One of the most intriguing and insightful individuals we ever sat down with is former Gang Intelligence Coordinator for the Utah police department, Sgt Ron Stallworth. Currently teaching, he is considered in law enforcement circles to be the foremost expert on what many have dubbed gangsta rap.
Yes, we know over the years there’s been a lot of attention given to ‘Hip Hop cops’ like Derrick Parker and the huge dossiers he and others had amassed on rappers, but Stallworth is the original. He’s penned several books on the gangsta rap, which up until recently were only available for law enforcement. Each one of the 4 books I have easily surpass the information and scholarship that we would see with current Hip Hop books on the market.
Stallworth explained that as a peace officer, writing and paying attention to detail is an important part of the job. Overlooking details and cutting corners could be the difference between life and death in the field, hence, his writings and books were and do reflect that..
Stallworth in his writings attacked the subject of gangsta rap and Hip Hop with a couple of thoughts in mind. First, he felt it was crucial to connect the historical dots. He was well aware that Hip Hop and Gangsta Rap did not occur in a political or social vacuum. He’s quite clear in noting that Black music expression is connected to struggle and key movements. he details these movements in his writings and explains how and why they are connected Hip Hop.
Sgt Ron Stalworth
Stallworth covers everything from the Black Panthers to the Black Liberation Army, to the Nation of Islam to the Five Percenters to the Black Arts Movement and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. These details aren’t so much a rap sheet where he starts identifying particular folks. Instead he details such facets like the way the oral traditions are similar and contrasted with key orators in the Panthers vs popular gangsta rappers of the early 90s. He in great detail, explains how the agendas and ideology of past political and social movements manifest themselves in so-called gangsta rap.
Stallworth wanted to make sure those reading his work would have a better understanding who were was saying what and how it really matched up in real life. Stallworth would spend hours listening to artists, transcribing their lyrics and cross referencing their words with real life. He noted that surprisingly lots of artists would literally brag about their exploits, gang affiliations etc.. he noted that many more were telling tall tales or being mouth pieces for neighborhood shot callers. Over the years Stallworth got good at knowing who was real and who was fake. He also got good at breaking down the lingo, double speak and street codes which unearth lots of information and insight.
Sgt Ron Stallworth holding KKK Membership card
In our round table interview we cover a lot of this.. But that’s only the beginning of Stallworth’s claim to fame. prior to getting into studying gangsta rap, Stallworth had infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan.It wasn’t just any KKK chapter. It was one that was stationed in the military bases in Colorado where they were actively recruiting. Stallworth as a brown skin Black man managed to not only infiltrate the chapter, but was offered an opportunity to be chapter leader. Yes, you read that right, its something out of a Dave Chappelle skit, 20 years before Chappelle showed up on the scene.. Stallworth carries a signed membership card from Klan leader David Duke who had no idea that he had been infiltrated..
We start off our round table discussion by talking about Stallworth investigation of the KKK and talk about the current rise of hate groups. During our discussion, he explained that he was going back to Colorado to speak to officers and fill in some key gaps of what he calls the ‘Lost Chapters‘. Stallworth explains that his boss at the time wanted the files on that case to be destroyed. Stallworth kept them and has no regrets considering the significance.
Enjoy this interview w/ Ron that recently aired on Free Speech Tv.. He gives us a lot of game to soak up..
The other day we sat down with two scholar activists, Mark Gonzales and Professor Samy Alim to talk about the lecture/performance series they are doing at Standford University called Occupy the Art..
During last night’s debate President Barack Obama delivered what many considered a death-blow when he and Mitt Romney exchanged barbs about Libya. Romney called into question Obama’s judgement or lacktherof around the securing of the Embassy which came under attack on September 11th resulting in the death of 4 Americans including ambassador 
In all likelihood President Obama will be re-elected. Folks will see him being in the White House as something far better then the madness we see going within the GOP. With that being said, Obama being put into power comes with a responsibility ALL of us have. We can start with making sure he does something to end this Ethnic cleansing of Black folks in Libya and in other parts of Africa. We must strive to always keep a sense of our humanity and recognize the humanity in others, especially those who are being severely oppressed.
During last night’s debate President Barack Obama delivered what many considered a death-blow when he and Mitt Romney exchanged barbs about Libya. Romney called into question Obama’s judgement or lacktherof around the securing of the Embassy which came under attack on September 11th resulting in the death of 4 Americans including ambassador Christopher Stevens.
Loving this new song from Jasiri X out of Pittsburgh, Invincible of Detroit and Grammy award winner and former political candidate Rhymefest .
We recently sat down with Toki Wright of the Rhymesayers collective and Nick Muhammad who was one of the main driving forces behind this project. They explained it was important to protect the voting process. Toki noted that Minnesota for years has had one of the strongest and most progressive voting process.
The last joint to check out is one from Bambu and Rocky Rivera called Rent Money..Definitely feeling the theme of this song which talks about poverty and the types of steps all of us will have to take to once and for all dead a situation where one out of seven are living below the poverty line..The song is especially on point when you consider both Presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Barack Obama have focused on the Middle Class and have avoided talking about poverty.. props to Bam and Rocky for the jam.
Author, activist, scholar and former Green Party presidential candidate, professor 
About a year or so ago Columbia Records got wind of 
As for Columbia records.. a few things to keep in mind.. First just because an artist has 4 million youtube hits doesn’t mean they’re gonna sell 4 million records. For starters youtube numbers can be gamed and you may also have a significant amount of people watching a video repeatedly. I know I watched that Gucci Gucci video at least 654 times, but have no intention of buying the record or album..
The city of Oakland, has long been a place where people ‘steady grind‘..By that I mean, folks have long hustled goods and services on the city streets to ilk out a living. Rather than sell drugs or turn to prostitution, many have hustled their own music, homemade DVDs, offered up hair breading services, car washes and car repair and most recently food. For most, the extra income has allowed folks to just barely get by.
In recent years the city of Oakland has undergone a lot of changes, among them a significant amount of gentrification. Newer more affluent residents have come to Oakland and have made moves to push out long time street vendors and hawkers. They been doing this by going to city council demanding that folks get expensive permits and for those selling food, purchase expensive equipment.