Follow the Leader: In search of Hip Hop's Talented Tenth

Follow the Leader:
In Search of Hip Hop's Talented Tenth

Paul Scott



"I'm here to break away the chains, take away the pains, remake the brains..."

Follow the Leader -Eric B and Rakim 1988




Twenty years ago the members of Public Enemy announced that they were going to raise up a nation of 5,000 black leaders. For a time it seemed to be working as many black folks started reading Afro-centric literature and listening to lectures by black scholars for the first time. This is not much different than Dr. WEB Du Bois's efforts a century earlier to cultivate a "talented tenth" that was supposed to uplift the black race. But in 2009, when ignorance is produced in mass quantities, the question that we must ask is where are they now?

If Du Bois's challenge was to uplift a people just two generations up from slavery, why do we find it so difficult, in the 21st century, to organize against ignorance?

During the era 1988-92, members of the Hip Hop Nation tried to develop a massive mass education project . For example, KRS not only tried to organize H.E.A.L. (Human Education Against Lies) but also released the timeless track, "My Philosophy" which, till this day, is still one of the greatest arguments against anti-intellectualism ever recorded.

Groups like the X-Clan moved a whole generation towards Afro-centric thought and exposed a nation of black youth who had only known of Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King to the philosophy of Garvey-ism via songs such as "Funkin' Lesson."

The impact of the 5% Nation (NGAE) cannot be overstated as groups such as Brand Nubian and Poor Righteous Teachers saw it as their spiritual mission to "civilize the uncivilized."

However, by 1992, the age of enlightenment gave way to Hip Hop's Dark Age, in which, we still find ourselves 17 years later.

The reasons for this backwards journey are many.

However, we must start with the nature of the beast, the music industry ,itself, and it's relationship to "revolutionary" music a generation prior to the "conscious" Hip Hop age.

In his book, "There's a Riot Going On," Peter Doggett writes of a meeting of advertising agencies and entertainment conglomerates that was held in October of 1968 called "Selling the American Youth Market," which was followed two months later by a Columbia Records marketing campaign called "The Revolutionaries are on Columbia." Thus, the revolutionary energy of the Vietnam Era was quickly co-opted and transformed into a Capitalist marketing scheme. The music that was once radical became politically ambiguous, at best.

If we juxtapose this with progressive Hip Hop music, we see that with the commercialization of the politically charged rap it began to loose it's militancy , attempting to attract the coveted crossover market. This was also exacerbated by an American political structure that has always seen intelligent African Americans as threats to national security. Not to mention a corporate America that has grabbed every opportunity to "dumb down" the youth in an effort to make them more vulnerable to marketing schemes and corporate exploitation.

While many of the causes have been external, they have been internal, as well.

Although, members of the era of conscious Hip Hop waxed poetic about the conspiracy to dumb down black youth, they were ill prepared to do anything about it. So why should we be surprised in the 21st century that the fruits of this labor have come to fruition? Also, we must admit that too many in that era gave VIP (Very Ignorant People) passes to the early gangsta rappers in the name of Hip Hop unity. This has produced the dilemma in which we find ourselves, today.

While Kwame Ture' spoke about "making the unconscious, conscious" until his dying day, what has developed is an "anti-conscious" movement. Biblically speaking, they are those who are destroyed not for their lack of Knowledge but for their rejection of it.

This is the target audience of today's representatives of what is passing for a black consciousness movement, many of whom were either in elementary school or not even born at the height of the political rap era, 20 years ago.

The problem with the new school Hip Hop intelligentsia is that they have so much dumbed down their messages that they have become the antithesis of the mission to uplift black people. Many of them have become less disciples of Rakim and more so followers of Nas, whose lyrical contradictions oft times outweigh their potentially, powerful impact. Also, because of the misuse of social networking sites such as youtube and Twitter, they have tried to out-gangsta the gangsta rappers , often bitterly attacking those who should be their comrades in the struggle.

Perhaps the biggest fault lies at the door of those who Du Bois would have referred to as his talented tenth; the college educated, as many of the music moguls with higher education are the main purveyors of the worst examples of anti-intellectualism; Sean Combs, Dame Dash, Suge Night, David Banner, etc.

While the call for 5,000 black leaders in the 80's was admirable, what we need now is a call for 5,000 black poor righteous teachers who realize that ,despite all the rheatoric, the greatest threat to global white supremacy (misnomered racism) is not a gun but a book.

The battle for the minds must start in our own communities as we must dedicate our lives to raising the consciousness of those around us.

