Gee Chee Vision said...
Black folks have failed to take control of defining themselves in America. So DV calling Lord Mockton "black" is using the term to denote truth, courage or sincerity. Whether one agrees with his assessment of certain personalities is entirely different. Like saying Jesus is truth whereas someone else may say no he is not. Well both parties may not agree on Jesus but they do agree on the definition of "truth."
Classic Arabic describes water as black. The very substance that sustains all life on this planet..."black." Tangibly is it the colour black? No. Classic Arabic also uses black to denote: Lord, master, honorable, virtuous, generous, forbearing, one who bears the abuse of his people & leader.
As for "black" in English, one has only to look it up. You define your world by your definitions.
We know the white folk O. Mahogany encountered are not thinking of "black" or "dark" in ancient Arabic, Stokely Carmichael jargon or hieroglyphics. They are pulling from their cultural sources and it is THAT, that is suspect.
Gee Chee Vision said...
It is up to us to create a culture redefining black. Rap
redefined music, that's why Prince was trying to rap on his 11th album. White people really don't know what terms to use because we're so confused ourselves. We say we don't want a white mans Christmas but we turn around and do Kwanza. That's like Black History.
Look at Sergio Oliva & Arnold Schwarzenagger. Arnold is defined as the King of bodybuilders. Sergio is defined as the first super freak of bodybuilders. Being a super freak means a whole lot more than a king. Even when King is used for Labron James they surround that Negro with African lions or something. Nigga ain't no real king, he's an African king like a voodoo priest with a British top hat. Images and words define everything for us. It's not over reading otherwise the ADL wouldnt have cats on the set of a Spike Lee movie to make sure they are properly represented. That is because they understand as well as psychologists the significance of definitions and imagery.
8 comments:
[quote]Rap redefined music, that's why Prince was trying to rap on his 11th album. [/quote]
Indeed you are correct.
Yet the "Hip Hop Voice Of The Street Pirate" STOLE RAP - no differently than Elvis STOLE Rock And Roll. Now it is used for death threats, to call our women out of their names and to tell of their life of crime as drug dealers.
But hey - if 50 Cent can generate $9M for a company stock based on a Twitter feed - I ain't mad at him.
"Yet the "Hip Hop Voice Of The Street Pirate" STOLE RAP - no differently than Elvis STOLE Rock And Roll. Now it is used for death threats, to call our women out of their names and to tell of their life of crime as drug dealers." -CF
But has any of these tales enticed you to go do the same thing? Hopefully not. So the pheasants running around perpetrating hard and calling women bitches probably do the same in any other aspect in life; they parrot what they hear, what they are told to do and believe. You gotta a lot of black people defending "African-American" and "voting Democrat", eatin' fried chicken and cheatin' on their wives because "that's what black people do." Really? No, not really. Hip hop has mastered the art of storytelling; a lot of cats tell of things from a spectator standpoint, but the message of their reality is driven home with more effectiveness when they take on the persona they're speaking of. And if they really did do it, so what? Ain't nobody making anyone do any of the things portrayed in the music. But perhaps THIS is what needs to emulated more so, as evident in the next point:
"But hey - if 50 Cent can generate $9M for a company stock based on a Twitter feed - I ain't mad at him." -CF
Nor should you be, or anyone else. Hip hop, aside from the rhythm and poetry of it, has enabled black people to become self-sufficient and make a way for themselves in a society that is hellbent on seeing otherwise. I'm willing to bet DV's penchant for Lil' Wayne and others that folks here get to foaming at the mouth about isn't so much about the lyrical content as it is the illustration of a young black man making strides in this world on his on time, his on way, while providing opportunities for his own people and getting dumb paid in the meantime. And look at where this all came from in the historical viewpoint of an art form just pushing 40 years old!
Besides hip hop, where dey do dat at?!!
My man Gee Chee (hands the pistol over "Kill at Will" style), good shit my brother. You got the juice now (not that you didn't, but that scene from "Juice" just popped up as I was typing this).
Deeeeeeeeee Smifffff!
