A Note to the Hip-Hop World

Gentlemen,

If you would have asked me even two weeks ago as to whether I would be addressing a note to the Hip-Hop community, I would have said the odds were slim. Although I have dated an occasional sista, I really would be most honest in saying that I do not have much familiarity with your community. Yeah, from time-to-time I’ve been called a Mac Daddy because I am smooth, and recently I was called "rough," which I understand is a good thing meaning something like I have a plan that I am not going to deviate from. But the best way to think of me is as a Frank Sinatra kind of guy.

One sista I know who has five brothers (one is in jail, one is a homeless druggie and one is dead) once told me--and she wasn’t trying to be facetious--that she thought the early influence for the first gangstas was cowboy and Indian movies. You see, LBJ’s Great Society pushed the black fathers out of the house, and those first gangstas (although I don’t think they were called that at the time) used TV and cowboy and Indian movies as the only substitute. I watched cowboy and Indian movies growing up, but I had a father who came home from work every night, so I got a taste of what the real world was about; maybe the first gangstas only got the cowboy and Indian movies. I don’t really know, but judging from the shootings those of us outside the Hip-Hop community hear about, you guys sure sound like a bunch of cowboys and Indians, and you do call your pals your "posse."

I do know you guys appear to be influenced very easily. I once bought a rap CD.  I forget its name, but I remember it was very popular at the time.  What I most noted about the CD, though, was that a bunch of the lyrics were just stolen from dialogue in the movie Goodfellas. Another time, I was watching Snoop Dogg and his posse on a TV show discuss the pimping life when one of them said, "Anybody can control a woman’s body, but the key is to control her mind." Interesting concept, to say the least, but I also happen to know that this line was stolen right out of the mouth of Goldie.

So it is this easy way you are influenced that is prompting me to write this note. You see, I am a curious guy, and I monitor a lot of things, one of which is a very interesting web site called blackelectorate.com. I must say I am impressed with the work that editor and publisher Cedric Muhammad puts out, and he appears to be quite an enterprising man. I have learned a lot from his daily emails and was even quite shocked to learn that Reverend Louis Farrakhan and all of Islam might be hardcore gold bugs. With regard to this Muhammad writes: "In February of 1998, Minister Louis Farrakhan, carrying the mantle of his teacher, raised the idea and possibility of an Islamic gold standard--whereby all of the nations of the Islamic world would tie their currencies together in a monetary union establishing one currency backed by gold . . . Minister Farrakhan has been the most prominent and consistent advocate in the Muslim world for a return to a stable unit of account. The Minister has periodically, publicly and very beautifully articulated the benefits of a gold standard that would accrue to the entire world, through either the return to such by the United States of America or through the establishment of a gold-backed currency in the Muslim world. I have one videotape of a younger Minister Farrakhan doing so, relative to the United States Of America, in 1979!"

But, back to my reasons for my note to you. You see, a recent daily email from blackelectorate.com was a message from Reverend Al Sharpton to the Hip-Hop community. He really tore into you guys: "I went to a hip-hop conference in New York, and one of the main topics of discussion was a fight for the right to use bitch and ho in lyrics . . . With all the stuff going on in this world, all they’re worried about is being able to call a woman out of her name?! That’s their cause?" Reverend Sharpton wrote.

Now I must admit, we here at STR don’t find an opportunity to use the words bitch and ho very often, but I have assigned myself the task of the tough defenses. Last month it was Michael Jackson. This month it is you. Basically guys, Reverend Al is a politician, and we here at STR know that a politician will step on anybody’s rights if he thinks it will allow him to get ahead. Don’t get conned by Reverend Al’s concern about the words bitch and ho. Reverend Al is concerned with one thing: an expansion of his power base. It is outrageous for a politician to attempt a cheap suffocation of free speech for a couple of extra votes.

And I have taken a look at some of your lyrics.  Here’s Sporty Thievz and, you know, I can see why you may need to use the words bitch and ho to keep the atmosphere just right:

Chorus 2x

(Female Singing)
Hey there, Mac Daddy, if you want me badly
To hop in your caddy and groooove
You just have to spend, I'll f*ck you and your friend
Or do whatever you choooose, nowww

(Sporty Thievz)
Hey miss sugar mama, we ain't spendin' nada
you gotta suck the dick (get the dick, get the dick, get the dick)
you think you slick, you stupid bitch
Real Macks don't trick (I thought you knew, I thought you knew)

But Sharpton isn’t done with you guys after his attack on your freedom of speech.  He goes on to write, "These rappers and ‘hip-hop impresarios’ weren't worried about unemployment or the financial conditions of those who support their records and made them stars. They weren't worried about the education system that keeps too many of their fans and families in poverty. They weren't worried about voting rights. They didn't have any conferences on any of that. There wasn't one seminar entitled ‘Economic Empowerment’ or ‘Jobs for the 21st Century.’"

Let me tell you guys something: most of us here at STR aren’t rappers.  As a matter of fact, there may not be any rappers here at STR at all, but none of us are worried, the way Reverend Al wants you to be worried, about unemployment, the educational system or poverty, either.

You see, and you probably already know this, Reverend Al is just continuing to try to work an angle on getting more votes.

There’s nothing you can do about unemployment and financial conditions with his plan. The problems are caused by minimum wage laws and the Federal Reserve's manipulation of the money supply. If you are really curious about how the unemployment scam and the financial conditions scam goes on, just cruise by this site from time to time; we are always writing about it.

As for the education system, we know just like you guys that it is a total scam and should just be junked. We have some very interesting ideas here about private education, though. It’s another reason to cruise by regularly.

And as for voting rights, just like you, we also know that’s a scam; most of us here don’t vote, either.

Reverend Sharpton goes on, "The hip-hop generation will not have a real legacy until it is able to move from flash and the bling-bling into establishing a vision for the future of America and following through." This is Reverend Al trying to establish a power base again. Lots of musicians have legacies without a "vision of the future." Elvis "You ain’t nothing but a hound dog" Presley and Frank "Fly me to the moon" Sinatra come to mind. So your music has to flow wherever you want it to flow. If you want it to reflect current conditions and attitudes in the hood, then sadly I think you will be continuing to rap about bitches and hos. It’s your choice, though I have to tell ya that you just reflecting in your lyrics about what's goin' on in the hood is an education and a real eye opener for most of us outside the hood. It sure helps us understand how LBJ’s Great Society plan turned out.

But if you want to take a different perspective, say, like thoughts and ideas about freedom and hope and put them in your music, that’s okay also. But you are going to have to educate yourself and take a look at all options that might point towards freedom and hope. It is a lot of work. You are going to have to be convinced yourself that it’s worth it. You are going to have to look in lots of different places.

I’m glad you found STR.  Though I think it can be an important source in your investigation, I hope you come back regularly. But it is best you do most investigating on your own. I’m going to give you just one name, though, because it would be a tragedy if in your investigation you missed his work, so make sure you check out Murray Rothbard. He’s the man.

As for Ringmaster Al, the only thing that would disappoint me is if you let him lead you around by the nose. Now that would be a real circus.

Peace,

Jack Rain

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