Friday morning I stared at my Twitter feed in utter disbelief. MCA had lost his battle with cancer. Damn! This is no way to begin my weekend…*sigh*… I RT (re-tweet for those unfamiliar with “Twitterverse lexicon”) each and every RIP, tribute, quote, video clip, or what have you that commemorates Adam Yauch.  I’m stuck for a moment trying to process a comment from my favorite Hip Hop percussionist that read:

@questlove: nice save Brian you got caught out there and now its like “i was just making a parody?” right http://bit.ly/Keq95a#midlifecrisis

Honestly, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s wit is fathomless, in doing my best to keep up, imagine my shock after following the link to the headline, “New York Post Columnist Goes Full-Racist on Jay-Z’s Brooklyn Nets” *blinking blank stare* Really, mmmkaaaay…What’s this all about?  I couldn’t believe what was about to assault my vision.

“As long as the Nets are allowing Jay-Z to call their marketing shots — what a shock that he chose black and white as the new team colors to stress, as the Nets explained, their new “urban” home — why not have him apply the full Jay-Z treatment?

Why the Brooklyn Nets when they can be the New York N———s? The cheerleaders could be the Brooklyn B——hes or Hoes. Team logo? A 9 mm with hollow-tip shell casings strewn beneath. Wanna be Jay-Z hip? Then go all the way!”

I…I…I…I…*I’m confused…My vision is blurred…I’m dizzy…I’m speechless…Oh God I’m having a stroke!* I do the only thing I know in situations like these. I switch to my mind’s only default, I need my MOMME!!! I text my mother the link and ask her if she’s seen it, and what she thinks. This was her reply via text message:

Read the article in my mind not worth responding to ……
Unless Jay-Z is outraged then, of course,  I’d be interested in his reply….. Otherwise I am totally unprovoked which
I think was the purpose of the article  to push Black folks reactionary button.
What else is going on in the world that someone is trying to make sure goes unnoticed.

My Mommé had a point. There’s always a catch, but then again this is neither HER culture nor HER, generational icon that was being denigrated.  While on one hand unfortunately I do find myself immune and often only shaking my head when some people display who they really are, my mother’s view can only go so far as she is of the mind that the only reason people go to see The Roots is because of Questlove.  *Don’t judge my Momme* While he may be the steam powering the musical locomotive, undeniably the fusion of musical virtuoso with unknown blackness of thought as deep as the name are what have come to be synonymous with the Legendary Foundation known as The Roots Crew.

My initial impetus in writing this peace was my disgust at the overt disrespect and racism Mushnick displayed, but on a macrocosmic level it begs the question ‘What is the REAL personification of Hip Hop today?’ In all sincerity, I AM offended.  Not so much at the racism ironically. What is most disheartening through this all, is what it truly says about our supposed ‘post racial’ America and what it REALLY sees African Americans as when viewing US through the commercial filter of Rap music?

Nearly 20 years before his untimely demise, Brooklyn rapper Notorious B.I.G said, “Remember Rappin Duke? Duh Ha Du Ha? Whoever thought that Hip Hop would make it this far?”  To answer his question no one, and not only did no one expect it clearly, some people are still finding it difficult to accept. Jay-Z is not the first criminal turned businessman in the corporate world, but nobody seems to constantly force a reminder of the Kennedy legacy. 

Jay-Z, like many of his contemporaries in Rap, has made no bones about selling drugs, and admitted to having led a criminal past, but WHY is it that there is such critical eye turned on the content of Rap music when much of it has been influenced more significantly by White American Pop culture than anything else, but that [White American Pop culture] gets celebrated?  The American Film Industry considers Scarface among the Top Ten American films ever made. The Godfather is heralded as one of the greatest films in world cinema to date. Each respectively glorified not only merciless murdering; they also displayed calculating characters. Glorified gangsters and mob culture are the hallmark of these multimillion-dollar movie franchises, but it’s only entertainment when THEY [White men] do it. Why is that?

Why is Rap’s rap so bad? If, the ills and implications of such criminal activity and gratuitous sex are so benevolent why not rail against Playboy? Why not the movie industry as a whole? If people like Mushnick really have a problem with the content of the music, why not address the White label owners and executives that not only give the okay for such content to be distributed, but profit exponentially from its very existence? First and foremost the music industry is a business, and Jay-Z is an exception to most every rule in that his success garners a level of creative control few enjoy. Most rappers however, do not.  Additionally, most emcees, don’t rhyme about drugs, sex or hoes, let alone glorify money, and murder.  That’s where the line is however. There is a fine line between art and commerce. ‘The ART of emceeing is express through the ACT of RHYMING.’  Rapping is something anyone can do, rhyming is a skill, but on the world stage, I guess to racists like Phil Mushnick all niggas and their music are the same. 

