By Tony Muhammad
This morning I woke up on my good side
Life is just a race against time so have a good time
Heart racing, thoughts racing
Competition, goodbye
I turn around, run backwards
To see what second place look like
Oh Lord, what are we running from?
The police, cause’ they already killed enough of us
Stay out them streets cause’ they don’t f___k with us
They hunting us
We in a race against racists, that’s a color run
I keep my feet above the ground
We gon’ run the town
Heart racing on, beat-beat-beating, knock and pound
Love marathon, getting deeper by the mile
I see no finish line — On your mark, set, pow
– Lil’ Wayne – My Heart Races On
Lil’ Wayne
In 2015, Lil’ Wayne was conscientious enough to write and perform these lyrics (on the Free Weezy Album) and communicating to the world about the horrific condition of terror that Black people and other non-whites experience daily at the hands of police in the United States; a condition that is not a recent “out of the blue” phenomenon, but rather have its antecedent roots in 300 years of chattel slavery and colonialism and over 150 years of mistreatment, murder and abuse of Blacks and others. Flash forward, in the beginning of September 2016, while being interviewed on ESPN and asked questions about what he felt about San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s position of refusing to stand for the American flag because of the way that Black people and other non-whites are treated in the United States, he responded that he feels “blessed” that as an artist he has not personally experienced racism because white people along with people of other backgrounds attend his concerts. If our initial disposition of mind as Black people and non-whites was anger upon discovery of this news, I would
propose that we as a people change our mindset and take more the
Colin Kaepernick
approach of scientists. The more important question and answer we need to be focusing on is “Why is ESPN interviewing Lil’ Wayne?” After all, he’s not a professional sports athlete. “Is it because he has much influence on the youth as a rapper?” I believe that is simply part of the reason. “Was he prompted to give the spineless response he gave?” I believe nothing is by coincidence, especially if we continue to study a matter until we get to its roots.
For those of us that watch ESPN, we may have noticed that Lil’ Wayne’s song “Undisputed” is the theme song for ESPN2 sports commentator Skip Bayless’s News FS1 show. If Lil’ Wayne would have responded differently to the question would have his song been removed as Bayless’s theme music? If so, Lil’ Wayne’s royalty checks for ESPN’s use of his song may have been put to an end.
Fat Joe
A week after Lil’ Wayne’s comments, Fat Joe, a Bronx, New York native, joined the bandwagon by Tweeting (with typos) “Having thout about it, I ain’t with protesting the #NationalAnthem. Soldiers died fighting 4 our freedom not cops. Why disrepsected them?” Soon after a wave of Tweets followed, many of them Hip Hoppers blasting him for his complacent stance. The Tweet has since been deleted. The most important question in this scenario is “What was the motive?” Did Fat Joe act on his own or was he prompted as (more than likely) Lil’ Wayne was? Is it a coincidence that Fat Joe’s All The Way Up, probably his most successful hit since Lean Back (in 2004), is the theme song for the current ESPN Sunday NFL Countdown show?
Mary J. Blige recently became the center of attention to many of us for conducting an
Mary J. Blige interviewing Hilary Clinton
interview with Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton for her Apple sponsored show “The 411.” While seemingly begging Clinton (like a slave would her master) for a solution to the rampant nation-wide police killing of Blacks she sang the lyrics to Bruce Springsteen’s 1999 Amadou Diallo inspired song American Skin, singing these words:
Is it a gun, is it a knife
Is it a wallet, this is your life
It ain’t no secret (it ain’t no secret)
It ain’t no secret (it ain’t no secret)
No secret my friend
You can get killed just for living in your American skin
Clinton, in turn, is regarded by many observers to have had a stoic unemotional and uncaring reaction. After receiving a flood of criticism for her singing, Blige explained that she is an artist and that is the only way that she knows how to express herself. The true question we must ask in this case is “How does corporate America want us to express ourselves and for what purpose?” “Is it to pacify us?”
