connecting*the*dots

(originally uploaded by Steve Rhodes)

Question: Who’s the man in the above picture?

I admit the visual reference might not be enough for anyone that isn’t a Hip hop head, so I’ll give you even more of a hint:

Sorry for the set-up; I wouldn’t expect many people to know that he’s Boots Riley from The Coup.

I also wouldn’t expect many people to know the depth of the man and his music.

Or even that Boots blogs.

I’m using Boots as just one example of someone who represents one particular slice of a culture, Hip hop, that most people don’t know anything about — no matter what they think.

More on Boots and his colleagues in a bit.

What You Hear Is Not A Test

Today, Ed Cone ventured into a pretty lightweight deconstruction of “rap” lyrics, and only after numerous people and media outlets — local and from afar — made a stink about Don Imus catching flak for his pointed remarks a few weeks back, arguing that African-Americans and/or “rappers” actually drive the use of this harmful language.

Ed’s introduction to his column:

[…] “For my newspaper column, I listened to the lyrics of Billboard’s top ten rap tracks and tried to contextualize the Imus affair.” […]

I can’t remember the last time someone in Hip hop, out-of-the-blue, verbally assaulted a specific group of innocent people like the Rutger’s Women’s Basketball team. Admittedly, I’m not twisting the context of the offense to the use of a particular word or phrase and instead, keeping it focused on the nature of the attack from a broadcaster.

Along those lines, IMO, it would be more productive to review the context of Imus’ bile by looking at the rest of the shock-jock industry, like this gem from Neil Bortz:

Boortz: For instance, or for goodness sakes, jump in and I’m gonna say — I’m gonna start out with something controversial. I saw Cynthia McKinney’s new hair-do. Have you seen it, Belinda?

Skelton: No.

Boortz: She looks like a ghetto slut.

Skelton: Well, how is it?

Boortz: It’s just — it’s hideous.

Skelton: Is it braided? Or –

Boortz: No, it’s not braided. It just flies away from her head in every conceivable direction. It looks like an explosion in a Brillo pad factory. It’s just hideous. To me, that hairstyle just shows contempt for — no, it’s not an Afro. I mean, no, it just shows contempt for the position that she holds and the body that she serves in. And, I’m sorry, there’s just no other way to — it’s just a hideous and horrible looking –

Marshall: It looks better than the braids she was wearing.

Boortz: No, the braids had some dignity. They had some class.

Marshall: The braids had dignity?

Boortz: They had more class than this thing.

Marshall: This says, you know, kinda 2000s, you know, stepping up to the plate. Contemporary look, you know?

Boortz: She looks like Tina Turner peeing on an electric fence.

Pam has great context for those of you who might think of these comments as harmless.

But the point of this post isn’t about Don Imus, nor is it about those people out there that are obfuscating the context of his comment. There’s a whole other angle of misinformation in Ed’s post, based more in ignorance than intent, that I wish to dissect.

I’m One Of A Kind And I’ll Shock Your Mind

Whether he knows it or not, Ed made a bunch of generalizations in his column. This particular paragraph stood out the most to me:

[…] “I’m bothered not just by what rappers say but why they say it. The lyrics and the popularity of the genre aren’t happening in a vacuum; they reflect something about the realities of a larger culture that is coarse, consumerist and often violent. Public Enemy’s Chuck D famously said that rap is like “CNN for black people.” Maybe part of the problem is that these days, the best-known member of the socially conscious Public Enemy is Flava Flav, who once rapped about the harsh reality of life in poor neighborhoods but now does clownish “reality” shows on corporate television.” […]

People like to talk about Hip hop as if they know everything about anything, so I’m not surprised by Ed’s perspective — even with him being alive during The Sugarhill Gang’s debut.

How Ed jumps from “a larger culture that is coarse, consumerist and often violent” to Public Enemy — without pause for at least a paragraph on the current administration of the Executive Branch — is beyond me.

You know, it wasn’t Flavor Flav that told America to go out and buy shit just a few days after the towers went down on 9/11.

I’ll play along for shits and giggles, though.

So, Flav has become the king of reality tv, but as the de facto hype man in the carefully orchestrated membership of Public Enemy — something that would take another post entirely to detail — that shouldn’t shock anyone.

Flav was never the point man of PE, the guy “rapping about the harsh reality of life in poor neighborhoods.” For every 911’s A Joke, there are a hundred songs with Flav explicitly playin’ his role in the group as comic relief while shadowing Chuck.

So how does that play out 20 years beyond the zenith of Public Enemy’s career?

