The Mathematics of HipHop in the Blaq Community

Math has always been my worst subject, I never have been one to take kindly to people telling me that there is only one answer to any question. Moreover, I remember when my fifth grade math teacher Mrs. Williams told me that I had to “show my work” to explain how to get to an answer; At the time I didn’t understand it, however as I grew older, I started to understand that the only way to truly find an answer is to go through the process that it took to arrive to the conclusion. Upon hearing so many recent arguments attacking and blaming Hip Hop for the despicable behavior of a small percentage of individuals within the African American community, I feel obligated to point out a few key things for those that exist outside of the Hip Hop culture to consider. First of all, misogyny, sexism and black female degradation existed long before the conception of Hip Hop. From James Brown, Miles Davis, David Ruffin’s etc abusive behavior toward their wives and girlfriends, to the Black Panthers historically sexist banter that caused feminist such as Angela Davis to separate themselves in later years, to the patriarch cal institutions that forced colleges such as Spellman to be conceived. Black male sexism has been and continues to be an issue in our society. This begs the question, Why attack Hip Hop? The answer is simple. Hip Hop is the single most overt form of art that has ever existed on the planet earth. It is the manipulation of words to convey a point. The thing that separates Hip Hop artist from other poets is the fact that this particular genre was birthed in the slums of Black America and has never left. This is an important, all too often, looked over piece of this particular equation. The fact that Hip Hop was conceived in the ghetto, raised in the ghetto, and has never left the ghetto causes it to be as crass, raw and abrasive as the ghetto itself. The word “Bitch” doesn’t sound good melodically spoken, hence Ruffin and Brown focused on other things when they were singing and saved the female abuse for personal endeavors. Miles Davis was never accused of making music that degrades women, however he also did on a consistent basis within his everyday dealings with so-called love interests. 
Violence is historically as large a part of any black ghetto in America as the liquor store on the corner (which is in direct relationship to the violence… Don’t get me started on that tangent though) just as Black, self-destructive, behavior is as old as African’s selling other African’s to European terrorists for purposes of slavery in the states over 600 years ago. I say this to detail that, nothing documented in the verses of your favorite rapper is something that isn’t part of a bigger picture. From the use of the word Nigger, to the Use of the word Bitch, to the documented killings of brothers and sisters, we’ve seen it all before. We just haven’t heard it as vividly put as your favorite rapper does. What does all this mean? You can ask your neighborhood rapper to clean up his/her lyrics, but until we clean up his/her neighborhood, the problem will still exist. A good example of this is P. Diddy and Rusell Simmons push last election to engage the Hip Hop Generation to “Vote or Die”. This valiant effort raised quite a stir amongst CNN NBC and FOX, but come Election Day, the Hip Hop Generation didn’t come out to vote in any more force than they always do. This is because it is vastly perceived amongst this generation that politics have rarely positively changed their environment. Henceforth, even power players such as Diddy and Simmons attempts at becoming outwardly political still didn’t engage the generation because the same environment that caused the complacency still existed. 
Hip Hop in many cases is a mirror of our tormented community. A reasonable person wouldn’t blame a mirror for their imperfections, so I ask, why is it ok to blame the art and artists of that community for painting an accurate picture? The good thing is that, what needs to happen to cure these societal ills that plague us is simple. DeBois in his classic sociologic critique entitled “The Souls of Black Folk” documented it over 100 years ago and it still holds true to this day because it hasn’t ever been fully implemented. Those of us in our community that are fortunate enough to have an education, money, connections etc (Talented Tenth); need to invest that capital back into those that don’t. In short, strategically give back to the ghetto. This can be done by mentoring, teaching in a public school, being a positive visible force in a neighborhood, going to bat for one another when it calls, watching over the single mother, employing our own… In short THE SAME THINGS THAT EVERYBODY ELSE THAT IS SUCCESSFUL IN AMERICA DOES! This is what the Panthers did in the 60’s and 70’s. The elders need to stop being afraid of the youth that, in many instances, they failed to raise. The youth need to listen to the elders that take the time to actually enlighten. Black pastors need to use the old model of the Black Church to teach LIBERATION THEOLOGY as opposed to these fiscally and morally conservative pastors whom have single mothers in the hood tithe 10% of a welfare check while they drive their Benz’s to revivals and republican fundraisers. We need to develop a moral compass that doesn’t transcend societal implecations. Most importantly, we need to realize that we are in a similar situation to the one that we’ve been for years. The struggle is still prevalent, brothers are still getting murdered, we are still in chains in prisons, drugs still ravage our communities, women are still raising children by themselves, sisters are still being disrespected by brothers, our men don’t know how to be men because no man was around to teach them etc… The saga continues. Oh yeah, and the white man still isn’t all too fond of us. He’s just calmed down a bit because the institutions that he’s put in place are still sustaining him and contributing to the aforementioned plight of our village. All of these sociological and cultural critiques that I just made, can be heard in your average Hip Hop records. I hope that I am not accused by someone that doesn’t understand the black experience of being to overt or blatant in my assertions: I too hope that Hip Hop music doesn’t continue to be a scapegoat for its overt and blatant critiques of the black experience. The one thing that I feel separates this piece that you have been so kind to read and the average Hip Hop song (Other than proper English) is the fact that not only have I provided answers to our (Black) collective problems, but I too have shown the work that lead up to the answer. Thanks Mrs. Williams. I’m understanding the mathematics a bit more clearly now. 

