Shabazz. Palaces.

Shabazz Palaces - "Belhaven Meridian" [OFFICIAL] from Kahlil Joseph on Vimeo.

This video was shot in ONE take, FYI. Not to mention the track is dope.
[Found on Soulbounce.com.]

Black + Exploitation

There are many double standards held in our society; rock hard like granite and so infused into our everyday lifestyles that amending or even addressing them would mean uprooting mindsets and destroying foundations. It is quite obvious that many of the existing double standards are based on race. This is a topic that I will never shy away from, no matter how much people feel it is no longer relevant, or overdone. [Side Note: I had a girl in one of my classes say that she is tired of people always making things about race. To which I softly replied, "Well. You may have been blessed to live a life where race was never an issue...but many others are not so privileged. Therefore, your job is not to complain about the pain of others, but be to compassionate and empathetic...even though you will never truly understand."]

So, if you are looking for a more reader-friendly blog, I suggest you close this browser window now.

I've been considering cinema's role in race relations today. Thanks to my recent viewing of Spike Lee's Bamboozled, it really got me thinking. It makes me angry when I think of how African-Americans were/are portrayed in the entertainment industry: greedy ignoramuses good only for the audience's amusement. The "abolishment" of slavery only ended one portion of the struggle. We were still seen as lesser. Illegitimate. Inhuman. So, way before King Jr. had a dream, Blacks longed for an existence where they were not only free, but human. Truly equal.

Traditional blackface is no longer practiced. However, I cannot help but consider how black cinema, affectionately known as "Blaxploitation", is now become counter-productive. [Side Note #2: You may say to me, "Please. It is NOT that serious." Of course not. Whites didn't think it was that serious, either. I think it's slightly ironic that only blacks are allowed to use racial humor...as if we somehow earned the right to be racist. Acts of hate cannot truly be avenged through retribution...but by repentance and education.]

Things are not as bad as they used to be overall...but the "Blaxploitation" film genre is currently doing more harm than good within the black community. Movies that uplift us; with black directors (i.e. Denzel Washington's Antwoin Fisher) gets more nods nationwide than within the black race. Meanwhile films like Pootie Tang and Next Friday can be quoted by my 10 year old nephew from memory. Our kids have no idea who Dorthea Dandridge or Reuben "The Hurricane" Carter is, but they will spend $11.50 to go see Get Rich or Die Tryin'.

There are some shows/movies that are social commentary (i.e. The Boondocks)...this is not what I mean. I am speaking of continual, explicit (or covert), and deliberate disrespect of our culture. Taking our struggles, history, and ambitions, and turning them into a formula to entertain the masses. I won't get into BET's role in demolishing the African American's dignity to the rest of the free world...but here are a list of films that you may remember that I'm putting on my "Banned List". Meaning I will NOT be promoting or keeping these films in my house...


1. Pootie Tang
2. Soul Plane
3. Hustle & Flow
4. Shaft (2000)
5. Booty Call
6. Woo
7. Two Can Play That Game
8. Superfly
9. How High
10. High School High
11. Juwanna Mann
12. The Cookout
13. The Wash
14. Scary Movie
15. Next Friday
16. The Friday After Next
(Note: The First Friday isn't up here because it isn't as exploitative as the other two.)
17. The Mack
18. B.A.P.S (Classic...but still all wrong.)
19. Bringing Down the House (I love Queen Latifah...but they still didn't address how she was disrespected throughout the WHOLE FILM.)
20. Big Momma's House (I already cringe at Tyler Perry playing Madea...but he is starting to cut back on readily playing that character in his movies.)
21. Norbit (It's funny...but it's racial pokes have no point. It's offensive just for the sake of being offensive.)
22. BeBe's Kids
23. Monster's Ball (It should NOT have taken THAT to get sis an Oscar...I'm sorry.)


...there are more...but I'll leave the list relatively short.
I am just sick and tired of being portrayed in a one-dimensional light on screen. There are things that I will smile and confirm...but I don't want that to become my sole source of identity.