Because, as Du Bois wrote in 1903 in "The Negro Problem," "if you do not lift them up, they will pull you down."



Paul Scott writes for No Warning Shots Fired.com. He can be reached at info@nowarningshotsfired.com or (919) 451-8283 To learn more about The Intelligence Over Ignorance Campaign visit http://www.ioimovement.com/

What About our Children Again?

What About Our Children, Again?

Paul Scott


Back when I was in school the blue eyed soul group, Hall and Oates had a song that had the chorus, "you're out of touch, I'm out of time." The song was about some dude who couldn't get along with his main squeeze but it also sums up how I felt while watching the MSNBC special "About Our Children," last night.

The program was promoted as a Bill Cosby Town hall meeting, so like many folks, I tuned in to expect to see Dr. Cosby ranting and raving about how Hip Hop is destroying the minds of young black children especially since he had tons of material following last week's MTV Video Music Awards. I assumed that as the credits were rolling he would still be pointing his finger at the camera and yelling, "Now about that Kanye West fellow...and who told that little girl to jump on the stage with Jay Z !"

But no, as Cosby pointed out during the intro, it wasn't his show; he was just the draw.

That was pretty much the case.

As with most meetings that deal with the plight of "troubled youth," the MSNBC program suffered from the same problem; wrong place and wrong people.

The meeting took place in a nice auditorium at Howard University in Washington DC. I think that it would have been more realistic if it would have been held at one of the many community centers in the 'hoods of DC but I guess that wasn't the ambiance that the producers were trying to create.

On the panel you had a bunch of mostly private school educated folks who would probably wet their pants if one of their students threw up a gang sign during English class. You had the professors professin' about the problem. You had the ,obligatory, lady who looked like she just stepped out one of those movies where the great white hope goes into an inner city school and within the first 6 weeks the students all become Phi Beta Kappa candidates. I'm still not sure how comedian, Paul Rodriguez wound up on the panel, I guess Chris Rock was busy.

They even showed scenes from a few schools where the children all wanted to grow up to be doctors and teachers. Not one mentioned wanting to be Lil Wayne's hype man or a forward for the Chicago Bulls.

Where were the real people? Where were the community activists that could have told the challenges that they face in trying to change their local school systems? Where were the "inner city" teachers who would have been told where to go and what to kiss if they tried to implement some of the feel good strategies that the panelists suggested? It would, also, have been nice if they would have ,at least, allowed the parents of "at risk youth" to Twitter in some comments even if they couldn't make the pilgrimage to the nation's Capitol.

But instead you had a two hour visit to a fantasy world where the children always beat the tardy bell and the hallways smell like Lemon Pledge instead of stale urine.

I can't really say that watching the program made me a better parent or taught me much that I didn't already know. I can think of a few scholars (Jawanza Kunjufu, Na'im Akbar) that would have kept me from watching the clock hoping that I wouldn't miss the kick off of the Cowboys/Giants game for most of the program.

Maybe it's not all that deep. Perhaps, the problems facing our children can be solved with nice polite town hall meetings where people sit unemotionally, quiet as a panel of really smart folks gives them advice to save their children who step over crack pipes and broken wine bottles on their way to class every morning. Or maybe the solutions are so controversial and advanced that the folks over at MSNBC wouldn't dare allow "real folks" on national TV to discuss the issue.

Or maybe there could have been a good mixture of the two possibilities?

But as Hall and Oates sang , at the end of the program, I think that most of us were left with "manic moves and drowsy dreams or living in the middle between the two extremes..."

Paul Scott writes for No Warning Shots Fired.com. He can be reached at info@nowarningshotsfired.com or (919) 451-8283 He recently launched the Intelligence Over Ignorance Campaign. http://www.ioimovement.com/

Rappin' With the Hip Hop Educator

To many people, the terms "Hip Hop" and "education" are polar opposites. However, Miami's, Tony Muhammad thinks differently. Known as the "Hip Hop Educator" Muhammad has been successful at using the art form to educate the children of Florida.

Originally from New York, Muhammad has been an instructor for the last 10 years and sees Hip Hop as a useful tool when trying to reach young minds, many of whom have become bored with the educational system.

"Public education is not meeting the needs of black and Latino students," says Muhammad.

In order to meet this need he often incorporates rap lyrics into his lesson plan. Although he teaches history classes, Muhammad says that Hip Hop has been instrumental in bridging the gap between the past and the present and has served as a motivational tool.

"Students feel that there is a separation between the people of history and themselves", he said. "We have the same problems."

