The Death of Black Radio with Bob Law & Vy " Mama I wanna Sing " Higgensen

Why Doesn’t Hip Hop Respect Its Elders?

Contributor Lauren Carter

Most cultures hold their elders in high regard. It’s safe to say that hip hop in its current form is not one of them.

In today’s hip hop landscape, pioneers are typically dismissed and marginalized by the mainstream, trotted out once a year during VH1’s “Hip Hop Honors” and then conveniently forgotten.

There is a sense that aging rap artists need to “move out of the way” or “stay in their lane” to make way for new artists, as if classic rappers could be any further out of the way than they already are and new artists are actually worth getting out of the way for.

One has to wonder why rock artists are revered well into old age while their rap counterparts are generally ignored and then branded “angry and bitter” when they object to being tossed aside like yesterday’s garbage.

Rockers aren’t told to move aside and make way for the next generation. They’re regarded with a level of respect and awe that often borders on hero worship, because listeners understand that people age and styles change, but quality music is timeless.

It’s well known that The Rolling Stones still sell out stadiums, acts such as Steve Miller Band, Allman Brothers Band and Fleetwood Mac can still pack arenas and amphitheaters, and their shows attract multiple generations of fans — something I can attest to personally after seeing these groups several times. Classic rock and adult contemporary stations keep the catalogues of “old” rockers in heavy rotation, and artists like Bob Dylan and Tom Petty still land on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.

The nationally televised 12-12-12 fundraising concert for Hurricane Sandy victims proved yet again that rock artists with AARP cards remain relevant; the lineup was stacked with classic acts like Eric Clapton, Billy Joel, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, The Who and Paul McCartney.

No, hip hop and rock are not the same, and there’s no attempt here to equate the two. Although they’re both young genres with roots in rebellion and angst, they’re also different styles of music that appeal to fan bases of different sizes. Most rap artists will never claim the number or breadth of fans that major rock acts like the Rolling Stones do. But a rock-to-rap comparison isn’t exactly to “apples and oranges” either. While the size and makeup of rock and rap fan bases differ, it stands to reason that if quality artists in one genre can still garner radio play, media coverage and respect well into old age, then quality artists in another genre should receive similar treatment.

And yet classic rap artists are typically treated like they don’t exist. There are few, if any, terrestrial classic hip hop stations; the most we can get for throwback music in Boston, for example, is a half hour of hits from the ‘90s and early 2000s at lunchtime, or whatever might play on college radio. The Hip Hop Gods tour that Public Enemy headlined late last year was universally ignored by major media outlets, even though Chuck D is as important to hip hop as someone like Bob Dylan is to folk and rock, and Public Enemy is one of the most groundbreaking groups in all of music.

Local rap radio stations will proudly promote live shows for 2 Chainz and Trinidad James, but barely mention tours by rap legends like Slick Rick and Big Daddy Kane, who helped to create the genre these stations are busy milking for its last dollar.

Artists like Jay-Z, Kanye West and Eminem have managed to maintain superstardom well into their 30s, but they are the exception and not the rule. Most aging hip hop artists — Ice Cube, LL Cool J and Queen Latifah, for example — have chosen to branch off into other endeavors like film and product endorsement to stay relevant. It’s nice that Chuck D and LL got to close out this year’s Grammy Awards, but considering how infrequently hip hop pioneers play on a national stage, it was baffling to see them perform an unfamiliar new song rather than a medley of their classic hits.

Which begs the question of why hip hop legends who helped to create this now-global culture are seldom given the respect or platform they deserve.

It’s true that hip hop is youth-oriented and built around battling and besting the next man, and that’s not necessarily a mindset that breeds respect. And as The Guardian noted in its music blog, the urban family structure may influence hip hop’s treatment of its elders:

“Culturally, the lack of a father figure in a majority of ghetto homes also plays a role. Hip-hop manifests this as an obsession with one’s immediate peer group and a dismissal of elders. Knowledge isn’t handed down; what little knowledge there is gets shared by peers. People raised in ‘the streets’ know nothing but ‘the streets.’ The codes and the rules of the streets don’t necessarily allow reverence for elders.”