Yes, back to Mushnick-the racist. I do indeed think he is, and his comments are indicative of one that is and should be categorized as a racist. The suggestion that because the team is taking direction of the Rap mogul the choice of the colors black and white, his umbrage with the new ‘urban theme’, his statement “why not have him apply the full Jay-Z treatment? Why the Brooklyn Nets when they can be the New York N———s? The cheerleaders could be the Brooklyn B——hes or Hoes.” are all the meme of a racist. Furthering insult to injury, as if the whole 9mm shell casings on the logo weren’t bad enough was the obscene lack of remorse.

Mushnick can’t believe the outrage. He tells Bob’s Blitz:

Such obvious, wishful and ignorant mischaracterizations of what I write are common. I don’t call black men the N-word; I don’t regard young women as bitches and whores; I don’t glorify the use of assault weapons and drugs. Jay-Z, on the other hand…..Is he the only NBA owner allowed to call black men N—-ers?

Jay-Z profits from the worst and most sustaining self-enslaving stereotypes of black-American culture and I’M the racist? Some truths, I guess, are just hard to read, let alone think about.

Jay-Z’s rhymes are his confessions in graphic detail of his sins, his past criminal ways, transgressions, tragedy and depths of despair that shake the average person to the core at the thought. He chronicles the experience of a former hustler having survived many lifetimes worth of struggle, pain, and suffering growing up in Brooklyn’s Marcy Projects, statistically speaking, he’s anomalous. We have been privy to this extraordinary rise to prominence and real-time realization of the American Dream through his lyrical autobiographies. To make such inferences about the now reformed, successful businessman, Mushnick’s comments suggest that he has no respect or regard for the hard work or perseverance it has taken Jay-Z to become a co-owner of professional athletic club, but more importantly, his disdain for people of Hip Hop culture is much greater.

I would be remiss if I didn’t address his leadership. This is fail is an epic multi-tiered transgression on the part of the editors at the New York Post as well. Along with Mushnick, his editors need to go. He had a complicit co-conspirator in this, and that individual is responsible for giving the green light to publish this peace, thus equally as guilty as Mushnick for writing it. There are a couple of racists at The New York Post that need to be on the Soup Line. 

For what it’s worth, I do believe Rap has a role to play in this.  We as a culture have to stand up and reclaim our element from commercialism so that the Mushnicks of the world won’t immediately associate bitches, bling, and bullshit with Rap music.  I’m not saying it has to be homogenous, but I do think we have to commercially support a balance.  I’m not a fan of Rick Ross because of his choice of identity, glorification of criminal lifestyle, and the imagery he portrays in his music, especially given its contrived existence being purely an act to make money.  I do believe there are severe social implications to his content, not to mention today it’s unnecessary.  If you’re dope, rhyming about eating sandwiches will garner success. Goodie M.O.B. was successful with their first single Soul Food and short rotund front man Cee-Lo Green talking about, “A heaping helping of fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, collard greens, too big for my jeans.” Arrested Development said in the 90’s they wouldn’t sellout just to be sold out, and it’s time we in Hip Hop take a stand, and live this culture on principle or die on our knees at the hands of racist corporate greed.

I did it all for the money, Lord, it’s what it seems
Well, in the world of night terrors it’s, hard to dream
Holl’n Cash Rules Everything, let’s call it (C.R.E.A.M.)
‘cause when it rises to the top, you get, the finer things
Oceanfronts, rollin blunts, with model chicks
and sayin grace over lobster and steak
like, “Please forgive us for ridin Benzes with camera plates”
Too busy lookin backwards for jackers to pump my brakes
For help sign to symbolize the lives that hunger takes
Addicted to the green, if I don’t ball I’ll get the shakes
I’d give it all for peace of mind, for heaven’s sake
My heart’s so heavy that the ropes that hold my casket break
  ‘cause everything that wasn’t for me, I had to chase
I had to chase…

Young, prophetic, and introspective, K.R.I.T.’s verse on this track is reminiscent of Black Thought’s “Clock With No Hands” in which he waxes nostalgic, reflecting back on the sum total of his life experiences to date mainly those which have left him remorseful, and regretful, the words left unspoken, friends lost, literally and figuratively.  Thought is a man of nearly forty and a vet in the world of Rap, conversely K.R.I.T an new comer and just barely into his twenties speaking words wisely reflective of a man many years his senior. 

“Make My” is yet another “instant vintage” classic in the repertoire of Illedelph’s Legendary that we’ve come to expect, but again and again, the new generation of young emcees continue to debunk the deception that Hip Hop is dead, and real rhyming is an art lost, but Big K.R.I.T. is both young and Lyrically Driven.

 Ms. @Anya_Smith is upsetting the setup in the world of the undressed, Anya comes through to redress Rap’s misconception of women & rhyming.

Her Mixtap Anya - Pretty Color Bad News Hosted by DJ Grip is sure to paint a new picture for anyone laboring under the illusion of what female emcees are bringing to the table, because it’s not all about booty-poppin, baguettes, and bullshit.   

(Source: https)