'Illmatic', Two Decades Later - Chris 'Preach' Smith

‘Poetry, that’s a part of me, retardedly bop
I drop the ancient manifested hip-hop straight off the block’
- ‘Memory Lane’, Nas

‘My soul has grown deep like the rivers.’
- ‘The Negro Speaks Of Rivers’, Langston Hughes


When I think of Illmatic and the fact that two whole
decades have passed since it first graced the world’s
ears today, I find myself both amazed and nostalgic.
It’s a remarkable milestone, not just for hip-hop, but
for music and popular culture as a whole. You can’t 
deny the impact Nas created with this album on so 
many levels. In preparing for this article this week,
I found myself being drawn to the line from Langston
Hughes’ iconic poem above with everything I read on
the anniversary. Why? Think of what comes to mind
whenever you listen to ‘Illmatic’ or someone brings
it up. Think of the descriptions. Deep. Serious. People
speak of the flow. And yet, we somehow keep finding
ourselves amazed at just how much symbolism Nas
embedded within this album years later.

I think any discussion of Illmatic warrants a closer
look at the time period that this album was released.
New York City in April 1994 was a city in a state of
wary transition. Rudy Giuliani was in his fourth month
as the newly elected mayor, and it was beginning to
become apparent just how much of a snake he was
going to be. Racial tensions were still not entirely
swept under the rug from three years before with
the violence in Crown Heights, and that led to Rudy
beating David Dinkins in the mayoral election avenging
his defeat in 1989. Another factor to that tension
was the fact that he won mainly by exploiting the
bad feelings of Staten Islanders who wanted to secede
from the city, giving him that borough and Queens.
Times Square wasn’t the pristine playground and
commercial zone we’re so accustomed to now. The
city was still very gritty with no pity. The NYPD got
buckwild under Bill Bratton once 1994 rolled around.
More innocent people were getting shot and killed 
by cops, dying in police custody, getting bagged for
minor offenses or stopped. (Side note: this is when
dime bag traps started popping up in subway stations.)
I remember seeing cruisers that much more around
the way, which was a startling sight for this part of
Southeast Queens. One figure that always popped up
was Sgt. McIntyre who seemed to make it a point to
run up on cats by the bodega or on one of the many
quiet blocks in the backstreets if there were more than
two hanging out. And other neighborhoods would 
feel that heavy police presence too…Queensbridge
especially. Which many expected because it was the
projects, and no one expected much from the projects
except crime and hip-hop, which the Bridge excelled
in.



Queensbridge is near the beginning of Queens and Long Island
for anyone driving over the 59th Street Bridge or taking the
7, N or Q trains from Manhattan. It sits there like a set of
undiscovered temples, tucked in between rows of trees and
warehouses overlooking the East River. Coming up in NYC,
we knew The Bridge for a few things. You may have had family
or friends live near there or in the houses. If you were playing
ball in the P.A.L. or any other youth league, you played against heads
from there or went there to play. If you were caught up in
the hustle, it was one of the biggest markets. And if you were
a fan of hip-hop, it is one of the holy sites of the culture.
The Queensbridge Houses are also this country’s largest public
housing project. All of this tucked away in a section of a city
that never sleeps. Bear in mind that The Bridge gets all of
this notoriety while isolated; they didn’t even have improved
subway access until 1989. Marley Marl, MC Shan and Roxanne
Shante and the rest of the Juice Crew helped firmly put the
place on the map.