True enough, but there’s a larger factor in the equation that no one is talking about, and that’s the influence of corporations.

It’s no secret that corporations now control mainstream hip hop culture — if it can even be called a culture anymore.

One company — Viacom — owns BET and MTV. One company — Clear Channel — owns the majority of radio stations in the country. One company — Live Nation — produces most of the concerts in the U.S. And since 1988, the major labels have been reduced from six to three. So the result is a consolidation of control over our music, and a very small number of people deciding what a large number of people will see and hear.

Corporations now determine who gets signed, who gets radio spins, who gets national tours and who appears on “106 & Park.” And this, in turn, determines who gets covered by your favorite magazines and blogs, because at this point, hip hop journalism has degenerated from actual reporting and analysis to blindly promoting “hot” artists in an effort to draw readers and boost pageviews.

Even “indie” promotional outlets like social media and YouTube are heavily influenced by corporations; try watching any video without seeing an ad for Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, 2 Chainz, et al.

The result of corporations controlling hip hop is the total degradation of our music and culture. What began as a tool for black progress and a movement with the power to pick up where Civil Rights left off has become a weapon against the very community that created it, with a barrage of images and messages that promote the destruction of self, family and community.

Hip hop’s original tenets of peace, love, unity, fun and knowledge of self are glaringly absent from the corporate rap paradigm, which caters to a young, mostly white audience that would rather see caricatures of black life than hear about the violence exploding in Chicago, or the number of blacks in prison, or the quality of our school systems.

That’s not to say that old school artists were universally positive and new school artists are universally negative. There are still bright spots in the current commercial landscape, like Kanye West and Jay-Z’s “Murder to Excellence,” and classic rap wasn’t all flowers and unicorns. Not every old school song depicted inner-city life as vividly as Grandmaster Flash’s “The Message,” nor did every song advocate for female empowerment like Queen Latifah’s “U.N.I.T.Y.” or denounce drug use like MC Lyte’s “Cappucino.” But even when N.W.A. breathed fire on “Fuck tha Police,” they were protesting oppressive conditions in their community, not advocating for them as so much modern-day rap does. And there was a sense of diversity and authenticity in hip hop before the mid-to-late ‘90s corporate takeover. From Rakim to KRS-One to Ice-T to A Tribe Called Quest, rappers came off as real people expressing real feelings, not studio thugs or characters created in some corporate conference room.

Now, rap has been reduced to mass-produced ignorance. Most artists sound the same, and every mainstream rap song revolves around some combination of drugs, alcohol, violence, crime, misogyny and materialism. You will not hear about the black unemployment rate, but you will hear French Montana and friends rapping about bitches tiptoeing on Italian marble floors.

So it makes sense that old school rappers have no place in the new school corporate paradigm, because these two schools are two worlds at odds, with clashing messages and goals. One promoted survival; the other celebrates death.

Of course many older artists are going to fade in popularity. Of course styles change and new trends take hold. Not every artist can claim the fan base they once had, not every artist will maintain their skill level and not every artist wants to be a part of hip hop well into middle age; some will simply outgrow the culture and move on to other things. But the virtual erasure of old school hip hop figures from the new school landscape is not about rusty rappers or fading popularity and new trends. It is a calculated move by corporations that are busy selling ignorance and silencing sources of enlightenment. The corporate rap paradigm profits off of black dysfunction, and old school hip hop artists merely represent a dent in their profit margin.

Lauren Carter is a writer and editor, music junkie, hip hop head and healthy living enthusiast based in Boston. Connect with her on Twitter @ByLaurenCarter or visit her blog at www.bylaurencarter.com. 

Tags: black radio, hip hop, Lauren Carter, music industry, music news, rap, RapRehab

How Female Hip Hop Committed Suicide

Final Cause Of Death: Female Hip Hop Committed Suicide

It was 1990 when I realized that Hip Hop was my music drug of choice.

