English 2

Music Essay 3

dead prez

This social age we are living in will quite possibly be looked

upon, by future historians as the ‘era of hell on Earth’. It might not

be those exact words, but it will be something like that. The whole

world is in shambles, and it may be not be in the publics eye but a

quick search will yield the results like: 80% of the Earth’s

population lives in poverty,1 and 30% of the world are unemployed2.

There are wars, and genocide happening all around, right now as this

paper is being read! Even in the United States, there are people

oppressed mentally, and enslaved physically. Many men and women play

the role of authority figures, and abuse citizens on a regular basis

without ever answering for these crimes. As of late, this reality is

beginning to be reflected.

There are quite a few musical groups out there that send these

truths across to their respective audiences. To write a paper about

all the groups that use their talents in the fight against the ills

that plague the globe would take ages, and make for a long paper. For

now, we'll just focus on specific problems and a specific group named

dead prez, and their work in the struggle against ingrained, and

unspoken societal problems.

Dead prez is an east coast Hip-Hop group, consisting of M1 and

stic.man they are very marginal in terms of their lyrics, and aren't

as well known as some of the 'pop' Hip-Hop icons. Their music is very
revolutionary. They fill a vital niche in terms of cultural thought in

the Black community. The group has ingeniously done something that not

many people have accomplished, and indeed even attempted. They've

combined the very well known Black street culture revolving around

gangs, open violence, drugs, and a multitude of other negative

adjectives have combined it with the opposite, much less known culture

of Black intellectuals, and scholars. Contrary to the organizations

that exist in the streets(Crips, Bloods, Latin Kings, etc..) positive,

alternative, useful, and attractive strategies have been

conceptualized and materialized in their music. I'd assume that most

Americans that would listen to any random d.p. record would be turned

off. This music isn't for them.

Dead prez have made a few mix tapes and two official studio

albums. One called “Let's Get Free” and the other called

“Revolutionary But Gangsta” To me, all their songs are good, and it is

very difficult to choose one album and leave the others out. “Let's

Get Free” was their first album, I'll be cherry picking a few tracks

from there to express how it is related to the age in which it was

released.

The album I chose dropped at the turn of the millennium and was

pitted against the newly created materialistic, “bling” culture was an

exponentially expanding phenomenon. Southern rap had not taken off

yet, but was gaining in popularity. From their beginnings, dead prez

focused on a very specific audience. That was hip-hop heads that

wanted more from their music than what was being offered. Not only

that, they also appealed, and appeal to intellectual types of people

who liked hip-hop but couldn't be bothered with the detrimental type

that existed at the time. The strong upsurge Pan-Africanist,

nationalist attitude of the late 80's and early 90's345 were long gone,

d.p. came at the right time.

The opening track is of spoken word by Chairman Omali Yeshitela6

which compared the drug epidemic in the Black communities to an eskimo

wolf hunting story:

“You got folks who are stuffed into these prisons all around the country who don't even

understand why they are there. Many of them think it was their idea that they are there.

They don't even understand that a drug economy has been imposed on our community where

the legal capitalists deny African People the right to work in the legal capitalist

economy. Then these same legal capitalists impose an illegal capitalist economy in the

form of the drugs and you can't get a job anywhere else.

I'm told the Native People in the Arctic, in order to kill wolves take a sharp knife,

melt the ice, and bury the handle in the ice and let it freeze over with the blade

projecting up. They would cover the blade with blood. Wolves would smell the blade and

come to try to eat. They would lick the blade. When they licked the blade they would cut

their tongues and they would drink their own blood. They really were thinking that they

had a lot to eat then, and of course they were drinking their own blood and killing

themselves in the process.

That's what imperialism has done to our communities. It takes away the ability for you to

live in a normal situation and then they bury a blade in the ice and put some blood on

it. you come to lick the blade thinking that you're getting nourishment, and actually

what you're doing is killing yourself in the process."

these several lines set the tone for the rest of the album. In these

words Yeshitela was able to establish a reason for the epidemic, and

in his poetic way show that the suppliers(native people of the arctic,

US Government) of these deadly substances(swords, drugs) held equally

as much blame as the dealers(the wolf, young black pushers). The

listener was to see what was in store.

