCAA basketball groups for the men and women tournaments. The group names are “Jawja Hoops” in both contests. Let the basketball and rethink ranting begin.
Rethink Education: Clearly, our education system needs retooling and Salman Khan has a fresh approach. In my community, I simply wish parents would start with using better grammar 24/7 to stop contradicting what is taught at school.
Rethink College Basketball: College basketball shouldn’t be a stepping stone for the NBA and we should have a farm system in smaller cities (similar to baseball) for those who want to be pros. Student athletes should be just that. In other words, the NBA D-League should be developed.
Rethink Politics and Religion: In America, we have the freedom to select our faith and politicians’ faith walks should be the foundation of their character. They shouldn’t attempt to force their particular church on the population as a whole. So, Mitt Romney should put the nutty factions in his party in their places about his church and any other faiths that they find “different.”
Rethink Political Leaders: The next crop of political leaders should be much better than the current ones. On the Right, conservatives should get back to being pro-business and smaller government rather than the promoters of the next Civil War. On the Left, liberals are actually limiting personal development with their socialist policies. We need leaders who will speak to the people (straight, no chaser) about the limited role of government and importance personal responsibility.
Rethink Campaign Finance: My new congressman is Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia and he was a true campaign finance rebel as a candidate for governor. He spoke wisely of limiting the amount of contributions and that got me thinking. Everyone knows that money runs campaigns and that those who gave money will later want something from officeholders. If I designed a congressional candidate from the ground up or from day one, I would tell my guy to take the average income in the area, add a few zeros and that would be the total amount raised for the campaign. (For example, 32K in average income = 320,000 funding limited.) If elected, that person would belong to the people and wouldn’t spend time kissing up to lobbyists.
Rethink Black Conservatives: Peace to my brothers and sisters on the political Right…I feel you…I really do. To me, your side is right (pun intended) more often than not; but the ugly ways and methods of the far Right make the GOP unacceptable for most Blacks. There is no place for less bitter, moderate Americans in that party. If Jon Huntsman won the GOP nomination, I would have strongly considered voting for him in November but you cats gave cool people the boot.
Rethink Black Liberals: At some point, it’s not about “the man” holding us down. It’s about us holding us down. We must return to the driven African-Americans who beat Jim Crow; the people who knew who they were and whose they were. The next generation of CBC members must honestly inform the community that improves start in your house…not the U.S. House.
Rethink Hip Hop: Most of current hip hop stinks out loud. The music glorifies the worst elements of our community and I can’t tell college students from thugs and strippers. I know artists are free to express themselves but come on now.
If I could wave a magic wand on New Year’s Eve, the notations I would place in southern voters’ minds as we enter the election year would involve understanding. Kandi from the Real Housewives of Atlanta was in a hip hop group with T.I.’s lady Tiny back in the day and they had a hit called “Understanding.”
Xcape’s “Understanding” had a line that said, “You don’t really know me… you just want’a do what you want’a do… that’s not the way it is baby…you gotta listen to me.” That line applies to elections, politics and policy because the South has a history of leaders and parties who arrogantly want to make desicisions for everyone without input from or understanding of everyone else.
I am an American who is concerned that the so-called developing world could blow past our nation in this century because those hungry people are driven liked we once were. Simply put, we might get out hustled by Latin America, South America, Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia because their young people aren’t playing when it comes to education and training while too many of our youth are soft whiners. We must understand that the entire nation must be striving collectively.
Anyway, the following points are the ideas I would put in voters’ heads:
1.President Obama can’t improve your life alone. He can only foster an environment conducive for your personal development. That’s what he said from the moment he stepped onto the national stage but folks don’t know how to listen.
2. Newt Gingrich as president could actually be good for my community. While we never know which version of Newt will show up, Speaker Gingrich from the Clinton era was a great ideas person who sincerely wanted to change the cultural mindset of Americans in a positive way. Look: the government doesn’t now nor has it ever cared about the average person. With Newt as president we would know that fact without a doubt and get about the business of personal responsibility.
