Cleveland to L.A.

Midwest and Down South Create

The Coasts Exploit and Profit

"I'm going to TAKE this to NY"

"I'm going to TAKE this to LA"


Hip Hop as a way out.

Was Hip Hop

the first genre 

to provide social commentary

on institutional racism and

abject living conditions of

Blacks in America?


I don't think so. These

guys didn't have any

vocal acumen or musical

talent so they had to resort

to spoken word and looped

electronically created beats. 



And what is the point of

making social commentary on

institutional racism and abject

living conditions for people

living in those conditions?

THEY ALREADY KNOW ABOUT IT!


Hip Hop

glorifies the problems of

low-income Black life -

because lower class Blacks are

the only ones (in a position

to do anything about it

anyway)  who actually understand

it.

Those suburban white kids who buy

your shit?  They just posers.

They are looking for an outlet for their

"rebellious spirit".

A way to piss off their parents.

Most don't know the struggle.

They just want the trouble (Pac).

But YOU

You,  Black Man...

If you are rolling around in

your own filth,  what does

that make you?  A pig, in my

opinion. 

Nigga Nigga Nigga

Last weekend, the NFL announced that it will attempt to censor use of the word nigger on the field at its games. John Wooten, head of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, told CBS Sports that he expects the league to make it an automatic 15-yard penalty if a player says nigger on the field, and an automatic ejection for a player who does it twice. Putting aside the logistical nightmare that would come with enforcing such a ridiculous rule, we should ask ourselves what is the NFL’s motivation behind attempting to implement such a rule?

Over the last four seasons the public has become privy to the inner workings of an NFL locker room, and it has not been a pleasant introduction.  In 2012 there was the bountygate scandal involving the New Orleans Saints organization. Then, last season, the Miami Dolphins were entrenched in a scandal involving claims of excessive bullying and harassment of a player and trainers including taunting using numerous racial and sexual epithets.  And next season the NFL will most likely field its first openly gay player in Michael Sam.  So it is in the best interest of the league to at least make an attempt to protect its players and staff from a hostile work environment.  

The N-Word is a different story though.  It has become the preferred familiar pronoun for young African-American men. It is used as frequently as white people use the word “dude”, usually with no difference in meaning.  It is common vernacular not only on NFL fields but in Black society at large. But more importantly, it is OUR word.  It is one thing that Black people have in America that White people have not been able to appropriate.  Some have said that attempts to ban the word are an underhanded way of White America saying “If I can’t have it, neither can you”.

Personally, I like the term “Negro”.  It sounds powerful to me.  The ending “gro” helps to convey a sense of improvement and advancement. One’s head instinctively raises up when they say the word. (Try it: Negro.). What other term describes the descendants of North American slaves?  We are no longer Africans.  That ship sailed a long time ago, with us on it.  And to say we are Black fails to make a distinction between us and our cousins in other Western nations who, while victims of forced diaspora, never were treated as abdly as American Blacks.  Neither have those other nations’ Black populations gone on to become one of the strongest, most resourceful, and honestly, the most envied and imitated groups in the history of the world. American Negroes are pioneers in music, fashion, sports, business. We should have the right to refer to ourselves by any name we choose, and also to deny those who separated us from our ancestral homeland, culture, and language the right to use it.  

But regardless of what we call ourselves, the crimes of the past are still with us.  Softer terms like Black or ennobling terms like African-American have served to separate us from that past. Most of us were all too happy to forget, as if we are not Medgar Evers and our children are not George Stinney.  But we are. That damage will always be there, no matter how many times you change your name.  A rose by any other name is still a rose.  And if you have dark skin in America, and your ancestors were slaves, then YOU are a NIGGER, Nigga.

College Dropout Kanye West Now Regrets Decision

  From our partners, at ejbelton.com

 

“I lost the money because I did not have the knowledge of how to do it the right way.”

These words from America’s favorite College Dropout, Kanye West.  Do you think he wishes he had finished college now?  

West has made millions, true.  But now that he has arrived, he is looking to make the next step – the one that will set up his children and his children’s children with not just cash he earned but, also, with a legacy and an empire that they can carry on and continue to build.  The once conscious rapper who expounded the struggle of working in the mall and admitted his own insecurities of performing without fresh gear is finding that it is not as easy to win as it used to be.  He has reached a glass ceiling in his career.  And what is the key to breaking through a glass ceiling?  Knowledge!

Kanye admits that he should of stayed in college. During a 2005 visit to Santa Monica (CA) High School West said

"It is true you can be successful without [college], but this is a hard world, a real world, and you want every advantage you can have. I would suggest to people to do all that you can. When … I wasn't successful and Columbia said, 'We'll call you,' I had to go back and work a telemarketing job, go back to the real world, and that's how life is. Life is hard. Take advantage of your opportunities."

It wouldn’t be until 2009  that West would find out exactly how hard this world could be.  He tried to start his own clothing line, investing, according to him, $13 million dollars of his own money over several years.  But the designs were not appealing enough to attract major retailer attention.  Who would want such things as fur backpacks?  Or leather jogging pants?  Maybe a few more years in art school would have given Kanye a little more insight into market trends. 

Or maybe it was his (lack of) business savvy costing him respect from major designers.  Louis Vuitton wouldn’t find time to spend with Kanye last month resulting in him calling for a boycott of the designer until after the holidays.  It didn't work - most of Vutton's upper-tier clients (you know, the ones who matter) had never heard of West or his imposed embargo.   So, besides his lack of good ideas, Kanye’s mouth has kept him separated from his dream.  College  would have helped him learn how to talk to business people in a way that would make him more appealing as a person.  Kanye’s arrogance is a direct consequence of thinking that he knows everything.  Any college graduate will attest to the fact that the more they learn, the more they realize they do not know.  
 

Ego is an amazing thing.  Four years of studying liberal arts would have exposed Kanye to the fact that the world is bigger than just entertainers. New York City is full of wealthy people.  Not just famous people, but wealthy people.  REAL wealthy people.  Bernie Maddoff rips em off - type wealthy people.  I dare Kanye West, or any other “celebrity” to take a walk through downtown NYC during business hours and see how much attention they get.  You will quickly find out: selling out arenas does not make you bigger than life.  Other people with money are focusing on keeping it and on getting more; they are not impressed with the fact that you spent three months in Paris.  

Kanye has failed in all of his fashion ventures thus far. And I don't think he knows how to deal with that failure. I think he is angry about it. Angry because he has had to resort to begging Nike and Prada and Vutton to invest in him.  Whereas if he had the correct business and social acumen people would be calling him.  Kanye has launched a few independent clothing lines: Pastelle launched in 2006, but then shut down in 2009 without producing a single item. And there was Kanye West, or DW depending on who you ask, a line which he showed in Paris – twice. Most recently is DONDA, a vague “creative agnecy” named after his late mother with goals beyond fashion.  But he is having trouble finding financial backers.  A business degree, or even a few classes could have helped Kanye better outline his vision and mission in a way major financiers could understand.  

The lesson for all young people contemplating college: No matter how much money you make, there will always be a next level.  And when you are ready to go there, you will need skills and knowledge. 

But all is not lost for Kanye, or anyone else who skipped that degree.  We have a World Wide Web of free information; go ahead, open a new tab and learn as much as you can.  Or, if you have the opportunity, go back to school and finish up!

Real wealth does not come overnight.  Sometimes it takes generations.  You got to keep building. And Kanye, if you read this, don't be angry. It's like your mentor Jay Z said: 
"You got to learn to live with regrets”.