Now that I have your attention… yes I said it. I don’t wanna be Black anymore. In a time where it’s cool and fashionable to be an African American, I’m hanging it up, throwing in the towel, folding.
The Machine has forced us into a state of moral bankruptcy.
Okay, okay… before you begin your chants of “hang that nigga now, I got the rope right here” (shout out to Aaron McGruder), let me plead my case.
Black folk have undergone seemingly insurmountable odds for the last four centuries (and counting) and continue to persevere. One could even argue that in 2006, there is no better time to be Black. But as we all know, all that glitters isn’t gold and everything that shines ain’t a diamond (matter of fact, it’s a lot of cubic zirconia’s walking around in our community now).
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Michael Eric Dyson asked the question and I feel obligated to answer him. YES, Bill Cosby was right. In this day and age, everything of, related to and about blackness, black culture or being black in any positive light has been reduced to a pile of ash and rubble.
Who is to blame you ask? The niggas, yes ladies and gentleman, the black race is dead and the niggas have run amuck. BET looks like a scene from Dawn of the Dead and the black faces might as well be wearing black faces (if that went over your head, do a Google search for “minstrel shows”).
For every yin, there’s supposed to be a yang, but somehow, the niggas (with some help from unnamed sources) have found a way to bring about the worst in us… 100 percent of the time. I must say that I am forced to applaud their tactics, as even some of the harshest critics of nigga culture have been reduced to saying, “it’s not that bad.”
Sorry to burst your bubble of comfort and euphoria, but it IS that bad. The niggas are driving the bus and the black folks are tied up in the trunk.
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Back in the Motown era, GROWN musicians made grown folks music. These days, grown niggas make music in hopes of turning young kids into mini nigga zombies. Let’s be real for a minute. Being grown is no longer the thing to be, but when you’re grown, you’re expected to know better. You’re expected to pull your pants up off your ass, expected to act like you have some got damn sense and expected to do things that uplift your community (instead of tearing it down).
So fresh for the ’06, I present for your viewing pleasure: The Nigga Hit List. That’s right, I’m going DROP Squad on y’all (once again, Google it if you don’t know).
Young Jeezy: The new jack comes in at the top of the list for single handedly taking the term “crack music” to new heights, unrivaled by anyone in hip hop history. In an era where even the whackest of rappers claim to have songs about “everything”, Jeezy made an album SOLELY dedicated to the life of a crack dealer (with the occasional reference to bitches, clothing or jewelry) and it became a smash. When did drugs become the fashionable thing? Last I checked, even Whitney said crack is whack but we put Jeezy on a pedestal. Must be the ad libs…
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeah, gotta be the ad libs.
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50 Cent: What can I say about Curtis Jackson that hasn’t already been said? If Jeezy didn’t hook America with drug rap, 50 would, without a doubt top the list (for a number of infractions). While Fif isn’t solely responsible for the rise of nigga culture, it’s safe to say that he’s led (and is still leading) the charge. Get Rich or Die Tryin is disastrous on so many levels. The very concept is counterproductive and to dissect all the reasons would take more column space than I’m allowed.
The Ying Yang Twins: Hip hop’s version of Stepin Fetchit. If 50 helped usher in an era of violence, Caine and D Roc (along with a supporting cast that included Lil Jon and the East Side Boys) took cooning to new heights in recent years. The Twins have single-handedly epitomized the word “sambo.” But here’s the kicker… they want to be taken seriously now, after recording several tracks not fit for strip club consumption, but guess what? Nobody cares!!! When you dedicate your life’s work to showing your gold grill and your signature phrase isn’t a word, but rather a sound (HAAAAAH), is there any surprise that no one takes you seriously when you speak of saving the trees and the whales?
Flava Flav: From Public Enemy to Flavors of Love. I can picture Chuck D now, at home, ice grilling the TV with a vein popping out of his neck every time his hype man graces the small screen. The new show is so ridiculously bad, that it’s somewhat entertaining. However, that doesn’t change the fact that the same man who told us that ”911 is a joke” and to ”fight the power” is participating in this type of foolishness.
The Source: It’d have been entirely too easy to put Benzino’s name here and the blame doesn’t fall squarely on his shoulders. Hip hop’s “bible” has been reduced to the Black version of the National Enquirer, and there is a long list of people to blame (I just haven’t thumbed through the magazine to type a list of names).
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BET: No further commentary is necessary
I could go on and on with the Nigga Hit List, but I won’t. There just isn’t enough column space (or space on DX for that matter) to call out the cooning and buffoonery in hip hop. If the handful of cats on TV represents the authority on hip hop culture or young black culture, I’m turning in my Black Card (effective immediately).
This isn’t what I signed on for. Blackness never involved self degradation. I’d be wrong to blame this all on the “rappers”, believe me… names will be called out in 2006. The Drop Squad’s return is long overdue.
Until then, I’m hanging it up… I don’t wanna be Black anymore.
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