On June 5th, Right Wing Conservation station WRDU's morning show will hold what it is calling a "Hand Gun Course and Open Shoot" for women at Range 37 Shooting Range and Gun Club in Bunn Level NC. The station, owned by Clear Channel," converted to the Rush Radio talk format earlier this year and is known for its anti- African American and anti-Latino rhetoric. Much of the stations venom has been spewed towards President Barack Obama.
"I guess they are going to use posters of the First Family for target practice," says Durham minister, Paul Scott. He says that this is the first time that he has heard of a radio station promoting gun training."It's very hypocritical ," says Scott. "If one of the local Hip Hop stations was putting on such an event in the 'hood, the outcry would be deafening."
This is also disturbing during this present racial climate.Immediately after the November 08 election, it has been reported that gun sells increased. Also during the same period, a Georgia store owner was criticized for holding an "Obama Gun Sale." More recently, Conservative Sarah Palin is reported to have warned her base that "Obama would ban guns if he could."
Scott says that stations like WRDU are capitalizing off of Right Wing fears and pushing this country towards a race war."The last thing we need in this community is a bunch of paranoid pistol packin' mamas with itchy trigger fingers."
Paul Scott is a minister, activist and writer based in Durham NC. He is the author of the blog No Warning Shots Fired.com. In 2004 Scott gained national attention for his protest against a DJ at WRDU's sister station G-105 for referring to African American singer, Fantasia" as "ghetto." He can be reached at (919) 451-8283
The Intelligence Over Ignorance Black History Month, "Back to Africa" lecture tour will kick off 2/8 at the Stanford L Warren Library in Durham NC with a lecture by "TRUTH Minista " Paul Scott called "Hip Hop History or Black History."
For more information or to schedule a tour date contact (919) 451-8283 or info@nowarningshotsfired.com
For many African Americans the term "Go back to Africa" is the ultimate insult , rivaling the dreaded "N word." However, a Durham NC activist and minister is urging African Americans to do just that this Black History Month. Not in a physical sense but academically, spiritually and culturally.
"Growing up,' Go Back to Africa was the ultimate diss among classmates, often leading to either tears or fist fights, says Paul Scott, "Now, the term is widely used by racists as an insult."Paul Scott, is urging African Americans to "upgrade" black history by including African History in Black History celebrations and school curriculums across the country."We cannot just be happy that black history is being taught and celebrated," says Scott, "We have to ask which type of black history is being taught, the version about African kings and queens or the one that begins with happy-go lucky slaves picking cotton on the plantation."
Scott hopes that the same way the Hip Hop Generation has tried to take the sting out of the "N word" they will take the sting out of "Go back to Africa" by promoting Afrocentric education."Historically we have been taught that nothing good has come out of Africa and it has infected our young people with the fatal disease of self-hatred, says Scott, "Only through education can the healing begin."
Paul Scott is a minister, writer and activist who recently started the "Intelligence Over Ignorance Campaign." In 2000, he coined the phrase Afrikan Liberation Theology which is the "Black Liberation Theology for the Hip Hop Generation." Scott has been a guest on talk shows across the country including Fox News and MSNBC discussing Hip Hop, rap, race and religion. His blog is No Warning Shots Fired.com
What's Good About Gucci?: Music, Marketing and Mind Control
Paul Scott
"It's all a part of fightin' devil state mind control And all about the battle for your mind, body and soul."
"What Would You Do?" Paris
Meet Radric Davis aka Gucci Mane, a rapper with mediocre talent who is poised to become rap's next superstar. All over the Hip Hop universe, hypnotized fans scream "Gucci!," every time his song comes on the radio. How can this man go from mix tape rags to mega-stardom riches? Only in the Hip Hop Twilight Zone...
On December 8th, Gucci Mane will drop his latest CD, "The State vs Radric Davis." While arguably, not as "street" as his mix tape offerings, the content doesn't differ much from the same ol' Hee Haw Hip Hop coming out of the South dealing with money, drugs and hyper- sexuality.
This bring us to the fundamental question that few have had the guts to ask.
What's so good about Gucci Mane?
It must be noted that not everyone is sippin' on the Gucci Grape Kool Aid. A few months ago students at NC A@T and Florida A@M objected to their tuition money being used to fund the physical and mental genocide of black children by protesting Gucci's inclusion in their homecoming concerts.
But besides a few rebellions on college campuses, it seems that most Hip Hop heads are ready to crown Davis the new ruler of rap.
While most of the mentally dead will credit the popularity of Gucci as just good promotion by Warner Brothers, there is a thin line between marketing and mind control, as they both seek to influence human behavior.
One of the most diabolical masters of mental manipulation was Adolf Hitler's minister of propaganda, Paul Joseph Goebbels, who perfected the idea of the "Big Lie;" a falsehood told enough times will eventually be accepted by the masses as the truth. So if you tell a person that a rapper is hot enough times, (especially the weak minded) he will eventually go out and by the cd.