While Flav does his reality tv and flashes his grill, Chuck D does his speaking gigs and radio shows covering everything from anti-DRM to politics. The whole of Public Enemy prospers from their individual focuses — which draw in new audiences from distinct demographics — far more than simply being a sum of its parts.

But if you’ve seen any of the Flavor of Love shows, you know that he doesn’t represent himself as a foul-mouthed “rapper.” I honestly don’t see how Flav acting like Flav with a viking cap and oversized clock necklace and sunglasses has anything to do with the topic at hand — except for serving as a convenient segue from the bridge of the CNN line.

All that said, Ed is pretty much on point when he ruminates over “rap” lyrics and the ills of a larger culture.

The point begging to be made about this particular element — the crux of his column — is that he doesn’t realize to what degree and how narrow of a focus that truly is within the culture of Hip hop.

What we need is the Teacher to break this down to a digestible format:

More KRS-One:

(by thecnote)

[…] “ ‘Hip hop has nothing to do with rap. Rap is an element. There is a consciousness that makes you rap, graffiti or break, for example.’

KRS-One talked a great deal about the importance of being one’s own self, the most essential part of Hip hop culture. ‘Hip hop begins with the courage to be yourself. Being you has consequences,’ KRS-One said.

Want to find out if you’re Hip hop? You know you are if ‘you gravitate toward it. You see graffiti art and you try to make out the words, you see breaking and you say, ‘Man, I could do that,’ KRS-One said.

And, of course, one should know the proper way to actually identify the culture. Hip hop is a culture; therefore, it should function as a proper noun. Hip hop is the music, and referring to the culture in the hyphenated form, KRS-One claimed, is degrading. The rapper’s explanations of the technicalities of the Hip hop world could have left audience member confused; if Hip hop is not the music, what is?

Listeners were enlightened about the differences between Hip hop and rap. ‘Hip hop is not rap music,’ KRS-One said. ‘Rap is controlled by corporations. A rapper rhymes for corporations, and an emcee rhymes for culture. A rapper talks about himself, what he has. An emcee talks about what’s already on your mind. An emcee raps about what you need, not about fantasy.‘ Ultimately, a point stressed heavily throughout the night, Hip hop is something that is lived, a consciousness of the world around us.” […]

That’s a much more expansive description of Hip hop than “rappers” being misogynistic and foul-mouthed, but culture can’t be locked down to one set of definitions either — passing the mic back to Boots Riley, from a long, lost interview at Davey D’s spot:

(by bagelradio)

[…] “When the first Sugarhill Gang record came out and it was on the radio I was already living in Oakland then but there were people who had recently moved out here from the mid west and the south and I remember us saying they had a hambone record out on the radio. My whole thing with that is there’s a lot of elements of hip hop… like the four elements of hip hop is really just a commercialization and a way to commodify things because you have to put things into easy categories in order to sell it. It’s a lot easier to sell as an invention that kind of slipped and fell together by a series of events that happened in one place than it is to tell it as a history of a people. So that’s something that I feel is left out of hip hop. That was my first connection to rapping [hamboning]. Another more obvious one is beatboxing. That was something that was very much a part of hip hop. I first started hearing the four elements maybe from the early 90s. I don’t know who started that but it’s full of shit to me.” […]

Contradicting, yet accentuating points of view within a culture — a hell of a lot deeper than “bitch” and “ho” framed within the bullshit corporate constructs of a genre.

The CNN For ALL People Who Care To Tune-In

If all this isn’t new to you, glad to have you in my digs. To those of you who are learning something new, you might just dig checking out a few CTD alumni.

One bit of advice: focus on the message, the intent and the wordplay — leave the curse count for Tipper Gore.

• De La Soul
• Immortal Technique
• The Roots
• Public Enemy / Paris
• The Coup
• Brand Nubian / Common
• Rage Against The Machine
• KRS-One
• Talib Kweli
• DJ Danger Mouse
• Chuck D
• Mos Def

Thank God their standards for speaking truth to power and shedding light are higher than CNN.

Artist: De La Soul
Song: Ego Trippin’ (Part Two)

==========

DOVE:
I’m buggin’

POS:
E-ghostbusters

DOVE:
Mercy, mercy, (ego trip, ego trip)
Mercy! (ego trip, ego trip), Mercy!!!

MASE:
Aaah!!! Aaah!!! Aaah!!! Aaah!!!
Aaah!!! Aaah!!! Aaah!!! Aaah!!!
Aaah!!! Aaah!!! Aaah!!! Aaah!!!
Aaah!!! Aaah!!! Aaah!!! Aaah!!!

