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Breakdown FM-Rick Rock & the Federation Going Beyond Hyphy

April 3, 2006 By

Rick Rock & the Federation Going Beyond Hyphy

by Davey D

original article: April 03 2006

Listen to Rick Rock and Federation Interview on Breakdown FM

Last week the Bay Area was treated to good news when E-40’s new album My Ghetto Report Card debuted on the Billboard charts at number one. His new single Tell Me When to Go is a bonafide hit that is lighting up radio station and night clubs from here to New York, throughout the South and even spots overseas are checking out the buzz and everybody is asking What does it mean to be Hyphy?

There is no doubt the Bay is on fire. Currently there are bidding wars amongst major labels for acts like Mista F.A.B. and Rick Rock and the Federation. T-Kash who is signed to Pariss Guerilla Funk label is finding that his new politically charged album Turf War Syndrome is one of the most sought after and heavily added on the college radio circuit. If thats not enough the Paris produced Public Enemy album Rebirth of a Nation came in at number 33 on the Billboard charts which is great for a small indie label. Lastly we have super producer Rick Rock and his group the Federation who are currently enjoying major radio play in cities like New York with their new smash 18 Dummies. Now with that being said and done the 64 thousand dollar question is Will the Bay Areas Hyphy Movement catch on and become a nationwide thing that sticks?

According to super producer Rick Rock aka the King of Slaps who along with his group The Federation put out the first Hyphy record 5 years ago, The Bay will become a nationwide stop only if people make a firm commitment to step their business game up and do good music. He emphasized the point that while Hyphy is the in thing right now, its going to take more than a bunch of songs that have the words Hyphy and other related lingo in the hooks to keep the momentum going. He elaborated by pointing out that the Hyphy Movement has gotten the music industrys attention and helped opened a lot of doors, but Bay artists will have to stretch out and constantly challenge themselves.

You have to keep putting paint where it aint, Rick Rock said. You have to come with something different. It does no good to drive down the street and hear the same Hyphy record with all different artists. Its what I call the Das EFX Syndrome. Rock was referring to the rap group Das EFX who came out with a unique triple time rhyme style that got widely mimicked to the point it hurt their careers.

Rock noted that his group is trying to stay ahead of the curve by taking innovative steps and pushing the musical envelop. Case in point, he dipped into his rock-n-roll roots and teamed up with drummer Travis Barker to do a song. Rick noted that he has always been a rock fan and the beats he creates is influenced by bands like Metallica who he considers one of the best groups of all-time.

Rock explained that Barker had heard some of the Bay Areas Hyphy songs and felt that it was natural cousin to in terms of energy and drive you hear in hardcore rock. He was anxious to get down with the Federation cats and the rest they say is history. To hear lead rappers Goldie Gold, Stress and Doonie Baby spitting on fiery lyrics over Barkers drums and Ricks amped up hyphy oriented music is something that will undoubtedly change the game once its released.

Its these types of steps that are going to help keep the Bay Areas profile elevated. Its also going to take folks who are hungry for the spotlight to sit back and stop hating on one another. Regional infighting based upon who is getting recognized is what has crippled the Bay and other burgeoning regions in the past. These were points that were emphasized by Federation members Doonie Baby and Goldie Gold. They noted that theres enough room for everybody to eat and share the spotlight.

Rock who also noted this point said its time for a lot of folks to sit down and have close door meeting to 1-Get a clearer understanding of what to expect with all this increased industry attention. 2-Learn how to better handle the business expectations major labels and other outlets will have of local artists entering into the game .3- How to operate in a hater free environment. In other words as the Bay tightens up on its business and beats it will be national factor that enjoys the spotlight for years to come.

Listen to Rick Rock and Federation Interview on Breakdown FM

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Filed Under: April '06-Articles, Breakdown FM Interviews, Essential Hip Hop Articles, Hip Hop Articles 2006 Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

AJ Calloway Blasts BET Music Videos-tells Why he Really left

April 2, 2006 By

dbanner1newparis

AJ Calloway Blasts BET Music Videos
Former BET Star Says He Left Show Over Vulgar Music
original article: April 2 2006

ORANGEBURG, S.C. (April 1) – The former co-host of BET’s popular 106 & Park video countdown show blasted this week what he called the destructive messages of many of the show’s most popular music videos.

A.J. Calloway co-hosted the show for five years with Free, whose given name is Marie Wright. Both left the show in July.

“I couldn’t watch my own show with my niece on my lap,” Calloway told an audience Wednesday at South Carolina State University as part of the “Black Student Today” panel. The discussion focused on the impact of hip-hop music.

“Pick your five favorite songs,” Calloway said. “Write down every word that’s in your favorite songs. Read it back to yourself and think about what that has put into your head.

“Understand internally what you’re taking into your soul and into your system. Really look at it. You might say it doesn’t do anything, but I’m telling you it does.”

Calloway has said that he left because he was only offered a brief extension at the end of his contract. But BET executive Stephen Hill said then that he was surprised Calloway decided to leave the popular show.

Calloway told the university audience he had vowed that after facing racism growing up in New Jersey he would “never do anything against my race.”

“I felt like I was hurting us by doing what I was doing,” he said.

He said the messages in some hip-hop music serve as a distraction to the challenges facing blacks.

“We’re so lost in the music, we don’t understand the reality of what’s happening day-to-day in our lives,” he said. “All those institutions that are out to bring down (blacks) don’t have to work any more because we’re doing it to ourselves. … They’re laughing at us.”

Another panelist defended hip-hop music’s messages.

“Most of the lyrics, if you listen to the poetry of hip-hop, is about taking a devastating situation and making it better, coming up out of poverty,” said Ben Chavis, co-founder of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network.

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Filed Under: April '06-Articles, Hip Hop Articles 2006, Industry news & Views Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Breakdown FM- Paris-The Making of PE’s Rebirth of a Nation

April 2, 2006 By

 On the Line w/ Paris-The Making of PE’s Rebirth of a Nation

by Davey D

original article: Sunday, April 02, 2006 

We sat down with the Black Panther of Hip Hop-Paris and spoke to him about the array of projects he has coming down the pipe on his Guerilla Funk record label. That would include the ‘Hard Truth Soldier’ album Vol 1 which includes socially conscious songs from MC Ren, Kam, Dead Prez, Mobb Deep, KRS-One, Cypress Hill, and the Conscious Daughters to name a few. He also has an album from new artist T-Kash out of Oakland which is also set to drop.

We also spoke with him about the current state of Hip Hop, the art of emceeing and of course the making of the new Public Enemy album ‘Rebirth of a Nation’. For people who are unfamiliar Paris not only produced but he wrote all the lyrics to the songs featured on the PE album. He spoke about how he and Chuck D came together on this ambitious project. He also spoke about the type of chemistry they developed and the type methodology used which would allow Paris to effectively write lyrics from one of Hip Hop’s most gifted and insightful political icons.

Paris explained how he wanted to recapture a moment in time when PE put out some of their most groundbreaking work as exemplified on albums like ‘Fear of a Black Planet’ and ‘It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back’. He talked about how he used records like ‘Don’t Believe the Hype’ and prophets of Rage as a template.

We also spoke about role Flava Flav played in this project as well as the type of dynamics that currently exist in the group and how it may have effective their recording process. Paris talked about sampling versus playing live instruments and how that factored into the new album.

