Intelligent Outrage… They Just Don't Get It!

This article contains excerpts from Wise Intelligent’s forthcoming book … “"3/5 of an MC: The Manufacturing of a Dumbed-Down Rapper.”

Knowledge is the base of existence that I…
Build upon ya intelligence through the power of the real…
Wisdom is a purified word or an act…
That can bring rap back in fact I’m ill….

Get knowledge get the wisdom but in everything you gettin…
Hope you get the understanding so you’ll see the picture clear…” - Wise Intelligent “I’m Him” from Wise Intelligent iz…The Talented Timothy Taylor

When I say that "Its No Longer Smart To BE Dumb" I am by no means referring exclusively to rappers and/or the Hip Hop community. Rather, I am speaking also of the greater "black" community and all of its parts!

In my hood, a.k.a. New Jersey, New Jerusalem or Dirty Jerz (which ever you prefer), the Department of Education (DOE) and all of its parts are doing more harm to black youth than the sum-total of all so-called "gangster" or "misogynistic" rap lyrics combined!

According to an August 17, 2007 Trenton Times article entitled "Schools Fall Short on Test Reports" we are informed that no less than 618 schools in New Jersey "did not meet their yearly progress standards." The report goes on to say that "517 schools went two or more years in a row without meeting the standards" and that "38 schools failed to meet the standards for seven years in a row." Seven?!

But here is the stinger for me. Trenton, NJ (a.k.a. The Land of Truth) which is barely 7.5 square miles in area has 15 schools on the list? This is damn near every school in the district. Not to mention that Trenton Central High School and every high school in the immediate suburbs (Ewing, Hamilton, Lawrence, Nottingham) are also on the list of 618 failing schools.

However this analysis is not to determine whether No Child Left Behind and its policy of policing schools works or not (we all no that it doesn't), the point is that the ineffectiveness of the American "educational" system at educating black youth was and has been a problem long before No Child Left Behind and is no new revelation. The heartache comes in seeing the doctors, ministers, and cremators of the black community launch national campaigns attacking the very same black children (the "Hip Hop" community) who have been failed by a system that is designed for them to fail!

I have heard all sorts of excuses to explain away the reality of the situation; excuses like "these children are uneducable" or that its "bad parenting" or simply "these children don't get it" or "their parents don't get it." Not once have we seen a thorough examination and evaluation of the system in which the children are embedded as the direct cause of their failure to "get it."

When we add the fact that 98% of all black youth attend these failing public schools the seriousness of the issue is made apparent!

In a 20/20 report entitled “Zoned Out of a Good Education,” John Stossel tells the story of 18-year-old Dorian Cain of South Carolina, who was still “struggling to read a single sentence in a first-grade level book” when he met him. This, despite the fact that his “public schools had spent nearly $100,000 on him over 12 years.” They squandered over $100,000, wasted 12 years of this boy’s life, and never taught him to read? This is a kid who’s trying to take advantage of Brown vs. The Board of Education [Mr. Cosby], but the system failed him. We are not talking about calculus, scientific notations or quantum physics, they couldn’t teach him to read?

Before you say that the child may have had a ‘learning disability” (excuse used by inadequate teaching staffs), lets see what happened next. So, Stossel says, the news program "20/20" sent Dorian to Sylvan, a private learning center, “to see if teachers there could teach Dorian to read when the South Carolina public schools failed to.” Astonishingly, the report tells us that this learning center “Using computers and workbooks, Dorian's reading went up two grade levels -- after just 72 hours of instruction.” In just three days the private learning center was able to boost this young mans reading by two whole grade levels?

