Monday, October 24, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
"Conscious" Rappers Are Not That Deep! You Should Read A Book Instead :-)
I have been engaging in this constant dialogue trying to stand up for hip-hop with various people since I fell in love with the genre in 1995 when I heard Bone Thugs n Harmony "The Crossroads" and bought the single. As I grew up my taste in hip-hip change and grew with me, by the time I was 17 I was into "Conscious" Rap and stood strongly by my three wise men: Common, Talib, and Nas, but I was huge Jay fan too. Anyhow, conscious rap was, in my opinion, the voice that keep rap at its roots and represented the genre in a positive way. So when defending the music that I held so close to my heart, I would always reference the few artist that talked about something different and positive.
Then, I grew-up... kind of the same way Jay did. He de-coded his music and was embarrassed by some of the tinges he wrote. I always gave Jay credit for allowing his music to represent his current life and allowing it to grow with him. So, Like Jay I married a women... a smart, strong, intelligent women and suddenly I saw rap and hip-hop through a different set of eyes. I can't rap "Yeah, owe me back like you owe your tax, Owe me back like forty acres to Blacks, Pay me back when you shake it like that girl" to my wife or for that matter around my wife. No… she would flip out on me and get crazy, she is above that. It is because I respect her and I don't actually believe in that ideology. When I met her I didn't pay for dinner and expect her to pay me back with sex.
So, now with new eyes I see this music that has been so influential in my life. Wait! Has conscious rap really been that influential? To answer that question I looked at my philosophies on life and compared them to the music that I loved so much. Funny enough I was more inline with great authors, stories in history class, and contemporary intellectuals like Dr. Michael Eric Dyson.
After this realization, I re-examine conscious rap with this new eye and realized that it is not deep! As a young man with few lived experiences, opinions, and not much wisdom I thought their stories were revolutionary. They talked about civil rights, poverty, racism, and some even hit on global affairs. Unfortunately, I was blinded to the misogyny that allowed women be hoes, bitches, and objects to be pillaged or acted upon. Despite their pivotal role in all the conscious rapper raps about. Or they’d boast about checking out of society and our political system by not voting or ignoring current affairs all . I used to think that was powerful… but that's not activism, that is bull shit :-). Not voting is stupid and in no way should be considered protest. Our society does not change through passive isolation. It changes when people positively engage other people to make changes!!
My rant was inspired by one of my used to be favorite rapper's saying that he did not vote for Obama because he did not like his foreign policy, like he thought it would be better to let his opponents create foreign policy.
So, In conclusion read a book, take a class, and talk to your grandparents or someone who has actually lived life. The knowledge you receive from those sources will be more beneficial than the stuff you get from music in general. I love music, so please don't mistake my ranting as anti-music or even rap, but pro-books, pro-conversation, and pro-critical thinking.
One,
Monday, March 21, 2011
Really? Why do we have to write dissertations? Medical Docters don't!
As I sit here going through data attempting to emerse myself in it and it's patterns. I wonder why MDs can do a heart transplant without a dissertation? Why do lawyers practice law without a dissertation? Finally, why can a president run the country without a dissertation? It makes me think it's not that big a deal. No one is going to read it anyway, wait other poor soul writting dissertations will. Lol! Well that's my random thought, but at the sametime a real question. What is the real value of a dissertation? I all ready the reasons academics use to make them useful. Would our energy and brainpower be better suited doing something more practical to prove our intelligence/perserverance? - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Sunday, March 20, 2011
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