3. Jon Huntsman is the most Obama-like Republican and moderate Democrats should vote for him to encourage the GOP nominee to make him their VP candidate. As quiet as it is kept, Obama respects Huntsman more than he does most of the Congressional Black Caucus. If the GOP takes the White House, moderates will wish level-headed Huntsman was at the table.
4. A small percentage of Democrats could sway the GOP presidential primary. “Ted, is right..we should vote for Huntsman just in case Obama doesn’t win or Newt to help Obama win.” Of course, no one understands my points until after the fact.
5. In South Georgia, running someone against Sanford Bishop will crank up Bishop’s campaign apparatus and organize Democrat GOTV efforts in Albany, Columbus and Macon. If President Obama wins reelection by a slim margin and by surprisingly winning Georgia, Bishop’s opponents can be thanked. By the same logic, Democrats can’t beat Austin Scott so we shouldn’t run anyone against him. That energy would be better spent developing a functional relationship with the young lawmaker.
Bottomline: Using the “Understanding” song in a blog post is recycling a past post. Another past post is my notes from “The Art of War.” That Chinese warfare manual is like a blueprint for politics and modern business. A central theme in the book is respect for and understanding of the other side. If the GOP understood Democrats, they would select Huntsman as their nom but the hardheaded never learn. If the Dems understood the Tea Party, they would vote for Huntsman in the GOP primaries in droves to keep them out of the White House. But, we are more concerned about the NFL playoffs.
People get and give insults in the South all day every day. If you have thin skin, you should move. These insults come to mind.
The Michael Basiden Show’s list “8 Reasons Black Women Should Date White Men: First, Black Women should date whoever makes them happy and treats them well. But, the list from Basiden’s show ticked me off because I don’t think the desired traits are rare among my friends. I did like the list’s view on our community’s glorification of thug life.
Obama vs. Cain: I once worked at the U.S. Congress across the hall from Rep. John Conyers’s office and he had a young bright chief of staff named Julian Epstein. At my Black college homecoming last weekend, many old classmates asked my opinion of the Herman Cain presidential candidacy and I told them that Obama vs. Cain was great for several different reasons from several different angles. I am insulted by Black people who think the Black electorate isn’t intelligent and crafty enough to vote for Cain in the open primary states if they want to see him faceoff with Obama.
While watching Fox News yesterday (yes, I watch Fox News sometimes), Julian Epstein let the cat out of the bag by saying that Democrats aren’t behind the recent Cain drama because smart Democrats want Cain to be the G.O.P nominee. Epstein then seriously said that Democrats would donate to Cain’s campaign. As we say in the South, Julian should “hush” because he is telling family business in the streets but he is so right.
Cain is to Obama as LBJ was to Kennedy: Yes, I can insult my political friends by stating that crass LBJ passed bills that smooth Kennedy didn’t get to before his tragic departure. Those Kennedy boys were no match for the Dixiecrats but old Lyndon knew how to fight fire with fire. LBJ said that he was insulted when a lifelong Black employee of his family would drive from Texas to the White House and if she need to use the bathroom in route, she had to squat in the woods.
Obama is my favorite president but possibly too nice to turn the nation around. He is too nice with the loyal opposition and he is too nice with his base regarding personal responsibility. If you read the 8 reasons Black women should date White men, you will see that the president and the first lady could say more about their development and growth relative to teaching the next generation of all colors. If Obama won’t get brass, Cain certainly would and that might be the answer.
Herman Cain, Bill Clinton and Thomas Gipson: I worked at Albany State University with old school southern gentleman Thomas Gipson..God rest his soul. Mr. Gipson, like Rev. Jeremiah Wright, had knowledge and wisdom for you everyday but he got a pass or was grandfathered on political correctness. Gip said that the university’s harassment policies were nonsense and that he would never stop complimenting lovely women.
Bill Clinton, one of my three favorite presidents, insulted me with that whole Monica mess as did Bush 43 with weapons of mass destruction. If I gave Clinton and Bush passes, Herman Cain gets one also. If people from Albany, Georgia, want to know what Cain likely said, they should remember Thomas Gipson and know that what was once tradition is now litigation.
In summary, “yes we can.” We can reelect President Obama. We can elect a Georgian as president if not Obama. We can better position ourselves to enhance the lives of Black women. We can understand if said women find happiness elsewhere. We can understand that no candidate is perfect and neither are we. We can use insults as positive dialog starters.
We can put on that Sade’s remake of Timmy Thomas’s 1972 classic “Why Can’t We Live Together,” sit back and explain to Cain’s supporters why they are alienating the massive political center. You can’t win the White House without the center.
An entertainer called Chapter recently released the satirical video “It’s Free, Swipe Yo EBT.” I was ticked off until I realized the song was a poor attempt at parody. But, the bigger questions are the social responsibility of so-called artists and the direct effect they have on the entitlement mentality.
Warning: strong language
If you grew up when and where I did, you know that the government isn’t your friend. The limited role of government ranges from delivering the mail and defending the borders to helping hungry children. The truly heartless are the only ones who want to see hungry babies resulting from some people have children at the wrong time with the wrong people.
Chapter or Keywanda actually started an important discussion. When people on the far Right argue that the federal government should be extremely limited, they should remember that Black people appreciate the intervention of the fed into the affairs of southern states during the struggle for freedom.
In the 1990s, Newt Gingrich pushed Bill Clinton in the correct direction and Speaker Gingrich had me convinced that the roles of federal, state and local governments are to create a level playing field or fair opportunity for Americans to develop. If an individual blew those opportunities in the best country on earth, that person made their bed.
We spend so much government money addressing bad personal decisions and it’s not free. Yes, temporary assistance is a needed safety net but some people misunderstand the intent. With medical science, proper diet and regular exercise, people are living longer. So, young people should enjoy being young, develop a career path and have fun until they are in their mid 20s—there will be ample time for marriage and parenthood after the club days are over. Club sweethearts aren’t necessarily spouse material.
This video was made in California but southern Blacks who actually vote are appalled by the mindset that this video highlights. We must get and keep the government out of our business and no one should need to tell any parents of any color to care for kids who didn’t ask to be born.
Is hip hop taking us backwards? I loved this art form in my youth but it seems (correct me if I am wrong) that young people are emulating the worst elements of society. Slaves wanted freedom and that freedom didn’t really come until the 1970s.
At church Sunday, the pastor, a veteran of the struggle, started his sermon by saying that freedom doesn’t give you the right to do just anything. We are still ticked that someone broke the windows at church. Did he really refer to the culprits as “devils” in a prayer the morning we discovered the vandalism. Yeap..I like the pastor…he has teeth.
My definition of “teeth” in the public policy arena is policy that has bite or a consequence element. For example, healthcare reform might have had a provision stating that if I cross the 50 pounds overweight mark, they aren’t spending money and effort saving me from me. “We saw you at Golden Corral putting in work.”
Dr. Martin Luther King paraphrased the Biblical prophet Amos when he said, “We are determined here in Montgomery to fight until justice runs down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.” A quick glance at hip hop history’s use of water/rain takes me from Oran Juice Jones’ “Standing in the Rain” to Boys To Men “Can You Stand the Rain.” My brother-in-law in N.C. used that last song as his sermon title the first time I heard him preach.
Today’s hip hop has a tune by Atlanta rapper Travis Porter called “Make It Rain” and the beat is bumping. But (oh my goodness), a sista (the fruit that blossomed on the African tree) comes in stating, “You want to see some –ss, I want to see some cash.” Making It Rain involves rich cats going into the night or strip club, standing in the D.J booth and making it rain money. You Tube videos show rain events with six figures going in six seconds. To be honest, we had the Too Live Crew back in the day but that was a novelty. We were in college or the military to improve our families’ situation…to move forward.
If you walk down a college campus today, the dress and vibe of some of the students would alarm you. Some college students are making a concerted effort to be as thug-like and stripper-like as possible—including my college classmates’ kids who grew up in nurturing environments. We are moving backwards on some level and since hip hop involves Black, White, Red and Brown, the drama knows no boundaries.