The next track was “I'm a African”7. This track was especially

interesting and linked very well to the current mentality of

descendants of Africans in the United States. It opens with the

lyrics:

Nigga the red is for the blood in my arm

The black is for the gun in my palm
And the green is for the tram that grows natural
Like locks on Africans
Holdin the smoke from the herb in my abdomen
Camouflage fatigues, and dashikis
Somewhere in between n.w.a. and p.e.
I'm black like Steve Biko
Raised in the ghetto by the people
Fuck the police you know how we do
Ayo my life is like roots its a true story
Its too gory for them televised fables on cable
I'm a a runaway slave watching the north star
Shackles on my forearm , runnin with the gun on my palm
Im an African , never was an African-American
Blacker than black I take it back to my origin
Same skin hated by the klansmen
Big nose and lips, big hips and butts, dancin, what

stic.man, in those words explained what the Black nationalist/African

Diaspora flag means to them, and how it applies to their view of an

oncoming revolution that will be the harbinger of peace and equality

in this world. Termed “the revolution” by men and women of African

descent. The next verse talks on the aesthetic and physical beauty of

Black people, which is a low point in the collective subconscious self

esteem of many blacks, and a major detriment to the seditious future.

With a lack of love and value of self, there exists a void of reason

to fight for anything.

The next track is “They School8” it opens up with the words

 Man that school shit is a joke
The same people who control the school system control
The prison system, and the whole social system
Ever since slavery, nawmsayin?

This speaks on the problems that the school orthodox school system is

known to bring to North American Blacks. It functions as a conduit

from the cradle to the prison industry. Because so many can't relate

to the lessons being taught, they lose interest early, are labeled

demeaning terms and eventually fail out. Without marketable skills, in

a capitalist society, the remaining options to feed one's self and

family are undesirable, and lead to incarceration. Many studies have

been done on this subject910 but, it's not quantum physics. If one isn't

interested in something, their attention will go elsewhere. Throughout

the song stic.man raps about the books he read, and the education he

built on his own. So, the message is not that education is bad, or

negative in any way, but the current system of education is flawed,

especially in the case of Africans in the United States. The love of

knowledge is shown in th final part of the song:

Cuz for real, a mind is a terrible thing to waste

And all yall high class niggas with yall nose up
Cuz we droppin this shit on this joint, fuck yall
We gon speak for ourselves
Knowhatimsayin? cuz see the schools aint teachin us nothin
They aint teachin us nothin but how to be slaves and hardworkers
For white people to build up they shit
Make they businesses successful while its exploitin us
Knowhatimsayin? and they aint teachin us nothin related to
Solvin our own problems, knowhatimsayin?
Aint teachin us how to get crack out the ghetto
They aint teachin us how to stop the police from murdering us
And brutalizing us, they aint teachin us how to get our rent paid
Knowhatimsayin? they aint teachin our families how to interact
Better with each other, knowhatimsayin? they just teachin us
How to build they shit up, knowhatimsayin? thats why my niggas
Got a problem with this shit, thats why niggas be droppin out that
Shit cuz it dont relate, you go to school the fuckin police
Searchin you you walkin in your shit like this a military compound
 Knowhatimsayin? so school dont even relate to us
Until we have some shit where we control the fuckin school system
Where we reflect how we gon solve our own problems
Them niggas aint gon relate to school, shit that just how it is
Knowhatimsayin? and I love education, knowhatimsayin?
But if education aint elevatin me, then you knowhatimsayin it aint
Takin me where I need to go on some bullshit, then fuck education
Knowhatimsayin? at least they shit, matter of fact my nigga
This whole school system can suck my dick, beeyotch!!

The next record is “Hip-Hop11” this was one of the title tracks

from the album. In this track d.p. is calling out all the counter-

productive, lyricist that exist and their “fake records”. They talk

about how what they do is bigger than just hip-hop, and how what they

do isn't about sex, money and drugs like most of the rap out there.

The music video shows Blacks exercising, having fun, and waving

nationalist flags . A strong contrast to the popular rap videos which

feature loose women, jewelry, cars and a multitude of other

unimportant materials. This is one of the most important tracks on the

album. It was the title track, so the group had to really get a lot

done with this album. They did a fine job too. It's a really good

track that works on many levels. It can be played in a dance hall, at

parties, at intellectual events, in fact this song is often played on

comedian Dave Chappell's show. They showed that all the known markers

of modern materialistic hip hop aren't needed to make an entertaining,

valuable track.

The previous descriptions are repeated in many of the tracks

there are a couple of songs that stand out in the mosaic of music that

is 'Lets Get Free'. One of those such tracks is entitled “Mind Sex”.

This very interesting song is basically an homage to relationships

between the Black man and his woman. There are countless of songs out

there that talk about some black love. This one is very different
though. While most songs focus on her body, and sexual prowess, this

one focuses on the mutually beneficial companionship that can exist

between man and woman. In the beginning, stic.man raps

Now I know you think I wanna fuck, no doubt

But tonight well try a different route, how bout we start

With a salad, a fresh bed of lettuce with croutons

Later we can play a game of chess on the futon

See I aint got to get in your blouse

Its your eye contact, that be getting me aroused

When you show me your mind, it make me wanna show you mines..