One of our major downfalls historically has been putting money before principle confusingly thinking that corporate financial success is our ultimate success. History has shown us too often that when it comes to many of our own high profile artists and athletes, their money runs out after a period of time and they end up running back to our former slave and colonial masters (presently corporate masters) for more. The same is when we rely on politicians for answers while our collective condition in the midst of it all continues to be in peril and is worsening day by day. When we receive notification almost daily of one of our own (Black, “Latino,” Indigenous or others) being killed by police somewhere in this country we must reason that this is not the time for selling out. Our longevity lies with our firm belief in The Divine Supreme Being (by whatever Name we call Him), demonstrating the fact that we are His Chosen People and exercising the act of depending and supporting one another.
The South Bronx – 1970s
Hip Hop and Hip Hoppers needs to evolve from the status of Culture to Nation. But this will not transpire until we realize our True Divine Origins and our True Divine Purpose, as we are taught Scripturally that The Chosen People themselves would come through “the furnace of affliction” (Isaiah 48:10). Where was ESPN (which is in part owned by Disney) or any corporate establishment, Donald Trump, Hilary Clinton or any politician when poor Blacks and Latinos were suffering in the South Bronx in the late 1960s and early 1970s, where whole communities were allowed to dilapidate by politicians and urban planners, barely leaving any legal economy left, drugs purposefully
allowed and conflicts among the various street organizations at the time purposefully instigated with the intent to destroy us. After our culture was birthed through the uniting of the Four Elements (DJing, MCing, B-Boying/B-Girling, Graffiti) through Knowledge (The 5th Element) we overcame our condition through our efforts of divinely making “something out of nothing” (i.e. stealing electricity from a light pole in order to power up our sound systems if we had to) and our support of one another. After signing major corporate deals throughout the 1980s up to the present many of us forgot where we came from and we are not actively doing enough to change our condition. As illustrated in this BBC video by Chicago rapper Bo Deal, communities nation-wide continue to be allowed to become dilapidated, drugs are allowed to filter in, street conflicts continue to be instigated and guns are easy access because they are being dropped off by the crate load on our door steps. In many of our communities we have more access to military type weapons. Can you truly reason with this? Can we attempt to argue that our open enemy is not involved? How much longer can we continue this way?
We have to stop supporting politicians that make promises to us using our most beloved artists and in the end experiencing conditions that are worse than before the election. We have to stop supporting corporate establishments that care little to nothing about us and work harder at supporting our own.
Chuck D
What is our own? In the early 2000s Chuck D of the Legendary Rap Group Public Enemy was (and continues to be) a visionary with his well-balanced independent Slam Jamz label and Rapstation on-line radio, giving shine to artists that would not normally gain commercial exposure. Chuck D continues to commit himself to exposing the truth and reality of the system that opposes us not just through music, but through radio commentary. He is a living example that the answer lies not with any corporate backed politician to resolve our problems. The answer lies among us! More of us need to support entities such as Slam Jamz and Rapstation and develop more independent means of success as we work to champion the cause of our people in this very dark hour of American History. This is the true mark and the beginning of the establishment of the concept of Nationhood.
I close this article with inspiring words by Teacher and Philosopher KRS-One from The
KRS-One
Gospel of Hiphop:
“It is a complete waste of our revolutionary effort to complain about issues we ourselves have not matured beyond. When we protest unjust situations we should be able to do better than the situation we are protesting against. We should not just culturally scream out when we are hit by injustice, we should take the hit as an act of validation toward our authority to speak into existence a new nation.”
Until next time (God Willing), Peace, Love and Light!
Tony Muhammad has been teaching Social Studies and Humanities in Miami-Dade County Schools for over 17 years. Tony is most noted for his work as publisher of Urban America Newspaper (2003 – 2007) and co-organizer of the Organic Hip Hop Conference (2004 – 2009). He has also designed curricula in the area of Black, Latino and Hip Hop studies for Miami-Dade County Public Schools. He currently serves as a student assistant minister to Student Minister Patrick Muhammad at Muhammad Mosque #29 in Miami, Florida.