By April ‘94, the battle with Boogie Down Productions was relegated
to history. New York hip-hop was beginning to transform
again. Back then, West Coast hip-hop was sticking to cats’
ears more and more thanks to Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. 
‘New Jack Swing’ was still in effect via Heavy D and Uptown.
The Notorious B.I.G. would be causing a slight buzz thanks 
to ‘Party and Bullshit’, and the Wu-Tang Clan was still fresh
in many minds with Enter The 36 Chambers months before.
We all heard about Nas’s firebrand delivery thanks to THAT 
verse from fellow Queens natives Main Source’s ‘Live At 
The BBQ’ off of their debut album, Breaking Atoms. The 
stage was set for something new to accurately convey the
shifting landscape in a city that was trying to stifle its rugged
character and to also assert a voice in hip-hop that wasn’t
exactly all about the party. When Illmatic dropped, I can 
honestly say it was the fastest I’ve ever seen an album
spread around the city. Everywhere you went, someone was
bumping that album. Recent interviews talk about how 
Illmatic was heavily bootlegged. Take this into account -
1994 was the last year that you can recall people OPENLY
making a living off bootlegging. You used to cop bootlegs 
from certain newsstands in the city, or if you went to the
flea markets held in the off months at the Belmont and 
Aqueduct racetracks. You remember those, the tapes with
the grainy Xerox covers and the white ink that rubbed off
about a week in. This was the era where we still religiously
made pause tapes of radio sets, from DJ Red Alert to DJ 
Kid Capri. 


What Nas did with Illmatic was create a truly rapturous
and illuminating look at a part of Black life in ‘the hood 
that didn’t heavily lean on violence, drugs or sex even 
though all of that is in there. The album is potent and 
succinct. Part of me always wonders how the studio 
sessions went because Illmatic is only 10 songs. Only
ONE full-fledged guest appearance by A.Z. even though
Pete Rock and Q-Tip make their contributions via hooks
to ‘The World Is Yours’ and ‘One Love’. In today’s 
hip-hop scene, that would be blasphemous. The album
itself comes in under 40 minutes, perfect for any car
ride in the city. Think about this: ‘Halftime’ comes in
at the halfway point literally and figuratively when you
look at the time duration breakdown. That goes to show
how masterful the track sequencing was. Another 
example to that fact is how effortlessly ‘Halftime’ flows
into ‘Memory Lane’. It’s one of the most tranquil 
stretches of any hip-hop album on record; play that
out at a barbecue, house party and see just how the
mood changes. It’s as if Nas composed this in the park
by the houses overlooking the haze over the river on
a summer evening. 

Which leads me to the lyricism. The lyricism on Illmatic
is impeccable. Look at the first verse of ‘The World Is 
Yours’. It sounds effortless but is layered with imagery.
The first four lines alone are powerful:

I sip the Dom.P watching Gandhi ‘till I’m charged
then writing in my book of rhymes all the words past the margin
then hold the mic I’m throbbin’ mechanical movement
understandable smooth shit that murderers move with

Those four lines when you examine them speak to 
the duality of hustlers some of us came up with. Quite 
a few had ensconced themselves in Five Percenter teachings,
most notably the infamous Supreme Team from South
Jamaica who Nas shouts out on ‘Memory Lane’. Nas himself
was down with the Five Percent and even spits a line or two
influenced by Dr. Malachi York & the Nuwabians. Those 
teachings were highly present in the projects. That last
line? A throwback to the days when parties used to get
broken up during smooth selections, mainly tracks by 
Baby Huey, The Whispers or Billy Paul, by stick-up men.
And when you think about that first line…Gandhi is 
three hours long. So imagine how your state of mind is.
Plus it shows a link in terms of thought to the activist 
thinking displayed by Rakim and Public Enemy among 
others in their music to that date, providing a clear 
opposite to the creeping influence gangster rap was 
having. Jazz also plays a prominent role throughout 
Illmatic as well, from the magnetic album cover which
has been said to been inspired by the cover for  Child
Is Born by The Howard Hanger Trio to Nas’ own father,
Olu Dara. Even when you listen to it today, the album
has tinges of The Last Poets and Gil Scott Heron in it.
Not surprising since Nas’ childhood probably had him 
hearing their music still bumping on popular Black radio 
in the mid 1980’s. And these lyrics are coming from 
someone who dropped out of school in the eighth grade.
Yet he had the grounding to compose these poetic 
rhymes, to help craft such an important album. And we
can’t forget the production; Illmatic’s production is a 
treasure trove of American music from all eras. (The
mere fact that ‘Represent’ samples the theme song 
from ‘The Thief of Baghdad’ is staggering.) This is all
due to a legendary quartet that worked the boards in
Large Professor, DJ Premier, Q-Tip and Pete Rock. They
wove a vibrant frame around Nas’ words making each
song just sound better as the years pass.

