Version 2.0

Culture, healing, politics and bullshit - Not necessarily in that order

The general, socio-political and very personal rantings and ravings of a hip hop head from the hood hustling for change... Of himself.

You all know me and are aware that I am unable to remain silent. At times to be silent is to lie. For silence can be interpreted as acquiescence.
—Miguel de Unamuno



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Saturday, October 31, 2009

Rant Of The Week

Sometimes you gotta' listen, even if it hurts to agree.



Part One:




But wait, there's more - Part Two:




This cat makes 'Uncle Ruckus' look like a black revolutionary.




What say you?



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9 comments:

LoVe.Peace.Curls. said...

I love it! I only wish the people who truly need to hear this type of stuff were the ones who cared enough to listen and take heed!

The Brown Blogger said...

Oh how I wish...

LoVe.Peace.Curls. said...

In a perfect world lol...
I showed the vids to a girl who goes to school with me, and she was all upset about the N-word being used, and about him calling certain women bitches...Clearly the message went way over her head, because she said nothing about the fact that she is an example of about 98% of what the videos aim to illustrate! Smh...

The Brown Blogger said...

Whereas I cannot agree with the narratives and I can't get down with the self-hatred displayed by this brother, I do overstand.

This cat is frustrated and can only express himself based on his conditioning. One thing though, he does realize that there is a problem...

And that's the problem.

Message, not the messenger.

Message.

Whatever.

Musique's Poetry said...

WOW. This is craziness.

Big Mark 243 said...

He is very politically incorrect. But it sounds like he is speaking about taking individual responsibility for ones circumstance.

Do have to say that he is also part of the problem ... what is he doing with the 28 yr old waitress who lives at home with her Mom that he is messin' with? Why is she subjected to the same abuse, instead of being someone he is helping to 'get it', you know?

The Brown Blogger said...

It does indeed sound like he's talking about personal responsibility.

That's the tragic point!

The real problem with this is folks not hearing the message over what is perceived to be political correctness.

Even I can see that this cat in his truck and his own video camera, uploading stuff to YouTube wasn't going for that.

Like Joe Madison says:

"In America, we are culturally conditioned to believe that all things white are superior and all things black are inferior...

And due to this cultural conditioning, African-Americans are undervalued, underestimated and marginalized"

This is the case in these two videos, but...

And this is a big but...

The message CANNOT be lost here.

Regardless of what words he chooses to use, they have the sting of truth. Even if he marginalizes himself in saying so.


Oh, and he DID mention that he is a working, tax and bill paying American citizen... Let's not marginalize, underestimate or undervalue his message because of his vernacular...

And that Newport cigarette.

LoVe.Peace.Curls. said...

I think there's a lot of self-hatred in the mix, as well, but a big problem in our society is that so many people are worried about being PC that nothing is getting resolved! His word choices are wayyyyyyy extreme, but his message is blunt, it's to-the-point, and it's what most people {Black or otherwise} are thinking about our people anyways. Someone has to say it, if the message isn't sent, no one receives it. If no one receives it, the massive errors of our ways won't be recognized and we'll be in this rut forever...

Big Mark 243 said...

Hmmm ... came back to see what followed. I think that the Joe Madison quote plays in both how we seek to inspire (this cat in the truck) and to what many folks aspire to.

I am not a fan of the 'tough love' message. One of the reasons I think Bill Cosby needs to rethink how he delivers his message.

I don't undervalue the message the is being sent by either as much as they do it themselves. You WON'T reach the intended segment of society in a way that will motivate them to change. Usually they already feel like crap. Have to replace the behavior in order to facilitate the change.

Part of the reason that people keep doing some of the stereotypical things is that is all they see. For many, all they can aspire to is to be that caricature of a person. They see buffonery rewarded by society, or they mistake that society is rewarding the behaviour.

I don't know if there is self hatred in the mix as much as it is a misguided, if well intentioned message. One of the frustrations in the black community (I am not really down with 'African American' ... it is too long and too uncomfortable for my fingers to type! Besides, I ain't never been to Africa and neither has my Mom or her Mom and Dad ...) is that many limit their aspirations based on their surroundings.

And because there is such a high profit margin in selling the negative behaviour to the community, it becomes a route that is legitmatized into being a viable alternative. Since I am getting dizzy, I am going to end here, and let this be my last on this entry!