DOVE:
Yep, yep big trucker man’s rollin’ in town
How ya do, how ya do
I got the joints to make ya…(JUMP!)
Because I’m headin’ eastbound
Tired of the merry go round and around
And everybody’s talkin’ bout you’re so funny
But they still tellin’ lies to me
I got the trees in my backyard
And it’s hard for them to tell a lie to me
And who’s the foot, I’m the foot but who’s steppin’
(Ain’t no half steppin’)
You know where I’m steppin’
Skirts play wit it cause I’m slick like that
I’m the greatest MC in the world!!
You gots to gimme gimme mine cause I’m heavy when I weigh it
Watch the way I say it (ego trip)
Change my pitch up, smack my bitch up
I never did it
The flavor’s bein’ butt but brothers ain’t gettin’ it
Get it; or else you’re a goner
When I rolls over ya gonna have to wanna lamp
Cause it’s the chattanooga champ
Takin’ a train…Takin’ a train…Takin’ a train…Takin’ a train…

POS:
Now I’m somethin’ like a phenomenon
I’m somethin’ like a phenomenon
Well I’m the hourglass cat
Drug it out of jack

DOVE:
For jill

POS:
Cause I spilled the phenomenon
Pack the holes in my lawn
The girls in my saun[a]
Word is born I’m a livin’ phenomenon
Well I’m a better brand cause I’m a superman
I run the block with my circle cause I’m nubian
I got the platinum rust, so don’t even fuss
Cause DJ Paul, he’s down wit us
Now people stop takin’ my stylin’ for a joke
I don’t sassafrass I put the foot up the ass
Sometimes I’m fast, blow off like a seal

SHORTIE NO MAS:
When they reminisce over you

POS:
For real
Mase chopped the record down to the bone
And now Renee King is on my telephone
But I got the Ring Ring Ha Ha Hey Hey

SHORTIE NO MAS:
Cause this type of shit it happens everyday

POS:
I got to make me a connection so my imports stuff
(WORD!) Wo, word ‘em up
Cause I’m so fly…

DOVE:
Yes on and on
I’m ins like (?) go buy my yacht
I got Gills like Johnny
Sail at 7 elf (well good for ya)
Bigger than bigs, dig it (I dug it)
Ways that amazes popes
I am the is equals is cause it’s caught up
When the tides taught me the ropes
No weights for the baits (man I’ll give you four)
For a verb unheard of (man gimme one more)
Alright you got it if you’re special
With a dapper toe tapper when a lot’s goin’ on
(And ain’t a damn thing happenin’)
The answer to the riddle is me and here’s the question
Who can be (fresh)
Who can be (dope)
Who can be (nice)
Who can be (beautiful)
Who can be (word)
Who can be….

POS:
Me be the Jericho turnpike bandit
Yes competition try to troupe my way
I sing the song you never heard before
I feed the famine in your mind
So mind ya manners baby
I run a line on ya
Lay ya on the springs then sway ya
All this and a condom cause I be a taxpayer
Promotin’ of a moccasin I skin like Danny Boone
When I swallow hear the (gulp)
So give me room just give me room back the hell up

SHORTY NO MAS:
Back the hell up
Know what I’m sayin’

POS:
Or when I run the mic there won’t be no delayin’
Pressure 40 does it like a Easy Bake oven

DOVE:
Blues got the muffin

SHORTY NO MAS:
Eat it

DOVE:
Blues got the muffin

SHORTY NO MAS:
Eat it!!

POS:
Intoxicate many wit my talk without intoxicatin’ myself low
So I gots to walk slow but…..

DOVE:
Don’t you get too hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh
(Ego trip, Ego trip, Ego trip, Ego trip,
Ego trip, Ego trip, Ego trip, Ego trip,
Ego trip, Ego trip, Ego trip, Ego trip,
Ego trip, Ego trip, Ego trip, Ego trip,
Ego trip, Ego trip, Ego trip, Ego trip,
Ego trip, Ego trip, Ego trip, Ego trip,)

(Aaah!! Aaah!! Aahh!! Aahh!! Aahh!!
Aaah!! Aaah!! Aahh!! Aahh!! Aahh!!
Aaah!! Aaah!! Aahh!! Aahh!! Aahh!!
Aaah!! Aaah!! Aahh!! Aahh!! Aahh!!
Aaah!! Aaah!! Aahh!! Aahh!! Aahh!!)

PRINCE PAUL:
Somebody’s cryin’?
I know somebody’s cryin’.
Who’s cryin’?
Yo, somebody’s cryin’ here.