No stranger to the world of Hip Hop, Muhammad says that he began "B-Boyin'" in the third grade and has been hooked on Hip Hop every since. He does, however, admit that the message of Hip Hop has changed from positive to sex driven and overly materialistic. Even so, he refuses to judge his students who listen to the music but instead he challenges them to think analytically about the lyrics.

Despite the type of music being played on the radio, today, the Hip Hop educator is optimistic about the future of the art form.

"We are headed towards a new era of intelligence," he said. "Educators must use Hip Hop to bring forth a new breed of intelligence."

Although much of his work focuses on reaching the children, he also does professional development workshops to teach his fellow educators how to use the art form to inspire their students to learn. Unfortunately, many teachers have so distanced themselves from pop culture that they can no longer relate to their students on a personal level.

So, he has a dual mission; to educate children and adults about the positive potential of Hip Hop.

As he put it, "there is always a lesson to be learned."

Yep, even for grown folks.

Tony Muhammad can be reached at hiphopeducator19@gmail.com



Paul Scott writes for No Warning Shots Fired.com. He can be reached at info@nowarningshotsfired.com

The Mis-Education of Black Children

The Mis-education of Black Children

Paul Scott


In 1933, the great educator and founder of Negro History Week (now Black History Month), Dr. Carter G. Woodson wrote, "If you control a man's thinking, you do not have to worry about his actions. Although, "The Mis-education of the Negro" was written 75 years ago, the issues raised then are just as relevant today not only for African American youth but also for those who strive to teach them.

Every year, we are confronted with the age old question of why black youth are not achieving at the same rate as other racial groups. The reason that we continually raise the same questions is that very few have the courage to give the correct answer. While many would write the under achievement of African American children off as some sort of genetic deficiency, the truth is that the reasons are economic, social and political.

First, the depth of the destruction of African culture over a 400 year period via the TransAtlantic slave Trade is rarely discussed in the context of its impact on future generations. Although this is well researched in Walter Rodney's book "How Europe Under Developed Africa, how many people have heard of this outstanding work?

Also, it cannot be overstated that 140 years ago, teaching black people to read was a crime punishable by death. Why this fact is not highlighted as a probable cause for the current educational dilemma of black children has more to do with historical amnesia than historical accuracy. While segregated schools may have had their good points , as far as the attention given to the needs of black children, the schools were separate and unequal, lacking the resources to give black children an equal education.

Even as late as early as 20 years ago, members of my generation walked out of college graduation ceremonies to face the heartbreaking reality that we would earn considerably less than our white counterparts. This did not exactly serve as motivation for future generations to strive for academic excellence. Also, while grandma's sage advice that we had to be "twice as good as white folks" was well intentioned, this was an unfair burden to place on the shoulders of young African Americans.This is why the Hip Hop generation has developed such slang terms such as "Street Knowledge" and "Thug Motivation" in order to compensate for the economic/educational disparity that they cannot understand nor properly articulate.

The media have never shown much interest in making the so called black "Hip Hop Generation" more culturally and politically conscious. Despite the large population of African Americans in the Triangle area, there are hardly any talk shows that supply African centered information to the community. However, there is no shortage of outlets that glamorize anti intellectualism. Even in the world of print media, since young black Americans are not the target audience, there is little effort to hire columnists to speak to their issues

As many Americans have been using "change" as a buzz word over the last year, we must understand that not only must there be change in politics but education and economics, as well. We must come up with new and innovative ways to close the information/education gap.

The black community must produce a list of books that all black children should read and present that information to the Board of Education, as well as the community, at large. This list must include the works of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, Dr. Amos Wilson and a host of others.

Secondly, we must realize that "cleaning up Hip Hop" means more than just deleting dirty words but using the music to educate as much as entertain. Contrary to popular belief, there are Hip Hop artists that struggle to use their art to educate the masses.

Lastly, we must pressure the local media to develop outlets that will discuss the black experience in its totality, not just crime rates and other negative statistics.Although the entire community will benefit from a truly enlightened populace, the burden of the responsibility to counter mis-education lies within the black community, itself.

As Bob Marley once sang, "Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds."

Paul Scott writes for No Warning Shots Fired.com He can be reached at (919) 451-8283

Welcome to Intelligence Over Ignorance

Welcome to Intelligence Over Ignorance. This is an effort to raise the consciousness of the black community. On this site we will discuss issues facing African Americans, especially, the youth.

In an age when popular culture is, steadily, dumbing our children down, we must unite to destroy ignorance in its many forms.