Taking Back MLK's Legacy- Mick Jenkins and Supa BWE- "Treat Me"

Mick Jenkins and Supa BWE were spot on with their video. And they prove that MLK's legacy is still in tact, and won't be villanized. I'll tell you why.

Now to the majority, this will be another year where we endure the money draped gossip spread against us through a person many of us have revered.
This year is different. I am compelled to discuss how we were effective in taking back his legacy.

During the aftermath surrounding Mike Brown's shooting in Ferguson, we endured people using MLK's legacy from people trying to shame us into behaving how they thought we should behave. If a person wasn't careful in recognizing this pattern, one would believe that would have been the point of celebrating Martin Luther King's legacy to the point where white nationalists have gone so far as to buy a domain geared solely for the demonization of Martin Luther King and his legacy.

Even after the website in question had been outed as an illegitimate source, they will still take their time trying to defame him.  

But not anymore. During the unrest in Ferguson,  so many people clapped back with his quote "A riot is the language of the unheard" to the point where articles like this one was created, claiming that his image has been corrupted by social media.

Even though his legacy is still undergoing attempts at being tarnished by those who are anti Black, it has become evident that people are still neglecting the reasons why he had to protest in the first place.

This lead me to believe the same people who decry the corruption of his legacy by social media are the same ones who failed to recognize the cause of the violence in Ferguson.

These are the same people who believe the turbulence happened out of the clear blue. These are the same people who thought everything was fine until "they" brought up race.

These are the same people who view themselves and people who look like them as innocent and could do no wrong.

These are the same people who glossed over the violence of White people during Martin Luther King's peaceful protests.

Long story short, if the documented violence of the state and the violence of White people past and present didn't exist, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and many other noted Black activists would not have needed to protest because the issues would have been non existent.

And the Ferguson unrest would have not happened because the environment there, and many other places in the United States would not have taken place.

And that is what Martin Luther King really meant when he said that non violence would be the greatest weapon of the Negro. Because all of the violence that White people had inflicted upon them past and present would be glaringly strong. And it is strong, but many of us haven't been looking at it from a different angle due to justified anger and frustration of the whole thing.  (Please remember I'm not saying roll over and take that violence that has been given to us.I'm just saying they'll never be able to use his legacy against us again because the evidence regarding White violence is all there.)

After seeing this and making all of the pieces of the past fit with the present, I came to this conclusion:

Martin Luther King to anti Black people is like Jesus for conservative politicians. They like the idea of him, but don't actually advocate for the things he actually said or taught and would more than likely hate the actual person.

That being said, Happy Martin Luther King day. Take this time to celebrate any way you see fit. And also, please remember to financially boycott that day, and re-divert your dollars to Black owned businesses.

And remember. Watch this video and pay special attention to what Martin Luther King says at the 3:15 mark.

Aside from Martin Luther King dressing 'properly' and being non violent, this is why it won't keep you from getting arrested or murdered. I see you, RZA.

Film,Soundtracks, and Black Music

Every so often, I'll watch a movie. And when I watch a movie as a music fan in general, I have to hear the soundtracks. For me, a great soundtrack could make or break a movie.  As predicted, a bad soundtrack, could really piss me off and make me become highly uninterested in a movie or show no matter how good it might be.

For example, Check out this trailer for The Interview:

This trailer is laced with Black music, and so is the entire movie. But the context of the songs is so very wrong. What does EnVogue's "Free Your Mind" have to do with anything in the movie? I saw this film and all I came away with was, what does Syl Johnson's "Is It Because I'm Black" have to do with the main characters walking up to the fortress?  That song is a very heavy song that was done unjustly by inserting it into a movie that falls into a comedy genre.  This had some great potential, but all of the misplacement of Black music, and the fake Black slang was a huge turnoff for me. I had to give it one star in hopes nothing like that would show up in my Netflix feed ever again. 

Another instance is the Deadpool trailers. Here's the first one

Here's the second one:

What does Salt N Peppa's "Shoop" have to do with the trailer? Does he sex somebody down in the movie?  In this case, I 'd have to see the movie to find out, but I suspect it doesn't fit in the entire movie. That placement of Shoop really turned me off. 

It's like the people who use Black music in their movies have no concept of context. It's like they go, "Dude! Here is a really cool Black song to put riiiight here! It'll be, like sooo awesome!"  Except with The Interview, they decided to create something of a White Blaxploitation film sprinkled with horrible slang.  It's like they don't really know anybody whose Black for real, and they had no Black writers, but somebody told them to "Black it up and make it feel more, ummm urban, ya know? Kay, thanks guys!" And a lot of the films have just one Black person in them. I don't remember if there were any Black faces in The Interview, and I probably won't see Deadpool because I'm an asshole like that when it comes to soundtracks. 

All I ask is for some accurate context for the placement of Black music in these films, especially if the show has no Black people in them and has Black music recklessly strewn throughout the entire thing. 

Am I asking too much?  Knowing the history of this sort of thing, I probably am. 

Mikey Bustos's "Twerk It Like Miley Parody/ I Have A Brown Body.

For those who know me, they know I like positive hip hop. I also like parody music every one in a while. That being said, check out  Mikey Bustos's "Twerk It Like Miley Parody/ I Have A Brown Body.





I like his message. He's basically saying, "Love the skin you're in and accept no adversity to it." This is a powerful  message because White supremacy has caused people to want to bleach their skin, and alter themselves in order to distance themselves from the darkness of their skin in order to appear so called "acceptable." This video is noteworthy to me because it seemed like the only race fighting against this thing was the Black people in the United States. It seemed that other people would distance themselves from that fight and continue to do whatever they can in order to appear more acceptable to White people and their sensibilities.  He appears to be the first international artist to openly do so and that gives a bit of respect in my book. Hopefully more artists will follow suit. 

Hip hop has been waiting for Nezi Momodu. It's always a 

treat to hear a dope MC whose a woman.





Her mixtape is available on Soundcloud:

X - Catch The Beat

Tryna catch the beat.

 

 Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/itsxmusic/catch-the-beat

 Website: www.itsxmusic.com

It's been a long time...

I shouldn't have left you...without a dope beat to step to.


That being said, Sorry about that. But I'll make it up to you, I promise. I'll bring you Busdriver;s latest mixtape called "Thumbs". He's out of LA and has one of the most interesting flows in hip hop. He's been rapping for a long time too. He's heavily understated and underrated.  Anyway, here's  a taste:



Pick it up at Itunes.

Look what I found!

I Don't Camoflauge: A behind the scenes look at how rap artists, and participants of the culture look at the idea of trying to "fit in" and how they handled this idea when they first encountered it.