In the midst of the August 2016 Milwaukee uprisings, this Hip Hop Educator reached out to Milwaukee Hip Hop artist and fellow FOI (Fruit of Islam) Gat Turner. In our dialogue he comments on the current social and political climate of the city that the youth in its streets have renamed “Killwaukee” because of the level of violence and injustice that is experienced on an institutional level as well as his perspective on views shared by Milwaukee Alderman Khalif Rainey and Sheriff David Clarke. Gat also mentions his current projects as an artist and his involvement assisting in the 10,000 Fearless Campaign launched by The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan at the 20th Anniversary of the Million Man March in October 2015.
part in this interview Brother Tony. From my vantage point the city’s climate is what it has been for the past few years. It has been a place of helplessness and hopelessness. It has been a place of apathy and antipathy. Which in turn makes Milwaukee a cesspool of volatility. It only required minimal agitation for the uprising to happen. This city has been a powder keg waiting to happen. I did a song on the ‘Killwaukee Xperiment’ mixtape that I did with Milwaukee raptivist Viva Fidel entitled, ‘The Fire This Time’, in that song I foretold this day. Like the rapper Nas said, “It Ain’t Hard To Tell.” Anyone with any compassion for Black people and their ear to the street could see this coming.
Within the boom bap of that track, there’s this light airy sound that made me think about taking breaths. That made me think about the concept of breathing, that it can be healing, however the flip side, our environment, the air we breathe; it’s kind of hard to take healing breaths when you’re in a smog filled environment. I also wanted to talk about child birth and many of the brothers and sisters you mention among others who have died at the hands of the police. There were so many aspects of breathing I thought about touching on. I wanted to keep it to just a little over three minutes though.
NE: It’s essential. Hip Hop started out as a voice of the Black youth, which those youth who started it, and nurtured it are now adults, with children of our own. With that being said, it’s double the duty; first the duty to combat the lies and manipulation of the media and dominant society and 
America Newspaper in South Florida for over five years reading such police narratives became common place for me. Likewise was the unraveling of truth covered up within them. Often times the people who were arrested, shot, brutalized, terrorized or killed were presented as being crazy, as if they belonged more in an insane asylum than in a jail cell. It is the same today.
Hip Hop open mic and event organizers have for years discouraged emcees from battling in the street like that because of the constant negative run-ins that they would have with police who did not understand their culture. In the midst of the battling in this particular case, police showed up and told the two emcees to “STOP FIGHTING!” Caliba was told specifically to go across the street. Caliba complied and quickly walked across the street. However, because he was upset that his battle was abruptly ended by police with no definite winner he began to vent loudly. Police followed up by arresting him and later tasing him while cuffed in the back of a police vehicle because he refused to stay quiet. The way it read in the police report was incomplete and was phrased in such a way that made Caliba appear crazy. It read that Caliba was “fighting” with someone in the street. He was told to stop fighting and go across the street. He went across the street and “started fighting some more.” After contesting the charges in court, Caliba was cleared of the charges.
What did Jesse Williams mean by “magic?” Could it be referring to a shared secret religious belief that many in the entertainment industry subscribe to? As noted in the final chapter in the recently released book Protect Ya Neck: A Music Industry Survival Guide by Christian Farrad, a very popular underground religion practiced among many in the entertainment industry is Thelema, founded by occultist leader Aleister Crowley. The name of the organization is the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.). It is what many, especially the youth, have been popularly been referring to in recent years as the “illuminati” in the entertainment industry because of the high level of secrecy in its practice. Central to its teachings is the belief in the use of magic, or rather “magick” which is defined by Crowley as “the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with will.” Followers of this religion believe that human beings have entered the “Eon of Horus.” Horus is the Christ figure in the Ancient Egyptian (or Kemetic) theology. In Thelema, it is claimed that through the dictation of a “super natural being” while under the influence of drugs during his visitation of Egypt in 1904, Crowley received the “law of Horus” for this new era which teaches the idea “Do as thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.” Initiation into the hierarchy of the organization is done so through both perverted heterosexual and homosexual rituals which are meant to “satisfy the will.” These teachings promote a high level of freedom which attracts many in the entertainment industry because artists, as creative as they are, are by and large very free spirited. What is highly problematic, besides
that are among us to be censored! The Truth must be exposed and Right Guidance must be provided! To the Sean Combs, Jay-Zs, Kanye Wests, Snoops and many others who have been touched by consciousness, the Teachings of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the words of The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, I encourage you to do everything in your power to bring us closer to this reality so that both our message and cause can be furthered and our survival as a people increased!