Also in this segment we spoke extensively about the art of emceeing and how conscious artists don’t always get recognized for their rhyme skillz…

In the second part of our interview… Paris opens up and talks about the inner workings of the music industry. He talks about how major record labels try to manipulate stock prices and create the illusion that they are doing well when in fact everything is crumbling..

This session is defintely Music Biz 101…. be sure to listen..

Paris Interview pt 1 

Paris Interview pt2

Paris Interview pt3

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Filed Under: April '06-Articles, Breakdown FM Interviews, Hip Hop Articles 2006 Tagged With: , , , , , ,

New Proposed Indecency Bill Threatens Rap Music Industry

March 31, 2006 By
dbanner1newparis
New Proposed Indecency Bill Threatens Rap Music Industry
by J.D. Cooke
Washington News Wire
original article: march 31 2006
 
WASHINGTON DC-Last week’s intense debate on the plight of this nation’s immigrant population led to massive rallies and student walkouts in many cities throughout the country. The largest occurred in Los Angeles and Detroit where 500 thousand and 200 thousand took to the streets respectively to protest the bill HR 4437 that would make it a third class felony for anyone caught administering aid to those who are in this country illegally as well as for those caught without the proper pare work and visas.
 
Up until now the focus has been on the nation’s Hispanic population which now numbers more than 35 million. They have been the most visible and most outspoken on this divisive issue, however, if Congressman Richard Desour (R-Indiana) has his way, the protesting Hispanics may have unintended ally in the form of the music industry, in particular those who are proponents of gangster rap. He says that criminal behavior in the recording industry has tore away at the moral fabric of the American public.
 
Desour has quietly introduced what some are describing as a far reaching amendment to HR 4437 that would do the following;
 
1-Make it a felony punishable by fines up to 250 thousand dollar and up to 2 years in jail if one advocates, promotes or admits to the commission of violent crime in a commercially released recording.
 
2-Disallow anyone who has a felony or is incarcerated from being signed, employed or affiliated by a major record label. In language similar to the one found in HR 4437, anyone caught harboring or providing gainful employment to a convicted felon in the music or broadcast industry will be charged with a felony.  
 
3- Clears the way and makes it easier for parents, victim’s right groups, church organizations and Civil Right groups to sue artists and hold them liable for song lyrics that are deemed criminally prone and can be proven detrimental, pernicious and undermining to local and federal laws. 
 
Initially this provision was written so that it would make it easier for consumers and the aforementioned groups to go after the deep pockets and resources of the record and broadcast industry. However, recording industry lobbyists were successful in working out a compromise and having the language specific to them removed from the proposed bill.
 
Desour’s office noted that in exchange for the compromise, the Recording Industry would set aside funds and pledge other types of resources to help fight the tidal wave of illegal immigrants.
 
Broadcasters agreed to refrain from using their airwaves to promote, marches and rallies and to no longer provide an on air platform for organizations that help illegal immigrants. Both the Recording Industry and Broadcast Association agreed to vigorously enforce immigration laws at concerts, award shows and other industry related gatherings.
 
4-Desour’s amendments would make it easier to apply hate crime provisions to artists, record label owners and broadcasters who allow the recording and dissemination of racial and sexually oriented disparaging epithets.
 
Broadcasters were unsuccessful in winning a compromise on this provision. Disparaging words like ‘nigger’, ‘bitch’ and ‘fag’ which are commonly heard on the airwaves and in recordings will be added to the current list of seven dirty words that are prohibited from being broadcast in public space.
 
In a strange and somewhat ironic twist, radio broadcaster’s have hired high powered lobbyist Simon Dennis to represent them. They believe the proposed amendments reach too far and would have long range unintended economic consequences and stifle free speech.
 
Dennis accused the 7 term congressman of being culturally insensitive and a borderline racist. He noted that it was unfair for the Congressman to try and ban word ‘nigger’  which he claims is a universally used and accepted term in African American dialect especially if its pronounced and spelled with the letter ‘A’ at the end and not the letters ‘Er’
 
“It’s an important part of Black and Hip Hop culture”,  Dennis said. “Today its actually a good thing to call someone a ‘nigga’ because it means you are a friend. It’s the community turning a positive into a negative. That should be celebrated, not criminalized. To disallow the N word’s usage via the airwaves could prove to be economically disastrous because Black and urban Rap listeners would tune away in droves”.
 
Simon pointed out the recent decline in ratings by Los Angeles based urban radio stations  which once dominated the LA radio market as Top 5 positions are now not even in the Top 10. He argued that these stations in anticipation of this bill voluntarily restricted the use of N word on their airwaves and now the ratings have dropped precipitiously.
 
Despite the broadcast industry’s compelling arguments all signs indicate that Congressman Desour will push to make the use of the ‘N’ word in both recordings and broadcast as part of the Hate Crime provisions. In other words, use of the N word in a criminal context within a song can get you slapped with a hate crime which carries mandatory punishments.
 
Famed author, photographer and Hip Hop pioneer, Ernie Paniccioli’s of the newly formed The Universal Federation for the Preservation of Hip Hop Culture reacted to the legislation placed before Congress; “From what I read,  this bill seems far reaching. Many of us who love, respect and strive to protect this culture we call Hip Hop are in total favor of cleaning up the airwaves and making sure our house is in order. Many of us do not approve or support the use of the ‘N’ word in public space, however, we are not in favor of only criminalizing the artist while allowing his oppressive colonialist of a master who runs the record label to be given a pass.”
 
Long time Hip Hop journalist and radio host Davey D said; ” I’m concerned that while this bill is an attempt to clean up the airwaves, and the music industry in general, it will most likely be used selectively against Hip Hop artists and may even be twisted to go after artists like Dead Prez or The Coup who say harsh things about the political system.”
 
To support these first two provisions of his bill,  Congressman Desour referenced a newly released report that was put together by law enforcement officials who oversea the Hip Hop Task Force that is currently based in New York City and the main focal point of a soon to be released motion picture. The task force’s exhaustive two year study concluded that there is a direct correlation in the rise of gang activity, drug dealing and other violent crimes with the high visibility and ultimate rewarding and endorsement of rap artists who have a criminal path.
 
“When young people witness artists like Snoop Dogg, Youngster Jeezy, Nas and other gangster rappers being coddled by the music industry it sends out the wrong message”, said HHTF spokesman Lynn Franks. “It leaves young people with the impression that the only way you can be successful in the music industry is to first be a career criminal”
 
Franks went on to point out that the HHTF discovered that many record labels were secretly orchestrating and encouraging their artists to engage in criminal acts and behavior as a way to spark controversy which in turn would lead to increased record sales. The report discovered that if an artist actually served jail time, then their album sales would shoot through the roof, because of the heavy promotion and endorsement by both the record labels and broadcasters who used their incarceration as a key selling point.
 
Franks also noted that many gangster rappers were communicating secret messages to fellow gang members and criminal enterprises around the country in recordings using coded street lingo, by adapting certain nicknames or wearing particular clothing and fashions.
 
During a press conference Franks asserted; “One popular artist from Atlanta named Youngster Jeezy calls himself ‘The Snowman’. His name and his lyrics are really street lingo advocating for people to steal cars. There’s been a huge spike is grand theft auto throughout Jeezy’s native Atlanta since he started releasing albums”.
 
Currently the HHTF is trying to build a case against Jeezy saying that his lyrics were premeditated.
 
