Books, Hip Hop culture, and everything else in between...
Monday, May 19, 2008
For Omowale
May 19th, the born day of El Hajj Malik Shabazz who was known as Omowale when he came to the University of Ibadan in Nigeria.
Everyone knows that Omowale/Malcolm X is my hero. Since age 16, I have looked at him as a tremendous historical figure. Throughout my travels, I have convinced more people to look him than I care to count. Previously, I have written about how I admired his evolution. He went from Malcolm Little to Detroit Red to Satan to Malcolm X to El Hajj Malik Shabbazz and yes, Omowale.
My favorite thing to do is point out a few things only a few people knew about Omowale:
-- According to Dr. Jan Carew, his mother was an administrative assistant to the Honorable Marcus Garvey. His father was not just a preacher, but a spokesperson and fundraiser for the UNIA. His father was a handy man. His father was an electrician, carpenter, and a plumber.
-- Before Omowale wrote a speech, he would have meetings with Dr. Ben Jochannan (affectionately known as Dr. Ben) and John Henrik Clarke to get more information and to get help with research. Dr. Ben told me this himself several years ago.
-- Omowale said his heroes were Patrice Lumumba of the Congo and Paul Robeson. Robeson happens to be another one of my heroes so it is only right.
-- Omowale was the only African from America to sit on the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and thus started the Organization of African American Unity (OAAU). The OAU was the precursor to the African Union (AU).
What I also admired about Omowale was his discipline. His wife always commented on this. It was his discipline that I try to match everyday. Of course, I fall short each time but I get up and try again. The brother was self taught. Carter G. Woodson said that self education is the best education anyone can get. Trust me, it shows.
People have asked me, what makes him so relevant to the 21st century. Well, let me use his words for that:
...We must understand the politics of our community and we must know what politics is supposed to produce. We must know what part politics play in our lives. And until we become politically mature we will always be mislead, lead astray, or deceived or maneuvered into supporting someone politically who doesn’t have the good of our community at heart. So the political philosophy of Black Nationalism only means that we will have to carry on a program, a political program, of re-education to open our people's eyes, make us become more politically conscious, politically mature, and then we will -- whenever we get ready to cast our ballot, that ballot will be -- will be cast for a man of the community who has the good of the community of heart.
...In Washington D.C., in the House of Representatives, there are 257 who are Democrats; only 177 are Republican. In the Senate there are 67 Democrats; only 33 are Republicans. The Party that you backed controls two-thirds of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and still they can’t keep their promise to you, 'cause you’re a chump. Anytime you throw your weight behind a political party that controls two-thirds of the government, and that Party can’t keep the promise that it made to you during election time, and you’re dumb enough to walk around continuing to identify yourself with that Party, you’re not only a chump, but you’re a traitor to your race. ...
Today our people can see that we’re faced with a government conspiracy. This government has failed us. The senators who are filibustering concerning your and my rights, that's the government. Don’t say it’s Southern senators. This is the government; this is a government filibuster. It’s not a segregationist filibuster. It’s a government filibuster. Any kind of activity that takes place on the floor of the Congress or the Senate, that's the government. Any kind of dilly-dallying, that’s the government. Any kind of pussy-footing, that’s the government. Any kind of act that’s designed to delay or deprive you and me right now of getting full rights, that’s the government that's responsible. And any time you find the government involved in a conspiracy to violate the citizenship or the civil rights of a people, then you are wasting your time going to that government expecting redress. Instead, you have to take that government to the World Court and accuse it of genocide and all of the other crimes that it is guilty of today....
-- The Ballot or the Bullet, delivered 12 April, 1964 in Detroit, MI ...
J. Edgar Hoover, depending on which side of the political spectrum one may fall on, can either be a hero or a villain. Hoover, however, is a clear demonstration on how executive powers that are unchecked can be used for maintaining absolute power over those who have no voice. Unfortunately, much of the damage Hoover did during his decades long tenure as the head of the FBI has been white washed or never even spoken of. Hoover is only one example of the hypocrisy that is considered American history taught in the American Public School system. In my travels, Hoover is a running joke. While in D.C., we always make gaffs at the J. Edgar Hoover building even though we can only think of the ill things being done under his name. I always roll out of my seat when I look at the Boondocks comic strip where Huey Freeman attends his first day of school at J. Edgar Hoover elementary school (a joke that would be clearly over everyone's heads if done on the T.V. Show).
