When Will We "Move On Up?" When We Get a Real Emcee.

"Jesus was black. Ronald Reagan was the devil ...." ~ Huey Freeman, The Boondocks, The Pilot (The Garden Party).

Fifteen episodes later.

"Oh not just heaven Ruckus, white heaven. You see there are many different types of people so God created many seperate, but for the most part, equal heavens. White heaven is for decent, good God-fearing Christians who hate everyone and everything relating to black people. That means no Muhammad Ali, no hip hop music and no Jesse Jackson. ... It turns out God doesn't have that much of problem with racism. He doesn't even remember slavery except for during February. Personally, I hate black people Ruckus, that's why I did everything I could to make their lives miserable. Crack? Me. AIDS? Me. Reaganomics? Come on, I'm in the name." ~ Ronald Reagan guest appearing as himself, The Boondocks (The Passion of Ruckus).

Now it all makes sense. Can't you see it? Ronald Reagan, Kanye West and Crack Music?
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I had a lengthy talk with John Lennon's Black Daughter about a week ago about why Black America is the way it is today, why we have no distinguishable leaders aside from Russell Simmons and Jay-Z (and distinguishable doesn't mean Jay is who we should be following), how the hood became, well, the hood and why things seems as though they're not getting better any time soon.

No Black Leaders
Not Jesse Jackson, senior nor junior. Not Louis Farhakkan (sp should tell you i don't consider him a leader). Not the Rev. Al Sharpton.

There are more people in black society who look up to Russell Simmons and Jay-Z than any of the aforementioned. Russell is actually okay because he's truly business-minded, but then again you have to think about the majority of the records he has responsible for over that 20 years, and some of the messages. Then he also does provide us with an extremely positive one as well. Jay-Z. I shouldn't have to explain this, and I won't. He's a great rapper. They let the other two rappers our people tend to revere get shot (not assasinated, think Chris Rock).

The last great leader we had? It might have been Martin Luther King, Jr, and they found a way to use his name in vain with all the violence that goes down on MLK Avenues throughout the country.


That's just sad. Nobody has really stepped into the spotlight to lead our people, and the likes of Reagan, Bush and Bush would want it that way. I think that if we had one viable leader for all, who could indentify with the Hood and the Talented Tenth, we might actually progress.

The Neighborhood Became Hood

Crack, gang life and its perpetuation during the late 80s and early 90s with gangsta rap. It's as simple as that.

Crack and gang life existed in the 70s. Coming home from Vietnam on coke was commonplace. But it wasn't necessarily the 'it' thing to do for all blacks, unless you had great amounts of cash ala Ray Charles and Co. Somehow crack, the diluted version of coke, made it's way onto the black streets in a major way in the early 80s coincidentally during the mainstream introduction of hip hop, and Ronald Reagan taking the presidential office after serving as governor of California. Some how, the consequence for the charges concerning crack loomed larger than the charges for coke. Coincidence? I think not.

Hip Hop music of the early-to-mid 80s kept the party hype. It was about kicking it. Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five. The Sugar Hill Gang. Big Daddy Kane. Run DMC. Etc. They had fun. Meanwhile, Rick James did every drug you can imagine doing, and probably all at once.

But hip hop music didn't seem to negatively affect the hood until NWA and Ice T hit the scene. There music was as raw and as vivid as the lyrics provided by the aforementioned. But it, in some ways, glorified that lifestyle. Think about it? Do you remember the crips and bloods in your neighborhood before NWA dropped Straight Outta Compton? I don't. This just personfied and glorified this life style, and brought it to mainstream America, including every major city in the USA.

I think it's what everyone saw, and what everyone wanted, of course because hip hop sets the trend, even more so for the white kids. When NWA dropped that album, Ronald Reagan was in the Oval Office (or maybe by then it was Daddy Bush, who cares?) smiling like no other because this whole thing was on it's way to being blown out of the water.

Forget My adidas. It was time for dickies, white tees and hustling. Do you know why Tommy Hilifiger became so popular? Because Snoop Dogg wore his gear at some MTV Music Awards show during a performance in the early 90s. Everyone wanted that lifestyle, and mimmicked it. And look at us now. In hell (probably, considering Huey Freeman did call him the devil), Ronald is loving every second of it. It's too bad the ideals are visible in the suburban high schools as well. I guess karma has its purpose.

Moving on Down
Maybe it's the fact that though music is fun again it's still full of extremely suggestive and derogatory lyrics and videos (I was Gettin Some, Ms. New Booty, Laffy Taffy, Hard Out Here for a Pimp, etc.).

This is what our people worship. We don't desire to wear business suits. We want to rock Roc-a-Wear and Sean John and Phat Farm and Snowman Tees and shirts and hats with rhinestones and white-tees.

We want to bling, bling. We want to buy the car, and put every accessory that belong in a house in the vehicle, before we buy the house, which actually makes money.

It's not getting better on the whole. Historically Black Colleges and the six percent at mainstream schools are becoming the more progressively hood because more and more are coming out of high school as what we consider to be "collegiate thugs." It's kind of scary, and I don't know what should be done.

I wish we had a leader. A Malcolm or Martin, not a Tupac or Biggie or Jay - they're all great Emcees. But we need a Master of Ceremonies who actually can connect with the people for the people, and not just sell out at the opportunity to get some booty or money cause it's there. We need an MC who understands the hood and the talented tenth, respects both and honors all.

I think that's the only way we can reverse this Crack Music, Boondocked reality and start Movin on Up like the Jeffersons.

"There's a big difference between putting words over some music, and blending those same words into the music. There's not a lot of humour. They use a lot of slang and colloquialisms, and you don't really see inside the person. Instead, you just get a lot of posturing." ~ Gil Scott-Heron