 Franks went on; “There are two popular rappers out of Houston we been studying. Gangster rappers Paul Jones and Mike Wall has recorded numerous songs where they encourage to purchase false teeth filled with diamonds and other expensive  jewels that they nickname ‘grills’
 
Our study concludes that Wall and Jones and many of these other rap guys who are wearing these so called grills are actually smuggling diamonds filled while smiling for cameras. When these rappers describe the jewels they have in their mouth, they are actually sending secret messages to fellow diamond smugglers about the type of stash they are delivering”
 
Franks also pointed the hit song ‘Tell Me When to Go’ by popular artist E-40. “Here you have a young man who is blatantly advocating that young men and women participate in perverted sexual activities. When he instructs listeners at the end of his song to ‘Ghost ride the Whip’ . This is Bay Area street slang for bondage and S&M of the most dangerous type. Using whips while participating in sex acts is not only quite dangerous and can cause serious injury, but it’s also a violation of the law in 37 states. Because Mr 40 has such a young audience he can be in big trouble with the law where bondage sex is illegal”.
 
ACLU spokesperson Harry Thompson said that they fully intend to challenge the Constitutionality of this law should it pass along with the other provisions of the Immigration Bill. However, he acknowledges that in today’s political climate it will be along hard struggle.  He encourages people to call their representatives and Senators to oppose Congressman Desour’s New Indecency Bill HR 3312.
 
To see a full copy of this Draconian bill Click Here:
Filed Under: Essential Hip Hop Articles, Hip Hop Articles 2006, March '06 Articles Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Breakdown FM: The Historic Immigration March in Downtown LA

March 27, 2006 By

Breakdown FM: The Historic Immigration March in Downtown LA

We Didn’t Cross the Border-the Border Crossed Us!

by davey D

original article: Monday, March 27, 2006 

Listen to this historic event here;

http://odeo.com/audio/964057/view

Don’t believe the hype I was in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday when the historic march to protest the racist anti-immigration bill HR 4437 took place. For those who don’t know, this bill would make illegal immigrants felons as well as anybody, including family members who help them in any sort of way.

This means that if you have a cousin living in Mexico who comes over here and his paper work ain’t right, even if you didn’t know, you could face jail time. This means if you unknowingly hire somebody to haul away trash you could be in trouble. This is not about giving the government the power to build a wall at the border. This is much deeper then that.

As for the march, the mainstream news media claim there were 500 thousand people on who showed up. Keep in mind, this is after they tried to hate on the march and say only a few thousand were going to show up the night before. Trust me more than a million people showed up Anyone who was there could attest to that. All the blocks around the courthouse for as far as the eye could see was a sea of people. It was wall to wall. The rally started at 10 am. Folks showed up in masse around 6 am and it stayed packed with people until 3 or 4 that afternoon.

Also it was a beautiful thing. The vibe in the air and the overall energy was infectious as you saw everyone from church goers to gang bangers all fighting to keep this oppressive bill from passing. There was an enormous amount of young people. Many came with their families. Its been a while since I been to a rally or march where I saw Grandmas, parents, young adults and little kids all in attendance.

I talked to cats who were all tatted up carrying signs that said ‘Stolen Land Defeat HR 4437‘ and college cats carrying signs that read ‘Where was George Washington’s Green card’ carrying signs You could feel the spirit of resistance in the air. People are waking up and ready to hold people accountable for being so mean spirited

Also as you listen to the audio clips just don’t think this immigration thing is only gonna effect Brown folks. I guess the media doesn’t like to show what we all have in common, but bear in mind there’s a whole lot of Black folks like Haitians who this bill is designed to smash on if passed..

Listen to the audio clips and call your Senator to urge them to vote against this bill..

http://odeo.com/audio/964057/view

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Filed Under: Breakdown FM Interviews, Hip Hop Articles 2006, March '06 Articles, Political articles Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Breakdown FM-Ghostface Killah: Mature, Focused and Elevating Hip Hop

March 26, 2006 By

Ghostface Killah: Mature, Focused and Elevating Hip Hop

By Davey D

original article: March 26 2006

We sat down with Wu member Ghostface Killah and had an enlightening conversation about the current state of Hip Hop, the role he now needs to play as a rapper and as a Black man trying to uplift the community and his new album ‘Fishscales’.

Ghostface talks about the big changes he’s made in his life including giving up weed and becoming diabetic. He talks about how he’s become more mature and focused and how he has made a committment to reach out beyond the usual crime and murder raps that put him on the map.

His new album definitely has songs in that vein, but he’s clearly pushed the envelope with great results. During our interview Ghostface goes into depth about the types of maturity level he wants Hip Hop to reach and how we all have to be aware of the impact we are having on kids. He also talks about the types of steps we need to take in terms of uplifting women and holding up our responsibilities in order to make sure they have an easier road especially when it comes to raising kids..

Listen to the interview on Breakdown FM

Download and listen to Breakdown FM Intv

Download and listen to Breakdown FM Intv

Download Breakdown FM-intv w/ Ghostface Killah 06

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zUDcdH3OI4

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Filed Under: Breakdown FM Interviews, Hip Hop Articles 2006, March '06 Articles Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Breakdown FM-Professor X was Vanglorious

March 18, 2006 By

In Remembrance of Professor X

original article-March 18 2006
Check out this special Tribute Mix we did in Memory of the Late Professor X .
Special Shout out to Paradise the Architect of X-Clan

odeo.com/audio/904888/view

By now folks may have heard the news about the sudden passing of Professor X of X-Clan.. I got off the phone with Brother J who was the lead rapper of this legendary group who delivered the sad news. We believe he died from spinal menegitas.. Tonight there will be a special tribute to Professor X on Divine Forces Radio 90.7 KPFK starting at 10pm if you are in Los Angeles. Brother J will be on as well as Paris..

 The passing of Professor X is sad indeed.. For those who are unfamiliar with Professor X please read the statement released by Afrika Bambaataa… X was the guy who coined the phrase “Van Glorious This is Protected by the Red, The Black and The Green“…What’s so sad and crazy is that nowadays when you talk about Professor X to today’s younger Hip Hop audience, they immediately think of the guy from the comic X-men..

Professor X aka Lumumba Carson was a good cat..who will be missed…

Davey D

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Professor X Was Vanglorious
by Wendy Day

I received an email from Afrika Bambaataa and Yoda today saying that Professor X had passed. I rushed over to allhiphop.com to see what happened to him. They confirmed Lumumba Carson passed from Meningitis. I am devastated.

In 1992, I started Rap Coalition out of pure disgust after seeing how my favorite rappers were treated– specifically, Eric B and Rakim, and X-Clan. In the late 80s and early 90s, these were my favorite rappers.

Lamumba Carson was great because he stood for something. He had something to say and he said it. He was the son of New York based (now deceased) activist Sonny Carson (how difficult it must be to be the son of someone so driven, focused, and important to humanity). Lumumba always rose to the occasion.

I always avoided meeting Professor X and Brother J (who, together, comprised X-Clan and heavily promoted the organization Black Watch), out of fear that they may not be what their image portrayed. At that point, I had met so many of my rap heroes and been disappointed in the past because of the diachotomy between image and reality (a painful lesson for someone devoting a career and life to helping her heroes for free).