There were MC Lytes, Yo-Yos, Queen Latifahs and Lauryn Hills. Women were very present in hip hop, when I was coming up. You couldn’t remix a track without allowing Da Brat to grace a track, or a Fugee performance wasn’t the same without Lauryn Hill jumping out on stage with her vintage hat of choice, swayed to one side. Females in hip hop were very relevant and promininent. I mean I remember gaining my first since of “Respect My Womanhood” from Queen Latifah’s “U.N.I.T.Y.”

Had a boy called me out of my name, he would have been suckerpunched if not told from his head to his toes. Why? Because back then the female rap game was all about promoting “respect for women”, and I couldn’t be a fan of rappers like Lauryn Hill and not love myself, or check the most disrespectful boy for calling me out of my name. I often raise my brows and wonder what happened to that? I remember watching award shows and feeling honored that women were receiving awards in the same categories as a men would.

Watching a women do the same things a man could do; even better, gave me a lot of inspiration as a child. I felt unstoppable watching these powerful female MC’s perform. They kept the real female hip hop fan base satisfied. After all, in the nineties it wasn’t about “selling sex” for these females. It was more about demanding respect for the female gender, and letting other people know “Listen, we’re not putting up with any sh*t”.

I needed that. Then something happened. It seemed to me that rap labels dominated by men started to push something much more distracting into the presence of female hip hop fanbases; SEX. And I mean, why NOT have a female rapper who can rap and also show her ass for entertainment? The easiest thing right? An influx of more feminine artists began to peak. There were the Lil Kims, Foxy Browns, who began to surface. Screaming “UNITY” amongst other females was beginning to wipe away slowly. All of the attention placed on “giving women respect” was masked by a sudden wave of “chocolate skin, bare assets, and speaking on situations like sex just like a male would”, in their hip hop projects. Hell, it was a little too contradicting to talk about “respecting women”, with your vagina print showing on an album cover. So with the introduction of certain female artists the final cause of death; Female Hip Hop Murdered Female Hip Hop.

Yep, we did it to ourselves. Once again, this situation proved that women follow the wants and desires of men way too much. We want to be sexy yet bad in their eyes, even if it means ruling out some of our own self respect in the midst of it. You think not? Sure look at the timeline of events. I was growing up in an era at 12 and 13 years old, wanting to be the great writer and artist people like Lauryn Hill was. Nowadays the same age group are destined to be like Nicki Minaj, a self proclaimed plastic surgery made female who claims to be bi-sexual. Where is the “strength” in that?

Female Hip Hop killed itself because the fan base became distracted and more focused on what the male population in hip hop wanted, instead of what WE as women wanted. Rappers influenced by true icons like MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, etc did not just die off on their own. They lacked support. They lost fan base to the needs of men. Women who were too naive to understand that we were playing into a man’s game. They died off because no longer did women want to listen to “being empowered and standing for respect”, but “sucking d*ck and being the freakiest b*tch in the bedroom for good for nothing materialistic men”. That’s why.

Female hip hop committed suicide because labels agreed to unleash females with one common thing on their mind; selling sex. We sold out. We as a female race in hip hop sold out, at something that to do nothing but produce sexual desire for the male fanbase of hip hop. Why put all this time in effort into my actual lyrics when I can get a record deal from having a fat ass, freaky lyrics, and a pretty face? This became the common thought across the board in upcoming female artists. Not to mention the many different men, pumping Koolaid into the hearts of goregous women with Senior Citizen weak bars, by telling them that their looks will make them go far. Instead, short lived rap careers became prominent for females. A few labels picked them up and used them for a short while, then gone. Amil vanished just like she never appeared. Lil Kim’s fan base continuously depletes because the fans have nothing left to grasp for. We’ve seen both tits. I think.

2 shots and we were down for the count. Trying desperately to pump the life back into our sector. I’ll tell you what. It’s going to take a woman with the courage of a giant to resuscitate female hip hop back to its respectable state. I pray one day she arrives.

Female Hip Hop Committed Suicide.