Photo Credit: RapBasement

So twenty years later, we can honestly say that 
Illmatic and its impact is much like that of a river.
A river not unlike the East River just at the edge 
of the Queensbridge Houses. Throughout the Black
experience here and elsewhere in the diaspora, we
often look to the river as a metaphor. It embodies
every part of the soul one has not only to come from
where Nas came from, but where all of us come 
from. Unceasing, profound and yet, delivered and
observed simply. That’s how I look at Illmatic today.
Not many albums from that time can weather 20
years and still sound as rich, if not BETTER. As I’ve 
grown, Illmatic along with a couple of other choice
albums have been my wellspring for many reasons.
Every song fits as the soundtrack for one part or 
another of our lives. Illmatic flows, and speaks like
the rivers within us all. And more than likely will
for years to come. For that, I am grateful.

Does Hip-Hop Miss A 'King Of New York'? - Chris "Preach" Smith

‘King Of New York.’

It’s a title that in the culture of hip-hop  overall
hasn’t been in existence as long as one would 
think, but it has been a symbolic title of power
and influence. And in recent months, it’s been
back in the forefront as a subject of debate. I
found myself building on it with one of my boys
the other day in response to an article he shared
with me in the wake of the anniversary of The
Notorious B.I.G.’s murder earlier this month.
Which leads to the question: does hip-hop miss
having a ‘King Of New York’? Does the culture even
need someone in that role at this stage?

The answer is, yes and no.

In order to really understand the answer, we do
need to go back a bit to understand how the title
of the ‘King Of New York’ came to be. For a number 
of us, we never saw any MC’s really stepping forth
and proclaiming they were tops in the city in the
sense of actually making it a title. In that period 
from the 1980’s into the mid 1990’s, you had a 
number of standout MC’s. Most of them were from
the tri-state area. Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, KRS-ONE,
and LL Cool J were the cream of the crop in regards
to the standout MC’s from the late 80’s. As the
‘90’s began, other cities had their top-notch MC’s
come to national prominence. This was when we
also were exposed to the scene in other cities 
across the U.S. and overseas as well via tours
and TV programs. As the culture became more
and more ingrained in American culture, many
accepted New York City as the birthplace of
hip-hop. Rappers from NYC stood out more, and
they inspired and challenged MC’s from other
cities to rep their own cities with vigor. The West
Coast saw their ascent take place during this time,
especially in 1990 with the success of N.W.A.
The culture took notice of the birth of ‘gangster
rap’ and other artists like Ice-T, DJ Quik and
others began to mark a huge mark. The labels,
always on the hunt for bucks, took notice and
got to focusing on these artists, at the detriment
of East Coast artists. Enter Tim Dog and his shot
fired across the country, ‘Fuck Compton’ in 1991.
This would be the beginning of a sensibility in
hip-hop that focused on East Coast/West Coast
rivalry. It ensured the Bronx MC’s legacy but it 
also opened the door to who would be that MC
to champion East Coast hip-hop.


