Editorial: N*ggas at the Grammys (Kanye and Jay-Z)

“They say money make a n*gga act n*gger-ish”
Problem- A$AP Rocky

Paul ScottConservative talk show host , Sean O’Reilly hated Hip Hop with a passion. Yet, there he was, sitting in front of his flat screen watching the Grammys, anxiously , waiting for the rap song of the year to be announced . When the winner was finally revealed ,he jumped off his recliner like this favorite team had just won the Superbowl. No , he hadn’t become a converted Kanye West fan, he was just happy that he could announce to his millions of listeners the next morning that the best rap song was “N*ggas in Paris…”

On February 10th, the world will witness the 55th annual Grammy award show and rap royalty will be in the hizzouse . This ain’t nuthin’ unusual. However, what is news is that for the first time, a song featuring the controversial “N word” is in the running for an award, courtesy of Kanye West and Jay Z’s hit “N*ggas in Paris.” And since the song is nominated in two categories, the odds are in their favor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG_dA32oH44

Nas and KelisThe only other thing to come close to this monumental event is, perhaps, Nas and ex -wife Kelis sportin’ the N*gger T-Shirts on the Red Carpet at the 2008 show.

So the question is, if Kanye and Jay are successful, how are they gonna announce the winner and who is gonna do it ? Since the Grammy folks like to do the unexpected when it comes to announcing winners, I can’t wait to see Ted Nugent jump on stage and say “and the winner of the Rap Performance of the Year is “N*ggers in New Hampshire” …I mean “Coloreds Outta Compton”..Aw, shucks …”

Also, the fact that the awards are smack dab in the middle Black History Month makes matters worst.

If we look at the history of rap music and the Grammys, it is safe to say that the music was not always welcomed at the shows. Kinda like a thugged out version of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” Although the genre was finally recognized as something more than ghetto noise by the late 80’s, controversy was created when the show would not televise the new category, prompting a boycott by Jazzy Jeff and Will “Fresh Prince” Smith and others in 1989.

So while some will be proud of the fact that 24 years later, Hip hop can proudly boast that it has produced the first N*gga song that could possibly win a Grammy, other Black folks, like myself, look upon the possibility with utter disgust. Especially considering that more socially relevant groups such as Brand Nubian and X-Clan never won the award , even though they are considered legends in the Hip Hop arena.

Perhaps most disturbing is that by rewarding such ignorance , it helps to legitimize the usage of the work in the eyes of White Americans.

Droppin’ the N bomb in the presence of White folks was once seen as a cultural no no. I can remember the controversy that arose when “George Jefferson’s “ white neighbor “Tom Willis” called him a n*gger on national TV on the 70’s sitcom “The Jeffersons

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lji3kw7dLOQ

But thanks to Hip Hop groups, like NWA (Niggaz with Attitude) the word has , continuously, become less offensive, even though it is, technically, still taboo for white people to actually say the word.

Although, many point to Hip Hop for propagating the warped idea that the overuse of the word would take the power out of it, it was actually white comedian Lenny Bruce who suggested that back in the 60’s. It must also be remembered that John Lennon tried to universalize the term back in 1972 with the song , “Woman is the Nigger of the World.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5lMxWWK218

It is oft repeated myth that the N Word is hip because it is a term of endearment that all Black people use to express brotherly love and racial solidarity.

Uh, no we “all “don’t.

There are probably more African Americans who, vehemently, oppose the word than those who embrace it.

Jay-Z and KanyeFor instance Philadelphia social worker, Abena Afreeka , who recently started a “N*gga Recovery Program” to help those addicted to using the word, opposes it because it acts as a psychological trigger to subconscious memories of slavery which results in negative behavior. Thus creating the perfect Manchurian candidate.

Despite the false idea that we now live in a color blind society, racism still exists. And when Black rappers use the word they are like Beyonce at the last Inauguration, lip syncing what many white folks in this country wish they could say out loud.

Which probably explains the massive crossover appeal of rappers who frequently use the word like Kanye West and Jay Z’s fellow Grammy contenders former gifted college athlete turned ratchet rapper, 2 Chainz ,and former correctional officer turned “gangsta ,“ Rick Ross.

