INTELLIGENTNEWZNET

INFORMING
the HIP-HOP COMMUNITY

INTELLIGENT OUTRAGE…THEY JUST DON’T GET IT!

This article contains excerpts from Wise Intelligent’s
forthcoming book … “"3/5 of an MC: The Manufacturing of a Dumbed-Down
Rapper.”

Knowledge is the base of existence that I…

Build upon ya intelligence through the power of the real…

Wisdom is a purified word or an act…

That can bring rap back in fact I’m ill….

Get knowledge get the wisdom but in everything you gettin…

Hope you get the understanding so you’ll see the picture
clear…” - Wise Intelligent “I’m Him” from Wise Intelligent iz…The
Talented Timothy Taylor

When I say that "Its No
Longer Smart To BE Dumb" I am by no means referring exclusively to rappers
and/or the Hip Hop community. Rather, I am speaking also of the greater
"black" community and all of its parts!

In my hood, a.k.a. New Jersey, New
Jerusalem or Dirty Jerz (which ever you prefer), the Department of Education
(DOE) and all of its parts are doing more harm to black youth than the sum-total
of all so-called "gangster" or "misogynistic" rap lyrics
combined!

According to an August 17, 2007 Trenton Times
article entitled "Schools Fall Short on Test Reports" we are informed
that no less than 618 schools in New
Jersey "did not meet their yearly progress
standards." The report goes on to say that "517 schools went two or
more years in a row without meeting the standards" and that "38
schools failed to meet the standards for seven years in a row." Seven?!

But here is the stinger for me. Trenton, NJ
(a.k.a. The Land
of Truth) which
is barely 7.5 square miles in area has 15 schools on the list? This is
damn near every school in the district. Not to mention that Trenton Central
High School and every high school in
the immediate suburbs (Ewing, Hamilton, Lawrence, Nottingham)
are also on the list of 618 failing schools.

However this analysis is not to
determine whether No Child Left Behind and its policy of policing schools works
or not (we all no that it doesn't), the point is that the ineffectiveness
of the American "educational" system at educating black youth was and
has been a problem long before No Child Left Behind and is no new revelation.
The heartache comes in seeing the doctors, ministers, and
cremators of the black community launch national campaigns attacking
the very same black children (the "Hip Hop" community) who have
been failed by a system that is designed for them to fail!

I have heard all sorts of excuses
to explain away the reality of the situation; excuses like "these children
are uneducable" or that its "bad parenting" or simply
"these children don't get it" or "their parents don't get
it." Not once have we seen a thorough examination and evaluation of the
system in which the children are embedded as the direct cause of their failure
to "get it."

When we add the fact that 98% of
all black youth attend these failing public schools the seriousness of the
issue is made apparent!

In a 20/20 report entitled “Zoned Out of a Good Education,”
John Stossel tells the story of 18-year-old Dorian Cain of South Carolina, who
was still “struggling to read a single sentence in a first-grade level book”
when he met him. This, despite the fact that his “public schools had spent
nearly $100,000 on him over 12 years.” They squandered over $100,000, wasted 12
years of this boy’s life, and never taught him to read? This is a kid who’s
trying to take advantage of Brown vs. The Board of Education [Mr. Cosby], but
the system failed him. We are not talking about calculus, scientific notations
or quantum physics, they couldn’t teach him to read?

Before
you say that the child may have had a ‘learning disability” (excuse used by
inadequate teaching staffs), lets see what happened next. So, Stossel says, the
news program "20/20" sent Dorian to Sylvan, a private learning
center, “to see if teachers there could teach Dorian to read when the South Carolina public
schools failed to.” Astonishingly, the report tells us that this learning
center “Using computers and workbooks, Dorian's reading
went up two grade levels -- after just 72 hours of instruction.” In just
three days the private learning center was able to boost this young mans
reading by two whole grade levels?

“I was a seed with a
seed, I mean a baby with a baby…

Half my teachers
called me crazy when they failed to educate me…

They said I had a
deficit, disorder of attention…

Couldn’t teach me to
read so they pegged me for prison…” - Wise Intelligent, “Go With Me”
from “Wise Intelligent iz…The Talented Timothy Taylor”

The
public school system is a joke, and an insult to parents and children who fail
for want of a good education. It was Bill Cosby who went on an endless rant
about how “the lower economic and lower middle economic
people are [not*] holding to their end in this deal” and that “Brown Versus the Board of Education is no longer the white
person’s problem.” I mean Mr. Huxtable went as far as mocking the broken
English spoken by poor black youth, saying “It [your
child] can’t speak English. It doesn’t want to speak English. I can’t even talk
the way these people talk. “Why you ain’t where you is go, ra…” But, 18
year old Dorian Cain wanted to learn to speak English properly. His mother
thought he’d be taught language arts and English literature in his 12 years of
“taking advantage” of Brown vs. Topeka,
but the system failed him miserably! Why are we so afraid to look at the root
cause of our issues!