Why do we not believe that the Nazi's who own the major record labels have a stable of their own ministers of propaganda hard at work marketing madness to the masses under the guise of music?
Mental manipulation has also been used as an agent of social control by the US government. Although unknown by most Americans, the CIA has conducted many psychological experiments under their chemical and biological warfare research programs.
In her book, "Medical Apartheid," Dr. Harriet Washington, quotes the research of Allen Hornblum , who stated that between the 1950's and 70's, Dr. Albert Klingman conducted chemical warfare tests on predominantly black inmates in Philadelphia's Holmesburg Prison as part of the CIA's MK-ULTRA program.
Could this be part of the reason that the Fed's are giving out so many 12 month sentences to rappers, including Gucci Mane, in an effort to convince black youth that spending time in prison is part of a rites of passage ? Or the reason that Davis is on the front of his CD cover dressed in a prison uniform with a handcuff (shackle) on his wrist?
It must be also noted that under MK-Ultra, drugs such as LSD were used as part of the experiments.
In his book, "Behold a Pale Horse," William Cooper alleges that during the height of activist mobilization against the Vietnam War, " Dr. Timothy Leary introduced drug culture to American youth under the CIA project, MK-Ultra."
This allegation is also echoed by Peter Doggett in his book "There's a Riot Going On: Revolutionaries, Rock Stars and the Rise and Fall of the '60's "where he writes " there are conspiracy theories that Leary, himself, was a CIA agent."
Doggett also records Kwame Ture's (Stokely Carmichael) attempts to keep drugs out of the Black community and the Black Power Movement when he warned, " The reason why drug use has reached the proportion that it has today in our communities is that the political consciousness of our people is rising and in order to dull the political consciousness of our people, the oppressor always sends more drugs into the community."
Today, LSD and heroin have been replaced by malt liquor, blunts and crack as the opiates of the people, which is possibly why artists like Davis propagate the idea of getting "wasted." This is an especially crucial point to consider when the racist right wing are in the process of organizing their forces for the 2010 and 2012 election cycles.
In 2009, we are facing what rap researcher Professor Griff calls "the covert psychological war on Hip Hop."
So what do we do?
Can we continue to allow peer pressure from 13 year olds and those with teeny bopper mentalities prevent us from raising the tough questions ?
I say no!
The more you know the more you owe the younger generation an explanation for why the various pathologies from which we suffer exist and the role that the entertainment industry plays in our destruction.
The point of this article is not to offer ,indisputable, proof that Gucci Mane's music is part of some vast conspiratorial plot to destroy black people. (Though it does not refute the idea, either.)
But it is foolish not to consider, as a possibility, that mind control techniques could be used by the music industry to sell CD's and, also, by those who wish to keep black people disenfranchised.
We must, continuously, remind our people of the words of the great funk philosopher, George Clinton,
"Mind your wants because there's someone who wants your mind."
TRUTH Minista Paul Scott writes for No Warning Shots Fired.com. He can be reached at (919) 451-8283 or info@nowarningshotsfired.com For information about the Intelligence Over Ignorance Campaign go to http://www.ioimovement.com
The Intelligence Over Ignorance Tour came to Illinois Wesleyan University on 12/3. TRUTH Minista Paul Scott conducted a Hip Hop roundtable discussion and was also the keynote speaker at the Kwanzaa celebration.
To arrange a date for the Intellegence Over Ignorance Tour contact (919) 451-8283 or email info@ioimovement.com
How the South Destroyed Rap: Time to Stop Hee Haw Hip Hop
Paul Scott
"All my brothas eatin' chicken and watermelon Talk broken English and drug sellin'"
My Philosophy- Boogie Down Productions
Hip Hop is many things to many people depending on which side of the planet you rest your head. New York is honored for being the birth place of the genre. Cali is known as being the place that capitalized off of gangsta-ism (for better or worst.) And the South is known for what can best be described as "Hee Haw Hip Hop"; that throw back to the era when people lived in the land of cotton, old times there are not forgotten.
Welcome to Dixie Land.
While many Hip Hop headz will, vehemently, argue against criticizing any one region for the demise of the genre, it must be admitted that the worst form of Hip Hop for the last decade has originated below the Mason Dixon line. While other forms of Hip Hop have at least tried to convey some sort of message, Southern Hip Hop is as devoid of style as it is substance, that is, unless you consider dudes with gold teeth rappin' like they have a mouth full of snuff some sort of swagga chic.
The rappers of the South Coast seem to go out of their way to rep the stereotype of country folks having the intelligence level of a watermelon to the fullest. Every time, I hear a Gucci Mayne or Plies song on the radio, I think that my IQ drops a couple of levels.
It must be noted that this has not always been the case.
The history of southern Hip Hop can be traced back as far as the early 80's with an artist named Shy D and his Planet Rock type rhythms. He was followed by Luke "Skywalker" Campbell and the 2 Live Crew who gained world wide fame for their mixture of Hip Hop and hedonism and their attempts to push the 1st Amendment to the limit by claiming that they could be "as nasty as they wanna be."