Rick Geary, an experienced illustrator who has done work for Marvel and Dark Horse comics, presents Hoover in a satirical graphic novel. His illustrations give the graphic novel a vintage look. It feels like a homage to those old dime cowboy books that were all the rage in the early 19th century and later influenced the crime stories of the Roaring twenties. Geary's humor is evident as he paints Hoover as mythical as if he was a member of the Justice League.
Geary points out how Hoover meticulously created a cult of personality surrounding himself by using the FBI has his weapon. Hoover manipulated, threatened, blackmailed, and bullied his way to the ultimate seat of power answerable only to the President of the United States. At the end of the book, Geary sites several books that the author used as references for the graphic novel.
Unfortunately, Geary fails to point out two very important things. One is Hoover's war against Marcus Mosiah Garvey. Garvey's rise came before the creation of the FBI. Yet Hoover laid the foundation of his career by employing tactics on Garvey that Hoover would use on other notable political figures and organizations. Geary also failed to mention how CoIntelPro was used to destroy organizations such as the Black Panter Party, the American Indian Movement (AIM), the Young Lords Party and other grassroots organizations.
Geary's work is nonetheless important and probably a good way to get the average comic book reader to get a little interested in American History. This writer couldn't help but to laugh at certain scenes.
Crack mothers, crack babies and AIDS patients Young bloods can't spell but they could rock you in PlayStation This new math is whippin motherfuckers ass You wanna know how to rhyme you better learn how to add It's mathematics -- Mos Def on “Mathematics”
I am quick to point out that my brother, Dolo, is the mathematician of the family. Algebra was the limit for me. However, growing up around members of the Nation of Gods and Earths (NGE), I learned that it was important to do the math. Like most teenagers in my generation who lived in NYC during the late 80s, I learned the Supreme Mathematics. To this day, I still know them and even teach it to my children. It emphasized the importance of numbers. It also taught me that although numbers can be comforting since they do not lie and can be used to back up an argument with concrete facts, I also learned that they can be manipulated to support someone's agenda.
The best example I can use is when I used to hear people say, 1 out of every 3 black male is involved with the prison system. Even though the statistic is not wrong, it is being misused. One would assume that one out of every 3 black male regardless of age or social status is in prison. Yet if one actually uses the correct statistic, the numbers say something else: 1 out of every 3 black male between the ages of 18 to 24 is involved in some way with the prison system. That changes so much. It also implies that not all of these young men are behind bars. Some may be on house arrest and some may be on probation. Again, I am not saying that the numbers “are not that bad.” I am instead demonstrating how numbers can be manipulated. Black men and prisons are still a problem we have to deal with.
Lately, I hear another number that is quite as daunting yet again, the number is being manipulated. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in 2004 70% of black babies were born to unmarried women. Often I hear folks throw this number around and usually it is to place most, if not all, of the blame on black men. Everyone can agree that the numbers discussed here are scary and that there is a problem. However, we must probe deeper. If one reads the study thoroughly, it explains so much more.
First, that number doesn't say how many couples choose to stay involved in one another's lives. It also doesn't say how many are involved in common law marriages. I know plenty of couples who I assumed were married but aren't. Yet they have been together for over several years and some even longer that our marriage. I know these past few statements are anecdotal but here is what the same study mentions:
In recent decades, Americans have dramatically changed their view of sexuality, marriage, and childbearing. Studies show men and women of different racial/ethnic groups and income levels see marriage as an ideal. However, the “normative imperative” to marry has weakened since the 1950s, and there now is much greater acceptance of singlehood, cohabitation, and nonmarital childbearing . This mindset is reflected in changes in family formation over time. Fewer cohabitations result in marriage than in the past, more cohabiting couples are raising biological children together, and couples are increasingly likely to cohabit rather than marry in response to premarital pregnancy.