Dorian
Cain’s mother, Gena Cain, summed it all up when she said that she was “thrilled with Dorian's progress but disappointed with his
public schools.” With Sylvan,”she says ‘it's a huge improvement. And they're doing what
they're supposed to do. They're on point. But I can't say the same for the
public schools," she said. . “Gena Cain”
the report says, “like most parents, doesn't have a
choice which public school her kids attend. She
followed the rules, and her son paid the price.” Yes, Gena Cain followed all the rules, but
she had no idea that her son would end up dumber after twelve years of school
than he was when he entered.

The large majority of today’s rappers – mainstream, underground,
conscious or dumbed-down – are the product of the same machine that failed
Dorian Cain. The average rap artist is Dorian Cain and Dorian Cain the average
rap artist. No doubt, a young Dorian Cain entered the “educational” process
willing and eager to learn, but the machine destroyed him. It mutilated his
self esteem and devoured his self image and pride.
Janice Hale in her study Learning While
Black “compared the educational progress of
children who had just entered Head Start with those who had been there for two
years. She found that children who had just entered performed better,
regardless of social demographics. The older children who attended Head Start
the longest possessed lower scores.” After
considering the results of her research Hale concluded that “African American children do not enter school disadvantaged, they leave disadvantaged. There’s nothing wrong with children, but there
is clearly something wrong with what happens to them in school.” –
Jawanza Kunjufu, Black Students, Middle Class Teachers, p. 95, 2002

When we add the psychological effects of the racism and
discrimination that many black youth have to deal with just sitting in most
American classrooms throughout the school year the problem becomes even more
serious. For all of us who are of the opinion that racism is no longer a factor
in America’s
schools just Google “The Jenna 6.”

Hell is the human bondage…suffered when inner conscious

Go undiscovered, due to ego and a lack of knowledge

You should go back to college, tell your professor’s for
profit

They taught you nothing, then Molotov coattail bomb it! Wise Intelligent “Intelligent Wise” for
Wise Intelligent iz…The Talented Timothy Taylor

As it is our policy to never present a problem without
presenting what we feel is the INTELLIGENT solution, here goes the solution. It
is obvious what works and has been working in black communities throughout the
country for the past 30 years and even before the 1960’s in some parts of the US.
Wherever you find an independent black school with an Afrocentric curriculum
educating black youth from a psychological perspective based on their history
and experiences as a people, you also find a high percentage of exceptional
students with high self-esteem and enhanced racial pride; two elements that are
essential for any person or group of people to build! And if you don’t believe
me then go ask every other racial group on this planet! From Jewish to Amish they
NOT only teach their child Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, they teach them
about their history (good and bad), the magnificence of their culture, and most
importantly self-love and self-worth. Why are we so afraid to say what needs to
be said and do what needs to be done to fix our problems!

The Council of Independent Black
Institutions (CIBI) (www.cibi.org) is a national model of the kind of
curriculum that works for black youth. With about 40 small schools nation wide
this institution continues to churn out some of the best and brightest black
minds in the country. However, it is the “guards” at the gate of the black
community who quickly say “that’s segregation?” But, where have they been? America’s
schools have been segregated since before and after Brown vs. The Board of
Education. In a report done
by the Community Service Society of New York we read the following:

“70
percent of black students across the country attend schools that have a
majority of minority students. One out of three is in schools with at least 90
percent students of color.”

