Move the CrowdMove the Crowd
What Hip Hop should be.
A system of indoctrination exists in our society. It is the part of our society that is designed to keep the masses seperate and dull our minds. It is not a conspiracy, it is media itself.
Most people believe that they have an independant mind and their conscious free will allows them an enormous range of choices throughout their days. Although this may be somewhat true, many of these people forget that reality exists only within their range of knowledge and their overworked minds have been systematically constructed to support certain ideas and to immediately shun any opinions that have not been previously indoctrinated. Through a keen sense of logic and a large amount of ones time spent researching the facts, can a person begin to realize what it is to truely think for themselves. When this enlightened mind is presented with new concepts it does not shun them nor just accept ideas as fact; the mind uses the skills of logic and research to develop an understanding of the situation.
Democracy in its essence can never exist, but our system of democracy is better than a totalitarian regime designed to bring nothing but death and suffering. When people do come together to fight corruption it is usually within an exclusive group, and more harm is done than good in uniting the common people. This happens because the exclusive group usually ends up wasting much of its energy fighting other common people who are not in their group and a sort of negative synergy is born where the working class are fighting eachother instead of uniting to actually make life better. A true libetarian fights for the rights of all people and all life, just like a good librarian helps you find the right book. The right book is not the same for every person, but a bad book is always a bad book. Quality and righteousness are fuzzy topics, but I believe that certain actions and subjects are intrinsically wrong and desearve no respect. Support for Hitler and the holocaust is one such example of this false logic.
Logic is a word we all know but few actually realize they have this masterful capability which can give great insight into why the world exists as it does. If a person takes these steps and acquires this goal of understanding and independance, they may realize that the goal was only a mirage and now the real goal begins to emerge from the shadows.
This is what hip hop means to me. This is why I have been so confused in this mess of pseudo hip hop all these years. Commercial hip hop is dumbed down ghetto slang that has no point or purpose in the political or spiritual sense of the word. It is ironically backwards, because these new school idiots are actually one of the main contributors to the media's system of indoctrination. All of their rhetoric regarding expensive taste, slutty women and senseless violence are perfect tools in keeping the truth away from the people. Hip hop is about freedom. Freedom of speech especially. The pioneers laid the groundwork by breaking down barriers of conformity. The pillars of decency fell hard when revolutionaries like Chuck D, KRS-One and The Last Poets grabbed the mic. Even groups obviously chasing material gain, like the 2 Live Crew played their part in the fight for freedom of expression.
Quality music is always difficult to find. Back in the day when it seemed like there was no hip hop anywhere short of RunDmc or the Fat Boys, you would have to stay up mad late listening to college radio stations just to hear the dope shit. Today in this world where hip hop is anywhere and everywhere you go, you've got to dig through all of the bullshit to find anything with value. This makes it seem like there is less conscious rappers speaking truth than in the past, but dig deep and you will find modern day revolutionaries like Dead Prez, Common Sense, Black Thought, Micronots, and Saul Williams. Don't forget the cats speaking heavy truths in their rhymes in basements and on street corners, they are important in this struggle too.
On a closing note, I would like to give mad love to all the people who care about these issues but do hip hop because they love the art. Their music is consistently funky with dope beats and often hilarious rhymes that will make this movement grow in many directions for a very long time, you know who you are.
America the bad in a nutshell.
The shooting down of two Libyan planes in 1981; the bombardment of Beirut in 1983 and 1984; the furnishing of military aid and intelligence to both sides of the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-88 so as to maximize the damage each side would inflict upon the other; the bombing of Libya in 1986; the bombing and sinking of an Iranian ship in 1987; the shooting down of an Iranian passenger plane in 1988; the shooting down of two more Libyan planes in 1989; the massive bombing of the Iraqi people in 1991; the continuing bombings and sanctions against Iraq; the bombing of Afghanistan and Sudan in 1998, the latter destroying a pharmaceutical plant which provided for half the impoverished nation's medicines; the habitual support of Israel despite the devastation and routine torture it inflicts upon the Palestinian people; the condemnation of Arab resistance to this; the continued persecution of Libya, now nearing the end of its second decade; the abduction of wanted men from Muslim countries, such as Malaysia, Pakistan, Lebanon and Albania; the large military and hi-tech presence in Islam's holiest land, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere in the Persian Gulf region; the support of anti-democratic Middle East governments, from the Shah to the Saudis...