In the beginning of June, the world experienced the loss of one of its most beloved personalities not just in the area of sports, but in life itself, who most notably demonstrated through his example how to stand for justice in a world that is antithetical to its true ideals and practice. That personality is none other than Muhammad Ali. Many artists in Hip Hop have historically been inspired by his boldness and heroism to stand up, speak to power and refuse to back down. The list includes Nas, Jay Z, Will Smith, EPMD, The Sugar Hill Gang, Kanye West, T.I., Master P, Migos, The Fugees, The Game, Common, The Illegal Broadcasters (Hakim Green and General Steele) and even Drake. However, Muhammad Ali’s roots in Hip Hop are deeper than giving honor by shouting him out in song lyrics. Muhammad Ali was known in his heyday to freestyle rhyme about himself and his opponents while on camera, inspiring many young people who were observing him and would later grab the mic and rock crowds at concerts and emcee battles in similar fashion.
Ex-President Bill Clinton emphasized at the memorial service that the “most important part” of Muhammad Ali’s life was the second half, in which he battled Parkinson’s Disease; totally disregarding and intentionally leaving out that the one who taught him how to build his faith in order to overcome trials externally as well as internally was in fact The Honorable Elijah Muhammad. As The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has pointed out, the acts described above were and are geared towards keeping the masses of the people from The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and today The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, two leaders that have taught their people to truly love themselves and become self-reliant and independent.
What lessons can the Hip Hop Nation learn from Muhammad Ali’s life and trails? Firstly, just as there has been a working to distance Muhammad Ali from the foundational roots of his birth into consciousness, the enemy in the form of the commercial music and entertainment industries, the fashion industry, the prison industry, the education industry and their investors have worked for over three decades to divorce Hip Hop from its foundational consciousness that from its very inception worked to end violence in our communities and have the youth come into the knowledge of their True Divine Selves. Because of the disattachment that has been fostered, which we have had a great part to do with in our own pursuit of fortune and fame, our communities continue to suffer from high rates of violence, homicide, incarceration, poverty and ailments resulting from the foods, liquor and toxic products that we regularly consume. In order for the self-destructive path to have a chance to being curtailed, we, the elders and those of us who are fastly approaching eldership in our Universal Culture must increase our efforts to first improve the quality of our own lives through spirituality, diet and overall better and healthier life choices and work to provide guidance to the youth. We must also work to atone with others we have “beefed” with and hurt in our lives in order to demonstrate cross-generationally that there is a better way for our communities. We should also become actively involved in conflict resolution initiatives wherever we can be a part of them. In our guidance to the younger generations, we should not take a judgmental position in the way and manner in which they convey a conscientious message. Financially supporting one another through business initiatives is a crucial part in this process. We must set up alternative institutions that serve as rewarding outlets that put our Gifts and Talents to good use; demonstrating that financial success does not have to come through “signing our lives away.”
to be in the “in crowd.” Homeroom only lasted twenty minutes. It was the time of the school day that was routinely used by teachers to take attendance and for students to hear the morning announcements on the PA. But, for me it became the time of the day that I looked forward to the most.
shared it with Willie and he in turn made his own cassette recordings which he constantly played. Sometimes we borrowed the same music several times because we kept wearing out the tape of the cassettes we recorded the music on. A few months later I started purchasing vinyl and was saving up for my first DJ equipment. By my junior year in high school I had my own equipment and was selling my own Hip Hop mix tapes to my fellow classmates.
The Black Panther Party, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass and Nat Turner. They became my gateway to understanding Self and the Journey I was destined to embark. Understanding the seriousness of the things that I was learning, I challenged teachers in history classes that were teaching racist and inaccurate information every time there was an opportunity to do so. Because of this I became known to some of my peers as “The
In the years that followed I became active with various student groups, especially on college campuses, organizing programs and working on projects oriented towards exposing the TRUTH of what has been done, what continued to be done to us as a people and what to do to improve our condition. Eventually I made the decision to become a registered member of The Nation of Islam under the Leadership of The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, continuing THE WORK through ministry, journalism, cultural activism, organizing and participating in local and national conferences.
Hip Hop Educator 