Power to the people! Guess what my brothers? Gil Scott-Heron was wrong…The revolution will be televised, late night on the Black Starz channel. The Panthers are alive and well, and the soul of Huey P lives on through the music of two angry young black men who throw around the word Cracker just as freely as your average rapper uses the word N*gga!
I waited patiently on my leather couch, watching the television with a glock in my lap, afro pick in my stringy hair and some mango flavored incense burning. I was mad. I was damn mad. What had become of the people? Had they been liberated, or blinded by the man? This man that has forced fed them booty shaking music over and over and over again. The repetition programming them to become one with the melody, subconsciously causing their body to jerk rhythmically to the beat.
Who is going to save these lost souls? Could it be Dead Prez? I never heard of them before this special, but maybe. But, the revolution must be heard (if it’s not televised), and their music doesn’t get any burn on my local radio station. The revolution must be seen (if not televised or played on the radio), and I haven’t seen Dead Prez performing in my little town outside of Little Rock, Arkansas recently. So, what is a freedom fighter like me to do?
Well, I commend Black Starz for airing the Dead Prez special. It made me realize that there are still some rappers in existence striving to deliver a message. I can’t say a socially conscious message, because I don’t condone the use of narcotics (which actually alter your mind into a false state of reality), like I heard Dead Prez do on more than one song. I do feel that black youth need guidance in order to gain a sense of self awareness, and to allow them to combat the ignorance that exists within this racist world.
Dead Prez may assist with helping the mental juices ebb and flow, thus compelling those that would otherwise remain in a state of ignorance to force themselves to seek out some mental nourishment for the brain. But, as the special exposes, as we all are, Dead Prez’s message is indeed flawed. As I mentioned, I do not condone weed or drug use. Nor, do I condone disrespect towards any race, and the last I checked, Cracker was a derogatory term. But, Dead Prez does represent a group that appears to do their kind of music solely for the cause that the represent. So, who cares whether I like being called a Cracker *ss Cracker or not. Money does not seem to guide their behavior or force their music to be subdued, thus encasing their creativity in a well locked box.
The Starz special did exactly what it was supposed to do. It gave a quick overview of what the group represents. Just enough to determine if the flavor was too sweet or too acrid for my tongue. I’m going to follow Dead Prez now. I’m interested to see if they are really what they say they are. Remember, Public Enemy said It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, but in reality it only really took some well timed articles and scrutiny of their lyrics for dissension to form in their ranks. P.E. was a lot more mainstream than Dead Prez though, so I’m not certain they’ll suffer the same fate. But, there are some questions that remain to be answered…
Will the lack of a mainstream audience cause them to change the focus of their movement? Will the fact that there seemed to be a lot of white faces (like my own) in the crowd, make them realize that the people they are directing their message to, may not be that interested in hearing it? Who knows. However, I did enjoy the special. And I look forward to being a newly inducted member of the movement. Power to the people! No justice, No peace!
The Original White Man
The Original White Man is an 88HIPHOP community member. The views and opinions expressed by him may not reflect that of 88HIPHOP and its staff.