-Chakara

Tags: African American, chakara, featured, Female Hip hop, hip hop, rap, raprehab.com

How to derail an argument about racism

                                If you are a white person arguing about racism with a black person here is how to derail the argument:

The main thing is to turn the tables by getting your opponent angry. Once he is  then you can say that it is pointless to continue. You “win” and  never had to address the substance of his argument!

It is easy to get blacks upset about race because they take the whole race thing way too personally – because, unlike you, it affects them, well, personally! And, if you act in a racist manner in a debate about racism, all the while saying that racism is all in their heads, that will drive them nuts!

The trick is to never take what they say seriously. Instead belittle it. So when they talk about their experience of racism, tell them they see racism everywhere, that they are imagining it. After all, a  friend of yours is black (make it up if you have to) and he does not agree. So how can they speak for all black people!? Demand facts and figures, studies and surveys that back up what they say. You need evidence! You need proof!

Tell them how you, as a white person, have had the same experiences too: You were stopped by the police too (when you ran a red light). People touch your daughter’s hair too (she is three). It will make them look like complainers. That you missed the point of their examples will get them upset – just what you want!

If their English is bad, jump on that. If their English is too good then they probably have a good education, so what are they complaining about?

That is the general idea. It is taken from a website, Derailing for Dummies, which explains how racists, sexists, homophobes and others favoured by society - the privileged – derail or throw off the arguments made by the marginalized – like blacks, women and gays. Although it is written tongue-in-cheek, it is dead serious: the author has seen it too many times.

The website tells you how to use each of these derailing arguments:

1. If You Won’t Educate Me How Can I Learn
2. If You Cared About These Matters You’d Be Willing To Educate Me
3. You’re Being Hostile.
4. But That Happens To Me Too!
5. You’re Being Overemotional
6. You’re Taking Things Too Personally
7. You’re Not Being Intellectual Enough/You’re Being Overly Intellectual
8. You’re Arguing With Opinions Not Fact
9. Your Experience Is Not Representative Of Everyone
10. Unless You Can Prove Your Experience Is Widespread I Won’t Believe It
11. I Don’t Think You’re As Marginalized As You Claim
12. Well I Know Another Person From Your Group Who Disagrees!
13. A In B Situation Is Not Equivalent To X In Y Situation
14. Who Wins Gold in the Oppression Olympics?
15. You Have A False Consciousness
16. You’re Not Being A Team Player
17. You’ve Lost Your Temper So I Don’t Have To Listen To You Anymore
18. You Are Damaging Your Cause By Being Angry
19. Surprise! I Was Playing “Devil’s Advocate” All Along!

 by abagond

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Michael Gove dumps Mary Seacole

The Education Secretary Michael Gove has bowed to the detractors of great Victorian Mary Seacole, and removed her from the National Curriculum.

Gove has stated that students should learn about traditional figures such as Oliver Cromwell and Winston Churchill.
Truth is, Michael Gove would find it difficult to find a history teacher who sacrificed teaching either Winston Churchill or Oliver Cromwell for Mary Seacole.
Seacole’s detractors such as William Curtis of the Crimean War research have called the interest in Seacole, ‘a disgrace to the serious study of history’.
This view along with Gove’s says more about their own prejudices rather than illuminating, educating and inspiring children of all races.
Seacole’s story is much more than about the Crimean war where she made her name.  It is a story of endeavour, great bravery, but perhaps above all it is  about how an ordinary woman, with no privilege, and no support from the nation she served, became so revered by the army class she administered  and the British public.
On her own volition, Seacole left her native Jamaica for London to sign up as one of Florence Nightingale’s nurses. She was refused both a ticket to travel, and when she eventually found another steamer that would take her, she was also then refused by the British establishment to help the nursing efforts in the Crimean war.
Undeterred she made her own way to Balaclava a town in Crimea, in the Ukrain and set up her own  brand of resting place and nursing home  for the injured British soldiers very near the front line.
Word soon got back to London about this courageous woman, who it was said would be dodging bullets to get men to safety. Her contemporary at the time Florence Nightingale poured scorn on Seacole’s unconventional methods, including allowing dying and very sick men to have a ‘tipple’.  However, these very brave men loved Seacole, and after the war had ended, when they heard that she had fallen on hard times rallied to support her.
What makes this story fascinating is that it wasn’t just the officer and army class that sought  to help Seacole  after the war. It was estimated that more than 80,000 people came out to pay tribute to this woman.  When was the last time that amount of people –the size of Wembley stadium full, came to pay tribute to an ordinary woman?  I can’t remember either.
By any standard Seacole was a great Victorian, that a creative teacher can wrap around subjects such as  the Crimean war, nursing, racial prejudice, and  above all that great human endeavour, particularly  by an extraordinary ordinary woman.  A simple yet valuable lesson that seems to have been lost on our Education Secretary Michael Gove.
Simon Woolley
http://www.obv.org.uk/news-blogs/michael-gove-dumps-mary-seacole

