And as I began to examine what has become of my contemporaries from that golden age of Rap, when Tupac Shakur, Nas and Ice Cube were putting together thought compelling pieces that provoked heart felt sing along's that had a black power core built into it and they provided colorful editorial to what the youth perceived of the world.
The question That I found most alluring was what happened to the generation that came out of that period ? Did the brilliance of the music provide a stepping stone to higher levels of thinking and provide a basis for positive action ? Was all of the bravado and young spirit being displayed of any merit to our black community as a whole ?
To be equal in analysis of the music of the day ( circa 1990 ) there was a nemesis to the boastful and positive messages in Rap that surfaced in the middle of the golden era of the nineteen nineties called Gangster Rap the brain child of a Jewish investor named Jerry Heller who brought into the world NWA ( NIGGAS WITH AN ATTITUDE ) and for each record that taught self pride and peace in the streets came two that preached the exact opposite.
In addition to that the great Tupac himself seemed very dualistic having bipolar moments of praising then subjugating black women, speak for and against the selling drugs and loving then gunning down his peers. So is it that this schizophrenic behavior was what created the barrier to the music of the time from having any positive social impact ?
The mid nineties was the peak of the crack wars that were being waged all across the United States and in 1994 President Bill Clinton signed the Crime Prevention Act and it's effects are prevalent in the steady march towards mass incarceration and the effect the drug Crack itself had upon people. Creating crack zombies and urban warriors one as crazed by the effects of the drug as the other. Crack zombie parents abandoned their children and would expose young minds to all sorts of horrors brought on by their zombified parents. Homes became drug dens where sexual perversions were played out and at times visited upon the children.
Poverty was embellished by all of the food stamp allowances and/or general assistance funds being traded for crack. The children of this monstrosity became calloused, illiterate soldiers or drug Lord's themselves who were caught by a militarized police infrastructure and either killed by the gun during apprehension or by legislation during sentencing hearings.
Now thirty years in hindsight where are the people who stood in the midst of all that turmoil as people in their late teens and early twenties, the next generation that was shaped in that cauldron ? At least several hundred thousand where in or are still in one of the many correctional facilities that exist today. And those who passed away during that time numbers are great as well.
So where are the survivors of the great purge ? People who are now closing in on or have surpassed fifty years in age ? There must exist some sort of void were all of the people who fell during the crack wars for what ever reason fell into it.
Is it safe to say that all of the great strides made by the young people during the civil Rights movements of the sixties and seventies where washed away by the youth of the eighties and nineties ?
By the mid seventies black people were feeling like they should now be in a position to reap the benefits of the previous decades struggle. Many more black people were being educated in universities that were off limits not long ago and almost all of the civil Rights movement champions were seeking and finding acceptance in the Democratic National Party. Now it was time they felt, to enjoy all American society had to offer, good and bad. Disco began and powder Cocaine became a staple in the disco techs and considered a clandestine status symbol and soon happy go lucky disco becomes Rap and Cocaine becomes crack, both derivatives of the prior each stronger in it's delivery and effects upon the individual psyche.
I strongly believe that the think tanks of the FBI and CIA engineered the transformation of Cocaine into Crack and stood off to the side of the creators of Gangster Rap .
Since we have arrived here as chattel , living agricultural equipment , plans have been devised employed adapted re-engineered and redeployed as time and circumstance called for.
This brings me back to my original thoughts of how Rap music is being used once again to subtly program the youth to become killers, drug dealers and now homosexuals. The corporations have turned what was once our way of communicating to one another in mass into a weapon that captures the mind of our children. Tupac understood that music could be used to motivate people and his intent was to positively motivate young blacks towards a new revolutionary attitude that was intended to be black nationalism integrated into music and strengthened by hip hop. Now Tupac's music is best known for his great lyrical prowess with some messages of unity among people of color and street gang peace treaties in order to fight a greater enemy.
Tupac's mother Afeni was a Panther and imparted much knowledge of the struggle into Tupac and I believe if he could have been afforded the time he could have put together a movement akin to what the BPP put together in the early seventies. We did not have the appropriate time with the brother to recieve the message of revolution in a form that we could have used to get organised around. We sit here now and are bombared with drill music that is at its core gang banging to music and rappers that want to be homo-thugs. Yes we have departed from the path Tupac was attempting to forge late in his career. If only we had more time with the brother who knows what could have happened. Peace out family.
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