Pop culture became the key component with the
release of indie director Abel Ferrara’s 1990 crime
drama, King Of New York that starred Christopher
Walken as Frank White. That movie became a cult
classic of sorts and stuck in the minds of hustlers.
One of them who hailed from St.James Place in
Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn by the name of
The Notorious B.I.G. He called himself ‘Frank White’
a few times in his music. Now The Notorious B.I.G.
doing this was significant because of a couple of
factors. For one, he had been calling himself ‘Biggie
Smalls’ after Calvin Lockhart’s character in the
Blaxploitation classic Let’s Do It Again. But the
threat of lawsuits put a halt to that. Also, his
Jamaican-American background plays an influence
in that he followed in the tradition of some of the
‘toasters’ from reggae music who took their monikers
from film, like Outlaw Josey Wales and others who
found inspiration from the wave of Westerns that
hit the island’s cinemas in the late 1960’s and
1970’s. While B.I.G. wasn’t the first to gain
inspiration from movies for his name, he could
arguably be the first to do so in a culturally
impactful way. Because until his murder in 1997,
he WAS that King Of New York, even while in
direct beef with Tupac Shakur and the rest of
Death Row Records. Being KONY MATTERED 
because it meant that you were percieved to be
the dominant MC that in effect, lorded over the
rest of the hip-hop world. Jay Z and Nas, both
coming off of highly acclaimed debut albums and
successful sophomore albums, filled that void but also
ramped up their rivalry in the process to highly tense
ends. To be fair, they followed this path partially
because Puff Daddy and Bad Boy had taken it to
a level of straight glitz and glamour. The ‘ballin’
phase had begun. 50 Cent rose to fame as the
antithesis to this in a way, first with the cunning
single ‘How To Rob’ off of his debut album. And 
for a while we had a tug-of-war between these 
three MC’s. 

Go forward a couple of years to 2005. The rise 
of the South in hip-hop was in full effect. And
coupled with the steady effect that West Coast
rappers still had along with influential MC’s from
the Midwest like Eminem and Common making
strides, the East Coast - and New York - felt 
their magnetic appeal slip. Being the ‘King Of 
New York’ didn’t really matter outside of the city,
and to some degree some folks in the city didn’t
give a damn whatsoever. It wasn’t the case in
1996 when Tha Dogg Pound along with Snoop
Dogg did the song ‘New York, New York’ complete
with a video that showed the three kicking over
the buildings in the city. Capone-N-Noreaga, 
along with fellow Queensbridge MC’s Mobb Deep
and Tragedy Khadafi put out an equally controversial
response with ‘LA, LA’ and the video had its own
hard-hitting moment with the kidnap of cats 
who looked like Daz and Kurupt and their being
thrown off a bridge. But since then, most of the
rap music coming out of New York had their
eyes on getting radio airplay and to do that,
it was about seizing on what was popular. Trap
beats. Autotune. Trends over lyricism. By this
time Nas, Jay and 50 had hit grand heights as
music superstars. Being the tops in your town
was put to the side for national, and possibly
global appeal. 

Kendrick Lamar’s verse got many people really
buzzing. I wrote about its effect a while ago, 
especially with regard to his line about being
King Of New York. Cats were looking for heavy
hitters to respond. Heavy hitters like Jay, Nas.
But truth be told, both MC’s are in the stages
of their career where they are full-fledged
entrepreneurs as well as artists. Hell, Jay Z
has had a share in an NBA franchise no matter
how minute it was. Nas is now involved with
hip-hop education and mentorship. You can
even add 50 in the mix with his acting career,
and his business savvy with Vitamin Water and
his own energy drink line. These three in their
own right are kings. But that title isn’t exactly
coveted by them. They’ve managed to transcend
a need for it on their end. In their own way,
they each love their hometown and never fail
to pay it homage. But hip-hop culture has
grown beyond a need for demanding a King Of 
New York exists outright. The city itself doesn’t
even stress it too much, for different reasons.
One being that the city itself has changed thanks
to the Giuliani and Bloomberg era. Those years
have seen an exodus of natives to parts down
South, out West and all points in between due
to rising costs, foreclosures and lack of jobs that
make it tough to live in a city of grittiness. You
can’t rep a city that at times, doesn’t seem to
want you with all of its luxury condo madness. Put 
that with a corporate label driven onus on radio
stations in the city that at certain times in the 
day all sound the same and disenchantment is
the key emotion. Not to mention the fickle fans
out there hopping on every trend and trying to
be up on whatever’s hot instead of whatever’s 
actually good. For every nice MC on the New York
landscape, there’s a craptastic rapper getting over
because of hype. And before you protest, think real
hard over some of the rappers that have come up
since 2004 in New York City. At one point you might
as well have traded the title to Atlanta for a Waffle
House loyalty card. As for older MC’s like Rakim or 
KRS-ONE, the ingrained need for fans to look to
younger MC’s disqualifies them somewhat from
that title. They get a veteran’s love, but not many
would appoint them king. Am I throwing shots at
other regions? No. Because let’s face it, arrogance
also plays a part here as I alluded to earlier. That
arrogance that you reach when you actually know
your stuff but don’t take time to acknowledge 
change let alone hold your own standard. It would
explain how I’ve been going to shows recently and
seeing lauded MC’s have to furiously hype up the 
crowd and express their frustration that other cities
get much more live. Yes, that really happened.

