This has been a good week for music, especially on the video tip as we’ve had three stellar offerings to raise your awareness and peak your conscience. Two of the videos deal directly with police brutality and I’m hoping folks will pay close attention, being that much that is shown happened over the past couple of years… As we peep these vids we should all be asking ourselves whats going on? How will folks be brought to justice and what will we do as individuals or a collective body of people..
The third video comes from Lupe Fiasco who gives us serious food for thought by laying out an array of movies many of us came up on and questions what sort of impact they may have had on the past few generations…
First up is a song called ‘Film The Police‘. It’s a remake of the NWA classic ‘Fuck Tha Police’ and features great performances from B-Dolan who steps in for Ice Cube, Toki Wright who fills in for MC Ren and Jasiri X who fills in for Eazy E..Sage Francis kicks things off as the judge ala Dr Dre.. He does a great job, but I gotta be honest it would’ve been nice to see what lyrics he would’ve spit on this song..Big shout out to producer Buddy Peace who actually reconstructed the beat..
The video has struck a chord with lots of folks as it chronicles a lot of violence we’ve seen directed at peaceful occupy protests. within a day of its release its garnered well over 40k views. These guys do a great job at connecting the dots to what has gone down in the Occupy Movement which all are a part of and what has gone on for way too long in communities of color…
The call to Film the Police doesn’t have a s strong a ring as fuck the police, but it speaks to the importance of us documenting and giving voice to our own realities especially at a day and time where police departments are fighting to make filming them illegal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hyT1buoyTnY
Next up is an incredible video from San Francisco rapper Metro P and Oakland rapper Mistah Fab. Their new song Price Tag hammers home the plight many in the Bay Area have been dealing with around the issue of police terrorism and the literal price tag on people’s heads.
They start off by bringing to light the Oscar Grant situation. They also highlight footage from the scandal that rocked San Francisco where police were found to have placed drugs and lied on the reports of 56 different felony cases …Metro P drops gems about the long struggle we as Black folks have had with the police as he takes us back to the March on Washington up to modern day situations. Mistah Fab’s lyrics focus on the point that far too many of us have started hating on each other vs turning that aggression toward the police..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TABatCtJCqg
On a related tip folks, we can’t really talk about police terror in SF without making mention of the drama surrounding Fly Benzo who has been kicking up a lot of dust by constantly stepping to SFPD.. His video ‘War on Terror‘ speaks to the issue and highlights the fact that he’s looking at 4 years for a trump up charges which all stem from him speaking out on police brutality in his native Hunters Point.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1H8Q2DENr0
Our last featured video comes from Lupe Fiasco..This brother has been a roll lately and sadly is seriously underrated. He’s been speaking up on key issues and trying to make sure his music reflects the political sentiment many are feeling..
His newest offering is to a song called Double Burger w/ Cheese where he goes in the power of images and how they may have impacted several generations of Black Youth.. The video starts off by showing footage from the 1965 Watts Riots and then juxtaposes it with an array of videos and images from movies in the early to mid 90s that focus both on South Central LA and the crack era..
We see footage from everything like; Juice, Menace II Society, Boyz N The Hood, New Jersey Drive, Poetic Justice, Dead Presidents, South Central, Sugar Hill, New Jack City, Paid In Full,& Colors. Although many of the movies shown have strong anti-gang messages, many of us have come to romanticize and glorify the gang drama and trauma shown in them..
Many who have seen the video are really appreciating where Lupe is coming from. Each line he spits hits the issue hard. Sadly there are many who see the video montage and they fondly look back at the movies sans the politics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMQwl8o_kmw&feature=youtu.be
Return to Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner
The ghetto is the worst of what contemporary society has to offer and the only thing positive about any of it is the ability to leave and start over somewhere else.
The rest is irrelevant
None of this is addressing any “key issues”. It’s just more pointless abused ghetto clutter confusing young minds by promoting a self-defeating point of focus. All these rappers are babbling morons that could truly care less about any of the crap they’re rapping about. I love how the word “serious” is applied to idiots like “Lupe Fiasco” , Sage Francis and Mistah Fab. Goes to show how “serious” any of this bullshit really is.