Like NY Hip Hop, the South also had a brief conscious era ushered in by the Dungeon Family (Outkast, Goodie MOB) in the mid 90's. However, just as gangsta rap replaced East Coast conscious Hip Hop in the early 90's, "Crunk Music" replaced the socially conscious rap of the South by the late 90's.
Much of the credit for this can be attributed to the mastermind Steve Gottlieb, at the time, owner of TVT records, a company that started off selling TV show themes but found out that they could make a whole lot more money popularizing retarded rap (Ying Yang Twins) and making, otherwise, intelligent black men (Lil Jon, reportedly has a Masters Degree) sound mentally challenged.
The question we should ask ourselves is how can an area with more than its share of black institutions of higher learning (especially the ATL) now be famous for producing music only suitable to step and fetch to?
Historically, perhaps, it has something to do with the post Civil War Era as many black folks left the South to go North where getting an industrial job required a higher level of education than it took to pick tobacco.
Also, according to Dr. Noliwe Rooks in her book, "White Money, Black Power," "southern whites feared that education for blacks would provide African Americans with the means to, eventually, upset white supremacy."
Dr. Claude Anderson in his book "Black Labor, White Wealth" argues that after slavery, "cultural customs and laws forced the newly emancipated blacks to conform to the historical image of blacks as common labors."
So the plot was clear, keep black folks deaf, dumb and blind to preserve white socio-economic hegemony. We see the same method of operation today with "Operation Dumb Down," today. This is why most commercially successful southern rappers sound like they are just two feet off the plantation.
In an effort to preserve the status quo, the powers that be are determined to destroy Hip Hop and take the minds of black children down with it.
If the rationale for "Operation Dumb Down," is, indeed economic, then the counter solution must also be economically based.
As Jay Z said, "men lie, women lie, numbers don't."
This, so called, holiday season is the period when the entertainment industry counts on making most of their money by pushing anti-conscious Hip Hop. This is why we are using "Black Friday" to kick off the "Black-out Ignorance Boycott." We are asking that those who truly appreciate black culture and want to save Hip Hop not purchase anything that disgraces our culture from November 27-January 1st (the end of Kwanzaa.)
Instead of buying music to put us to sleep, we must support artists that are trying to wake us up, whether it be internationally known Hip Hop pioneers like Rakim or up and coming MC's like Pittsburgh's Jasiri X. With the educational challenges that our young people face, we must also start buying more books and less video games. Also, instead of paying hundreds of dollars to turn our youth into walking billboards, advertising everything from Home Depot to Mountain Dew, we should seek out designers that have clothes with positive messages.
This makes a whole lot more sense in tough economic times than spending what's left of our hard earned cash on bamboozled bammas who happen to have hot beats.
Now we are aware that some folks are going to miss the point of this call to action and dismiss this as a case of "hatin' on Hip Hop" as that is what they have been programmed to do. Some will even argue that we are in control of the images of us that are projected around the world.
Dr. Bobby Wright put it best in his book, "The Psychopathic Racial Personality," where he discussed "behavior modification" by quoting psychologist Dr. BF Skinner who wrote "it is possible to delude people into believing that they have the essence of life-Freedom and dignity-and still control them."
So, as in the days of Harriet Tubman the condition of our people remains the same.
Some folks just don't want to be emancipated from mental slavery.
As the great heroine once said.
"I freed a thousand slaves..I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves."
TRUTH Minista Paul Scott writes for No Warning Shots Fired.com. He can be reached at (919) 451-8283 or info@nowarningshotsfired.com For more information on the Intelligence Over Ignorance Campaign visit http://www.ioimovement.com
Founded by Min. Paul Scott, the purpose of Intelligence Over Ignorance is to raise the level of consciousness of the black community.
For more information contact
(919)451-8283
info@ioimovement.com
Paul Scott is a minister, writer, lecturer and activist. He has been a guest on talk shows around the world including Hannity and Colmes (Fox News), Fox News Live, Nachman (MSNBC), Hot 97 (NY), The Bev. Smith Show, Mancow Morning Show, Mike Medved Show, Russ Parr Morning Show, Mo in the Midday WVON (Chicago), Tom Pope Show (DC) Newstalk 1010 (Toronto) and SAfm (South Africa) discussing the issues of Rap,Race,Religion and Revolution.
He has been interviewed by many newspapers including the USA Today and the Christian Science Monitor. Scott has lectured at universities across the country including West Virginia University and Clemson. Scott was ordained a Baptist minister in 1998 he later went on to coin the phrase Afrikan Liberation Theology, which is "Black Liberation Theology for the 21st century."
After forming the New Righteous Movement, Scott formed the Messianic Afrikan Nation in 2003.
For more information contact (919) 451-8283 or info@nowarningshotsfired.com
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