If you don’t believe me, you can get shocked on the webpage WorldStarhiphop.com. Since I gave up on most new rap music a few years ago, I don’t watch the videos introduced on WorldStar but the homemade cellphone videos of people fighting in public are disturbing. We are talking brawls in Pizza Hut and mothers fighting in the street. Colin Powell said we need to reinstitute the concept of shame and I agree. When the fights start, the camera person often says “Worldstarhiphop…this is going on Worldstarhiphop.”
We were radical in college but we could talk with political and community leaders when we broke out the khakis, ties and blazers . If I were in college today, I would be listening to Oakland rapper KHARI because he has teeth. He drop one called “Thickness” about curvy women that has the interest of my college classmates who are now in their 40s. The guy is a poet like L.L. and Chuck D so listen with caution to his track “The Beast” which is about Black men in prison. He makes some thought-provoking points but the Oakland police must be much worst that the okay rural police in my town. KHARI is a conspiracy theorist who seems to think that prisons and the justice system are designed to make money locking up “just us.”
Hip hop is an original American art form and the current rappers are worrying my generation like our generations’ rappers must have worried our parents, preachers and professors. I swear art isn’t imitating life—life is imitating art and pulling us down. Are they reversing past gains? When I see the current pol sci majors at my HCBU, I am going to recommend that they checkout L.L. Cool J.’s “The Breakthrough.” We knew that L.L. was different and that he would be having a positive impact on American culture for years. LL is hard and has teeth but it was well-intended. What’s the intention of today’s rapper$?
The Breakthrough: LL Cool J
Knuckleheads spreadin’ gossip all over town Every time I drive by you’re just standin’ around Hundred-bottles in your pocket, forty-dog in your hand Don’t you know you’re just a worker and your boss is my man? L.L. this, L.L. that, soon as I walk in the place I wanna take my gun and shoot you in your muthaf-ckin’ face You’re playin’ me too close with the schemin’ and games I guess the beef and the bullsh-t is the price of fame Movies, records, goin’ on tour Twenty-thousand people hip-hoppin’ on the floor Whole parties body-rockin’, and everything’s chill Get back to New York, and the suckers act ill See I fought with the devil, made a promise to God I have experience in goin’ all the way to the top It’s harder harder than hard All the suckers are barred You used to try to talk down now your ego is scarred See the problem is you want what another man has His car, his wife, or his razzamatazz But that’s weak, you gotta do work on your own cuz when you’re rich you got friends but when you’re poor you’re alone So get your own on your own, it’ll strengthen your soul Stop livin’ off your parents like you’re three years old Instead of walkin’ like you’re limp and talkin’ yang about me why don’t you take your monkey-ass and get a college degree? Or write a rhyme and ride a bike and try to live carefree Hope my message reaches you before you’re seventy-three A old man, when people ask you what you did with your life you’ll say “I hated L.L. and I carried a big knife” Every day is a chase, every day is a race and every day you’re being overpowered by my bass Too much juice to be a deuce, I had to be a ace It’s like the fire’s in my eyes and the gun’s in my face I’m stompin’ stupid knuckleheads until they bleed I’m the leader of the show, so it’s up to me to lead I’mma lead you away from drugs and petty crime Lead you away from wack beats and rhyme Lead you to that ticket line so you can come in my show and watch the stars shine Get busy, not dizzy, wanna teach the young The last man who didn’t listen ended up gettin’ hung Not that I killed him, it’s just He didn’t wanna trust the words of a master that’s why you must Take heed to the speech, it’s gonna reach your ear Don’t try to say you can’t hear cuz the words are clear Throwin’ flurries, punks scurry and I bury the rest You better hurry up and rock a rhyme and give it your best Cuz tonight’s the night we gonna see the big fight Twelve-gauge on the stage in case it don’t go right E-Love drives a tank, he’s strong like a truck If you’re cryin’ while you’re dyin’ we ain’t givin’ a f-ck L.L. Cool J is on the microphone tellin’ all you punk ducks “Leave me the hell alone” Cuz I’m rated X, born to snap necks Straight up and down, no special effects I’m the professor, the teacher, the hip-hop dean If Russia bombed the U.S., they’d be scared to touch Queens Cuz that’s where I live, and this is what I give Turnin’ top-notch crews into fugitives They run, they frightened, they hide from King Titan like a sniper when he’s shootin’ or a viper when he’s bitin’ Here I am, tellin’ the truth and I’m spreadin’ the word to my fellow youth It goes man-to-man and jam-to-jam I got hip-hop, rock, and love song fans All you petty MC’s in the state of New York Gettin’ a thousand for a show but you still wanna squawk Can’t get a decent contract, your beats ain’t workin’ Dogged-out Pumas plus you’re manager’s jerkin’ Your mic sounds weak, remember that skeezer I’m badder than Napoleon, Hitler or Caesar I’m a hitman, but I’m not for hire Fly girl’s desire, the man you admire Not only on the stage, I rock in the park and I’m a killer in the daytime, and worse after dark So don’t never ever mess with the king of the sound L.L. Cool J, the baddest around.