I found that J and Lumumba were serious about what they were accomplishing. And while I found Professor X to be human with all the human frailties (thank God!), over the years I have found both of them to be exactly who they portrayed themselves to be–strong Black men, loving and caring for a race of people often too tired to fight for themselves. They were not hypocrites like soooo many others.

Like most rappers, and certainly like the majority of rappers from their generation, they did not make much money from their art form. In fact, they had the further degradation of watching others become wealthy on what they built, and on their art form (a BIG @#%$ you to Lou Maglia and 4th and Broadway).

I just spoke with Lumumba for the first time last year. I had received an email that was making fun of him because he listed himself on eBay, and was auctioning off “a day with Professor X” to the highest bidder. How he must be struggling financially to do something like that, I thought to myself. I became the highest bidder. The fact that I could barely afford to pay my rent at the time did not enter my mind. I was determined to buy a day with Professor X.

He ended the auction before the final deadline (doesn’t matter, I would have won regardless) because of the hateful emails circulating on the web about him putting himself up for auction. I was disgusted by the reaction. It was a f*cking lunch date with Professor X. Had it been Justin Timberlake for a charity, no one would have said @#%$. But a hungry man was not supposed to eat this way, I guess.

Somehow others who have made a career from (read: pimped) Hip Hop had the right to say what was acceptable or not for one of the Legends. All of a sudden, people making money critiquing what others create had the power to say what was the proper way for Professor X to make income. It pissed me off beyond words. I received disrespectful, opinionated emails from self-appointed authorities asking me why I supported such a gimmick. I got emails from fake-ass Hip Hop “journalists” spewing negativity and condescention without having all of the facts. I was disgusted with our community for not supporting Professor X and everyone else like him who needed our support and got jeers instead.

Lumumba called me. He knew who I was. He was excited that I had been bidding on his post. I had the opportunity to tell him what he meant to me. I told him how he influenced me to go down the path I am on without ever having met me. Now THAT’S power. He shared with me some of his industry expereinces and his hopes and dreams.

The price for Lumumba was high on eBay. Not high financially, but high in negative reaction, high in lack of support, and high in the realization that this unforgiving industry has no love for those who have come before when the @#%$ VH-1 cameras aren’t running. I think my last bid was under $100. I would have bid $1,000.

We quietly disrespect our artists for not being Billionaires, and then we disrespect them if we perceive them to “sell out” (read: earn a living). They can’t win. We bemoan artists today for selling misogyny, crime, violence, and materialism, but we didn’t support the ones who had a positive message once they were no longer perceived to be “hot!”

And God forbid they try to earn a buck on eBay selling the opportunity to spend time with them before they pass.

I wanted to spend a day with Lumumba. He would not take my money. We spoke at length about the industry and Afrocentricity. We discussed his father and his legacy. We discussed a lot. It was the first, and last, time we spoke.

I never got my day with Professor X. But what I did get was far more priceless. I got the real Professor X, and he is and was what he always said he was. He was REAL. And he loved people. Especially Black people. He will sorely be missed!

Please understand if the next time you see me I am stomping in my big black boots.

http://www.wendyday.com

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Filed Under: Breakdown FM Interviews, Essential Hip Hop Articles, Hip Hop Articles 2006, March '06 Articles Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

To the East Blackwards-The Story of X-Clan

March 1, 2006 By
dbanner1newparis
The story of  X-Clan
To The East, Blackwards
(1990, 4th & Bway)
by Brian Coleman
March 16 2006

 xclan

When a young New Yorker named Lumumba Carson became immersed in the hip-hop world of the mid-’80s to help bring the sound to even more of the masses, his family wasn’t happy about it. But it had nothing to do with fears that he was staying up too late, out partying. Lumumba’s situation was a different one, since his father was Brooklyn-based black nationalist leader Sonny Carson.

 The pro-black side of my world thought I was stumbling from my mission in life,’ says Lumumba, aka Professor X, today. ‘I wasn’t being appreciated by them. I was torn between two lives.’ Elder Sonny eventually came to realize the power of hip-hop in spreading black nationalist thought, after his son formed X-Clan, who released their funky, intelligent and powerful debut in 1990. Their Blackwatch crew (with Isis, Unique & Dashan, Queen Mother Rage and others) came before the X-Clan, and it was much more than a fan club. X explains: ‘I always watched how music groups became successful and I knew that fanbase was very important. My idea was to make our fan club base into a movement.’

The seeds for the four-member X-Clan ‘ rapper Brother J, DJ Sugar Shaft and producers/elders Professor X and Grand Architect Paradise ‘ were planted when X and Paradise met in the mid-’80s, introduced by Russell Simmons’ right-hand-woman Heidi Smith. At the time Paradise was working a computer job in Rush Management’s first offices on Broadway, and X was interviewing Rush clients there for a radio station in Detroit, also road-managing Whodini.

Eventually Paradise began managing the famed Latin Quarter club in midtown Manhattan and the two friends started a management company called Scratch Me Management, working with artists like Stetsasonic, King Sun, Just Ice and Positive K. Their touch spread over much of the New York hip-hop world during the years 1985 to 1987. ‘We were very serious when we did X-Clan,’ says Paradise. ‘We were really trying to do something new, after being instrumental in the careers of so many other cats. Back then we knew everybody in hip-hop, but once we focused on X-Clan we kind of became reclusive, because we wanted it to work.’

In 1985 Paradise and X had met two young men who would complete X-Clan as a foursome, although they didn’t know it at the time. ‘I first met Sugar Shaft at the Latin Quarter, and Brother J was his best friend,’ recalls Paradise. ‘But back then we hadn’t ever even heard J rap. His affiliation with us was just as one of the young brothers in the [black nationalist] Movement.’ Sugar Shaft was a DJ on the rise back in the early days, and a member of Red Alert’s Violators crew. Brother J soaked in the teaching of elder Black Nationalists and also continued to perfect his MC skills. But J’s skills got pushed to the side for a year or more, because of the fact that X and Paradise were working with so many other top-level MCs at the time. In 1987, Paradise recalls taking J and Shaft to Ced-Gee’s ‘Ultra Lab’ home studio in the Bronx, where they cut a demo for a song called ‘It’s a Black Thing.‘ With the beginning of Blackwatch, put in motion with Unique & Dashan’s debut album Black To The Future in early ’89, their plan to start X-Clan was about to hatch.

After many passes through the A & R maze of Island Records and its hip-hop subsidiary 4th & Bway, X-Clan were signed for a single deal, directly by Island founder Chris Blackwell. Releasing the powerful double a-sided single ‘Raise The Flag’ and ‘Heed The Word of the Brother’ in 1989, the group became actively involved in the much-publicized ‘Day of Outrage and Mourning’ to protest the killing of Yusuf Hawkins in Brooklyn’s Bensonhurt neighborhood in August of that year. 4th & Bway knew they had a firebrand group on their hands, in certain ways akin to the controversial and popular Public Enemy, and they signed them for a full album. To The East, Blackwards was recorded in one month’s time and put on a full-steam-ahead promo track by the label.

Perfectly described by the opening track’s title, ‘Funkin’ Lesson,’ the album mixed bouncing old-school funk samples with pro-black words of wisdom, perfectly and powerfully expressed by the muscularly-voiced Brother J. Professor X offers this distinction for those who grouped X-Clan and Public Enemy, two different sides of the same struggle, in the same boat: ‘Public Enemy should always be protected, so don’t misunderstand me. But their message, what it was and how it was delivered, just seemed so complicated. We felt that blackness was easier than that. If you were a brother or sister in Brownsville, it was right up under your nose. You only needed to talk to your grandmother to know how proud you were supposed to be and who you were.’