A song about a woman's mind and intellectual worth? Almost unheard of,

and infinitely valuable, and needed in the black community. The

culture of the United States is one of individualism, exploitation,

and selfishness. This culture, such a far cry from the original

African cultures have been all but destroyed and replaced by clones of

European exploitative cultures. This can be seen in a quick comparison

of continental African cultures, with ones assimilated by Africans in

the Americas. Though, a little difficult to find, most studies find

that Blacks in the US have an illegitimacy rate of about 70%12. The

rate of the country as a whole is 43%. The rate in Benin, one of the

modern countries of what was called the “Slave Coast” is around 30%13

The reason for this, according to psychologist Francess Cress Welsing

is due to a historical devaluing of the Black family, by the European

majority of this country. As she put it:

...Similarly, under the American slavery system, Black males and Black females were

forbidden by law to marry and stabilize their relationships. To further prevent their

unity, often Black males and females who became intimate were sent to different

plantations by their slaveholders.....This explains why black males are victimized harshly
 by police brutality and arrest and also illuminates why they are victimized most harshly

by the educational system. Because of their extreme victimization in these two areas,

black males have the highest levels of unemployment and underemployment, the highest rates

of prison incarceration, the highest incidence of school failure and school drop-out

rates, the highest incidence of alcoholism, the highest rates of drug use and addiction,

the highest homicide rates...Also, the black male most often finds himself outside the

black family structure...

The Africans in Benin, and the Africans in the USA have very few

differences. One is the infusion of foreign blood, and the legacy of

300 years of bondage, a horrible throwback with still unknown

consequences. It has become less common for a Black man to see past

the physical beauty in their female counterparts. A song like “Mind

Sex” that glorifies her mind, loyalty, and value is a big step toward

regaining the destination that is the reemergence of African culture.

The album is about 17 tracks long, but it full of songs that

advocate liberation through any means, bodily maintenance through

exercising and healthy eating, mental maintenance through self

education, the reestablishment of the African family model and its

subsequent maintenance. In this millennium, after 500+ years of

oppression, and attempts at changing the conditions, this album

expresses that obviously the previous attempts didn't work, and it may

be time to look at other avenues of societal adjustment.

*numbers correspond to

citations.
 Works Cited

Shah, Anup. "Poverty Facts and Stats ? Global Issues." Global Issues :

social, political, economic and environmental issues that affect

us all ? Global Issues. 22 Mar. 2009. World Bank. 30 Apr. 2009

<http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats>.

"CIA - The World Factbook -- World." Welcome to the CIA Web Site

Central Intelligence Agency. 23 Apr. 2009. Central Intelligence

Agency. 30 Apr. 2009

<https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-

factbook/geos/xx.html>.

Knight, Fahim A. "RECAPTURING THE AFRICAN MIND AND MY RELATIONSHIP

WITH THE AUTHOR BRUCE BRIDGES." Weblog post. 5 Dec. 2009. 20 Apr.

2009 <http://fahimknightsworld.blogspot.com/2007/12/recapturing-

african-mind-behind- seen.html>.

Mullen, LEah. "JOHN HENRIK CLARKE, RUNOKO RASHIDI RACE MEN of the

NINETIES." JOHN HENRIK CLARKE, RUNOKO RASHIDI RACE MEN of the

NINETIES. 30 Apr. 2009.

Ihonvbere, Julius O. "Julius O. Ihonvbere: Pan-Africanism: Agenda for

African Unity in the 1990s?" Hartford Web Publishing. The

University of Texas at Austin. 30 Apr. 2009 <http://www.hartford-

hwp.com/archives/30/033.html>.

"Cairman Omali Yeshitela." African Socialist International (ASI). 30

Apr. 2009 <http://asiuhuru.org/about/omali.shtml>.

"Dead Prez - I'm A African." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 30 Apr.

2009 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWGPnzii4ig>.

"Dead Prez They School." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 30 Apr. 2009

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf1QcHs4vGY>.

Abante-Hayes, Zahraa. "The Black Commentator - How New York City is

Failing Black Kids - Issue 136." BlackCommentator.com - April

30 , 2009 - Issue 322. 30 Apr. 2009

<http://www.blackcommentator.com/136/136_guest_nyc.html>.

Jackson, Phillip. "Failing our black children | Black Issues in Higher

Education | Find Articles at BNET." Find Articles at BNET | News

Articles, Magazine Back Issues & Reference Articles on All

Topics. 23 Sept. 2004. 30 Apr. 2009

<http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0DXK/is_16_21/ai_n6355373

/>.

"Dead Prez - Hip-Hop." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 30 Apr. 2009

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0JJKHfiGis>.

Welsing, Frances Cress. The Isis Papers The Keys to the Colors. Grand

Rapids: CW, 2004.

1

10

11

12

13