Society: April 2006 Archives

MTV News - Jay, Nas, LL, More On Being The 'Greatest MCs Of All Time':

I can buy Jay-Z being #1 hustler in the industry. I can buy him being the most successful artist. But #1 MC of all time?!?!? Oh hell naw! Rakim, Kane or Biggie could eat him alive lyrically. Sinead O'Connor was right. It's about the loot.

Rakim was on point as usual:

"It's a blessing, man. Especially the road I took. I'm a conscious rapper. I try to stay away from a lot of things: Not wanting to cross over and go pop. Try to stay true to my roots and for them to bless me with that title. It makes it all worth the battle. It's like the first time you sit down with the notebook, you want to be with the greats. I came up under Grandmaster Caz, Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee. I used to think, 'If Melle Mel heard this, or if Caz heard this, what would he think?' "

Black Americans quiet on Darfur crisis:

"There are other matters that slow black American involvement in Darfur. For example, it is unfolding at a time when 'black Americans have lost momentum with Africa overall,' said Marie Clark Brill, a program and mobilization planner with Africa Action, a 50-year-old group that pushes for positive activism for Africa. Unlike the anti-apartheid fervor, which was spawned in an era when black Americans, still inspired by 'Roots,' were reaching out to build solidarity with Africa. 'Now,' said Ms. Clark Brill, 'we see a disconnect with the continent because of HIV and other issues.'"

We need to be more concerned and involved. Ironically, the reasons we aren't are because the issues though race driven are not black and white, so to speak, and they haven't been cogently presented to stir up Black folk. Like Rwanda where black folk were killing each other based on ethnicity, its hard for the tragedy to play into viceral racial righteous indignation there, and I suspect something similar is going on here.

I wrote in defense of a friend on a mailing list who speaks as a conservative. Many were starting to ignore him, instead of taking him seriously. He thanked me and explained his position that I think we all need to heed.

Thanks Rob.

Let me also be clear, I am a conservative. That isn't a role I am playing. I firmly believe that a healthy democracy is one that has different points of view aimed at each other and the collision of those views (debate) produces comprehensive, well-thought out policies that grants the rights that liberals fight for and the responsibilities that conservatives fight for.

I believe that we have been oppressed and downtrodden. I believe that there is latent racism in the fabric of our society. But I also believe that I am not going to stand by and have people even think one IOTA that our people are too weak, too frail, too incompetent, too unlearned, too poor, too demonized, and too unfortunate to put a pen to a piece of paper and write a masterpiece, put a finger to a keyboard and create a near-perfect Java script, or put their hands to a piece of metal and create an elegant automobile.

Thus, I firmly believe that despite the fact that we have racist, bigoted, rat-bastards out there controlling the means of production and the positions of industry, We have no excuse for not being the kings and queens we are supposed to be. It was in our bloodline dating back to our African Ancestors. Malcolm said it and he was the guy I was tryin' to be like so I am just "payin' it forward." Look at Ken Chennault, Stanley O'Neal, Colin Powell, Condi Rice, Barack Obama, Harold Ford Jr., Andrew Young, John W. Thompson (CEO Symantec), Milton Young (President United Way MA), Oprah, Iyanla Vanzant, Shirley Jackson, and the list goes on!

So I don't want nobody's damn welfare (my parents have been on it), I don't want nobody's damn affirmative action (so someone can disqualify my intelligence, potential, or capacity), I don't want nobody's damn quota (so I can be their damn trophy), and certainly I don't want nobody's damn pity (because I want my kids to grow up with some honor and dignity)

Despite the fact that we need some variation of those programs because there are those who are genuinely disadvantaged, I still know we can do a helluva lot better as a people than what we claim to be doing now. And it is not all DA MAN holdin' us down. Not when you have folks actin' like pimps, hoes, and hustlas and PROUD OF IT TOO!

So as the good conservative that I am here is the charge: let's buck up, stan' up, and make somethin' outta nothin' like our great grandparents used to do!

T (Tha DA!)

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Taalib al'Salaam