 Although it didn’t contain any crossover smash singles to push it into sales nirvana, the album put X-Clan at the front of the list of groups addressing black struggles in cities around the world, and for that they are still respected today. Professor X says, looking back: ‘I didn’t think the album would explode like that, right away. I had planned on a two-year development process, over probably two albums. But all we needed was one. Everything that happened back then was much more than we could have ever dreamed of.’X and Paradise lovingly drive their 1959 pink Caddy past selected tracks from their debut:

Funkin’ Lesson

Paradise: We definitely combined our message with some funky music. But that’s a pretty obvious thing, since people don’t respond to @#%$ if it ain’t hot, whether there’s a message or not. We were all about walking the walk, not just talkin’. We just really wanted to be funky and put the lesson in the funk. That’s what the song was about. We were trying to redefine something, and have more culture in the music.

Professor X: I was a funk-head from back in the day. That was my contribution to our earliest music. The George Clinton vibe we brought. I mean, who would have thought that the funk explosion in hip-hop started from a group in New York! At heart we were just some funky niggas, trying to connect anything we were saying politically, to funky music. It was just natural for us. It all fell into line, we all clicked into that George Clinton spirit.

Grand Verbalizer, What Time Is It’

X: The ‘crossroads’ I mention in that song, and in other places on the album, was very important to us. We wanted to give recognition to all those who didn’t know where they were at in life. It was the point in their lives where they were trying to get clear. We were drawing a picture where you were at so you could make decisions. And decisions start at the crossroads, and you’re protected there.

Tribal Jam

Paradise: A lot of people take Brother J for granted as a rapper. A lot of the things that he said were things that we or our elders lived personally. Everything we wrote came from the cultural experience of black people. It was all real. And we used the music to build a strong movement.

A Day Of Outrage, Operation Snatchback

X: The Day of Outrage was the day when the Brooklyn Bridge was taken by 20,000 or 30,000 people, with Reverend Al Sharpton. That song is about how we were there [in Bensonhurst], fighting for the right of recognition. We were also deeply involved in the protests in Crown Heights, later on [in 1991].

Verbal Milk

X: Ah yes, the Pink Cadillac! I mention that on that track, don’t I’ We wanted to tell people to celebrate themselves. When I think of a Pink Cadillac I think of my uncles, who were from South Carolina. Those guys had a Caddy every year. It meant something to them. We were talking about a 1959 pink Caddy because it represented a point in time. Once the elders saw that we were talking about that, they knew that we recognized the transition between a certain kind of negro into a certain kind of black man. We wanted to celebrate the Caddy, too, because we had a little pimp in our crown. We got style from that. It was a metaphor. We wanted to celebrate things that some black people wanted to hide. Corn bread, grits. In every video of ours, Sugar Shaft is eating something. Chicken or watermelon. We love that food and there’s no reason to be ashamed of it, in fact totally the opposite!

Shaft’s Big Score

Paradise: Shaft [who passed away in the mid-’90s] was my best friend. He was quiet and funny and an incredible DJ. Very quite and peaceful. A couple times when I was down he even bought pampers for my kids. Food, whatever. He was amazingly generous and we all really miss him.

X: Each person in the group was a piece of madness, that you’d never believe could get along with the other three [laughs very loudly]. You’d never think we could be in a room together. And that’s why it was magic together, too. Sugar Shaft had such an energy! We had to buy him new Technics turntables every two weeks because he destroyed them, just doing his cuts. They would literally be no good to anybody after he was through. He would sweat so much when he cut, too. He just had so much inward energy. He also cut with his left hand, so he’d have to cross one arm over the other. I think that Shaft’s influence is where the bounce in our music came from. We miss him. That particular track, which features Shaft’s DJ skills, was a very hard track to do, because back then there was no automation. We had to do it over many times to get the punches in there correctly. We heard Terminator X’s tracks and we wanted to counter them, on that level. Because we respected him so much. We all motivated each other in that way.

Raise The Flag

Paradise: That song was actually originally signed to Warlock Records, before 4th & Bway. They loved that demo we did so much that they gave us money right there on the spot with no contract. So we took that money and used it to record an album for the group Uneek & Dashan who we were managing at the time. Warlock ended up signing them and Isis, too, and then we went to 4th & Bway after paying Warlock back. Basically, once we started recording the first 6-7 tracks for X-Clan, we didn’t think that Warlock could do enough with it. We needed something bigger. That was the first studio song that we did. I got that sample from a neighbor of mine in Crown Heights. She heard Run-DMC blaring through my walls and instead of yelling, she wanted to hear more about them, and borrowed the album from me. Then one I day I heard that Roy Ayers ‘Red, Black and Green’ song blaring through * her * walls. She had a crazy loud system that put mine to shame. She was a jazz lover more than hip-hop. So I banged on her door and asked her what the hell that music was.

 X: That was our first single, the song we got signed to 4th & Bway for. When the single came out in 1989 it didn’t do good in New York, even though we had stuff like my father [Sonny Carson] putting us on a float during the David Dinkins campaign [for mayor of New York]. After two or three months there was nothing going on with the record. And we went to do a show in Detroit, with I think Kwame and Special Ed, in front of like 5,000 people. It was a talent show, I think. We went out on stage after those guys finished and the place went CRAZY, which was big news to us. So much so that they had to bring in the police to calm things down. I don’t even think that 4th and Bway knew we was that big in Detroit.

 

 Heed The Word Of The Brother

X: We had ‘Raise The Flag’ done and ready to go as a single but we felt that we needed something even stronger to go along with it. That was the beginning of me making enemies at the record company. They didn’t want a b-side and they just wouldn’t do it. So we financed ‘Heed The Word’ on our own, all the way through the mastering. I was right about it and the record company was wrong. It was a perfect example about how they didn’t even know what they had. On that track, other people, like Heavy D and De La Soul, had used that music already. So we made our song even stronger than what they had done. We called the 45 King and he put a string of horns at the end of the beat, and that’s why ours is different.

 

 

Paradise: That was the only song that anybody outside of X-Clan ever collaborated on with us, as an outside producer or artist. Mark the 45 King made the beat, and I produced the song. I put in the hook, and the ‘Flashlight’ stuff in the intro.

 

In The Ways of the Scales

X: That is definitely one of my favorite tracks on the album, if not my #1 favorite.

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The Promised Land – Reflections on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Hip Hop Nation

January 15, 2006 By

dbanner1newparis

original article January 2006

The Promised Land – Reflections on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Hip Hop Nation

by KRS ONE

krsone1smile-225PEACE AND MUCH LOVE TO ALL GENERATIONS OF HIP HOP KULTURE! We are truly a blessed nation! In these times of war, mass unemployment and social unrest let US become the changes that we would like to see in the world. We are an international culture of new people on the earth. So let US be the civilization that we expect others to be. Together (as a Hip Hop Nation) we truly have a great opportunity to establish peace, love, unity and safely having fun with our Hip Hop activity in the world. And NOT with our “hip-hop” activities in the world, but with our collective unified “Hip Hop” activity in the world we have an opportunity to establish a “True World Order”.