“I was a seed with a seed, I mean a baby with a baby…
Half my teachers called me crazy when they failed to educate me…
They said I had a deficit, disorder of attention…
Couldn’t teach me to read so they pegged me for prison…” - Wise Intelligent, “Go With Me” from “Wise Intelligent iz…The Talented Timothy Taylor”

The public school system is a joke, and an insult to parents and children who fail for want of a good education. It was Bill Cosby who went on an endless rant about how “the lower economic and lower middle economic people are [not*] holding to their end in this deal” and that “Brown Versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person’s problem.” I mean Mr. Huxtable went as far as mocking the broken English spoken by poor black youth, saying “It [your child] can’t speak English. It doesn’t want to speak English. I can’t even talk the way these people talk. “Why you ain’t where you is go, ra…” But, 18 year old Dorian Cain wanted to learn to speak English properly. His mother thought he’d be taught language arts and English literature in his 12 years of “taking advantage” of Brown vs. Topeka, but the system failed him miserably! Why are we so afraid to look at the root cause of our issues!

Dorian Cain’s mother, Gena Cain, summed it all up when she said that she was “thrilled with Dorian's progress but disappointed with his public schools.” With Sylvan,”she says ‘it's a huge improvement. And they're doing what they're supposed to do. They're on point. But I can't say the same for the public schools," she said. . “Gena Cain” the report says, “like most parents, doesn't have a choice which public school her kids attend. She followed the rules, and her son paid the price.” Yes, Gena Cain followed all the rules, but she had no idea that her son would end up dumber after twelve years of school than he was when he entered.

The large majority of today’s rappers – mainstream, underground, conscious or dumbed-down – are the product of the same machine that failed Dorian Cain. The average rap artist is Dorian Cain and Dorian Cain the average rap artist. No doubt, a young Dorian Cain entered the “educational” process willing and eager to learn, but the machine destroyed him. It mutilated his self esteem and devoured his self image and pride. Janice Hale in her study Learning While Black “compared the educational progress of children who had just entered Head Start with those who had been there for two years. She found that children who had just entered performed better, regardless of social demographics. The older children who attended Head Start the longest possessed lower scores.” After considering the results of her research Hale concluded that “African American children do not enter school disadvantaged, they leave disadvantaged. There’s nothing wrong with children, but there is clearly something wrong with what happens to them in school.” – Jawanza Kunjufu, Black Students, Middle Class Teachers, p. 95, 2002

When we add the psychological effects of the racism and discrimination that many black youth have to deal with just sitting in most American classrooms throughout the school year the problem becomes even more serious. For all of us who are of the opinion that racism is no longer a factor in America’s schools just Google “The Jenna 6.”

Hell is the human bondage…suffered when inner conscious
Go undiscovered, due to ego and a lack of knowledge
You should go back to college, tell your professor’s for profit
They taught you nothing, then Molotov coattail bomb it! Wise Intelligent “Intelligent Wise” for Wise Intelligent iz…The Talented Timothy Taylor

As it is our policy to never present a problem without presenting what we feel is the INTELLIGENT solution, here goes the solution. It is obvious what works and has been working in black communities throughout the country for the past 30 years and even before the 1960’s in some parts of the US. Wherever you find an independent black school with an Afrocentric curriculum educating black youth from a psychological perspective based on their history and experiences as a people, you also find a high percentage of exceptional students with high self-esteem and enhanced racial pride; two elements that are essential for any person or group of people to build! And if you don’t believe me then go ask every other racial group on this planet! From Jewish to Amish they NOT only teach their child Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, they teach them about their history (good and bad), the magnificence of their culture, and most importantly self-love and self-worth. Why are we so afraid to say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done to fix our problems!

The Council of Independent Black Institutions (CIBI) (www.cibi.org) is a national model of the kind of curriculum that works for black youth. With about 40 small schools nation wide this institution continues to churn out some of the best and brightest black minds in the country. However, it is the “guards” at the gate of the black community who quickly say “that’s segregation?” But, where have they been? America’s schools have been segregated since before and after Brown vs. The Board of Education. In a report done by the Community Service Society of New York we read the following:

Public Education: Still Segregated, Still Unequal

“70 percent of black students across the country attend schools that have a majority of minority students. One out of three is in schools with at least 90 percent students of color.”