If I had to pick the 5 Most Important Black Films, they would be:
1. Malcolm X
2. Higher Learning
3. Do The Right Thing
4. The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
5. The Color Purple

Gossip.

A very disheartening fact about Americans is that we crave drama.
More specifically: Young Americans.
We aren't satisfied unless we are rallying for, protesting against, or stirring up some sort of meaningless, yet personally significant episode. And I am amazed at how easily things "pop off".
Whether it be through a phone call or the infamous Facebook note/wall post/posted item, we have a sick fetish towards disagreement. Point blank, Americans, and human beings for that matter, are not naturally prone towards harmony.

In fact, I gather that whenever possible, we would rather divide. Especially against our own kind. We seek to specify a new club or denomination or ideal to suit our tendency to follow fads. And not for real change, mind you. Simply to be disagreeable.
Confused? Let me explain...

There is one race, theoretically: the Human Race.
Because of environmental/genetic factors, skin shades differentiated and with a hearty cue from society and the Tower of Babel...races/languages were made. Because of envy and greed (not to mention population surges), there wasn't enough room for humans to live in one place, so they sought to find other land. It became a competition and a source for war and carnage.

A culture became established by the amount of land that they ruled over.
Fast forward century's upon century's later, and a group of guys on a ship called the Mayflower decide to "bargain" this huge continent off of some natives. As more and more various people groups migrate (whether by choice or by force) to America, the more categorized America became. As the US grew older, diversity flourished. But racism and prejudice grew, also. We are no longer known by just our skin color. We have shade discrepancies between races (i.e. African Americans). There are socioeconomic divides. There are social divides. Political divisions.

While these categories are supposed to provide uniqueness and choice for Americans, they actually give us more reasons to dislike each other.


Getting back to my point: Disharmony. It is in our nature. We have a tendency to complain, and not just simply change and evolve. Chaos is the best way to get our attention. Maybe that's why God allows the world to be like it is...Maybe it's why He doesn't intervene in most cases. We look for Him more often in times of darkness, right? But I'm getting off track again.

I believe if Disharmony had a mode of transportation, it would be Gossip. Take inventory, if you will, at the minutes we spend on the phone with friends/loved ones. The large majority of those minutes are spent gossiping. I don't mean giving information with the sole intent to inform...I mean an exchange of dialogue that seeks to draw one's own personal conclusions about a matter.

Idle talk, basically.

Discussing other people, meanwhile tearing them down, speaking of people in a manner that requires a defense. Holding a verbal trial and simultaneously declaring them guilty.

It is meaningless and is, 90% of the time, false. It's false because it is usually a regurgitation of previously passed down information. And just like regurgitated food loses the original amount of nutrients, gossip lacks the complete knowledge of a situation.

And we are so hypocritical. We will be quick to defend our privacy but freely discuss the circumstances and character of other people. Anyone who has been the victim of a vicious rumor knows that it is quite difficult to bounce back from it.

The saddest thing is though (going back to my original thought), most of us fall into gossip by listening to it, and not spreading it. Its easier to listen to gossip than it is to spread it. Why do we sit and listen to it?? Because a part of us likes that someone else is having a hard time. Mostly because it takes our minds (not to mention the minds of others) off our own mistakes. We can finally take the righteous role! [And man...does it ever feel good.] In rare instances are we hurt by hearing gossip. Nevertheless, we enjoy the shock. And we rejoice in it.

"Love doesn't not rejoice in evil..but rejoices in the truth."

We don't know the first thing about love...

That's why gossip is so lethal. Because it is enticing.
So beware. And keep your mouth shut for a change.

Proverbs 17:28

Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent,
and discerning if he holds his tongue.

Gossip. (Prolouge)

How, I despise it so.

It is the acid that erodes any tight unit. It is the tactic of any wise enemy.

Proverbs 16:28 - A perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends.