Yeah, I know that there are some that shall (and have already) unjustly criticize our efforts toward peace from “behind the screens”. But civilization building is NOT for everyone, nor can everyone even comprehend the importance of such an attempt. Nevertheless, such an attempt must be made for our own security as adults and as parents as well as for the security of our children and their children’s children’s children. No criticism, debate or unjust slander can ever move US from the fulfillment of our ancestor’s dreams.

Our Hip Hop preservation movement is NOT just about the preservation of Hip Hop as Breakin, Emceein, Graffiti Art, Deejayin, Beatboxin, Street Fashion, Street Language, Street Knowledge and Street Entrepreneurialism it is also and more importantly about continuing our ancestors dreams/visions of true freedom, justice and equality amongst ALL people; this is the world’s true order. WE MUST NEVER FORGET THE STRUGGLE! Our ancestors as well as our children and the future of Hip Hop are depending upon US! TODAY! Either, you ignore this fact or you engage this fact; either way, the choices that you make and the effects of such choices shall come to pass in YOUR own life and prove the character of who YOU really are.

There is never a reason, nor is there ever time, to criticize or debate the movements of others when you are busy working at the realization of your own movement. Its funny to me how some people have so much to say about KRS ONE and his attempts to establish Hip Hop as an international community of peace, love, unity and having fun yet they have made little or no progress at all in that which they espouse as the solution to the social ills of our time. My message is clear; “Rap is something we do, Hip Hop is something we live!” Therefore, how shall we live as Hiphoppas? Sure, we can sit around and brag about the greatness of our ancestors and recount their victories of the past, but when shall we rise to our own victories in the present?

How long shall we reminisce over the glory days of the Civil Rights Movement without continuing the struggles and maintaining the victories of such a movement today? How long shall we romanticize the fact that our ancestors were civilization builders without even attempting to build any such civilization for ourselves today? All of this is a disgrace to the very greatness of our elders and ancestors! By talking about our ancestor’s greatness and not continuing in the footsteps of such greatness do we not betray the very greatness that we are speaking of? It’s better to remain ignorant of your ancestor’s achievements than to know of your ancestor’s achievements and do nothing to continue their legacy! Is this not a traitor to their very ideas? A traitor to the movement? Is this not a true sell-out?

Say whatever you like about KRS ONE (good, bad or indifferent) but one thing is for sure, no amount of criticism shall ever remove or shake him from the continuation of what his ancestors and elders lived and died for. Call me whatever you like; from “a true prophet” to “a false prophet” none of it matters when compared to the real struggle of our people to gain their rightful place at the table of peace and prosperity. And who are “our” people? This begins our reflection on the “Promised Land”.

Ya know, as I see it, the world is not terrorized by religious fanaticism; it is more terrorized by religious apathy. Too many people in the world today are not taking their religion or spiritual practice seriously. Too many people have simply lost their faith. And why? Scandals? Inconsistencies? Poverty? Sickness? All of or some of these may be the cause of such mass faithlessness but from what I see, people loose their faith when they are distant from the knowledge of their God. They don’t really know if their God truly exists or not, and within such distance created by doubt people forget what God really looks and sounds like. So when God appears to them in the form of a man or woman (or other animal), the logic of the World tells them that such an appearance is just a person espousing some really good ideas. “Oh, he was a great man” or “oh, she was a great woman” but never do they assume that they were in the presence of their “lord” and “savior”. And this, I think is the main reason why many people are faithless today; they’re forever waiting on a savior that has already appeared!

Too many people are waiting for their savior to appear in the way that their oppressors have determined when a true savior will always be at odds with an oppressive government that chooses to enslave its own people and contradict its own laws. In fact, this is the reason for a savior; to free humanity from the restraints of ignorance and oppression. Too many people have been indoctrinated in the Jesus story without really knowing anything about the life of the Christ. This is why when their savior appears they don’t recognize him/her; they’re to busy looking for Jesus. Throughout most of recorded history men and women of God alike have appeared to their people with divine solutions and remedies to rid their people of their oppression. But in ignorance, the People themselves reject their OWN savior and even assist in his assassination. As Jesus pointed out; “thou killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent to thee” (Matthew 23: 37).

A savior is a person who saves or rescues. No bells, no whistles, no hype! Just a person who saves others. “Savior: a person who rescues another from harm, danger, or loss (American Heritage Dictionary). A “lord” (throughout history) is a person who has authority, control or power over others. “Lord: a man of renowned power and authority (American Heritage Dictionary). And yes, there are other definitions to “lord” however, when it comes to a spiritual teacher or “savior” this is what someone’s “lord” would be. A “lord” is your master, your chief; the one that you submit to, the one that you deeply respect. Different from “The Lord” which is usually ascribed to Jesus the Christ, “a lord” is someone that you have entrusted your life to. They lead you.

On January 15 th 1929, my “lord” and “savior” Michael King was born. He would adopt the name Martin Luther (named after the German theologian who challenged the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century which resulted in the establishment of the Protestant churches) and after attending Moore House College in Atlanta, Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania and then Boston University were he received his doctorate, Martin Luther King Jr. became Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He is my “lord” because I give him such authority over my life. He is my King! I respect him. I believe in him! He is my “savior” because the only reason I am freely doing what I am doing and freely going wherever I wish to go is because of him and his sacrifices. In all honesty, I could NOT be KRS ONE in the way that I am if it were not for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.! He saved me from White racism! He liberated me from self-destruction! He stood up for me when I could not stand up for myself. And to him I am forever grateful.

His strength has given me strength. His courage has given me courage. His faith has given me faith. His vision has given me vision. In truth, I am living HIS dream! I don’t need to look at a 2000 year old Christian history for instruction when I can simply follow the instructions of MY lord and savior Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who laid his life down in 1968 so that I could live more comfortably today in 2006. Those who have benefited by Dr. King’s sacrifices yet prefer to honor Jesus as their lord and savior will be shocked when Jesus returns to them saying, “I never knew you.” For it was Jesus who said, “This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:12-13).

mlkWe can talk all day about revolution and “what we gotta do” but if WE are not willing to exalt to sainthood those who lay down their lives for OUR freedom and comfort then we are truly lost! When are WE going to honor OUR own “lords” and “saviors?” Is this not the beginning of any effective revolution? Why put your faith in the sacrifices of foreign messiahs, saints and saviors when your own father has given HIS life for the advancement of YOUR well-being TODAY? Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. IS THE CHRIST! He is the “savior” of all who believe in him and his words. And as Hiphoppas, we must pay very close attention to the instructions of OUR savior if we are to grow and develop as a truly righteous nation ourselves.

In his famous “I Have A Dream” decree Dr. King said; “In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plain of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with Soul Force!”

This is the essence of any true Hip Hop movement. In fact, it is our belief that Hip Hop is the fulfillment of Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech. When studied closely one can see that Dr. King’s words were directed to his four children and all those of the younger generation of his time. When he said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character”, most people assumed that the only nation Dr. King could have been talking about was the United States of America. That one day IT would live up to its creed of “all men” being “created equal” with the “unalienable rights” of “life, liberty” and the “pursuit of happiness”. Indeed Dr. King was talking about America as a nation, but it is clear that he was NOT talking about the America that he was protesting against. He saw a radically different America than even the one that exists today! In fact, after Dr. King’s assassination in 1968 things got worse!