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Opening speech at the 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival

 

Humanity and the Importance of Jazz

“God has brought many things out of oppression. He has endowed his creatures with the capacity to create – and from this capacity has flowed the sweet songs of sorrow and joy that have allowed man to cope with his environment and many different situations. Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life’s difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph. This is triumphant music. Modern Jazz has continued in this tradition, singing the songs of a more complicated urban existence. When life itself offers no order and meaning, the musician creates an order and meaning from the sounds of the earth which flow through his instrument.

It is no wonder that so much of the search for identity among American Negroes was championed by Jazz musicians. Long before the modern essayists and scholars wrote of “racial identity” as a problem for a multi-racial world, musicians were returning to their roots to affirm that which was stirring within their souls. Much of the power of our Freedom Movement in the United States has come from this music. It has strengthened us with its sweet rhythms when courage began to fail. It has calmed us with its rich harmonies when spirits were down. And now, Jazz is exported to the world. For in the particular struggle of the Negro in America there is something akin to the universal struggle of modern man. Everybody has the Blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to love and be loved. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy. Everybody longs for faith.

In music, especially this broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping stone towards all of these.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Satisfy the needs of a culture. Enrich the culture. Empower the culture.Defend the culture.

How does the culture implant its spirit into it's members? It does it in a very strong and primordial way. It uses vehicles.And one of the major vehicles it uses is that of music!...Rhythm! Song,Dance.   A culture involves people moving what? Together, in tandem, in rhythm. it involves them having the same temporals sense. The same kind of time clock so that they can move in syncrony, one with the other. Music is about syncrony, Poetry is about sycrony. Song is about syncrony.

Music is about symbols,and you see ultimately it is through symbols that you evoke behavior from people.So when a culture creates symbols those symbols are design to evoke particular types of reactions of feeling,and moods in it's members.And a culture establishes the potency of those symbols through rituals,through song,and through dance.

And one of the best ways then to inculcate cultural values,a cultural spirit,is through entertainment.It's while the members are being entertained,while they are feeling good the song is carrying the cultural values into the mind,and into the body.

The lyrics that represent the cultural interest,the lyrics that represent cultural values are being carried on the vehicle of the music.Carried through the vehicle of the poetry.The togetherness,the corporateness,the mutual movement together,and the synchrony of the culture is being in-trained through the music,and though the rhythm of the dance.

Therefore' you see' when you let another people take over your music,when you let another people take over your dance,and attach their content to it' they will use your own music,and your own dance,and your own rap lyrics,and your own poetry,and your own cultural symbols,to carry their message into your body,and into your mind!... Such that you can only respond then to their backen call,and to their wishes.And you see then' "Yes"You see then that they get you to buy those sneakers,and they get you to buy all of those things by what? associating them with your what? Your music!...With your cultural symbols.You see,with your poetry.With your rhythms,and so they attached their content to our rhythm!...Their content to our song! yes...But in away they take our own instruments and turn them against the self.