Perhaps I was Wrong about a Blaq President

I never in a bazillion years thought that we would see a black president of the US!!! I was very vocal about this viewpoint and questioned Obama on numerous occasions on his “audacity of hope”… (Pun Intended) I dismissed people that told me that this was possible as blissfully ignorant and overly optimistic… THIS IS MY ADMISSION, I WAS WRONG!!! Wheeeeew… That was tough… Now that I’ve got that out of the way, I think that it is important for me to voice to you some of the reasons why I thought (Think) the way that I did (do). 
Anyone that has a remote knowledge of the history (our)story of this country understands that we (blk) people have been vastly marginalized. So much so that for many of years the ceiling wasn’t even glass, it was as apparent as that of the Sistine Chapel. Tremendous strides have been made since our country’s conception from the civil rights generation’s gains socially, to the black power generation’s gains consciously, to the hip hop generations gains financially; however the ceiling was all too apparent and to a great extent still is. Now, far be it for me to drop the cake in the middle of the party, but I can’t help but look at certain occurrences this election season with a certain level of cynicism. First off is the whole Sarah Palin phenomenon… Let’s be real here… Someone really had to do their research to find a VP nominee dumber than Quayle. I mean WOW!!! My mother always told me that African Americans needed to be twice as good to be considered equal, well if the math holds true on the other end, Whites need to be twice as dumb to be considered equal to blacks: Enter Sarah Palin. We’re talking about someone that didn’t know that Africa was a continent. This is a woman that didn’t (And still doesn’t) know what a vice president does... (Sidenote: If you apply for a job at McDonalds and don’t know what a fry-man does, YOU DON’T GET THE JOB!!! *Trust me, I’ve tried*, This is a woman that didn’t understand the VP’s role in the senate… Hell, this is a woman that didn’t know who was in NAFTA (The NORTH AMERICAN free trade agreement) *HINT* Think North America. Yet somehow, she managed to make it into the running for the second highest office in the land. Meanwhile on the twice as good side of things, Obama whom finished at the top of his Harvard Law class and has a genius level IQ is being scrutinized for “lack of experience”. Now, I know that Obama and Biden won, but my point in illustrating this is to say… OF COURSE THEY WON!!!! With all of the above factors being quantified, anything less than a victory would be ludicrous. Only in the US could someone finish third from last in his military class, get captured by the other side in a war, be well into retirement age, and still be considered formidable competition for someone as intellectually equipped as Obama. On one hand I am proud of my country for making the right decision, on the other hand, I think to myself… “What other decision was there?” This is an incredible and historic time that we are in, but this is a time that proves how superior African Americans need to be to beguile the status quo. I assert that this election doesn’t make blacks equal in this country, that is still going to take years of honest antidotal paperwork and policy to counteract the years of paperwork and policy that have been used to oppress blacks. What this election does reaffirm is that when faced with an inept opponent, it is possible for blacks to win over the popular vote. This is a start, this article isn’t meant in any way to belittle or demean the incredible accomplishments of President Obama, but less we forget Jesse Jackson, Angela Davis, Shirley Chisholm, and the countless other African Americans that were lambs of sacrifice to make this day possible. Let’s continue to work together as agents of positive and progressive change. I truly believe that that starts with arming ourselves with the knowledge that there is still much work that needs to be done. Moreover, African American’s need not allow this great accomplishment to trap us in a state of euphoric complacency. If there is anything to take from this historic time it is that we African American’s need to work twice as hard to continue to make American HIStory. 

The Myth of the Successful Single Blaq Woman

It is always funny to me to hear “successful” black women talk about how they can’t find a “good” black man. For one, I think it is very interesting how some women define success; I also think that it’s strange that so many “successful” women fail to abide by the gender-roles that make a traditional family tick. Before readers jump down my throat about putting women in a “gender role box”, I submit that gender-roles do no such thing, however the stigma of gender roles is what is truly offensive because the role of the women traditionally has been looked down upon by our matriarchal society. The way that we define success often dictates the attitude of the person carrying that “successful” title. For years financial success has been assumed as a male trait as has working a nine to five, and being the breadwinner of a household. Hence, these being the ways that we have defined success and have related these characteristics almost exclusively to males, women often times assume the “male role” in other situations as well which leaves no room for a male in the relationship. The accomplishments of women in this country have been incredibly abundant, in my opinion rivaled only by those of African Americans. When one puts these two factors together (African American and Woman) the accomplishments are all the more awe inspiring. Black men however have faced a slightly different plight in this country and although we have no shortage of accomplishments and accolades under our collective belt, we are still faced with a plight that is distinctly troubling and obstacles that are distinctly ours. There is the prison system that disproportionally recruits black men for industrial purposes and has been doing so since the late 30’s. There is the stigma of fear that has been perpetuated by caricatures from the minstrel era on through modern times, which often shuts the doors to job and educational opportunities. The list goes on. I say these things, not as excuses for under-performing African American men, but instead to document some of the things preventing us from reaching our full potential. Black women are faced with their fair share of stereotypes as well, but none are as blatant a hindrance as those that plague black men. That having been said, I think that it is time that we (black women and men) redefine our collective idea of what success is. This is not saying that women should lower their standards and tough it out with any coon that shucks and jives his way into their lives, but perhaps it’s time to reevaluate their role as it pertains to a relationship and not confuse it with their role as it pertains to the office. Being a successful black man to me means more than my education, means more than my car, my house, and my job. A great part of it is defined by the quality of my relationship with my significant other and the quality of the family that will one day follow. It would be great to be the breadwinner in all of my relationships as men, that’s what we’re taught we’re supposed to be, but if not, I would like to think that the role of my significant other wouldn’t be dictated by it. How successful can a woman really be if she lets the male centric definition of success hinder her to the point that she is balling and single? Another part of success is happiness and it is hard to be happy when you’re alone.