Dr. King’s vision of true racial unity and equal citizenship under the Law never fully materialized for the people of the United States. As much as Americans love to hear about integration and the vision of ONE America with many shades and colors, in real life Americans are more segregated as a nation today than ever before. Despite the enormous advances made by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Thurgood Marshall toward a totally integrated American school system (for example) today, schools that bear their names are known to be the most segregated schools in the United States!

You can limit your analysis of Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” decree to just being the protest speech of the day if you like. But if you were one of the Black or White children that his speech was referring to then Dr. King’s Word is to be understood in the realm of prophesy, prediction and instruction not just (as the average American mind remembers it) as protest words for his time. On the contrary, Dr. King was not even speaking for his time; he was speaking for OUR TIME! Most of what he said in that famous decree was said in future tense. Dr. King said; “one day right there in Alabama, little Black boys and Black girls will be able to join hands with little White boys and White girls as sisters and brothers”.

Most people because of their own prejudices refer to the phrase “as brothers and sisters” figuratively. They doubt that “little Black boys and girls” and “little White boys and girls” can actually be real “brothers and sisters!” And they doubt this because for Black children and White children to become real blood brothers and sisters this means the creation of a new race, a new sect of people. And this concept goes way beyond what most people can actually handle today. As prophesy, Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech calls a new nation into existence. And because he was speaking to the future of those youths (us) born between 1960 and 1970 (generation X) who became the pioneers of modern Hip Hop and instinctively created the alternative multicultural, multiracial, omni-faithed community that Dr. King predicted, it is safe to say that WE are the true citizens of the nation Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed about. HIP HOP IS THE PROMISED LAND!

No where else on earth is there an international culture that is home to all races, classes, ethnicities and religious beliefs other than Hip Hop. No where else on earth is a person truly judged by the “content of their character” rather than by the “color of their skin” than within Hip Hop. Dr. King said, ” One day on red hills of Georgia, sons of former slaves and sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood”. Nowhere has this happened in the world on a mainstream level except within the community of Hip Hop. As pimped-out, thugged-out and drugged-out as we appear to be, Hip Hop is NOT a racist culture. Our existence as a Hip Hop community fulfills Dr. King’s prophecy philosophically and historically. Within our Hip Hop community a person gains money, power and respect through a display of high skill in one or more of Hip Hop’s unique elements. Here, you are truly judged by the content of your character (your attributes, your abilities, your reputation, who you associate with) not by your race or ethnic origin. Hip Hop is beyond all that.

But just like the original vision of Hip Hop being about peace, love, unity and having fun was betrayed by the very people that it was designed to help, so was Dr. King’s dream also betrayed. Dr. King not only saved Black folks from years of segregation and forgave America and showed America true unconditional love but he also gave America a way out of sin and laid out the foundations for a truly civilized nation. In response, Black folks booed him, President Johnson would call him a “nigger preacher”, the N.A.A.C.P. disowned him and in the end White folks killed him! DAMN!

martinlutherkingpoint-225As a result, “The Dream” of Dr. King fell upon the ground and both Blacks and Whites trampled over it! Even those of his own “Southern Christian Leadership Conference” sought after the success of their own careers rather than continue the realization of “The Dream”. And let me say right here, that I am not be overly critical of anyone’s efforts. But after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death it seems that everything went back to the way it was. People from Dr. king’s own camp seem to have forgotten the “Dream”. Proof of this is the simple fact that many Americans especially Black Americans don’t even know who Dr. King is or what he was really all about. Is this the fault of “the White Man” or is this the fault Dr. King’s own Black People?

Why do WE allow illegal drugs to be sold on those streets named after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.? Why doesn’t every Black home have a picture or a word of Dr. King hanging upon its walls? Why have Black scholars allowed Black children to learn of Dr. King as a man who “let the dogs bite him” as opposed to teaching them the deeper meanings and benefits to not using violence as a way to solve problems? Why aren’t ALL children taught about the strengths of non-violent passive resistance? Why are we more interested in Dr. King’s sex life than we are the realization of his “Dream?”

Even further, why hasn’t Dr. King’s final campaign for the relief of poverty and the redistribution of wealth for poor Black people not followed through on after his death? When Dr. King said in his famous last decree on April 3 rd 1968 at a Masonic Temple/Church in Memphis Tennessee; “And also in the human rights revolution, if something isn’t done, and in a hurry, to bring the colored peoples of the world out of their long years of poverty, their long years of hurt and neglect, the whole world is doomed” did any one really hear him. Or is it just a coincidence that long years of “poverty” and “neglect” is also being said to be the cause of terrorism today?

Why is it that the only part of this last decree before his assassination that anyone gets to here is the very end of the decree where he says; “. I’ve been to the mountain top. And I don’t mind. Like anybody I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a People, will get to the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know that we as a People will get to the Promised Land”. Why haven’t we frequently heard the other parts of that famous decree where Dr. king also said; we are asking you not to buy Coca-Cola in Memphis. .not to buy Sealtest Milk. Tell them not to buy .Wonder Bread. .We are choosing these companies because they haven’t been fair in their hiring policies. .I call upon you to take your money out of the banks .we want a bank-in movement in Memphis”. Why we ain’t hearing these messages frequently. What if every MLK day we as a People withdrew our dollar from the companies Dr. King mentions as well as from those companies that advertise on B.E.T. and M.T.V. and on local radio stations that promote crime, lust, deceit and everything that Dr. King stood against and died for. What if we really listened to our lord and savior Martin the Christ? The true M.C.!

For if we really studied the Word of our savior we would also hear him saying to the Black Church in his same April 3 rd decree; “so often, preachers are not concerned about anything but themselves! And I’m always happy to see a relevant ministry. It’s all right to talk about ‘long white robes over yonder,’ in all of its symbolism. But ultimately people want some suits and dresses and shoes to wear down here. It’s all right to talk about ‘streets flowing with milk and honey,’ but God has commanded us to be concerned about the slums down here, and his children who can’t eat three square meals a day. It’s all right to talk about the new Jerusalem, but one day, God’s preacher must talk about the NEW York, the NEW Atlanta, the NEW Philadelphia, the New Los Angeles, the NEW Memphis Tennessee. This is what WE have to do.”

So why we ain’t doin’ it! Well, that answer also rests within that same April 3 rd 1968 decree. Dr. King, referring to Luke 10: 25-37 talked about the “Good Samaritan” and how we must “.develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness.” Pointing out how a priest and a Levite passed a beaten and robbed man on the road and how a Samaritan stopped to help, Dr. King made this point: “And so the first question that the Levite asked was, ‘if I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But then the good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: ‘if I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him? That’s the question before you tonight (referring to the sanitation workers then on strike in Memphis). If I stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to all of the hours that I usually spend in my office everyday and every week as a pastor?’ the question is not, ‘if I stop to help this man in need what will happen to me? If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?’ That’s the question!”

And that’s the answer, “dangerous unselfishness” we must develop this character again. People are “.not concerned with anything except themselves” and this is how crack cocaine can be sold on Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd and the police as well as Black leadership seem to be powerless to such blatantly illegal activity. As a Hip Hop nation we must not disgrace the blood of our ancestors and elders. As Dr. King said in Chicago; “We must make it clear, WE are going to live in dignity and honor, that WE are supposed to live there because WE are GOD’S CHILDREN and if WE are GOD’S CHILDREN he loves us (Hiphoppas) like he loves ALL of his children!”