America’s schools are, today, just as segregated as they were before Brown vs. Board of Education. “More recently,” says Edwin Schur, “the “Coleman Report” on equality of educational opportunity has made clear that, almost fifteen years after the Supreme Court’s historic school desegregation decisions, segregated schooling is the rule rather than the exception across the nation.” – Edwin M. Schur, Our Criminal Society, p. 48, 1969; James S. Coleman, Equality of Educational Opportunity, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1966

The argument that independent Afrocentric schools or curriculums are based on the practice of “segregation” is evidence of a pathological flight from reality. The reality is that segregation, as stated in the above report “is the rule rather than the exception.” Yes the report was from 1966 but I used it to compare with the present situation and the following report:

“Those who do not want their children to be handicapped by the learning problems of others who have suffered generations of oppression, ignorance, and neglect simply abandon the city schools that these students were being integrated into and fled to richer suburban schools. Over 52% of Americans live in the suburban areas surrounding the large metropolises (Elam, 1993, p.196). Today, Blacks, Hispanics, and poorer children dominate 23 of the nations 25 largest urban school systems (Frady, 1985, p.13). This has raised a permanent fissure in our public schools and has separated them into two separate and unequal class systems - one suburban, privileged and mostly white; and the other inner-city, poorer and mostly non-white.” - Amy Golba How Does Education in Urban Schools Compare to Suburban Schools? Communicated by Marsha Heck.

In light of the above reality we must EMPLOY WHAT WORKS by “ANY MEANS NECESSARY!” But let’s get back to what works.

One highly publicized example of what works was highlighted on an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show. On this show Oprah spoke with black educators from a Ohio school district I believe, who separated the black student body (who had lower scores than everyone else) and black staff from the rest of the schools students and staff so that the black students and teachers could really see what was at stake. This was effective because it allowed black students to step out of the system and view it from a perspective that spoke directly to their history and experiences. Today those same black children are well above average and in some areas achieving higher than their peers of other nationalities.

The point is that we have a severe and extreme crisis of inadequate, inefficient and incapable education that will require severe and extreme measures to repair. The ‘guards” that have positioned themselves at the gates of the black community must begin to employ what works for black youth regardless to who that course of action might offend. Our condition is too severe to burden ourselves with being “politically correct” or with upsetting the current power structure or some “underwriter.” OUR CHILDREN ARE DYING FROM THE INSIDE OUT!!!

This by far is the most important issue confronting the black community, but somehow Michael Vick, Akon and the rappers have garnered more attention and rebuke than a system of “education” that is responsible for creating more Michael Vicks, 50 Cents, Snoop Doggs, CamRon’s, Stan “Tookie” Williams and “Freeway” Rick Ross’s than all three decades of Hip Hop music combined!

“And now the elders, act like we the reason why
As if our generation, fell from out the fu*kin sky
I guess the fruit are falling further from the trees
Cuz nobody wants to harvest, what’s become of black seeds” - Wise Intelligent “Set U Free” from Wise Intelligent iz…Talented Timothy Taylor”

I guess the elders, leaders and guards of the black community, are like the black youth in my hoods public schools “THEY JUST DON”T GET IT!

WISE INTELLIGENT

Proper
Education
Always
Corrects
Errors

An Intelligent Move

In response to the INTELLIGENTNEWZNET article "Can I Get Just One," we were contacted by CNN who requested that Wise Intelligent appear on their station in a “discussion” with leaders of St.Sabina, the south-side Chicago church responsible for the "TRASH" rappers billboards. Wise Intelligent, being aware of the fact that the game is chess, not checkers, respectfully declined the offer to appear on CNN.

My reasoning is that, the Euro-American mass media is NOT and has NEVER been the appropriate forum to discuss let alone resolve matters concerning the African-American community! I am more than well-aware of the fact that CNN or any other mainstream American media outlet, for the most part, does not offer a solution oriented platform for black issues, but on the contrary, the platform offered is extremely conflict oriented. As a matter of fact one of the things that the whole Don Imus situation revealed was that these “reporters” and “journalists” are contractually encouraged to be argumentative and controversial. What the network wanted was for Wise Intelligent and the members of St.Sabina to get on national television, attack each other, create further divisions, and exacerbate the problem without addressing some mutual and realistic solutions.