(Trippin’ down the fuckin stairs)
(YEEAAAHHH!)

Artist: De La Soul
Song: Stakes Is High

==========

(sounds of a craps game…)

Stakes is high, you know them stakes is high, when you talkin’ about…
Stakes is high, you know them stakes is high, we be talkin’ about…
Stakes is high, you know them stakes is high…

[POS]
The instamatic focal point bringing damage to your borough
Be some brothers from the east with some beats that be thorough
Got the solar gravitation so I’m bound to pull it
I gets down like brothers are found ducking from bullets
Gun control means using both hands in my land
Where it’s all about the cautious livin’
Migrating to a higher form of consequence
Compliments
Of strugglin’ that shouldn’t be notable,
Man every word I say should be a hip hop quotable.

[DOVE]
I’m sick of bitches shakin’ asses
I’m sick of talkin’ about blunts,
Sick of Versace glasses,
Sick of slang,
Sick of half-ass awards shows,
Sick of name brand clothes (word)
Sick of R&B bitches over bullshit tracks,
Cocaine and crack
Which brings sickness to blacks,
Sick of swoll’ head rappers
With their sicker-than raps
Clappers and gats
Makin’ the whole sick world collapse
The facts are gettin’ sick
Even sicker perhaps
Stickabush to make a bundle to escape this synapse

[POS]
Man life can get all up in your ass baby you betta work it out
Let me tell you what it’s all about
A skin not considered equal
A meteor has more right than my people
Who be wastin’ time screaming who they’ve hated
That’s why the Native Tongues have officially been re-instated

(Vibes…. vibrations)
Stakes is high (Higher than high)
You know them stakes is high (Higher than high)
When we talkin’ ’bout the (Vibes….vibrations)
Stakes is high, you know them stakes is high
When we dealin’ with the (Vibes….vibrations)
Stakes is high (Hey yo, what about that love?)

[POS]
Yo, it’s about love for cars, love for funds
Loving to love mad sex, loving to love guns
Love for opposite, love for fame and wealth
Love for the fact of no longer loving yourself, kid
We living in them days of the man-made ways
Where every aspect is vivid, these brothers no longer talk shit
Hey yo, these niggas live it
‘Bout to give it to you 24/7 on the microphone
Plug One translating the zone
No offense to a player, but yo, I don’t play
And if you take offense, fuck it, got to be that way
J.D. Dove, show your love, what you got to say?

[DOVE]
I say G’s are making figures at a high regard
And niggas dying for it nowadays ain’t odd
Investing in fantasies and not God
Welcome to reality, see times is hard
People try to snatch the credit, but can’t claim the card
Showing out in videos, saying they cold stars
See, shit like that will make your mama cry
Better watch the way you spend it
‘Cause the stakes is high
Y’all know them stakes is high
When we dealin’ with the (Vibes….vibrations)
Stakes is high
I think that smiling in public is against the law
‘Cause love don’t get you through life no more
It’s who you know and “How you, son?”
And how you gettin’ in, and who the man holding
Hey yo, and how was the scams and how high
Yo what up, huh? I heard you caught a body
Seem like every man and woman shared a life with John Gotti

[POS]
But they ain’t organized!

[DOVE]
Mixing crimes with life enzymes
Taking the big scout route
And niggas know doubt better
Than they know their daughters
And their sons
(Oh boy)

[POS]
Yo, people go through pain and still don’t gain
Positive contact just like my main man
Who got others cleaning up his physical influence
His mind got congested
He got the nine and blew it
Neighborhoods are now hoods cause nobody’s neighbors
Just animals surviving with that animal behavior
Under I who be rhyming from dark to light sky
Experiments when needles and skin connect
No wonder where we live is called the projects
When them stakes is high you damn sure try to do
Anything to get the piece of the pie
Electrify
Even die for the cash
But at last I be out even though you wantin’ more
This issue is closed like an elevator door
But soon re-opened once we get to the next floor where the
(Vibes….vibrations) Stakes is high
Y’all know them stakes is high
When we desalin’ with the (Vibes….vibrations)
Stakes is high
Stakes is high
Come on…

Artist: De La Soul
Song: Trying People

==========

[intro: A friend’s voicemail to Dave]

Dave, whattup man?
It’s me
Umm.. just callin to see, if possible, if you have any
time today or within the next couple of days
If, if, you’re in the studio.. or if you’re at home.. or car, whatever
That song.. that.. it’s called trying or something, Mase
was tellin me that I needed to hear?
He said it was amazing
Whoo.. the way he was talkin.. man I wanna hear it!