Even with that said, having a King Of New York
is still someting to be valued. It demands pride
and talent enough to justify the swagger. It 
serves as a mountaintop to try to ascend to
without being aided by corporate hype machines
or fast-talking A&R’s or party promoters who
got a little bit more Take 5 money to burn. There’s
a few up and comers who may just follow through
without faltering. And one can hope that the next
generation of MC’s fully grasp what that means. 

'12 Years A Slave' & After The Awards - Chris 'Preach' Smith

Photo credit: BobbyRiversTV 

It’s the day after the Academy Awards and as
expected by many, British director Steve McQueen’s
emotional and profound film, 12 Years A Slave
won the Oscar for Best Picture. The win capped
off an impressive run of awards leading up to
the Oscars which also boosted the fame of Lupita
Nyong’o who played Patsey in the film and lent
more prominence to the strong career of Chiwtel
Ejiofor who played Solomon Northup. Nyong’o
also nabbed Best Supporting Actress and John
Ridley got the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.
The wins left everyone buzzing, but one question
does present itself in the aftermath, as it has to:

What’s next for filmmakers of color?

12 Years A Slave was the vanguard of a couple
of films that dealt with the Black experience in 
America. 42, the standout Fruitvale Station and
the much-discussed Lee Daniels film The Butler
were groundbreaking in that they were different
views of this experience spanning decades. But
McQueen’s picture was set to be the centerpiece
because of it’s main theme: the unflinching and
sad scar of American history that was slavery. 
That it came a year after the smash revenge
fantasy Western by Quentin Tarantino, Django
Unchained raised a couple of eyebrows in how 
slavery was actually depicted with attention to
detail. Up to this point, the image machine that
is Hollywood hadn’t fully dealt with slavery since
Amistad. But with the box-office success of these
two films, you started hearing news. News that
had people pushing Tarantino to do a Django
sequel. News that even had the tired studio device
of ‘rebooting’ to be applied to Roots. I started to
wonder if we were on the verge of being in another
Blaxploitation era with slavery as the main theme?

Photo Credit: Fox Searchlight

Before you get up in arms, let’s consider a few
points. The Blaxploitation era did contain a few 
pictures dealing with the issue of slavery from
varied sources, even prior to the accepted dates
that the era began and ended. Consider the second
film from Gille Pontecorvo who directed The Battle
of Algiers, Burn! which starred Marlon Brando in
1969. That film in some ways was a template for
McQueen’s work as far as historical accuracy being
key with respect to slave uprisings in the Caribbean.
The film was an Italian production and distributed
by United Artists, and Brando turned down a role
in Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid to do it.
The two most vivid examples of slavery-themed 
films of the era happened to be both based on
fictional novels - and were violent and lewd to be
considered grindhouse exploitative: Mandingo and
Drum, starring the late boxing world champion
Ken Norton Sr. Both of these films are brutal to
being grotesque, but generated cash for Dino De
Laurentis. Another film to be lumped in with this
trashy duo is another Italian production from 1971,
Goodbye Uncle Tom. The film, which billed itself as
a ‘documentary’ because of its usage of historical
documents to depict the horrors of antebellum
slavery has been widely regarded as one of the most
racist films on record. So Hollywood having 12 Years
A Slave be the success that it is, is important
because it marries the bottom line with honest
depictions of a horrible period helmed by a Black
director. Now it’s a matter of how to avoid the
same pitfalls that have befallen people of color in
the movie industry. Hollywood still reflects a power
dynamic that shows what it wants to. Look at 
The Butler. It was being hyped as an Oscar contender
yet you heard nary a word about it despite the 
star power attached to the vehicle Oscar night. 
12 Years A Slave may not even have gone forward
without a white producer of note, in this case 
Brad Pitt, giving backing to the film. Could such a
picture get the green light if it was a production 
with all the major roles filled by people of color?
Doubtful. And that also affects the actors.