On a 30 minute show with 15 minutes of commercials and 15 minutes of edited dialogue, there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY any real understanding or solutions could have been discussed. Knowing that it would have played out like Wise Intelligent and Hip Hop is against the Black Church and the Black Church against Hip Hop; I refused to appear. It was more than obvious to me that CNN could not and does not have the Black community’s best interest at heart! The plan was to supply both of us with weapons and watch us attack each other in classic tribal fashion!

No disrespect but, I am NOT Cam'ron, and I refuse to be used in that way. As I said in the song "UNDA FIRE" from the Blessed Be the Poor album "I don't do this for lack of attention!"

So, being who we are and what we stand for at INTELLIGENTNEWZNET, INTELLIGENT MUZIK, etc. we called St.Sabina and spoke with Rev.Micheal L. Pfleger directly and informed him of what we felt CNN was up to, and that we were not going to allow aliens of the Black Community to sow the seeds of separation and discourse between comrades in the same struggle. Our article/blog was NOT an attack against the Church and their right to post billboards, our intention was to expand the dialogue to include the deeper issues that create and shape the environments in which we live.

When we discuss this or any other issues concerning OUR community, we will do it in the basement of the Church, or in the Intelligent Muzik conference room, NOT on CNN. Their eyes (cameras) should be banned from all discussions, meetings, and gatherings designed to solve our problems and address our concerns with each other! Do they EVER call us up and ask us to appear on CNN to discuss white kids "huffing", pedophilia in the Catholic Church, White on White crime, drug and alcohol abuse amongst the youth in hollywood, and where in the hell are those Weapons of Mass Destruction? Of course not, so why should they be offered a set at the table when we are dealing with our issues???

Proper
Evaluation
Always
Counters
Exploitation

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Doing hip hop dirty

By JIM FARBER
DAILY NEWS MUSIC CRITIC

Don Imus wounded a lot of people with his infamous words. But there's one group he did wonders for - those hell-bent on blaming pop culture for every ill that plagues society short of restless leg syndrome.

In the two scant weeks since Imus' fiasco, somehow the conversation has moved away from the man who spoke the words of hate and on to those who make the music that millions love.

The way the protectors of the public good currently carry on about their favorite bogeyman - hip hop - you'd think popular music just reached some heady new peak of depravity in which the airwaves are awash in a non-stop bitch-ho spew.

Even people as sophisticated in these matters as Russell Simmons have felt forced to keep foes at bay by issuing statements that sound like a call for self-censorship.

Pardon me if all this strikes the music fan as more than a tad behind the curve. As someone who actually listens to all forms of popular music - as opposed to those who spend their hours just attacking it - I have to deliver some disappointing news:

Not only are we not submerged in some new Sodom, we're actually suffering through the most squeaky-clean phase in popular music since Pat Boone came in to shoo away all the sex and cool from the likes of Little Richard in the '50s. Let's look at the facts:

1. What was the biggest-selling album of last year?

It wasn't something with a title like "Bitch Betta Have My Money." It was "High School Musical," which doesn't even allow a word as alarming as "darn."

2. What brand utterly defines this era of pop culture as we know it?

Not Def Jam but "American Idol," a show so clean it squeaks louder than a room full of irked mice.

3. What are the two most popular albums of the year so far?

CDs by Norah Jones and Tim McGraw.

In music made by African-Americans, the latest trend isn't hard-core rap but sweet-faced teen pop, by artists ranging from Mario to Omarion to Ne-Yo (who will likely debut in two weeks at the top of the charts).

It's not that offensive songs don't exist. But those who scapegoat music, especially rap, have become so recklessly incensed that they find examples even where they don't exist. Syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin cited the humongous No. 1 single by MIMS ("This Is Why I'm Hot") as the epitome of a racist, sexist rant. But is it?

Indeed, you will find the word "bitch" in there, but it clearly refers to the act of complaining and not to any woman. And MIMS' use of the "N" word (crucially with an "a" at the end rather than an "er") beams with such winking affection and fraternal connection that only a die-hard racist could project hate upon it.