America’s
schools are, today, just as segregated as they were before Brown vs. Board of Education. “More
recently,” says Edwin Schur, “the “Coleman Report” on equality of educational
opportunity has made clear that, almost fifteen years after the Supreme Court’s
historic school desegregation decisions, segregated schooling is the rule
rather than the exception across the nation.” – Edwin M. Schur, Our
Criminal Society, p. 48, 1969; James S. Coleman, Equality of Educational
Opportunity, Washington, D.C.: U.S.
Government Printing Office, 1966

The argument that independent
Afrocentric schools or curriculums are based on the practice of “segregation”
is evidence of a pathological flight from reality. The reality is that
segregation, as stated in the above report “is the rule rather than the
exception.” Yes the report was from 1966 but I used it to compare with the
present situation and the following report:

“Those who do not want their
children to be handicapped by the learning problems of others who have suffered generations of oppression,
ignorance, and neglect simply abandon the city schools that these students were
being integrated into and fled to richer suburban schools. Over 52% of
Americans live in the suburban areas surrounding the large metropolises (Elam,
1993, p.196). Today, Blacks, Hispanics, and poorer children dominate 23 of the
nations 25 largest urban school systems (Frady, 1985, p.13). This has raised a permanent fissure in our
public schools and has separated them into two separate and unequal class
systems - one suburban, privileged and mostly white; and the other inner-city,
poorer and mostly non-white.”
- Amy Golba How Does Education in Urban Schools Compare to Suburban Schools?
Communicated by Marsha Heck.

In light of the above reality we must EMPLOY WHAT WORKS by
“ANY MEANS NECESSARY!” But let’s get back to what works.

One highly publicized example of what works was highlighted
on an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show. On this show Oprah spoke with black
educators from a Ohio school district I believe, who separated the black
student body (who had lower scores than everyone else) and black staff from the
rest of the schools students and staff so that the black students and teachers
could really see what was at stake. This was effective because it allowed black
students to step out of the system and view it from a perspective that spoke
directly to their history and experiences. Today those same black children are
well above average and in some areas achieving higher than their peers of other
nationalities.

The point is that we have a severe and extreme crisis of
inadequate, inefficient and incapable education that will require severe and
extreme measures to repair. The ‘guards” that have positioned themselves at the
gates of the black community must begin to employ what works for black youth
regardless to who that course of action might offend. Our condition is too
severe to burden ourselves with being “politically correct” or with upsetting
the current power structure or some “underwriter.” OUR CHILDREN ARE DYING FROM THE INSIDE OUT!!!

This by far is the most important issue confronting the
black community, but somehow Michael Vick, Akon and the rappers have garnered
more attention and rebuke than a system of “education” that is responsible for
creating more Michael Vicks, 50 Cents, Snoop Doggs, CamRon’s, Stan “Tookie”
Williams and “Freeway” Rick Ross’s than all three decades of Hip Hop music
combined!

“And now the elders, act like we the reason why

As if our generation, fell from out the fu*kin sky

I guess the fruit are falling further from the trees

Cuz nobody wants to harvest, what’s become of black seeds” - Wise Intelligent “Set U Free” from Wise Intelligent
iz…Talented Timothy Taylor”

I guess the elders, leaders and guards of the black
community, are like the black youth in my hoods public schools “THEY JUST DON”T GET IT!

WISE INTELLIGENT

Proper

Education

Always

Corrects

Errors

It’s NO LONGER Smart to be DUMB!

The New Album Wise Intelligent Iz "The Talented Timothy Taylor" is Available on iTunes! Buy it HERE!

INTELLIGENTNEWZNET

INFORMING the HIP-HOP COMMUNITY

IT’S NO LONGER SMART TO BE
DUMB!

By Wise Intelligent

On July 17th, I will drop my second solo album, Wise Intelligent iz…The Talented Timothy
Taylor and I sincerely appreciate AllHipHop.com for giving me this
opportunity to connect and build with you.

Now conventional wisdom would
say I should use this forum to exclusively promote my new album, but me being me
I thought I would use this time to speak on some of the critical issues facing
not only Hip-Hop but the Black Community as well. I'll offer a few
solutions…

The title of this article is also the motto and slogan of Wise
Intelligent, Intelligent Muzik and the INTELLIGENTNEWZNET. The slogan speaks to
my position that we as a community (Hip-Hop/Black) have succumbed to the idea
that ignorance is not only bliss, but profitable. It was Jay-Z who said “I
dumb down for my audience and doubled my dollars / They criticize me for it yet
they all yell 'Holla.'" The focus of this article is not to determine
whether or not ignorance or dumbing down lyrics is profitable, rather to
demonstrate why such an idea is counterproductive, self-destructive,
anti-Hip-Hop and ultimately - anti-Black.