Photo Credit: AP

Take Lupita Nyong’o for example. One hopes that
her Best Supporting Actress win will get her not
only good roles in the future, but consistent ones.
It’s important when you consider that her being
dark-skinned, a look not totally embraced across
the board still by Hollwood in 2014, is a source 
of pride for all women of color across the globe
and builds a base of success created by Viola Davis
and Gabourey Sidibe and Cicely Tyson and others.
Chiwetel Ejiofor has been a fine actor and somewhat
of a jack of all trades in his roles(raise your hand
if you remember him as the villain in Serenity or
Four Brothers) and one hopes he’ll get more chances
to shine. Adepero Oduye should also get some
acclaim for her powerful performance as Eliza and
more roles for a budding career as well. Why is
this important? Because those three represent the
full diaspora effect taking place with Black actors.
But hopefully that change finds more impact behind
the scenes. Consider that the base of Academy voters
is still overwhelmingly white and male, to the tune
of 92 percent. That’s with Cheryl Boone-Issacs becoming
the first president of color of the Academy and new
diversity initiatives in voter admissions. And also,
the most important factor: money. Studios to some
degree still see the stories of people of color as a
‘niche’, one that works better when it deals with
comedy. And so, roles do become fleeting. It’s a viewpoint
that reflects a part of the American public that still
hasn’t fully educated itself about the experience of people of
color in this country, either by bland downplaying, omissions
or just willful dismissal. Especially in political contexts,
as evidenced by right wing trolls Sarah Palin and Ann
Coulter’s remarks hours after the Oscars. And it’s
not restricted to the US - remember the Italian
release of the film that had Pitt and Michael Fassbender’s
faces imposed in the background on the poster?

One can only hope that the success of 12 Years A Slave
means that more filmmakers of color can tell the stories
they want to their way. That there can be more output 
from women filmmakers of color. And that this output
can be funded increasingly with the support of communities
of color and others, limiting control by the Hollywood
machine. It’s highly optimistic, I know. But hope and
will gave Northup the courage to get out of his predicament.
There’s no reason given history that these hopes can’t
come to pass. 

'Bonita Applebum', Revisited - Chris 'Preach' Smith

So, Valentine’s Day just passed us by. And of course, the 
topic of love was thrown about with all the requisite mixes
and playlists. Hip-hop was no different. Of course, some of
what passes for love and hip-hop you’ve probably gotten
tired of, splayed out on cable networks like those movies
that used to be on Cinemax After Dark back in the day.
That’s not to say it isn’t entertaining, but for some of us,
love and hip-hop was always and still is a more complex
union. And today marks the anniversary of one of those
tracks that is a prime example: ‘Bonita Applebum’, by the
legendary group A Tribe Called Quest.

Admit it - you play ‘Bonita Applebum’ now, you instantly
get transported back to the first time you heard it. And
whoever you were crushing on at the time. For me it
was the time when cats were still rocking shirts you saw
in Kwame’s ‘Ownlee Eue’ video which came out the year
before, and girls sported doorknocker earrings and silk
blouses to go with their winning smiles. The Native Tongue
Era was in full effect, and the song, for all of its sexual
innuendo still conveyed more depth. There’s a breathy
innocence even in the pursuit of Bonita, evidenced by
Q-Tip’s opening lines:

Do I love you?

Do I lust for you?

Am I a sinner cuz I do the two? 