It's a measure of the ignorance about such issues, and the pressure out there, that Simmons felt he had to make his statement to begin with. His weirdly worded missive asks the recording industry, and radio programmers, to make sure none of the big three offensive "B," "H" and "N" words ever make it on the air. Sounds like a serious crackdown. But the co-leader of Simmons' Hip Hop Summit Action Committee, Dr. Benjamin Chavis, told me yesterday that these lines aren't directed at artists, who can write whatever they want. They're meant to make sure the industry's "clean" versions heard on public airwaves really are just that. (Some recordings marked as such haven't been so scrubbed, it turns out).

This parsing may appease the foes - at least for a while. But it's doubtful the issue will go away, and for a deeper reason than the haters expect.

It's not that the world actually is going to hell - at least not because of hip hop, anyway. It's because older listeners repeatedly forget that it's the right, and even the obligation, of youth to go too far, to be offensive, to push the bounds, to be young.

Their outrageous words have their place - and a more circumscribed one now than they did 10 years ago at the height of Death Row Records.

Those who are young - either in their bodies or just in their minds - understand the nods and winks that inform the words, the camp and contexts that lie behind them. Such codes help define a vital youth culture. Has everyone else forgotten that? Or were they never young to begin with?

jfarber@nydailynews.com

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2007/04/25/2007-04-25_doing_hip_hop_dirty.html

An Intelligent Commentary: Cam’Ron on 60 Minutes

Now that Hiphop has become the fall guy and girl for teaching old ass Don Imus how to say “nappy-headed wench” oops I mean “hoe”, and for turning young girls and women into strippers so we can exploit them in our videos even though strip clubs and stripping predates Hiphop by at least 5000 years, and for introducing and making the word nigger popular amongst Americans of all ages, I guess the next logical step is to blame Hiphop for law enforcements agencies inability and unwillingness to solve the assaults, rapes, and murders in our communities…

As we all know by now rapper Cam'Ron appeared on 60 minutes with Anderson Cooper to discuss "Snitching" and the street "code of ethics." The interview plays out as if Cam'Ron and other black youth in America's inner-cities are the originators and inventors of this "Code of Silence" concept. It also gives off the misguided and completely false impression that this "Code of Silence" or "street code of ethics" is a precept or principle of Hiphop culture and the Black community in general. We can NOT let this manipulative and calculated interview go unchecked and unchallenged. Our community has a great range and diversity of opinions, ideas, and thoughts, but most people would never know this because the media only chooses to only focus on the pimp, thug, and nigga points of view. The overwhelming majority of our communities are filled to the brim with good and hard working people who would never willing stand on the side of fucking serial killers and drug dealing murders over the lives of their children. There are literally thousands of men, women, and children who stand on the front lines of this struggle every single day to fight the senseless killing that is destroying our communities. Please don’t let this man’s warped view of “ethics” speak for us as a group….

Now let me say this, if the black community does not understand that the policy makers of America; not those you elect to "represent" you, they are just decoration, but the real shaper's of American policy, make no distinction between what is Hiphop and what is BLACK.

The black community is being set-up for apartheid like conditions with Hiphop being used as the RED HERRING! This marshalling of the black community is being marketed in the same way that the war in Iraq was marketed, in that, the "evil" dictator "tyrant" Suddam Hussein was harboring "weapon's of mass destruction" or WMD's! When the real goal was control of Iraqi oil and strategic positioning in the race for global conquest!

Symbolically, Hiphop is the new “evil" tyrant of the black community responsible for creating and imposing prison, drug and gang "cultures" (symbolically WMD's) on unsuspecting black men, women and children! When the real goal is the complete isolation of an "unnecessary" population whose value and worth outside of the prison system seems to be coming to a rapid end. Please GET THE BOOKS "Who Needs the Negro" by Sidney Wilhelm and "The Celling of America" by Burton-Rose, Pens and Wright

Now, let’s get back to Cam'Ron and the code of “ethics”/silence "issue."