Like Jill Scott, Angie Stone and Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu is a straight-up artist who puts a message in her music and compels us to think. Her new song “Window Seat” blew me away and even included a nod to blues guitar great Lightning Hopkins. I am proud to say that Hopkins has been featured on the music tab on this blog since day one. Badu will always leave you thinking. What’s with the JFK assassination vibe in the video? Could I date a sista with that many tats on that beautiful brown skin? Has Badu aged a day?
She ends the video with a monologue that seems to be aimed at some extreme elements from her native Texas but I better leave that alone. Wouldn’t it be cool to sit on a back porch in the Lone Star state with Badu and her friends and have a long island ice tea party featuring music by Sam Lightning Hopkins. I would love to attend that Tea Party.
UPDATE: What the hell. I thought Badu did that video as a “shoot” with actors. It turns out that she just did it with tourists and kids walking around. That might be a little too much. Below is the speech she makes at the end of the video.
They play it safe, are quick to assassinate what they do not understand. They move in packs, ingesting more and more fear with every act of hate on one another. They feel most comfortable in groups; less guilt to swallow. They are us; this is what we have become, afraid to respect the individual. A single person within our circumstance can move one to change, to love herself, to evolve.
My friends and I talk about political candidates who can “flow.” We have adopted the term from the early days of hip hop…”Can the M.C. flow on the mic.” Many a well-intended candidate can’t flow in the sense that the they can’t present issues and solutions in a manner that compels the electorate to action. “Can the person move the crowd.”? MC Lyte, Queen Latifah and YoYo didn’t play on the mic back in the day and YoYo (Yolanda Whittaker) is currently a community activist eyeing a congressional run.
Keith on Peanut Politics blog posted a video of Senate candidate RJ Hadley speaking in middle Georgia and I must say he can flow and is clearly an intelligent guy. During his speech he mentioned the people that think he should run for something else first. I am included among those numbers because I could see this guy really connecting with people in the right contest.
Hadley is Ivy Leaguer like former Congresswoman Denise Majette. The congresswoman gave up her seat to run for Senate against Hadley’s opponent Johnny Isakson. Hadley can flow as well as Majette, who while intellectually brilliant had a thing about speaking on the mic. Let’s see, Isakson beat the engaging businessman Herman Cain and self-made millionaire and former congressman Mac Collins before winning over Majette, but this newcomer wants to beat the senator in this red state.
Relatively speaking, Isakson is much better than the average conservative in congress and Georgia could do much worst. The Senator’s years in Atlanta when the Democrats ran Georgia government prepared him to better deal with the two party system that most GOPers. To my centrists friends, the best argument for Isakson is the fact that the ultra-conservatives fuss at him for negotiating with all senators. That’s what senators do.
This senate race will serve as nice showcase for Hadley’s political and policy skills and the beginning of a bright political future. I just wish he were running to remove one of the bitter members of the loyal opposition.
