HIP HOP WHERE ARE YOU

When Common did “I Used To Love Her” all the Hip Hop heads were feeling it. What they did not suspect was that her lovers would continue to mount and change her identity. The same song that defined our elation speaks today as a prophetic undertone of the unfathomable, “WE USED TO LOVE HER.”

Truthfully I still keep my ears open hoping for the next song to take me back to that first moment of awakening. For me it was “Boyz N Da Hood,” by NWA it was not the first song that I had heard or dubbed. But it was the first time I found myself rewinding over and over again to get all the lyrics down. To me that song personified the life that I had grew to accept living on the southeastern tip of L.A., two blocks west of Compton. The hook was simply addicting. Beat was hypnotizing. Eazy E’s voice was brilliantly nonchalant. Just like the streets that I grew up on. Like saying we go through this type of stuff everyday, it’s easy for us simply because we love it.

Humbly I will now admit that the song was the downfall of many of my childhood friends. They really did live that song till the day they died or where locked up. But it was nevertheless real to use growing up. With all of that said, that was then this is now.

Now we contend with tuning our radios into stations that are filled with agendas. They are more concerned with money than music. Driven by numbers that do not reach the people that they intend to represent. Dictating what I want to hear with out any option other than to turn the radio off entirely. But is the radio really the problem or the solution.

When we go out to buy music at the store or internet we tend to find ourselves feeling the same way. We are not satisfied with what options we have been given. The suits that run the conglomerates are the same here as they were on the radio. It is the better of the two evils but there is still no remedy. But is the industry really the problem or the solution.

This is where we get down to the nitty gritty, which is the source? Where is the wrong doer? Is the Hip Hop truly dead?

My analyses, no Hip Hop is not dead, what we failed to realize is what made us love her is what makes us hate her later. She is the same women that taught us how to curse. Who taught us what was cool and not cool. That separated us from the generation before us. Expressed the feelings that we shared inside. What we did not realize was we would lose our grip on her once we introduced her to the addicting lights of the big stage we call Pop.

Now that she is mainstream we find her to be too divaish. She traded in her bamboos for Jacobs. No longer do we tell stories of a hard life, now it’s bling and things. Ebonics was not accepted, now it’s all you hear even from Corporate America. It was the environment that we exposed her to that changed around her. So in a nut shell it was us that changed.

So let me reframe the question “URBAN AMERICA WHERE ARE YOU,” THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES

WHO CARES ABOUT THE “N” WORD

WHO CARES ABOUT THE “N” WORD

I have been hearing and reading forums and blogs about the use of words, whether they geared towards women, men, race or sexuality. These discussion, never take into consideration that, generationally, we are faced with a drop out rate that has reached epic proportions. Next to third world countries the United States of America has one of the highest drop out/ illiteracy rates in the world. To stress vocabulary words over ones ability to read and write is reckless and futile.

Growing up some words were not uttered in the home whether you were young or old. The “n” word was at the top of that list. Now children are allowed to curse out their parents with no repercussions. These are the same young men and women that we are attempting to curve from saying the “n” word. What logic is there in that, first we have to deal with the utter lack of respect in ones self, parents, family structure and etc. We can deal with the issue that is dear to those advocating the abolishment of “the” word after we address the issue of ignorance.

Hip Hop once again is at the head of another “great problem” of our youth. Yet it is one of the only secular musical mediums that faith in GOD is viewed as not only normalcy but assumed. We have seen hit after hit that advocates the necessity to pray and have faith in GOD. But yet, the generation that allowed prayer to come out of schools with out a great fight finds it an imminent threat to our social and moral fiber.

Attacking something and someone will create a natural and expected reaction or response. Defensive youth is a by-product of the constant conflict between old and young in our community. Before we have unity we need to have a cease-fire between the rivaling mindsets. Each believes that it has a valid point, rightfully so, but neither will agree that the effects outweigh the cause.

There are far worst words in our vocabulary than just focusing on one that has been immortalized by hate, oppression and ignorance, now being accepted by a generation that does not understand the magnitude of slavery and segregation.

I’m advocating unity in tone and direction, once we correct our homes we can correct the rest of what ails our community. Begin to sit these young men and women down, explain the scope of slavery, how it effects them everyday and what people like Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and so many others have on their daily lives. Get them to see the value in an education and invest in their future through rewards and incentives. It is ashamed that we don’t see kids from our community working in the local businesses anymore. It’s liked we’ve pushed them away because we know what they will become before they even have a chance to decide for themselves. THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES.