It’s only been a couple of days, but Kid Cudi’s open letter to the public before he checked into rehab to combat his ongoing struggle with depression and ‘suicidal urges’ has added more fuel to the fiery conversation about mental health in the Black community. And in some ways, it’s also crafted a new road for Black men in particular with the rap world being the vessel, evident through discussions seen with the #YouGoodMan hashtag. The outpouring of support Cudi has gotten, beginning with Kanye West who he had a publicized beef with just weeks ago is heartening. And might not have been the case about a decade ago.
It aint hard to tell that this year in particular has been alternatively triumphant and tragic for Black people in America. Whether or not we each are in a place to admit it or not, the struggle to just be is that depending on how your situation is. In my own case, I’ve grown to recognize and appreciate the struggles of those dealing with mental health issues in the community in all walks of life. Cudi’s letter and admission of his own issues parallels what I’ve been witnessing for the past few years. Black people - Black men now more than ever - are stepping up and keeping it real as to how they are seeing and dealing with the overt and covert pressures of life. In doing so, they are slowly dismantling the years-old precepts of not showing emotion. “Suffering in silence” is now being identified as truly harmful, yet it’s not fully eradicated yet. This is mainly because a large number of folks in the community don’t have the means or access to clinical help as clinical depression numbers have been on the rise.
Rap music has garnered many labels for itself, many that focus on a mood that is a decadent and defiant bravado. A mood that can be translated in material means, from the “bling” era to “Money Aint A Thing”. But for the past decade, we’ve seen more of the underbelly come through in rap. More of a deeper and sometimes darker exploration of the inner workings of the soul. Granted, you’ve had rappers and different songs speak to these inner struggles in the past. Tracks like Mobb Deep’s “Drink Away The Pain”, anything from Scarface’s collection. Even Lil Wayne has dropped some science on it. Kid Cudi’s own career has been essentially been a juggling act of boisterous fun and clouded introspection. Even now, you’ve got a slew of MC’s both popular and not on the radar for contemporary rap who analyze these issues of self and mental health like Kendrick Lamar, Red Pill and Phonte among others. It’s vital in a time where state-sanctioned deaths of Black & Brown people are dotting your television and social media feeds as if they were viral infomercials. It’s vital in a year where one of the presidential candidates has become poised to totally turn the clock of American society back 50 years and more if he and his base have anything to say about it. To hell with reality TV, we need more of that reality rap.
Kid Cudi’s choice has laid more bricks down on a new road in hip-hop culture. May he find the peace that he seeks, and may his move help others to do the same. And the next time you and your people link up whether it be a phone call, text or email, don’t be afraid to ask if they’re good. Or afraid of the answer. You may just make a real difference.
“In every part of the globe it is the same!! Hatred, fear and unreasoning have possessed men’s hearts! But the Silver Surfer will have none of it!!”
- Silver Surfer
Listening to OutKast’s second album ATLiens, which celebrates twenty years of existence today, carries a special meaning that one might think is a bit far-fetched until you put the pieces together. I tend to think that the second album by Andre 3000 and Big Boi was meant to be a lyrical starship. An album that was meant to transcend boundaries, time frames and mind states. And doing so in a way that fully enhanced what the South had to offer the culture in a highly nuanced way than what the culture had experienced previously.
OutKast had already proven themselves with their first album, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. Rich with potent lyrics delivered in confident tones over classic bass-laden production that would be the calling card of Organized Noise, that first album had some bangers. I bet you that you still ride out to work with “Git Up, Get Out” on your playlist. But they still got flack from a base of listeners who were vehemently anti-Southern rap. For what I could tell then, a lot of heads dug what Andre & Big Boi spit. It struck a chord as we were growing up, getting into those young lion years roaming the streets of Southeast Queens and the rest of New York City. And we were already feeling the rest of the crew through the work of Goodie Mob, who had dropped music that pierced the spirit thanks to the haunting “Cell Therapy” the previous fall. So when the first single “Elevators” dropped - MAN. The effect was an immediate rush that grabbed a hold of you. I still remember tuning in to Rap City and seeing the music video.
Starting out with a heavy overture and Andre 3000 and Big Boi leading a motley group through a swatch of jungle on an seemingly alien planet? Then cutting to a young Asian-American kid reading a comic book which delivered the story? “Elevators” was a triumphant announcement of the new ground OutKast was breaking into. It set the tone for what you were going to get from ATLiens - a vessel to connect all of these different instances and elements that in many ways made you feel as if you truly were an alien in these United States. And the world if we’re being honest. The duo hit you with that in so many ways both overt and subtle. 3 Stacks being seen as the above-it-all scholarly slacker who rocked a turban, Big Boi as the cavalier hustler complete with the fresh Cadillac. Both seeming to be fundamental opposites yet having so many similarities in their collaboration. What “Elevators” did was tie together so many things that mattered to me at that time - good rap music that made certain situations more crystalline, a love of science fiction that centered people of color, and comics. At the time, I was getting into Jack Kirby’s Eternals more and more in addition to reading Octavia Butler and re-reading Frank Herbert in addition to ingesting whatever Samuel F. Delany work I could get my hands on. This was made a bit easier thanks to being in the library in college. It helped me gain a further appreciation for what was said on ATLiens, to understand that it was a message and a bridge. (Side note - remember when some record stores carried that same comic book with the album when it dropped? I still wish I had one.) Another note related to comics - this was the time when Milestone Comics, the imprint founded by Black artists and writers, was now in its waning moments. To have this album in conjunction with that wasn’t lost on me.
Think about how the album opens. Think about how real “You May Die” is, even now with the heightened racial friction in this country. It was, and is, a lesson, a parable, a balm. Simple, direct. Then you plunge into the jazzy bounce of “Two Dope Boyz In A Cadillac.” That track doesn’t get the props I feel it deserves for the feel of the old-school park jam style of rap thanks to the cadence of both MC’s. Sit and listen to it again. You’ll hear it. Sonically ATLiens is like being lowered into a baptismal pool and feeling refreshed and anew with those first tracks. You feel detached from the world, and that is owed to the strong influences of dub, funk a la Parliament and reggae as well as R&B from Earth, Wind & Fire. That last group factors into it heavily because they along with George Clinton were the torchbearers of space-inspired music with Sun Ra as the father. If you can, as I do, remember growing up in a household where every Earth, Wind and Fire album was treated with care and placed in a prominent spot in your parents’ vinyl collection you know where I’m going with this. And themes of space weren’t solely brought forth in rap by OutKast - Eightball & MJG, Kool Keith, and many others were advancing that concept(including the Nuwabian movement led by the infamous Dr. York.)
As ATLiens continues on, that feeling of floating still takes hold despite the tempo changes to create a truly mystical listening experience. “Wheelz Of Steel” was one of the few tracks not produced by Organized Noise, but by Earthtone Ideas which turned out to be a team of producers composed of Big Boi and Andre 3000 along with Mr. DJ who contributed the scratches. (Side note - I will forever remember my boy Govna from college out of New Rochelle who made this his personal anthem anywhere he went.) For me, “Babylon” still strikes hard and should be regarded as one of Andre’s best verses ever just from how it begins:
I came into this world high as a bird from secondhand cocaine powder I know it sounds absurd I never tooted but its in my veins
Let’s consider that for a second. These lines were delivered in a time where we were not only just dealing with the after-effects of the crack epidemic inflicted on us, but right as the rest of the nation was beginning to plunge into crystal meth in the heartlands and heroin was rising in the suburbs. “Babylon” itself is both a sermon of keeping aware and keeping faith and a gripping commentary from both rappers as to what really goes on beneath the surface. To transition from that to “Wailin”? Pure dopeness. “Wailin” is a Big Boi showcase, one that to me, proves that he could be one of the most crackin’ battle rappers if he chose to have been. And to close off that verse with a nod to the O.J. Simpson trial which was still fresh on many minds? Superb. Then “Decatur Psalm” punctuated with the sound of dropping into water?! Hearing all of these cues 20 years later is for lack of a better term, mind-blowing. And the emotional closing that “13th Floor/Growing Old” brings - I have to admit that in a down period where I lost my Grandma Smith, this was one of the tracks I leaned on to cope. The track speaks directly to longevity and accepting the wisdom and maturity that comes with age. Containing spoken word from Big Rube also made an impact on me as I began to embrace poetry as a means to amplify my own voice.
ATLiens accomplished a great deal in that it helped to bridge a great many things within the Black experience that at times seemed as if they didn’t fit. It helped in further establishing Atlanta as that second great Black Mecca of the United States as it should rightfully be seen not just on a musical level. You can see its influence today in the vast nation of “blerds” online. It elevated Big Boi and Andre 3000 to veritable icons within rap and music as a whole. Both have been on record as saying that they wanted to create an album that would speak to their children and the next generation, one that wouldn’t be solely concerned with the rising materialism being promoted as the standard goals of rap music. From that point on, they didn’t just look to the stars, they were firmly among them. And they showed us that we could - and should be too. They told us we are the celestial travelers with ATLiens. And this is only part of the journey.
The 2016 Summer Olympic Games are almost at their end, and have gone on with all of the drama one expects from the sporting spectacle and quite a few standout moments. The International Olympic Committee probably felt as if they were going to see it end without any major controversy, given the global speculation about the safety of athletes and the fact that Brazil is currently in the throes of a major political scandal with their former president, Dilma Rousseff, impeached and awaiting trial under a cloud of possible corruption from her opponents. They figured they’d be home free.
Ryan Lochte has proven them wrong.
Lochte, the heraled American swimmer along with his teammates Jimmy Feigen, Gunnar Bentz and Jimmy Conger claimed that they were robbed at gunpoint this past Sunday night while returning from a party at Club France to the Olympic Village. In first hearing the story, it was curious how Lochte made this claim and the Rio committee stated that it wasn’t the case. Even more curious was Lochte’s claim that he was like, “whatever” when a gun was pointed to his head. After a few hours in the news, the incident was picked up by global media and Lochte faced a barrage of questions. The heat was on, and apparently too much for him as he left the country. Which was right before a Brazilian judge ordered that he face questioning and not leave until he did. This resulted in Bentz and Conger being pulled from their flight home last evening. Feigen is still unaccounted for at last report. And now it’s been found that the entire “robbery” was one big fat lie, constructed for the purpose of hiding a drunken altercation at a gas station that apparently had Lochte and the other three on tape getting into it with the staff at the station. Complete with a broken door and pissing on the sidewalk and cash to cover it all up. Yet there are still media outlets who won’t call this what it is - criminally negligent behavior unworthy of an athlete representing their country. You have Mario Andrada stating that there are no apologies needed, saying “We have to understand that these kids are here to have fun.” For the record, Lochte is 32.
Ryan Lochte has essentially thrown a cherry bomb into the powderkeg that has been a bit dormant at the core of these Olympic Games with these actions and further added to a growing amount of voices questioning why we should have the Games in the first place. Another larger issue is at play here. Lochte didn’t just become another douchebag dudebro athlete with this. What he has done is essentially exert a cutlass of privilege. Lying about being robbed in a city that has been known to have an extreme amount of crime for decades is one thing, but cast in the prism of being a white American in a foreign city with a significant African heritage is heinous. It is the triple privilege of being a white American athlete that allowed him to do this and rope his teammates into it as well.
Photo Credit: USA TODAY
There have been precedents for this kind of behavior, both hundreds of years in the making and now in the present day. Think about how many stories you have heard with international incidents of bad behavior in other nations. How many stories have you heard like this or this? It’s mainly been those that aren’t of color, for various reasons. Then there’s an uproar over how that nation treats them. I’ve been fortunate enough to travel a bit, and I’ve seen the attitudes of some of these people firsthand. Especially when they get sloshed. Think about Brazil, and how much of this they’ve seen in cities like Rio and Sao Paulo among others. Hell, just go back to when you were in college and the tales you heard after spring break. Lochte and these others could’ve been hurt or hurt someone else, especially with the fact that they fought a security guards. It’s as if the old maxim “free, white and over the age” is still in effect. Which makes this all the more wrong. It does shed a light on what is deemed important by officials though. And it points out a certain hypocrisy among certain media outlets, and from those here in the States as well who are sitting in bewilderment over this major fabrication yet found more than a few words to direct at Gabby Douglas for not holding her hand over her heart after winning gold with her teammates in women’s gymnastics. Nasty, hateful words that made her teary-eyed at a press conference in a moment where the nation should be lifting her up for representing them with class and dignity. This incident by Lochte underscores the sheer arrogance and meanness that unfortunately has become stock and trade of some of our less humane fellow Americans that we like to tuck away every four years for these events. It’s also not a good look considering the bad behavior of some of our tourists abroad and even a few of our Secret Service personnel in the past few years especially in South America. Lastly, this behavior rings deadly in a climate where in this country, you have children of color being shot dead on the assumption that they are criminals at first glance. What message do you think this sends if Lochte isn’t held accountable?
Lochte should be stripped of the medals he earned from these Games and banned from competition for a year. But it’s doubtful that will happen. Athletes are useful, until they aren’t, especially those in the international spotlight. In an Olympic Games where Black athletes, especially the women, have proven their excellence once again, it should behoove the U.S. Olympic Committee to get in front of this and censure all four for their behavior. Stem the tide of white privilege, American style if only a little.
About two weeks ago, the world caught a slight break on Sunday from the political and social madness. This break came in the form of two superfans - or super-stupid fans if you will - of Drake who were so into the ongoing tiff between he and veteran MC and 1/4 of Slaughterhouse, Joe Budden that they decided to prank Joe. By rolling up on him as he pulled into his driveway. You can guess how it turned out from the lead photo above, but take a look at the footage from the vantage point of these trolling buffoons:
Budden literally chased them down and had to repeatedly tell them the next time someone would get seriously hurt. Of course, he did this while throwing rocks at the car and causing some.. spillage on behalf of the once-brave Drake stans no doubt. He wound up going to the house of one of the individuals afterwards and spoke to him along with his parents, stressing to him the dangers of doing something so outrageously dumb and dangerous. In an interview after the incident, Joe did note that he had noticed them hanging around the entire day and that it wasn’t hard for him to find out where one of them lived: “Because the Internet will tell you everything that you need to know about someone.” The situation spawned a serious wave of memes that we all enjoyed including Budden. Hell, he’s even making some paper off of it. But the underlying tone to this situation is one that should really make you pause. Especially when in combination with another viral situation that took place that same weekend.
Photo Credit: www.mirroruk.com
The man in the photo above is a struggling rapper who goes by the name of Kasper Knight. This genius decided that the best way to shoot up the ranks of the rap game and to prove his “realness” was to shoot himself in the face on video. In case you can’t believe what you just read, he SHOT HIMSELF IN THE FACE ON VIDEO. Then he uploaded it to his Facebook page. After a wave of comments that ranged from horror to disbelief, this cat decided to upload a second video all bloodied and stitched up, even remarking that he might’ve swallowed the bullet. He went on to eseentially dump all over his family and friends, claiming “Your care for my life will never supersede my disregard for it.” Knight even took WorldStar Hip Hop to task for not showing the video, claiming it was a racially-motivated decision. At last word, police in Indiana were investigating.
As we’re in an era where all it takes is a short video clip to be famous (take Antoine Dodson or Chewbacca Mom for example), you can sit and say that this is par for the course. But then you would be numb to, and dismiss something more important. There are idiots out here, a nation of them, who wouldn’t mind putting themselves and others at risk for fame and imaginary success. I mean, when it comes to someone like Kasper Knight, we can shake our heads at how incredibly stupid he is. But the real question is, can you really laugh at someone who has that much disregard for himself and others? He originally wanted to have someone shoot him in the face for a music video. Can you really look at someone like that and not wonder if he’d want to go on a spree of shooting others for “shock value”? As for the teens who stalked Joe Budden, that could’ve went sideways really fast. Suppose Budden had a piece on him and was inclined to feel like his life was threatened? You would’ve had someone in the hopsital or the morgue and Budden in jail if he let off a shot or two. And then there would’ve been comments from that crowd that despises anything Black and/or rap-related quick to call him a “thug” or “senseless” among other things.
The bottom line is, it gets to be a problem when you have such an emphasis on quick viral videos as a way to gain fame and money. It sometimes means that Black & Brown communities get preyed upon the most in these videos, mainly by those who are white or otherwise willfully ignorant enough to view them as fodder to get clicks and views. I still remember seething when there were two guys who felt it would be funny to go around tougher areas of Brooklyn and step on people’s sneakers to get a rise out of people. It wasn’t cool then and it isn’t cool now. Look at that video of Budden and the OVO teens. Even as he’s confronting them, the main one goes “okay, but follow me on Twitter!!” And let’s face it, that fool may wind up being in a role where he’s going to make decisions that impact you or me. Look at your current election season for proof. You have to be careful when dummies on demand are willing to go to any lengths for some shine. In these days and times, it could be more dangerous than hilarious.
The cruelties of property and privilege are always more ferocious than the revenges of poverty and oppression. For the one aims at perpetuating resented injustice, the other is merely a momentary passion soon appeased.
- C.L.R. James
Have you ever written with tears in your eyes? I mean, real burning tears that refuse to fall? If so, then you now know the state that this article is being written in. Despite that, I am writing because that’s my weapon. It is my service to you, the readers, the people.
I am writing this because the fire behind this wall of water in my eyes, fire that is stomping unabated in my bloodstream borne of anger, demands it. It is an anger, and a sorrow that I share with a great many Black and Brown folk all over these United States who have been reeling since the beginning of this week with the state-sanctioned murders of Alton Sterling and Philandro Castile. A week that began with the celebration of this country’s independence and was marred by Delrawn Small being shot and killed on a major Brooklyn street by an off-duty NYPD officer. I have struggled this entire week with this news, tried to keep balance. Then the shootings of the officers in Dallas, Texas after a peaceful protest by Black Lives Matter and other groups. And then the mourning of those officers that some outlets have positioned to be more valid than the execution of these Black lives on VIDEO. This morning, it all came to a head. And the burning of those tears have left certain things much more clearer.
What we are constantly bearing witness to with these murders by cop is this: it is the frenzied defense of a system that fears its obsolescence rapidly approaching. Look at each of these brothers. Alton Sterling was a father of five, making a living as best he could. A beloved figure in his Baton Rouge neighborhood, even by the owner of the store that he was killed in front of. Philandro Castile, who would’ve been 33 today. A chef at a school for Montessori students who was a beloved staff member. Both of these men were targeted, as so many often are, for rising against the dictated norms of a pipeline system through policing that has been co-opted by departments across the nation as a way to generate revenue. Both of these men selected through spurrious actions(Sterling was accosted due to an apparent call made by someone claiming he was up to no good, Castile pulled over due to a “broken tail light”)and summarily executed. The officers in both cases shell-shocked after pulling the trigger. And now swept away on paid leave, protected by unions who will tighten ranks like any other gang. Small’s death at the hands of the off-duty cop come in the wake of a “road rage” incident that goes off radar not only because of the deaths of Sterling and Castile but the revelation that the off-duty officer was involved in another racially-based incident before. You cannot see these murders without seeing how they are just another addition to the pyre of blood sacrifices to an system that is far past rotten and reveals more and more of it especially when the summer hits.
Summertime in America has always held that undercurrent of anxiety for us. It goes back years, decades. Centuries even, if you decide to really pore through the history they choose to exclude from textbooks thanks to partisan politics as racism. We have always borne the brunt of atrocities both publicized and held quiet since the dawn of this nation. In this digital age however, the violence is not only televised it’s on loop and streaming to wherever you are. To truly understand where we are, you have to accept a cold truth: there are a number of Americans who are not people of color who have a fixation on seeing these videos. It is no different than postcards of lynchings and the white public holding barbecues around them that sit in various storehouses and trunks from years past. It satisfies a pornographic need within these people. This same sentiment is being shared in memes on comment boards on various forums. The white supremacists are not the only ones, just the most unabashed. Don’t think that someone you know or worked with or went to school with or someone you loved isn’t party to this. Your proximity to them is closer than you may realize. This is why many are choosing not to share these videos or see them, and request that others do the same. Because the network heads, website editors in chief - they are driven by traffic numbers. If this gets them more, the better. And so the prism of power gets strengthened. Think about it - this sentiment lives on certain groups populated by police members with corrupt hearts too. Why else do you see these murders keep taking place? For them, it is what they subscribe to in order to reaffirm an identity that gives them money and positions of power. Power rewarded by more military weapons. Ferguson, 2014. Los Angeles, 1990. And others in between and prior.
Photo Credit: AP
The shootings of the officers in Dallas compound the situation because their deaths are, in the same way, being used. Before I go any further, let me reiterate a point: you can feel sorrow for their deaths in the wake of a peaceful protest as much as you feel for the murders of Castile and Sterling. In that, you must realize one set does not erase the other, should not. But that is what some are opting to do. This comes in the form of the “all lives matter” crowd that is split into two camps serving the same goal. The first camp is well-meaning, but will use the term as a way to promote an ideal of peace that ultimately negates it. They wish to, in order to have unity, strip people of color of what makes them different and has put them in the position that they are. It’s a neutrality that reinforces silence as violence. The second camp? They know full well why they use the phrase. It is the new “get over it” or “stop playing the race card.” Think about every situation you may have seen it used on social media. If you know someone like this, hold your corner and realize they may not come around to seeing it your way.
Take into account the frenzy in the aftermath of the officers being shot and killed. You had someone running the Dallas Police Department twitter account post a photo of Mark Hughes, a brother who walked with a rifle as per his consitutional right. Someone who gave up the rifle to law enforcement to examine before being allowed to continue to march. They chose him as the chaos went on, and if not for the vigilance of the people online who debunked that myth, he could’ve died. The suspect found responsible, Micah Johnson(I will not play into the game of using his middle initial as a code) who was blown up by a robot initially used to defuse bombs turns out to be a former Army veteran who is now being depicted as a loner. This is after being shown across screens and websites in a daishiki with his fist raised, and hanging with Professor Griff of Public Enemy. The mere mention of Black Lives Matter in relation to him basically has re-ignited certain outlets like Fox News to position that movement and other justice movements like it as enemies to the state. Think about it - this happens and Rudy Giuliani, a crook is brought on to speak for officers. Joe Walsh, a man who hours earlier threatened the life of the President of the United States on Twitter, gets brought on CNN.
I say all of this to say that if you are to not only survive and thrive in these times right now, you need to realize that resistance of any sort on behalf of the people, consistent resistance lies in knowing fully what is going on. It is a resistance that demands that you continue to break the prism already severely fractured by current events. This resistance means that you need to let your sorrow channel into continuing to see clearly, acting clearly. And watch the spin. Because imbalance is what has kept certain things in play that harm us. Have those hard talks. Read those links people share. Don’t shame those who look to re-center themselves through self- care to protect against emotional trauma and need to log off. Encourage others to get locally involved however they can, whenever they can and if they struggle, support them. As always, the struggle continues and I hope these words help at least one person out.
A revolution that is based on the people exercising their creativity in the midst of devastation is one of the great historical contributions of humankind.
Thursday, October 6, 2016 at 3:09PM 
Photo Credit: RunTheTrap