The number also doesn't explain how many men are involved in their children's lives. We often hear how the concept of the “traditional nuclear family” is something that is outdated (another entry for another day). Yet no one makes the connection when those numbers are used. I must reiterate that I am not saying that the situation is dire but that it needs a further discussion. I often hear this number used to explain how black man are not holding it down. While I agree, that several brothers are not doing their job. There are a great number of dead beat dads out there, but the problems facing our community is placed squarely on us. In my opinion this number is used not to point out the problem but to point fingers and continue to promote stereotypes.
"True Lies" - ZMO/datkidZD & Novel-T 2005 produced by J.WEBB movie sample - "Chronicles Of Riddick"
ZMO's Note :this song is proof that the internet is the future of this music sh**. i recorded my vocals in Virginia, Novel-T in Massachusetts, and mastered by WEBB in Texas. did i mention at this point i had never spoken to Novel-T on the phone or anything? all communication was done via yahoo IM. since then i've been collaborating with people all across the country and the rest of the globe. oh...and Novel-T and I went on to a record an album worth of material.
This track sounds like a deleted song from a Wu Tang affiliate album. One that never made the cut. The track sounds like the RZA did it back in 1995. I don't mean that as a compliment either. It just sounds typical of all the music coming from the Wu camp back then. One can also tell where the loop ends and where it begins so professionally, it is not one of J Webb's best moments either.
ZMO does an okay job but it's not stellar work. Novel-T uses that grimy voice that was also the thing to do back then. It's a nasally voice that should stay out of the studio. It's annoying enough to make one just ignore the lyrics. The hook sounds too long with Novel-T going back and forth with ZMO. The sad part is that it is probably better than 95% of the stuff one hears on the radio.
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My quirks (I've been tagged, otra vez)
My sister from another mother over at Fascinating Womanhood has tagged me. The theme: What are 6 of my quirks (a peculiar trait: idiosyncrasy)? Here are the rules:
Link the person who tagged you. Mention the rules in your blog. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger's blogs letting them know they've been tagged.
Here we go: (man this seems so dang familiar, right?)
1.For those of you that don't know, I think I spank my wife on the butt about twenty times a day, at least. It's a bad habit, I know. Don't hate, you wish you had someone slapping you on the booty each day. One would think that she would develop the reflex to block my slaps after almost 8 years of marriage. This brother is too fast.
2.I try and try so hard to learn the lyrics of “Sou Voce” by Caetano Veloso. A beautiful song that I just can't get on any level. Yet I try. One day, I will make the sun come up on you folks!
3.When I wrestle with the babies, I always pin them, count to three, and make noise for myself: the new heavyweight champion of the world! Dan Tres Omiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!
4.When my wife leaves her cup of juice lying around, I drink it up and blame it on the youngest.
5.I think Toccarra Jones is as fine as all out doors. And she from Dayton!
6.When I was an eligible bachelor living in Philadelphia, I used to answer my phone, “The Black Man is God,” much to the chagrin of one of my white roommates...
Next up:
(I would ask the wife to do it, but I will have lot of 'splainin' to do after this one...) Jaded Nyer (platanos in the house!) Lola ! Khia Humanity Critic Awon (VA Stand UP!) Nas Dawud (original blogger heads, what up, HUG LIFE!)
A few weeks back I had the opportunity to attend a hip hop conference at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. While there, I met this brother by the name of Wil. He was about my age and hailed from Chicago. We immediately connected. He was slated to be on one of the panels yet he was not an artist. Instead of just asking him what he did to garner a position on a panel discussion, I decided to wait until I could just figured it out. As more people came to register for the conference, Wil asked us if we heard of this game called “Skillz.” He pointed at two boxes that were located on the registration table. He even asked if we wanted to play.
To be honest, I get weary of so called Hip Hop trivia games. I also question the motives behind such a move. Skillz was different and definitely worth the price of admission. I have to come clean and admit that my old school Hip Hop purist self came in dead last. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the game and had a great time.