When we consider the fact that
Black people and the Black community (worldwide) are the leading victims of
nearly every life threatening disease, assault, injustice and/or circumstance
(be it consequence or contrived), the INTELLIGENT man, woman or child must ask
themselves why for the past 15 years have the overwhelming majority of
mainstream MCs/rappers (whichever you prefer) NOT addressed some of the more
substantive issues and concerns with anymore aggression than a Public Broadcast
Station PSA? And when you do find a mainstream MC/rapper who steps up and tries
to give us a little more substance the overwhelming majority of the mainstream
press down plays the whole thing. I mean Nelly should be just as known in our
community for his "Jes Us 4 Jackie” organization that raises awareness about
leukemia and bone marrow donor programs across the country as he is known for
his “Tip Drill” song and controversy. It’s NO LONGER
Smart to be DUMB!

I mean, take HIV/AIDS for example: Of the 1.2
million Americans living with HIV, the AIDS virus, in 2003, 47 percent were
African-American, even though Blacks account for only 12.3 percent of the U.S.
population. In 2004, Black men were diagnosed with HIV/AIDS at a rate 603.7
percent higher than that of White men. Black women were diagnosed in 2004 at a
rate 1,993 percent higher than that of White women. Even in the face of such
decimating statistics, it seems that all we hear from mainstream Black Radio,
Video networks and Black artists is “Pop Lock and Drop it,” “I’m a Flirt,” and
countless other recordings that perpetuate promiscuity and inevitably the spread
of HIV/AIDS? Please tell me why they (the media) are not aggressively pushing
the fact that Common has linked up with the “KNOW HIV/AIDS” campaign and
program? How many HIV/AIDS infected inner-city kids would have greatly benefited
from knowing about his connection to this organization just like the GAP
financially benefited greatly from his connection to Hip-Hop?
It’s NO LONGER Smart to be
DUMB!

Then there is the Homicide rate: From 1996 to 2000 in a single
neighborhood in Trenton, NJ,
homicide rose 154% amongst teenagers. Between 1999 and 2003, Blacks in
Summit County, Ohio, were killed at a rate of 14.6 per
100,000, compared with 2.7 per 100,000 Whites. At the moment that I am writing
this article Philadelphia is rapidly approaching its 200th
homicide in just a little over six months. Still, I have not heard any
mainstream rappers dealing with this issue with any level of understanding and
urgency? It’s NO LONGER Smart to be
DUMB!

Now I know a lot of you might be saying at this point that if
your favorite mainstream MC/rapper puts those types of socially and or
politically relative themes on his or her albums or projects they won’t sell CDs
to the same degree. Well if that’s the case then we really should start dealing
with the deeper reasons behind that, because artists in other genres and
communities are not suffering any financial backlash for being activists and
spokespersons for social causes, as a matter of fact their careers are often
enhanced because of it. Take for example, Drew Barrymore, Meg Ryan ,Salma Hayek,
Sheryl Crow, George Clooney, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Bono, Elton John,
Leonardo DiCaprio, and countless others who have all stepped up and used
activism to strengthen their careers, and call attention to issues ranging from
the environment, poverty, education, animal rights, to the genocide in Darfur.


My point for bringing these other entertainers and what they do into
this discussion is to show you that it is NOT professional suicide or “old
school” to make your art socially relevant and representative of ideas that
would push us past our current state of confusion and self-destruction. I mean
if George Clooney can speak about the issues in Darfur and his movies still go over $100,000,000, why
can’t I expect to be financially secure by speaking about the same things?
It’s NO LONGER Smart to be
DUMB!

Now what I do see from us are Hip-Hop artists and organizations
galvanizing and mobilizing their manpower, wealth, resources and fan bases to
vote for some bulls**t politicians who will continue in the long standing
American custom of handing down shallow policies and signing in rhetorical laws,
that only serve to cool down our revolting spirit, but are never intended to
honestly address the root of the problems. We can “Rock the Vote” until the
b***h tips over, but using voting as our main and in most times ONLY viable
strategy for change, I’m sad to say, is a tragic mistake and will never fix the
core and central problems that keep popping up over and over again. The only
thing we haven’t tried since the Black Wall Street days is to establish a solid
infrastructure, which in all reality is our ONLY true protection from the racist
policies of both Jackasses and Elephants, and if you don’t believe me just ask
the Jewish, Chinese, and Amish Communities! It’s NO LONGER
Smart to be DUMB!