These three lines hit you in the heart because you
immediately found yourself in that same position
Tip was in. Bonita Applebum got to be more than a
potential sexual conquest the moment Tip said those
words because he addressed all the aspects of his
attraction. Another important aspect of the track
that has to be addressed in this regard is the fact
that Tribe, when doing this initial album People’s
Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm, were
themselves just out of high school. So the feel of
the song adds another layer of exploration from a
youthful angle of sex, love and attraction. It also
isn’t a guttural expression as some got used to in
hip-hop (remember the term ‘skeezahs?) and the
way the track ended kind of served as a jolt back to
peer-based reality with the chants of ‘sex, freaks’
at the end. A real house party feel. Even a woman’s
curves were detailed in smooth form, and an early
opposition to imposed beauty ideals by fashion
publications and commercials depicting swimsuit
models with svelte figures. Even the video had 
some great subliminal imagery detailing the simple
pleasures of such a courtship with the stick figures
chasing Bonita around. And who can forget all the
members of Tribe in that one scene with the ‘Jimmy’
helmets? There’s even the self-consciousness of
love being expressed in a rap song at the end of 
each verse, as if to speak to the new ground being
broken.

You also can’t discount the great influences found
on ‘Bonita Applebum’ musically. I don’t think you’d 
be far off if you could spot the correlations between
this track and Motown gems by Smokey Robinson.
The beat iteslf makes the track feel like it could’ve
served as a backdrop for a scene out of ‘Cooley High’.
Brazilian jazz also finds a home here in the sample
of ‘Mathar’ by The Dave Pike Set. ATCQ’s song has
proven to be a cultural staple in many ways, being
sampled by Biz Markie and most famously by The 
Fugees with ‘Killing Me Softly’. And in case you feel
the newer generation has no love for Bonita, Pro Era
referenced the song in a recent track, ‘Rosie At Rubber
Tracks.’ More proof that love and hip-hop in their 
truest forms and expressions speak to everyone
across the years. More so than one-hit wonders
and semi-scripted drama.  

Philip Seymour Hoffman And His Somber Last Role - Chris 'Preach' Smith

Photo Credit: Raindance.org

This past Sunday afternoon, New York City and the world were
rocked with the news that highly acclaimed actor Philip Seymour
Hoffman was found dead in his West Village apartment. He was
only 46 years old. It is all the more tragic that he succumbed to
an overdose of heroin. The aftermath has left many with varied
emotions as a famous figure’s untimely end tends to do. It has
also ilustrated a couple of things that are unfortunate elements
of our society that we can’t seem to shake. This piece isn’t so 
much a memorial as a commentary.

The shock over Hoffman’s death has mostly subsided as the
week moved on. It took newspapers here in New York City one
or two days to focus on the seedy aspects. The Daily News’
cover depicting exactly how much heroin the actor had in his
apartment in bold colors and font was, in a word, tasteless.
But it’s to be expected; there still is a bit of the William Randolph
Hearst ethic of ‘yellow journalism’ that lies in the traditional
media. Stuff like that gets spurred on by outlets like TMZ and
even that block of shows at 7 P.M. on television that focuses
on everything Hollywood on a couple of channels. There’s even
been a few unstable individuals trying to link this to politics,
blaming ‘liberalism’ in frothing comments left under uber-right
wing patriotic nicknames. Take my word for it. You even had
the National Enquirer, supermarket tabloid rag supreme, claim
that the man that found his body, David Katz, was his lover.
(Of course, a lawsuit has been filed against the paper.) And 
the NYPD has struck a bad nerve with people in conducting a
manhunt for the dealers that sold him the drugs. Couple that
with the thin veneer of moralism for the sake of stroking egos
in the name of ‘traditional’ values and thinking about drugs
and drug use and it seems as if Hoffman is now the principal
in a drama that is repeated worldwide on a daily basis on a
scale that is unbearable to comprehend. But it happens.