Notice' how quickly when one of our youngsters was rhyming kill the police' that kind of content was washed right our immediately.Yes...But what wash out occurs when the sing about shooting each other with their glocks and the other thing? When their contents of self destructiveness ride on the rhythm of their song,and of their dance.And when the symbols are loaded then with self destructive elements and content.

So what are we saying here then? that enculturation is a process of building in responsivity, and ultimately responsibility. The ability to respond to a particular call.And we then have appropriately inculturated ourselves when we can respond to our own culture,and to our own values,and to our own needs

Jayne Cortez - How Long Has Trane Been Gone

A london pub with a colour bar in 2013

We think things have moved on but then right in front of your very eyes!

A LONDON PUB WITH A COLOUR BAR IN 2013

This is the recent disturbing experience suffered by an innocent young lady out to celebrate the arrival of 2013 she was moved to post up on a social network a short account of her traumatic experience.
--------------------------------------
As we venture into a new year with our hopes and aspirations I was shocked yesterday while out with my nieces and other family members. As a Londoner born and bred I was stunned when refused entry to 'Westminster Arms, Shepherds Neame' 9 & 10 Storey Gate, London SW1P 3AT.
My niece wanted the loo, but the queues where ridiculous for the port-a-loos, so we decided to look for a pub where we would buy a drink and use the facilities. As we approached, two men on the door simply said 'No Ladies', which I thought weird - was this a 'Man Only' pub? I said 'sorry' to which they repeated the line 'No Ladies'. Immediately my sensors where up, but as my niece was over from Sweden I put it to the back of my mind. We ventured off and found another pub, but on the way back we had to walk past the pub. They allowed in groups of white men, and a couple of white ladies. I looked through the window and yes, just as I thought, not a face of colour in the premises. I took a picture of the pub and one of the men who refused us entry covered his face. I needed to vent this as I thought the UK was making big strides with this sort of display of bigotry! I was extremely embarrassed as I had my niece, who is a guest in this country celebrating the NY etc, and to her this sort of thing doesn't happen here because THIS IS ENGLAND, but more likely in her country of Sweden where people of colour are fewer. 2013 didn't start well for me!

NAS- America (2008)

Nas - N.I.G.G.E.R. (The Slave And The Master) Video 2008

http://youtu.be/kcT83XOyIio

US Slavery until WWII part2

US Slavery until WWII part1

They only wanted to give Barack the sack & take the White House Back.

They say some voted for Romney because he was not black,

While others voted for Barack because he wasn’t Wack!

Even Chris Rock wasn’t certain if Barack was white or Black?

They only wanted to give Barack the sack & take the White House Back.

Some said they wouldn’t be so shallow to vote for a man because he’s White,

They just couldn’t vote for Barack because “he don’t look right”.

Their goal was just to put a man in the big house painted White.

But I bet they never thought Barack would put up such a fight?

They say some voted for Romney because he was not black,

While others voted for Barack because he wasn’t Wack!

Even Chris Rock wasn’t certain if Barack was white or Black?

They only wanted to give Barack the sack & take the White House Back.

Are you sure they were voting for a President and not a colour scheme?

I mean all those Fox images, seem to be stuck on a particular Theme.

Like the scene in Blazing Saddles where "The Sheriff is a Ni****".

Damn, It’s time to stop this BS and take your finger off the trigger.

They say some voted for Romney because he was not black,

While others voted for Barack because he wasn’t Wack!

Even Chris Rock wasn’t certain if Barack was white or Black?

They only wanted to give Barack the sack & take the White House Back.

Now with all the voting over, yes that’s right you’ve lost,

So you really must go figure how much your foolishness has cost.

With your binder full of women and some magic underpants,

to conceal your big election dreams and your bizarre finance!

Donald Trumped, Stumped and dumped by the man you hoped to sack.

Now guess who’s coming to dinner, Yes it’s Obama, he’s back! 

They say some voted for Romney because he was not black,

While others voted for Barack because he wasn’t Wack!

Even Chris Rock wasn’t certain if Barack was white or Black?

They only wanted to give Barack the sack & take the White House Back.