In a climate where people like Quentin Tarantino feel comfortable releasing N Word laden movies and reality shows that feature African Americans as over sexed buffoons, it is time that we flip the script.

Hip Hop artists must stand up and denounce the use of the word in the same manner that they denounce safer and non- race specific issues like animal cruelty and bullying.

We must realize that the use of the word is just a throw back to slavery and until we stop identifying ourselves as n*ggas, we will continue to be 21st century mental slaves. It is not only the word that must die but the pathological behavior that has been associated with the word courtesy of Holly ‘hood and the music industry.

Like that classic scene from the old school Spike Lee flick “School Daze” when Dap (Laurence Fishburne) tells some brothas “you’re not nigga’s,” this must be our message in 2013.

But truth is there is a trace of the racial inferiority complex ,a carry over from the enslavement of our ancestors, in all of us. And in order for our fullest self to live, that part of us must die.

So before we can change the world we must change ourselves

As Chuck D once asked on the Autobiography of Mr. Chuck, “Can you kill the n*gger in you?”

TRUTH Minista Paul Scott’s website is No Warning Shots Fired.com.. Follow on Twitter @truthminista To contact the Black By Nature/Conscious By Choice Campaign contact info@nowarningshotsfired.com or call (919) 972-8305

Why Hip Hop Won’t Tangle With the Tea Party

Why Hip Hop Won’t Tangle With the Tea Party: Call for a Militant Mind Militia

by TRUTH Minista Paul Scott

 Whatcha do get your head ready. Instead of gettin’ physically sweaty”

                         Welcome to the Terror-dome-Public Enemy

In breaking news, two of Hip Hop’s most popular artists died today. In what was the culmination of a year long beef, an altercation in the middle of 52nd street has left both men dead. No, they didn’t shoot each other. As they stood arguing in the middle of the street, they were run over by a Tea Party Express bus that was running late for a rally…

Beef. That is one word with which the Hip Hop community has become very familiar over the last decade and a half. The term has resulted in many tragedies in the black community ranging from neighborhood feuds to deaths on street corners. Black people taking it to other Black people is an everyday occurrence in ‘hoods across the country. This is what makes the Hip Hop community’s (and the black community, in general) lack of response to the current climate of hate fueled by the Tea Party, Birthers and other agents of White Supremacy especially disturbing.

For the last year, anti-Afrikan behavior has escalated from anti -Black propaganda being promoted on radio stations to black Congressmen being called racial slurs and spat upon. All over the country Right Wing racists are rallying thousands of people, while black folks are pretending not to notice.

Since Hip Hop has always prided itself as being the true voice of the black community, you would think that rap artists would be on the front line fighting against these disses to black folks.

Not so.

So far, there have been, relatively, few Hip Hoppers calling out the Right Wingers. This is not to say that “no” rap artists are speaking out on issues, as there are Hip Hop Freedom Fighters in communities across the country but most have heard about the attacks that came upon such political artists such as Professor Griff and Sister Souljah in the 80’s/90’s and don’t want the same thing to happen to them. Many of them feel that even if they did take a stand, an unorganized, apathetic black community would just leave them hanging.

I don’t know if you noticed it or not but radio stations have even stopped playing “violent” music over the last few months. Instead, radio has dumped violence for misogyny. While we must not condone black on black violence in any form, the rationale for the sudden change in radio rotation must be examined.

The industry knows that one of the by products of Hip Hop has been black male rebelliousness. This is why those in power were quick to blame incidents of racial unrest such as the Virginia Beach and  LA rebellions (riots) of the late 80’s/early 90’s on the music of groups like Public Enemy. Immediately, they went to work to replace revolutionary Hip Hop with gangsta tales of black on black homicide and chemical genocide (crack sales). During the following decade, since  “racism” became less overt, the black male displaced aggression generated by Hip Hop was used on other black males.