If you are a candidate who can’t flow on the issues and the details of government, why run when a Sarah Palin, Katie Couric situation awaits you. Also, do your homework first because there are some smooth talkers who have zero substance on the mic. If you want “to be down,” step to the mic with something to say.
Blog contributor HBA said she saw Young Cons on the Fox channel. Megan Fox or Vivica Fox has her own channel and Huckabee has a show there. Kidding aside, it’s is cool that rapping as a medium grown from the streets of New York to every corner of the nation and globe.
I have been in the developing world and some lovely woman says in broken English that hip hop and the urban struggle is similar to their struggle with their oppressors. While I am from the rural area, who am I to argue with a local. I might as well claim to assisting with the creation of hip hop the same summer I helped Al Gore create the internet.
But, I still won’t turn my baseball cap to the side (that’s un-American and disrespectful to Jackie Roosevelt Robinson from Cairo, Georgia, and the Negro Leagues.) And I only turn my cap backwards when I am nailing something in a confined place—HGTV that’s the channel.
Back to the point, the Young Cons have their message down but should work on their mic skills—rent 8 Mile and watch M flow or better yet check Eric B and Rakim; 3rd Base and Wu Tang Clan. I am still amazed my Wu Tang Clan’s extensive vocabulary and knowledge so pay attention in school budding rappers.
Young Con are going to be okay and serve their purpose for them team- peace to them. Ice-T was wrong to say that Will Smith can’t rap if he is not from ghetto; rap what you know and the children of Black professionals don’t know the struggle…thank heaven.
The tough economic news keeps taking me back to “Hard Times” by Run DMC and “Black Cow” by Steely Dan for some reason.
I had to put Brand Nubian on this list and TROY (They Reminisce Over You) from Pete Rock and C.L Smooth. That music had a really message.
Of course, hip hop fans know the “Black Cow” sample from Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz Déjà vu (Uptown Baby). These young folks today don’t realize that James Brown, the Isley Brothers and Parliament provided the actual music behind some classic rap hits. Hip Hop has been around so long that I am starting to hear samples of samples’ samples. “Planet Rock” from 1982 borrows heavily from Kraftwerk’s Trans Europe Express and Numbers.
When those techno and trance D.J.s mix with the classics today, it makes my ears bleed and forces me to “dig in the crates” for some pure vinyl from the old days.
When hop hip was born on the streets of New York, rhymes and dances drove the battles.As the genre traveled to the left coast, the world learned from Ice Cube, Dre and N.W.A. that south central L.A. was a powder keg ready to blow.Their music was real gangsters reflecting the unfortunate problems in their world through the medium of rap—in the footsteps of Pablo Picasso, Zora Neal Hurston and Salvador Dali.
Art imitating life or life imitating art?Of course, the hip hop culture includes positive elements who are real artists but some parts of the thug subdivision are recklessly affecting developing minds and our community as a whole suffers.Weak-minded kids are so brainwashed that they become detrimental to other kids and everyone else.When the moral code established by the teachings of family, church and school is ignored, we are in trouble.From leather jackets to Afro to punk to preppy, every generation gets to define itself but these my classmates’ children are making a concerted effort to glorify easy money, hustling, crime, and incarceration.And don’t get me started on the stripper style dancing from college students in regular clubs—maybe I am just getting old and grumpy but back in my day we saved that for the “hotel, motel, Holiday Inn.”
Lyrics are poetry set to music; Jill Scott should be Poet Laureate; Biggie and Tupac are our dead poets.Anyone with a strong mind can listen to music in its proper artistic context but as a community we need our youth preparing from the competitive nature of the global economy; kids in the developing are developing fast.The hip hop culture is big business with Black, White and Brown youth but under-prepared Black youth will struggle if the music adversely influences their mindsets.
The kids seem to us now how we must have seemed to our parents but Grandmaster Flash & the Furious 5 a “The Message” and John Cougar Mellencamp’s “Rain on the Scarecrow” meant something in farmland.When they reach 25 year old, they started with that “I wish I would have listened—I got caught up.”