[Dave]

Am I just another lost in the pack?
We for shack ship, you know laugh it off
Years just blow by
My eyes stay fixed but the picture’s kinda outta focus
I cry a lot but admit to it
Enjoyin life now but I’ve been through it
Sometimes I wish that I can go back
No bills no kids just getting tore back
I want a wife, I love women
How could I front like I don’t be in love wit em?
A li’l man that I can teach
A li’l sand but not the beach
I figure excess’ll only bring an excessive amount of fussin
So when I’m gone, make sure the head stone reads, “He did it for us”
I’m like your modern day Jesus
I cherish warm thoughts like a gray goose
And float soft kisses to my baby
(yo ain’t that Dave’s little girl?)
Yeah, respect her for that
She gon be somebody
Instead of somebody-baby-mama
You see young minds are now made of armor
I’m tryin to pop a hole in your Yankee cap
Absorb me
The skies over your head aint safe no more
And Hip Hop aint your own
And if it is then you fuckin up the crib son
You make life look like I don’t wanna live one
You might as well hold your breath until you die in a
corner somewhere bent over in the crevice
This God Theory overcomes the worst of weathers
As long as you willin to try, you on a good start homie
.. you on a good start.. see nigga tryin

[Chorus: Dave & Children]

[Dave] People are you ready?
[Children] Yes we’re ready!
Are you really ready?
We wanna be ready!
Ready for the change that may approach you?
Yes!
Follow down the path that you supposed to?
Yes!
People are you ready?
Yes we’re ready!
Are you really ready to try?
We wanna try harder!
You know mistakes are trials that we learn from?
Yes!
I order to live life, you must earn one?
Yes!
People are you ready?

[Pos]

Throughout my change to grow, Some of my people got left behind
They didn’t listen for the gun, as I leaped from off the line
Thirteen years deep in this marathon I’m runnin
Paid dues and still got bills to pay
When I came back around the way
Old friends gave me dead eyes
and fake smiles, half wide
We were supposed to rid the world of danger
These days we nod heads and small talk like polite strangers
It’s natural to fall off, just land close to the tree
I’ll be there if they need me to be
and I know all my local shorties
cuz they all know who I am
and latey wanna flip grammar instead of grams
Like that’s the only choice they got
They tell me how they gonna shake up the game
but came to me to see if I could give em guidance for change
Shit y’all, I need guidance myself
and I chisel right words to make gems
Got fans around the world, but my girl’s not one of em
And my relationship’s a big question
Cuz my career’s a clear hindrance to her progression
Said she needs a man and our kids need a father
I’m not at all ready to hear her say don’t bother
And break
And this I know I can’t take
but uhh
C. Smith said to hold on
My brother Luck said to hold on
My nigga Dave said to hold on
My nigga Mase said to hold on
Yo, Maseo, we need to hold on
Eh, yo, y’all we need to hold on

[Chorus: Pos & Children]
[Pos] People are you ready?
[Children] Yes we’re ready!
Well, what you wanna be?
We wanna be ready!
Do you wanna lose hate for love?
Yes!
Do you wanna see these gates above?
Yes!
I said people are you ready?
Yes we’re ready!
But are you willing to try?
We wanna try harder!
Do you really wanna carry some weight?
Yes!
Are you ready to design your fate?
Yes!
Yo, people are you ready?
Yes we’re ready!
Well what you wanna be?
We wanna be ready!..

[outro: AOI computer honey]
Operation complete. Preparing for.. Installment three

Last night I got to check out one of my all-time favorite hip-hop acts, Black Sheep, as they rocked the Knitting Factory with The Jungle Brothers.

I’ve been waiting for another Sheep album to drop since Non-Fiction and apparently one is on it’s way called 8WM. I haven’t seen these guys live since a ‘91 show with Tribe and Naughty at the Newark Symphony Hall… and they didn’t disappoint.

Dres is one of the coolest MCs in the industry, with a tight ass flow and a lounge stage presence. As the night began, he was a bit pissed that the mostly 30+ white crowd didn’t know any of their old, obscure tunes and weren’t getting into the act, but after some straight up cuts on the audience and a few timely dropped hits, the entire crowd was all over the Engine, Engine #9 chant.

Constantly sipping from a brew, Dres got more and more sentimental and couldn’t stop expressing his love for the JB’s (who were out of control), and after Mr 9.5 performed a spoken word love fest to a lady in the crowd (as only he could ;), the show wrapped with the entire cast doing De La’s Buddy.

Man… college was a blast.