Hip-Hop, to prevent not only the death of itself,
but to prevent the death and extinction of the very people from which it came,
must look back into its root and rediscover the ACTIVISM of its founders; Afrika
Bambataa in particular. To affect change in his Bronx, New York community,
Afrika Bambataa who was a member of the Black Spades street gang, organized the
youth in a way that would motivate them towards positive attitudes and
lifestyles through artistic expression; namely MC/rapping, deejaying,
breakdancing and graffiti art. This newly organized outlet for urban expression
deterred many youth from the violence of ghetto life and gave birth to the
multi-billion dollar industry that is Hip-Hop. It’s NO LONGER Smart to be DUMB!


This ACTIVISM is wherein Hip-Hop’s true power exists. And not only
Hip-Hop’s power but the power of the Black Community is only demonstrated when
all its members are active. As I often say “Black people did not get the right
to vote, by voting.” It was the activism of its members that made this possible.
Black radio, the Black church, the Black artists, the Black politicians, Black
athletes, actors/actresses, entrepreneurs were for the most part active in the
struggle to liberate the Black community from injustice, poverty and
ignorance. It’s NO LONGER Smart to be
DUMB!

Unless we, the members of the Hip-Hop and/or Black Community
are reconnected to the power of ACTIVISM we are in effect powerless! The MC is
only as powerful as she or he is active. The same can be said of the DJ,
Graffiti writer, politician, pastor, teacher, entrepreneur, parent, mentor, etc.
Metaphysics teaches us that the powers or qualities of an entity (human or
Divine) are distributed through all its parts and that only through the
connection with the entity are these powers released. The entity in this case is
activism; and as long as we are not connected to that source we can not release
its powers and get about the business of healing our communities. It’s NO LONGER Smart to be DUMB!


Although the causes of most of the problems we face are much more
inconspicuous these days, the effects of them are evidence of their existence.
As stated above we are the leading HIV/AIDS victims, Homicide, etc. and when we
add Incarceration rates, Heart Disease, Stroke, Diabetes, Cancer, Obesity,
Infant Mortality, single parent households, high-school drop out rates, poverty
and illiteracy to the list it becomes apparent that Nas was not so clairvoyant
when he surmised that “Hip Hop Is Dead.” Hip-Hop is merely a microcosm of the
Black Community and reflects in real time, the Black community’s feelings,
attitudes and struggles. Knowing this, we can deduce that, it is not Hip-Hop,
but rather the Black Community that is DEAD!

It’s dead because it
refuses to take the necessary steps toward saving its children and their future
and maybe the future of the collective BLACK WORLD! Considering the current
state of the Hip Hop/Black community we can not in the words of a fellow MC be
an “MC first, and an activist second,” we must develop a social theory that
requires that every individual regardless of his vocation, be an activist first
and what ever his occupation, vocation or office is, it should facilitate that
activism!

We the Hip-Hop/Black community and all of our members were and
still are born into aversive conditions, be they apparent or inconspicuous,
which require an active effort to attack, escape and free ourselves from them.
Until we begin to develop a social theory that determines the behavior and
direction of the Black community and its future; until this social theory is
predicated on the development of Black infrastructure that facilitates the
desire of poor people to do the right thing; until we stop giving the highest
value in life to making money; until we 187 our anti-intellectual,
anti-theoretical and A-Historical behavior we can convincingly argue that THE BLACK RACE IS DEAD!

We
must start stepping up in mass numbers to address our issues, because if ignored
these problems and plagues will continue to multiply and be inherited by our
children’s children! I promise you that Activism will NOT take away from you
skill, your beats, your reputation, your swagger, your ability to have sex, or
your bank account; in fact it will only strengthen your career and give you the
freedom to express more than just one aspect of yourself! The Hip-Hop and Black
Community must immerse ourselves in more INTELLIGENT DIALOGUE, more INTELLIGENT BEHAVIOR, more INTELLIGENT MUZIK, and more WISE INTELLIGENT because, It’s
absolutely NO LONGER Smart to be DUMB!


Thank you for giving me this moment to build with you, and remember
my new album Wise Intelligent iz…The
Talented Timothy Taylor is coming out on July 17th on Intelligent Muzik
and Shaman Work Recordings….

For information about Wise Intelligent,
Intelligent Muzik, the INTELLIGENTNEWZNET, and Shaman Work Records please hit us
up at www.myspace.com/wiseintelligent, www.shamanwork.com

It’s NO LONGER Smart to be
DUMB!

INTELLIGENTNEWZNET

INFORMING the HIP-HOP COMMUNITY

An Intelligent Word…YOU AIN’T HIP HOP!