However, with racism/White Supremacy becoming more “in your face” over the last year, the “powers that be” don’t want to risk the fratricidal message of gangsta rap to be misinterpreted as a call to “fight the power.” They know that with a change of a couple of words a 50 Cent song becomes a Dead Prez-like call to “bang on the system.” So now, all you hear on the radio is “stripper music” dealing with girls instead of guns.

The agents of white supremacy have studied our history well. They know the success that Bunchy Carter, Fred Hampton and others had in transforming gang bangers into revolutionaries during the Black Power Era. They know that a Blood or Crip esposed to a  strong dose of political education has the potential to become Black Panther or Deacon for Defense.

They also know that even the most hardcore thug will become outraged if while flippin’ the channel between Hip Hop stations, he hears a Right Wing radio host call him a “no good bum who will never amount to anything” and his mother a “lazy welfare queen.”

And with the escalation of anti-black rhetoric from Right Wing radio hosts this scenario is possible if not probable.

In every city the Right Wingers are organizing their troops via Conservative radio stations, as media giants such as Clear Channel have begun converting their country music stations into virtual 100,000 watt Ku Klux Klan headquarters. In, North Carolina they recently turned 106.1 FM into “Rush Radio, named after their star player, the infamous Rush Limbaugh. Clear Channel realizes that all politics is local so ,although they broadcast the likes of Sean Hannity, Glen Beck and Rush Limbaugh, throughout the day , during the morning drive time, their programming becomes early morning strategy sessions. So while the nationally syndicated bigots like Limbaugh lay out the national strategy, the local hosts and their listeners politic on  how to implement it locally. All the while black folks are busy lip syncing, “How Low Can You Go” on their way to work, totally oblivious to the plans being devised on the talk radio station at the end of the dial.

In NC, the WRDU “Morning Show” insults black folks every morning with the same Right Wing racist garbage without being challenged. They have even set up a chat room where their racist listeners hold strategy sessions every morning from 5:30AM to 9AM EST because they know that most black folks are too busy laughing at J. Anthony Brown jokes on the Tom Joyner Morning Show to pay them any attention.

Twenty years ago, we would have never stood still for this disrespect without challenging it. However, nowadays we are too busy getting into Internet “beefs” on YouTube with other Afrikans that we don’t seem to have time to challenge those who espouse the tenets of white global domination and the oppression of Afrikan people.

That is why it is important that we form “Militant Mind Militias” in  ‘hoods across the country to counter the lies and attacks on black culture from the Right wing. We have to start calling in to these Right Wing racist talk shows and challenging their racist rhetoric.

Don’t get it twisted, this has nothing to do with whether one agrees with the politics of Barack Obama. This is about the anti-Afrikan white supremacist ideology being spewed by the Tea Party and the rest of their crew.

It is time that we dust off our Neely Fuller and Amos Wilson books and put the principals into action.  Some of us have read hundreds of books on African History but only use the information to prove that we are intellectually superior to our black brothers and sisters; never once challenging the Ph.D carrying members of white supremacist think tanks.

It is time that we start using Youtube, Facebook and Twitter for something more than booty calls and coonery.

It is time that we start using our Afrikan minds to challenge white supremacy ideology.

Militant Mind Militias must be started immediately using our strong Afrikan intellect as weapons.

We have nothing to lose but our mental chains.

I know that some of you are going to cop out and give 100 reasons why we should  not get into ideological debates with white folks. You really only need one reason to do so; our people need to see black intelligence in action. Isn’t that what inspired us to follow the teachings of Malcolm X, Dr. Khallid Muhammad and Dr. John Henrik Clark, that they were not afraid to challenge the best white scholars in open debate?

The ancestors are crying out for us to engage the oppressor in a battle of the minds.

Unfortunately, so far, Hip Hop and most black folks have been missing in action.

TRUTH Minista Paul Scott writes for No Warning Shots Fired.com. He can be reached at (919) 451-8283 or info@nowarningshotsfired.com

For examples of the racism being spewed every morning by 106.1 FM in North Carolina visit
http://wrdu.com/pages/morningrush.html

No Warning Shots Fired.com
(Hardcore News and Views with a Gangsta Attitude)
http://www.nowarningshotsfired.com
(919) 451-8283

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