Beautiful.
Poignant.
Stylish.
Shibumi.
CF ... to reduce Hip Hop to "used for death threats, to call our women out of their names and to tell of their life of crime as drug dealers" ...
makes about as much sense as suggesting independent film is bad because it "is used for death threats, to call our women out of their names and to tell of their life of crime as drug dealers."
It's been fashionable for years for some black people to point a finger of blame at Hip Hop. (Remember Mike Fisher?)
Blaming Hip Hop for pathology in the black "community" (there really is no such thing) is like blaming a mirror because you see bumps on your face.
D.SMITH:
SELF SUFFICIENT? Really?
Evidence please - beyond a small clique of millionaires - just like other CAPITALISTIC VENUES.
Think about the money flow in the eco-system:
* Fashion clothings
* Snoop, Luda and Fiddy all have premium HEAD SETS
* Sports Drinks
* Support for printing (glossy index cards for parties & t-shirts), marketing firms and transportation companies
* Video & Audio Production services
NOW - take this ECOSYSTEM, DV and D.Smith and put it on an ISLAND in which it is to form its own ECONOMY. Could it be, what did you call it? SELF-SUFFICIENT - providing a well balanced, just and productive society? I am not merely talking about the 'hip hop artists' but the CONSCIOUSNESS and INTEGRITY that accompanies.
[quote]Hip hop has mastered the art of storytelling; a lot of cats tell of things from a spectator standpoint, but the message of their reality is driven home with more effectiveness when they take on the persona they're speaking of. [/quote]
D.Smith:
There is a WHITE KLANSMAN who is about to get put on trial for a MURDER of a Black man back in the Sixties because his partner in crime who is now dead was a GOOD STORY TELLER!! He told his son, his ex-wife and several other WHITE FOLKS how he BURNED DOWN the store and the "Nigger" in it.
http://annistonstar.com/view/full_story/10976745/article-Rayville--La--man-implicated-in-1964-death-of-black-shop-owner?instance=breakingnews
HOW is "STORY TELLING" in and of itself something to be WORSHIPED?
I AGREE - many of these cats have LYRICAL TALENT!!! Beats, creativity and a musical sense beyond many others.
DO NOT pretend that the IGNORANT CONTENT can be overlooked as we worship the SKILLS.
More predictive programing??
The Core 2003?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EZz8pNLGqc&feature=player_embedded#!
In regards to its influence, I think you're looking at hip hop strictly from the musical aspect of it. Hip hop exemplifies a do-for-self attitude that is moreso needed and obviously a lot more fruitful and lucrative in some cases than the old graduate from high-school-go to college-go to another college-then pray somebody hires your ass routine. And yes it's true, not everyone is going to be afforded the privilege of being part of this "small clique of millionaires" you mentioned, but there are probably more cats surviving off hip hop than there are in that circle anyway.
I don't really know what the Klansmen story has to do with anything, but yeah you right. Somebody told a good enough story to motivate this guy to burn down the store "with the nigger in it", if he did it just because of a story he was told. I would say, however, that this dude has a serious problem otherwise, and I don't think hip hop was to blame for anything back in 1964. Maybe Merle Haggert made him do it. But to say hip hop is the cause of ill behavior amongst anybody is like saying crime didn't exist prior to Kool Herc throwing parties in the Bronx, or before Big Youth or Dillinger were toasting parties in Jamaica. You know that ain't right, so what genre of music were we to blame then?
Hip hop has always been the voice of a youth when they had no other platform to stand on. It's said to see black people on some ol' C. Delores Tucker bullshit, trying to take that away from these kids by blaming hip hop for crime in the street. So I'm not pretending that ignorant content can be overlooked at all, and at the same time I am wise enough TO ignore it and not emulate it. But to take the responsibility of a person away from themselves and place it on someone else through their music is ignorant in itself of what the real underlying issues are.
And if it wasn't for hip hop, a lot of folks wouldn't even know what some of these issues were.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQODCLnsm2k&feature=player_embedded
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