Here we go again. I love Hip Hop, although, not as much as I love the people that created it and continue to shape its destination. With that being said, I do have some things that I dislike about Hip Hop or more specifically the people who say they “love” it. I’m talking about the “neo-conservative” crusaders for what is “real” Hip Hop! You know the religious Hip Hop “purest” that draw a line between what they consider “real” and for lack of a single term “commercial/mainstream/jiffy-pop” or just plain ole “rap.”

Some argue that “real” Hip Hop has been regulated to the “underground” by major record companies who only want to exploit, control and further ruin Hip Hop culture. Today the so-called “real” Hip Hop has become synonymous with the “underground” so whatever is not played on mainstream radio and or video has become “underground” or “the real” Hip Hop and this, in my opinion, is utter bullshit! Now I would agree that the major corporations have taken control of Hip Hop from the financial perspective (funding, distribution, deciding which songs get put into regular radio/video rotation), but to arbitrarily call and or label the “underground” “real” and the “mainstream” “fake” is quite frankly bullshit.

I mean we actually have people debating whether or not Hip Hop is a snap or a snare, a white-tee or a button-up. Then there’s the “real” Hip Hop breakdown by territory i.e., is “the south” Hip Hop? Is “the west” Hip Hop? Is the “mid-west” Hip Hop? I read an article recently entitled “Did the South Kill Hip Hop?” You know, that’s some straight dumb shit and one of the key reasons for the weakness in Hip Hop right now! Many so-called “underground” or “real” MC’s think that as long as they don’t say what 50 Cent, Lil Wayne or Jay-Z says, then they are repping the “real” Hip Hop? I’ve listened to a lot of Hip Hop in my life. I’ve made a lot of Hip Hop in my few days and I have a fairly sound history of the culture itself, and I know for a fact that it was/is all this infantile tribalism and lack of infrastructure that facilitated the financial takeover of Hip Hop by alien forces and not a fuckin snap beat!

You see I can still remember a time when Ice-T (LA) used to roll with Afrika Islam (New York). I can remember a time when Afrika Bambaataa made music and created an organization that reached out and embraced every sound and culture in the universe! I can remember when I (Trenton) was on tour with Ice Cube (Compton) and Too Short (Oakland). I can remember when Hip Hop radio and video shows used to play joints by Boogie Down Productions, The Jungle Brothers, Kid N Play, Slick Rick, Salt N Pepa, Heavy D, Queen Latifah, X-Clan, NWA, 2-Live Crew, Kid Frost, Rakim, PRT, LL, Paris, MC Hammer, Freshco and Miz, MC Lyte, Kool Moe Dee, Public Enemy, Nice and Smooth, Tribe Called Quest, The D.O.C., The Gheto Boys, JJ Fad, Tone Loc, Young MC, Shinehead, Milk D, Just Ice, Chubb Rock, RUN DMC, Sir Mix A Lot, The Fresh Prince, Big Daddy Kane, Kool G. Rap, King Tee, The Hieroglyphics, and Biz Markie all on the same program! And regardless of where they were from, what beats they rocked to, or what subject matter they chose to talk about, they ALL were regarded as REAL HIP HOP!

The spectrum of my associates in Hip Hop straddle an unbroken span of mainstream and underground artists from Trenton, NJ, to California to Japan to Europe and back to the Tri-State area and the one thing I know for sure is that 50 Cent is no less Hip Hop than MF Doom! And if you’re out there still yelling and screaming that the subject matter is the defining factor in determining who is “real” and who is “fake” I have some very sobering news for you, cuz frankly speaking, the large majority of so-called “underground” rappers, yes “rappers” just like many mainstream rappers, ain’t saying shit either! In fact, most of these “underground” or “real” rappers are caught up in their own “fantasy mentality” and apart from talking about magical amulets, funny-colored weed, and how they’ll take-out any “mainstream” or “commercial” rapper, they never say anything socially relative, thought provoking, or political either!