The object of the board game is to move your piece from one end of the table to the other. You spin a turntable that asks the player to pick out a card from four categories: Trivia, Battle, Translation, and Quotable. The player picks a card and if the player succeeds in the challenge, the player can move his or her piece the number of spaces on the corresponding card. What makes the game challenging is the fact that are four categories. Thus if one is strong in Hip Hop history, like myself, he or she may not have a strong advantage. One also has to be well versed in the music (from 1979 until the present), good at rhyming words, and know the slang from different parts of the country.
Brother Wil did his homework. The game covers Hip Hop music on so many levels. It is well thought out, well balanced, and fun. It's a game that folks from all ages and walks of life can enjoy. There is nothing raunchy or inappropriate. One does not have to be a Hip Hop guru to play. These are things we look for in a board game particularly for a nice house party.
When I asked where I could purchase this board game, Brother Wil pointed out that he is the creator of the game. I was impressed and delighted that someone from our generation could put something together that is unique and contributes to the culture. Too many times, I encounter folks who take advantage of our culture. Wil is a fellow Hip Hop aficionado and has definitely put in work.
Http://hiphopskillz.com wil@hiphopskillz.com
P.O. Box 24198 Detroit, Michigan United States 48224
"Hip Hop Holy Ghost" (Vinca Rosea) 2006 beat by King Geedorah taken from "Metal Fingers presents Special Herbs Vol 9 + 0"
As an older cat who was born in the 70s, I have to shake my head every time I hear a car go by playing some nonsense from the radio. I also get tired of telling my new barber to turn off BET while I am in there (ask anyone that I am good for that, thus I am in search of another barber shop in a new city with very few black owned businesses). I am sure that the young bloods might look at me as an old relic. I can't front, a good number listen when I speak but I am sure that some might curse my name when I leave.
It is refreshing when I hear younger cats agree with me. There are plenty of them out there. It is even invigorating to hear a young artist agree with me and express it in rhyme form. ZMO does just that in “Hip Hop Holy Ghost.”
What I dig is that he doesn't just hold the mainstream media accountable for only showing a tiny facet of the culture, he also blames it on his fellow artists and the fans. To be honest, I have to agree. We have to accept partial blame for what is being put on the radio or on cable television. ZMO, when is the album coming out?
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Can Ford give these brothers a job?
I tell folks all the time that our babies are going to save us. We just have to raise them right. They are our goddesses and gods.
(CBS) The star at last week's Philadelphia Auto Show wasn't a sports car or an economy car. It was a sports-economy car — one that combines performance and practicality under one hood.
But as CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman reports in this week's Assignment America, the car that buyers have been waiting decades comes from an unexpected source and runs on soybean bio-diesel fuel to boot.
A car that can go from zero to 60 in four seconds and get more than 50 miles to the gallon would be enough to pique any driver's interest. So who do we have to thank for it. Ford? GM? Toyota? No — just Victor, David, Cheeseborough, Bruce, and Kosi, five kids from the auto shop program at West Philadelphia High School
The five kids, along with a handful of schoolmates, built the soybean-fueled car as an after-school project. It took them more than a year — rummaging for parts, configuring wires and learning as they went. As teacher Simon Hauger notes, these kids weren't exactly the cream of the academic crop.
"We have a number of high school dropouts," he says. "We have a number that have been removed for disciplinary reasons and they end up with us."
One of the Fab Five, Kosi Harmon, was in a gang at his old school — and he was a terrible student. The car project has changed all that.
"I was just getting by with the skin of my teeth, C's and D's," he says. "I came here, and now I'm a straight-A student."
To Hauger, the soybean-powered car shows what kids — any kids — can do when they get the chance.
"If you give kids that have been stereotyped as not being able to do anything an opportunity to do something great, they'll step up," he says.
Stepping up is something the big automakers have yet to do. They're still in the early stages of marketing hybrid cars while playing catch-up to the Bad News Bears of auto shop.
"We made this work," says Hauger. "We're not geniuses. So why aren't they doing it?"
Kosi thinks he knows why. The answer, he says, is the big oil companies.
"They're making billions upon billions of dollars," he says. "And when this car sells, that'll go down — to low billions upon billions."