This is Hip Hop! And either we are going to interpret Dr. King’s Word literally for OUR instruction today or we are going to interpret Dr. King’s words as historical protest poetry placed more in the realm of entertainment than in the realm of true nationalism.

Dr. Martin Luther King’s Jr.’s birthday is celebrated as a Federal holiday every third Monday in January. This year it rises on January 16 th 2006. This is an official Hip Hop holiday. Let us raise the awareness of OUR “lord” and “savior” Martin the Christ in the minds of OUR children. So, in recognition of MLK Day on January 16 th 2006.

Let us fast from spending money on things we really don’t need.
Let us tend to the needs of the poor; wherever and whoever they may be.
Let us watch any of the documentaries on Dr. King with our families.
Let us repent and stop disrespecting Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd.
Let us support all museums and community centers bearing Dr. King’s name.

Let us abstain from illegal drug use as well as alcohol and junk foods.
Let us show mercy, love, care and forgiveness toward one another.
Let us honor our parents, elders and ancestors.
Let us share ideas, food, etc with someone from a different race or ethnicity.

LET US BEGIN TO ACT LIKE THE NATION THAT DR. KING SAW IN HIS DREAM!

To be continued.

Visit The Teacha KRS-ONE and The Temple of Hip Hop at www.templeofhiphop.org

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MC Lyte is Still Lyte as a Rock Our Intv w/ a True Pioneer (Breakdowm FM)

January 6, 2006 By

There aren’’t enough words to describe the importance of one of Hip Hip premier emcees MC Lyte. Nor is there enough space in this column to lay out the long list of accomplishments attributed to her. One thing is certain, if there’s a Hip Hop Hall of Fame, MC Lyte is definitely in it.

If there’’s an official list that lays out Hip Hop’s top 20 Greatest Emcees of All-time, MC Lyte is definitely on it. When we look back and ask ourselves who made a significant difference in Hip Hop? Who changed the game? Again MC Lyte’’s name will be front and center.

We caught up with Lyte not too long ago and spoke to her about all that she has accomplished. We talked to her about the early stages of her career when she introduced herself to the world while still a young teen with a landmark song called ‘I Cram To Understand’ which dealt with the crack epidemic’.

We talked to her about her evolution from rapper to actress to social activism to book author and to business owner. For those who don’’t know, long before P-Diddy, Jay-Z or any of today’s high profile mega-rich rap stars hit the scene opened up businesses, MC Lyte had her own including the Harlem Cafe restaurant and the Duke the Moon management company with former X-Clan rapper Linque.

Today Lyte now owns a female clothing boutique in North Hollywood California. Her social activism has just seen her launch a successful Hip Hop Week at Spelman College in Atlanta where she lead nightly discussions about negative images in Hip Hop and the ways in which women can change things.

She appears regularly on TV shows including on the WB network. She’’s gotten critical acclaim for her work in the movie Civil Brand which focuses on the nation’s increasing female prison population. But most important of all MC Lyte is back on the scene with new music including popular new joints like ‘Juke Joint’ and the popular DJ Premier produced track called ‘The Wonder Years’. A quick listen lets anybody who had any doubts that after rocking the mic for almost 20 years this Grammy nominated emcee still has all her skillz in tact and will put heads to bed if you step to her on the mic..

Here’s a brief rundown of our in-depth interview… We started out by laying out the long list of MC Lyte’’s accomplishments and we spoke about her new book which is aimed at improving the lives of teens called ‘Just My Take’. Lyte noted that it was important for her to set a good example and share words of inspiration with young people who are often overlooked and expected to somehow find answers to important problems on their own.

In part 2 we spoke to Lyte about the negative images found in rap and the way women are portrayed in videos. We spoke about the driving forces behind such imagery. Lyte noted that money is at the root of all this and that many executives are out to make a quick buck, while other decision makers are simply out to keep their jobs with little or no concern about the impact they are having on the community and the rest of the world.

She explained that the exploitation is such big business that when women who wish to show another side and express their intelligence it is somehow perceived as strange and out of the ordinary. She cited the behind the scenes struggles of fellow rap artist Eve who found that her songs which talked about dancing or sex would get highlighted and pushed by the record company while more meaningful songs which focused on important issues like domestic violence would be pushed to the back.

She speculated that such decision making led to Eve focusing her attention on acting. We ended this segment of our interview by asking about her song ‘Georgy Porgy’ which is considered a Hip Hop classic and whether or not the story she raps about was true. She said it wasn’’t, but she understood how one could come to that conclusion. Lyte explained that she came up in an era where it was critical for rappers to talk about something and that she learned to be a good story teller. We spoke about how that is a lost art in today’’s world of Hip Hop.

In part 3 of our interview we spoke about Lyte’’s decision to do the song ‘Ruff Neck’ which talks about her love for the ‘Boyz in the Hood’ and interestingly enough got nominated for her Grammy while her other songs which focused on drug addiction and sexism were by passed. She noted that she wanted to do a song that gave praise to the cats on the block, but she has no desire to actually kick it with Rough Necks. She noted that she hopes that maturity and change of heart and lifestyle has come upon those individuals who she would have applied that label when she first did the song. Lyte concluded that she had no regrets in doing the song even though she understands that it may have been a bit misleading in terms of what she values.

She went on to note that her one regret was releasing battle records like the landmark song ‘10% Dis’ that were directed at other female emcees. She regretted the fact that far too often these verbal conflicts were fueled by men who thought it would be financially viable and entertaining to pit the few females out on the scene up against one another.

We also talked about the tradition of artists causing controversy by releasing battle records when they first came on the scene as a way of getting known. She acknowledged that the battle records was a way that artists like Roxanne Shante and Salt-N-Pepa got their names out there,

Lyte pointed out that up to this day many record labels seem to have a problem putting more then one female on their rosters. She explained that Sylvia Rhone who headed up her record label was the only executive to have more then one female artists. She said YoYo, Missy Elliott and herself all shared the same label, but even in that case the label was careful to spread out the time in which their albums would be released thus ensuring that only one woman would be on the scene at a time.

In Part 4 of our interview we changed focus and spoke to MC Lyte about her acting career and her social/political activism. She went into detail about the movie Civil Brand and why she felt it was important to be part of an ensemble cast that focused on the raising prison population amongst females. She wanted to help change the false perception that being criminal and going to jail was a cool thing and a rite of passage.

She also explained that Civil Brand was produced on a shoe string budget and did not have all the expensive bells and whistles that is often attached to movies. She explained that good substance was driving force behind that movie’s success and that rappers should borrow a page from that philosophy. She noted that over the years the music industry has stopped looking for talent and started focusing image which is not a good thing.

In part 5 of our interview MC Lyte talked about her desire to forma coalition of women to work together within the industry. Currently her and YoYo are working on re-launching The IBWC ‘Intelligent Black Woman’s Coalition’. She also talked about being a role model and the challenges she has when the industry seems to be rewarding and enticing people to go in the opposite direction. She also talked about her new projects including the new albums as well as her businesses and how they came into being.

Below are pts1 and pt2 of our Breakdown FM intv w/ MC Lyte

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GxyhI-QyH0

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Filed Under: Breakdown FM Interviews, Hip Hop Articles 2006, Hip Hop Pioneers Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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