The NYPD investigation rankles many because the first thought
is, where’s the full-blown effort for other victims of drug use?
There’s some that feel that once you get below 110th Street
in Manhattan, the police pay more attention to the dealers
than the victims and low-level distributors. Does color play a
part? Unfortunately it does. Think about heroin. Heroin has
affected all ethnicities for decades. My father used to be a doctor
in a drug treatment clinic way back. In NYC, Eighth Avenue
uptown was referred to as ‘the heroin capital of the world’
back in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Then the 1980’s hit, and it
was surpassed by crack as the prevailing drug in the land.
Combine that with Reaganomics and deep cuts to federal
resources designed to combat these ills and the addiction
rate soared. Fast forward to now, and heroin use has been
on the rise, reserved again mainly as an exclusive drug. Hoffman
was observed using a deli’s battered ATM to make repeated
withdrawals of $200. The investigation has garnered four
suspects in NoHo. And all any arrests will do is stem the tide
in a miniscule way. It won’t directly address the real issues drugs
and addiciton present. It’s another example of how whenever ‘war’
is declared on something in this nation, there is a failure. On
the surface, because in the words of General Smedley Butler,
‘war is a racket’. It’s all about who loses, and who profits.  

Of course, this leads to some expressing frustration with 
the system, and rightfully so. But there is a problem when
some in a lefthanded way go, ‘but he was just an actor’ or
seek to satisfy their ego in down-talking others for simply
commenting on his passing in the role of sticking up for 
those regular people struggling with addicition in all of its
forms everyday. Cynicism and fighting for liberation are
never compatible dancing partners. Plus, a shrill message
without nuance to that effect never gets the desired effect.
Especially on social media. I thought about this seeing one
of my dear friends go this route. It also puts Hoffman in
another one-dimensional box because if anything, PSH
was just a regular New Yorker. Sure he lived a little higher
on the hog because of his profession. But he had no airs
about him. He’d often be out in the streets of Greeniwch
Village with his kids or by himself going about his business.
There’s quite a few pictures of him, rumpled with stubble.
I mean, the man rocked Carhartt on the regular in photos.
Quite different than some celeb New Yorkers with car 
elevators in their penthouse high-rise buildings. He also 
was someone who fought addiction since he was 22, all
kinds of substances. He fell off the wagon last year, and was
vocal about it. And yet, his demons claimed him. Hoffman
wasn’t your usual addict, and yet he was by all accounts.
Addiction is like that. I’ve seen a few friends grapple with
addiction, and it amazes me how they cultivate their strength
to fight. It also makes me pause whenever they confess
that they know all it takes is one time to fall. 


Photo credit: Guardian-Las Vegas

The point is, his passing in combination with all the other 
lives lost to addiction is more a condemnation of the things
society at large has been led to focus on, including outdated
and nonsensical drug laws and methods of treatment. There
has been an appalling lack of focus on mental health in this
country. Substance abuse and its rise is one glaring example.
It’s been reported that heroin use alone has doubled in the
past few years. And again, certain piggish individuals in our
government have cut funding for treatment centers, clinics,
and hospitals at the expense of more people falling to these
ills. Perpetuating a system that simply doesn’t work. That’s
not to say that there haven’t been changes, what with
marijuana legalization the hot topic these days along with
mandatory drug sentencing laws and convictions being struck
down. More has to be done. And it can’t be done in a mood
of hysterical moralism. We’ve seen it before with Len Bias’
death due a cocaine overdose back in 1984. All that will do 
is give police forces more reason to be militaristic, and the
prison industrial complex more lives to ingest. We need to
be more mindful of the lives affected by addiction. Lend more
support whenever we can. Talk to the children honestly and
openly about it, as well as adults. Be wary of the glamourous
sheen put on substance abuse, even in dramatic depictions
on TV and film and passing trends of clothing. Keep after elected
officials about their unwillingness to do more in this regard. Pay no
mind to the manipulation by the negative elements of media.

In this light, Philip Seymour Hoffman’s final role should be a
mix of the cautionary tale about addiction and its ills, but also of
what one can truly accomplish despite them and after confronting 
them. It is something that befits an outstanding actor, and also
a complex, fragile human being. Just like everyone else.