This whole concept of to snitch or not to snitch is NOT new and it certainly DID NOT originate in the Hiphop and Black communities. Cam’Ron’s stance is an exact copy of the police department's unofficial official position and commitment to the "Blue Wall" or "Code of Silence". The police never tell on each other and they will absolutely demonize, ostracize and in some cases attack any and all cops who have the courage to Step up and Speak up against police misconduct. This is the main reason for the creation of the Internal Affairs division inside the police department to investigate the criminality within its ranks. Cam’Ron should have been on 60 minutes flanked by 2 cops because they share the same “street code of ethics”. The media’s hypocrisy is numbing sometimes…

Here goes a brief breakdown of what I’m talking about…

The Blue Wall of Silence is the name coined to describe the perceived propensity of Police Officers to unite by limiting their cooperation with investigators when one of their own is accused of impropriety. Police officers refusing to testify against another police officer are instructed to give the "Standard Police Answer", that they can not recall anything that has happened.

A Code of Silence is when someone, usually with some sort of authority or power, but not always, witnesses or is privy to the knowledge of an illegal or embarrassing act, but puts comradely, or loyalty to the "unit" (which can be police, military, gangs, among other things) above informing the public, or proper authorities.

The code of silence is usually either kept because of threat of force, or danger to oneself, or being branded as a traitor or an outcast within the unit or organization as the experiences of the police whistleblower, Frank Serpico illustrates…Please read Serpico (Paperback) by Peter Maas and Eyes to My Soul: The Rise or Decline of a Black FBI Agent (Paperback) by Tyrone Powers

The purpose of this article is NOT to give Cam’Ron and his mentality an excuse for its irresponsible, insensitive, and reckless comments, all I’m trying to do is make sure that the Hiphop/Black community as a whole is not left holding the bag once again for the creation and practice of something that pre-dates it by a 100 or more years!

We have to step up and get control over our image or the media will continue to portray us as a gang of brutal ignorant savages who sit around all day and disrespect women and let criminals run rampant inside its community without a care in the world. Family this is a very fixable problem all we have to do is focus our attention and highlight the people in our communities whose views motivate black youth toward positive and intelligent attitudes and lifestyles. The media is going to do what it does regardless, but if we start reppin Intelligence like we repped ignorance these type of bullshit ass interviews won’t fuckin matter!

It’s No Longer Smart to be DUMB!

WISE INTELLIGENT

Proper
Education
Always
Corrects
Errors

The Lyrics Committee

About a week or so ago, rapper Young Buck made an appearance on New York's Hot 97's Angie Martinez's show to promote his new album "Buck the World", the first single of which is incredible (I love that record).

You know, it was pretty much your typical rap interview except for one revealing exchange in particular. This was when Young Buck spoke of a record addressing Police Brutality that unfortunately did not make the record? It was said in the interview that Interscope Records (home of Dr. Dre's Aftermath, Shady Records; Emenim, G Unit; 50 Cent, Loyd Banks, Young Buck; The Lox; Jada Kiss, Styles and Sheik, amongst others) has an official "Lyrics Committee."

Buck stated that it was this Interscope "lyrics committee" (more like committee of ONE person; Jimmy Iovine) that decided it best to leave the police brutality track off of the album. Their reasoning being, that they [Interscope/Jimmy Iovine] felt the record that portrayed violence against police officers could heighten the chances of a police officer getting shot or killed and that, Interscope did not want to be responsible in whole or in part for the death of a police officer. The interview went sort of like this:

Angie: There's this wild video on youtube that I just got a little clip of its called f the police
Buck: oh yeah, they wouldn't let me put that record on my album
Angie: too violent
Buck: They said it was too violent; Interscope
Angie: Interscope said too violent
Buck: they blamed it on the lyric committee, so I researched to see if it was a real lyrical committee
Angie: no they didn't
Buck: It was the lyric committee
Angie: they said the lyric committee said you can't put this out
Buck: So I went as far as trying to find out well who is the lyric committee
Angie: shut up
Buck: the lyric committee is in Interscopes building
Angie: is there really a lyrics committee, no
Buck: you tell me
Angie: nahh there's not, I'm telling you its not, that's your man Jimmy Iovine saying I don't want to deal with that