For those that know me, they know I am a huge fan of Immortal Technique. Below is part II of his interview on Davey D's Breakdown FM who gives a thoughtful analogy of politics in the United States and the world. I have to warn you, some of the lyrics are hardcore and are not meant for soft ears.
Omi's Note:I must point out that I am no fan of the Republicrats. I dislike this two party system and ever since I had the ability to vote, I have voted third party except the last local elections here in Ohio since there were no third party candidates who were running for several local offices. It bothers me that we follow the ideology of “the lesser of two evils,” a philosophy that continues to give us the bad end of the stick each and every time.
I am not a Xian but I dig Jeremiah Wright. It is unfortunate that Wright has been catching a great amount of flak due to someone's looping of some phrases taken from some of his sermons. Who made that vid by the way? What is sad is that although Wright continues to provide insight on not just the history of the United States but the concept of Liberation Theology. Yet most people if not all, continue to talk about the sound bytes even though he has addressed them at every turn.
One thing I learned about politics is the use of feints or smoke screens to keep people off track of the real issues. Of course, most of the people fall for the okey doke. It just amazes me that gas costs $3.60 per gallon, food prices have skyrocketed, we are spending billions on the war in Iraq, and folks still can't get a decent job but we are tripping on some sound bytes on youtube. It amazes me that I run into people who have never said a word about politics to me in their entire lives but all of a sudden, they are experts. I have to be honest. A good number of people need to keep their mouths shut about politics. It's mighty embarrassing. When I ask people why they dislike Clinton, they talk as if they have known her personally for their entire lives. It sounds ridiculous.
It bothers me tremendously that we refuse to ask the right questions. Here are two candidates, McCain and Clinton, who are part of the Richistan in this country and they are accusing another candidate that he is an elitist. Then they have the audacity to come around working class folk who are two checks away from being homeless and then acting as if these two are actually one of them. Yet they don't see how insulting this is. To be honest if you can't see that, then I have to question the intelligence of the American electorate.
I remember during the 2000 election, I heard many people say they voted for Bush because they feel like they could have a beer with him. Many argued that many of the Democratic candidates were too intellectual. What the hell is that? What does it mean to be too intellectual? I often hear people say “Obama is all about speeches there is no substance or policy in his words.” Well, if he talked policy 95% of you (yes, YOU) would fall asleep anyway. I am a betting man. I am sure if I walk down any street in the United States (except maybe Wall Street) and ask people to explain what the deficit is, about 95% would have no clue. I can bet the bank on that. McCain readily admits that he doesn't know much about economics and he is considered a viable candidate? Yet our economy is in shambles.
The reason I hate presidential races is that they are treated like a rock concert. Or as Christ Rock so eloquently put it in “State of the Union,” they have to be run like you were promoting a hip hop album. We look at candidate like rock stars. They are not rock stars, they are politicians! You don't swoon over them and ask for autographs. You ask them questions. It's a shame that more people vote during American Idol than in their local and regional elections. A damn shame. That says a lot about the American electorate.
There was a reason that the framers of the Constitution decided to put the Electoral College in place (an issue we seem to ignore even though the last two presidential elections were won by questionable means and both parties remain mum about those situations). Many of them including Thomas Jefferson who was very vocal about it, felt that the average American did not have the proper education to make a rational decision about voting. There are days when I wake up and say we need a poll test. When an racist and irresponsible idiot loses a gubernatorial candidate by the slimmest of margins to a well qualified one, I have to say maybe we need folks to take a test before they vote.
When candidates lose because they wore the wrong tie on T.V. (yes this has happened) or refused to wear make up, I have to question the electorate. The mainstream media is the mainstream media. They want to sell papers and get good ratings. No one has to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out. Yet if we can't sit back and decipher what is actual news and what is media hoopla, then I can only place the blame on the people.
We can't expect to get the answers we need if we don't ask the right questions. If we want to get to the heart of the matter we have to be ready to engage in an intellectual discourse. Some of us may have to do some reading and some of us will have to change our circle of friends. Some may call this elitist thinking but to be honest, we have to really move away from this cult of anti intellectualism. It's killing us and putting us in the same situation over and over again.