Now don’t get it twisted; I really enjoy MC’s/Rappers like MF Doom, but no more or less than I do 50 Cent. Well, actually, I am a bigger fan of 50 Cent. But just look at these two rappers for a moment, they have more in common than not. The only apparent difference is production styles. Music aside MF Doom, like 50 Cent is a marketing genius. MF Doom is doing voice over work (Sherman the Giraffe) on a cartoon series on Adult Swim (Perfect Hair Forever), and 50 Cent has landed a couple of movie roles. MF Doom has a super-hero doll on the market, and I read that he also has teamed up with Nike to create his own shoes now known as the “Nike Dunk High Premium SB MF DOOM”. 50 Cent has sneakers, clothing, a book and Vitamin Water on the market. I do not believe that MF Doom would pass up the opportunity to have a book, a clothing line, or a “Formula Doom” Vitamin Water on the market. This is evident in the fact that he has a “commercial” action-figure and works with the Cartoon Network! My point is that MF Doom is just as commercial as 50 Cent no matter how we slice it, AND THAT IS NOT A BAD THING!

I guess the $400 million dollar question is “which of these two rappers (50 Cent or MF Doom) are not REAL Hip Hop and for what reasons?” It can’t be because of the lyrical content and in light of the facts; it can’t be because of mainstream “commercialism.” So tell me why does only one of these rappers wear the title of “the real” Hip Hop and the other one labeled as the “mainstream” or commercialized” sell-out of “real” Hip Hop??? Proponents of this position have argued and continue to argue frivolous points like “it’s the beats?” They say 50 Cent and others are making R&B, not Hip Hop? I have even heard it argued that a “real” Hip Hop beat, must have a snare? In the event that said track contains a dreadfully mainstream and commercializing “snap” or clap instead of a snare, they say it’s not “real” Hip Hop?

Listen…Hip Hop samples everything from folk, jazz, blues, country, rock, pop, metal, be-bop, ska, reggae, calypso, movies, sirens, gun shots, world music, classical, Indian, continental African, Arabian, and all other types and sorts of music including the “underground” or “real” Hip Hop kryptonite that is R&B. Whodini’s hit record “Friends” was no “Boom Bap” track and they were singing in the chorus? Was it not Hip Hop? Melle Mel’s “The Message” was no “Boom Bap” track, but I ask you, was it Hip Hop? Was LL Cool J “I Need Love” a real track Hip Hop? The Main Source “Looking at the Front-door” was an R&B sample I believe. Who are these assholes who wish to put Hip Hop in a box of monotonous kicks and snares? My guess is that they are a small crew of rhythm-less “corny” mother-fuckers who have never been FRESH!

They run around in obscurity on the other side of their computer screens debating whether wearing gators is Hip Hop or not? Yes, a lot of mainstream rappers occasionally rocked a pair of gators, but so did some of the illest “underground” rappers in the business of scripting rhyme, like Freddy “Bumby Knuckles” Foxxx and believe me I have the magazine to prove it! I dare you simple “niggas” to say that Bump Knuckles is not “real” Hip Hop because he likes to put on some fly shit occasionally! You wouldn’t dare! Educated rapper of UTFO wore gators and suits, Jekyll and Hyde wore gators and suits, Double Trouble in Wild Style wore full tuxedos, Dane Dane, Slick Rick, were always dressed up so what the hell are you talking about?

Some misinformed people even say that Nelly, Juvenile, Baby, Lil Wayne, etc. are not Hip Hop because of their “grillz” but it was JUST-ICE that introduced most of us to “grillz.” JUST-ICE is a hip Hop icon that was so proud of his grill that he sat them atop his black leather Kangol and took a picture of them for his cover! This is my point my young “real” Hip Hoppers, Hip Hop culture is neither a “snap” nor a “snare.” It’s neither gators nor Chuck’s, white-tee nor button-up, sweat-suits nor denim, gangster nor scholar, and no, it is neither underground nor commercial. Rather, Hip Hop encompasses all of the aforementioned expressions. In fact, Hip Hop is “an urban communication…a forum of expression…a projection of ideas…a reflection of life…a manifestation of consciousness…a poetical musing…a superficial thought…a random opinion…a dream realized…or a ray of light on a situation”. It’s ALL of the above and more! 28 inch spinning rims, fly-cars, fly-girls, gaudy-jewelry, suits and fly-kicks has always been a part of Hip Hop, just as African beads, African medallions, Ostrich feathers, leather pants, and raccoon tails. EXPRESS your self, BE your self, it is your duty as an artist, but when you become an imperialist tyrant who wish to force your “form” of self-expression on others as the ONLY or “REAL” way to articulate ourselves in the world, you my friend, are no different from emperor George W. Bush and the neo-cons who wish to turn the rest of the world into the west! YOU AIN’T HIP HOP!

WISE INTELLIGENT

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It’s NO LONGER Smart to be DUMB!