The Revolution Is Being Televised. Part Two: Rap Goes Elsewhere

Rap Goes Elsewhere

It is better to die on your feet
Than live on your knees. The hoodie travels the world 

And everywhere it went it remained the same only changing to accommodate a new culture. To apartheid South Africa, Kwaito, to Tibet, Somalia, to China and everywhere it went it picked up momentum, everyone adding something, nothing taken away. It was reinvigorated and it's never going away. It is the music of the revolution. It's the advice our fathers never gave, it's the time our mothers never had, it's the sight for sore eyes. It's the travel plans we have yet never having any money, it's the truth: that united we stand. It's a spirit that can not be squashed, it's joy despite centuries of hurt.

To South Africa with Mdlwembe by Zola and on to Palm Island Australia giving voice to the Aboriginal. Then on to Somalia born K'naan returning to The First Nations of America. Rap has traveled far and wide and wherever it goes it understands the language of the hoodie, the dress code necessary to make itself welcome. It knows where to pick up where others have left off, and like magic it knows what to say, where it stands, right now. The subaltern is everywhere and everywhere the subaltern is the privileged is sure to follow. And universally, the brown, the subaltern, the poor, are speaking amongst one another, forming ideas, perfecting things, electing leaders, amassing wealth, 

and trying to figure out how to make things better for everyone. 

I think it's a natural phenomena, something I feel in my bones, for those of privilege to be fearful of such people, such energy, such anger, such revolt. It is natural to imagine that once you let the cat out of the bag all the cat is going to want to do is find you and your shit and piss all over it. But that perception and fear can only manifest itself if there is no remorse or understanding. Simplistically: I'm sorry goes a long way for most people. And people with no remorse really don't have a place at the New Supper. What's that saying? How does it go? Good riddance to bad rubbish.  

There will come a time, a day, this is not a threat, it's evolution, when just the few having the most will not work. It is not sustainable. It feels great when we play Monopoly and wrest money from those who landed on Park Place as we rub our palms together like gleeful Fagin's but in real life this behaviour can't last forever. It will work if you can leave the planet and start elsewhere, but if the majority are the have nots, how long do you think that's going to last? I am by no means a terrorist but those that are have already figured out that taking big things down puts huge dents in pocketbooks. And if you have not already figured this out, this level of exasperated

doesn't give a flying fuck if they lose their own life in the process. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world and I do not for one moment believe people are lined up to get good with Allah. Factions of Islam is Rap music under the Taliban without the necessary teachers in place to guide and see things through when direction will be needed the most. 

African Americans don't want the world for themselves. We do't want White folk gone. There is nothing we believe in or think that we feel a need to insist upon for others. All any of these videos is asking for is for people to share. The right to have what you have. The right to share in the same bounties. The right to walk freely without being asked for our papers. The right to eat the way we want to eat without you suddenly deciding that what I eat serves you better and I have no say in the matter. Privilege takes what it wants without asking and the subaltern, thanks to the internet and Rap music is quickly figuring out that: that shit's got to go. Rap music is a symptom. It is here, now, being created in the atmosphere from which it grows.

Next: Fierce At The Table Of Men, The Women