[Speaking.of.the."N".Word...]

I would LOVE some comments on this one....

My "view" (hahah):
I don't think this word is acceptable in any fashion, in any context, within or regarding any race. Period.

The Church of Oprah???

Comments are always welcome.

I Blame You...

B.E.T. it's your fault....

Once, you were a voice for the people, now you are an immoral preacher, the bringer of false doctrine. A head with two minds. At any moment you proclaim truth and religion, shining the Saints, beaming with worship to the Creator, but then your screen dims and you feed the lusts of men and women alike; exalting sin. You are more concerned with the glorification of ignorance, instead of the promotion of unity and wisdom.

Hip Hop, I blame you...

You used to be such a powerful tool; molding and shaping young individuals into a strong, intelligent, and political force, but now all you're good for is the defilement of the eye and ear gates. Slapping on dirty substance and calling it "thug life". You deceive our children into thinking that becoming a martyr for this lifestyle is honorable. You have lied to us, Hip Hop.

Crack cocaine, I hate you...

You make my sisters deny their spirits for a hit of you. We sell our babies and our bodies for your temporal sense of sustenance. You make us give birth to addicts, meanwhile chasing their fathers away. I despise your power, and I seek to disarm you.

Marijuana...you are filth...

You bring unclean wealth into the hands of our young men, teaching them, not the principles of business and the substance of a hard day's work, but the industry of taking addiction to the masses. You deceive many by claiming you're not addictive, yet you slyly maintain your presence in and outside of our neighborhoods. I wish you would just go away, and let my people go.

Alcohol, I'm speaking to you too. Lust, you have got to go.....Pride, your presence makes me sick.

What has happened to us? What happened to the people who stood for what's right? Now, we lay down...

We lay down for fame. For sex. For drugs. For pleasure.

What happened to the time where we valued one another? Took care of one another? What happened to the time where we treated our women like queens? Our men like leaders with honor and respect?

We have traded one form of slavery to another. God says you are FREE....

Money Over B*tch*s (READ)...Hip Hop Slang Part One

Even if Nas, Talib, and KRS-One dropped 4 albums a year, people still wouldn't learn the lessons in their bars. We will still continue to indulge in the self-destructive behavior that is keeping us from accomplishing on a community level. Few make it out, but most keep the mentality of poverty in order to maintain street credibility.

Hip hop, sadly, is slowly moving from the streets, courtrooms, and classrooms, and into the club. This is the reason why people get weary of conscious hip hop...we sound like broken records because no one seems to be listening. What are we listening to? you ask...Let's take the slang that young adults and teenagers seem to have adopted as their religion:

"Money over b*tch*s".

I'm not going to take a purely feminist role on this one, so I'll simply say this: the only way to advance in life is through knowledge, because when you die, the only people that will care about how much money you had, plan to inherit some of it. Most black people were forced to overlook education simply because it wasn't an option, and it was only to meet basic needs.This message teaches us, not ambition, but greed and self-absorption.

Then there is the ongoing battle of the word "b*tch" in the hip hop culture. It's referred to a weak man at times, but mostly used towards women. Look at this equation:
Woman is to B*tch = African American is to Nigger

It is amazing how similar they are (if they could fit the description of you). Both are oppressive forms of slang used, 99% of the time, to demean and slander, and NOT to make a proper judgment. I don't feel that using nigger (or nigga) is appropriate in any situation, and I feel that b*tch is either. Simply because a young man might adopt the same mindset that white people growing up adopted, that most, if not ALL women (black people) are b*tch*s (niggers).

Malcolm X said "I taught brothers not only to deal unintelligently with the devil or the White woman, but I also taught many brothers to spit acid at the sisters. They were kept in their places — you probably didn't notice this in action, but it is a fact. I taught these brothers to spit acid at the sisters. I taught the brothers that the sisters were standing in their way . I did these things brother. I must undo them."

But excuse me.....all hail the King of Crunk.