Now isn't this just fucking beautiful! A "Lyrics Committee" designed to monitor (read censor) lyrics of artist on the Interscope roster? The question I present to Interscope, the Hip Hop and Black Communities is, if Interscope sees something wrong with a rapper releasing a record addressing police brutality (because Wal-Mart won't except the record) due to fear of violence against police officers, why then is it common place to spend millions of dollars marketing the other 12 tracks on the rappers album that may heighten the violence in the black community against young blackmen, women and children????

Why did not the "lyrics committee" come to the same conclusion when listening to lyrics that portray violence against young black males who work, go to school, and live on these same blocks that the police officers patrol? Ladies and gentlemen of the INTELLIGENT COMMUNITY, this is the nature of the beast with which we are dealing!

When we consider the fact that it was Jimmy Iovine who posed on a cover in the 70's with the words "Rock & Roll Niggers" painted on his chest, we get a greater understanding of this beast.

Here, we have a mainstream rapper attempting to address an issue that not only affects himself but the entire community. A political issue, if you will, and his Major Label tells him that that song is NOT going to make the final cut of his album. They made a principled stand which reveals without a doubt that they completely understand the power of this music, and its ability to influence and motivate its audience (positively or negatively), and they will NOT support lyrics and songs that promote an atmosphere of violence and intimidation directed at the police department. Do you see how fuckin insulting, hypocritical, and dangerous this is. We have to organize our efforts to take away their power to choose what’s best for our community to see, hear, and experience!

It has always been my position that the black rapper is NOT allowed to address or lend his voice to any issue that confronts the community from which he comes, knowing that if he did, like Don Imus, he would lose his major corporation sponsorship, i.e., his contract!

The black rapper runs the risk of losing his recording contract if he dare engage his demographic in anything that resembles intelligent dialogue? And yes, I do mean, the black rapper. In the event that the black rapper would have written the song MOSH (Emenim; anti war record), he would have been dropped from his label faster than Jimmy Iovine can say "Rock & Roll Nigger!"
Black and white America must understand this very pertinent point; BLACK PEOPLE DO NOT CONTROL THE DISTRIBUTION OF ANYTHING IN AMERICA; nothing! Everything from the food on his table, clothes on his back, roof over his head, education in his head, to the drugs and alcohol on his corners, is controlled by others who are not black!

So, what is it that makes us believe that the BLACK rapper is responsible for the distribution, diffusion or dissemination of the music and images (positive or negative) that you hear and see on MTV, BET and or Clear Channel Radio, etc

The fact that Major Labels have "lyrics committees" is evidence enough to show that multi-platinum, gold, and wood selling rappers are NOT even responsible for the subject matter that is or is not allowed on his or her own album, let alone the distribution of this subject matter! The artist can make a song about anything from life to death to love to lust and everything in between, but the records companies and their lyrics committees make the final judgment on what get pressed up and sent to Wal Mart, Target, and the like.

Now let me make this final and crucial point crystal clear before I bring this to a conclusion. As artists we must and should be held accountable for what we say and do on wax and video, our words and actions have a profound impact on our communities whether we know about it or not, but we should not be held responsible for which of our records get major or minor video or radio airplay. That decision is in the hands of the radio and video stations and their parent companies. They decided that Little Brother was too “intelligent” for the B.E.T. audience! They made the decision not to promote any rappers whose music would motivate black youth toward positive attitudes and lifestyles. Do you really think Immortal Technique, Wise Intelligent, Little Brother; Public Enemy etc…took themselves off the radio and video shows? Corporate America and their entire support system made the decision to make the thug, pimp, hustler, and drug dealing rapper the face of Hiphop culture by placing him or her on the cover of every mainstream magazine around the world! The rapper is but the most visible part of this sick and twisted daisy chain of events…If you have the heart to make a move against Snoop than have the heart to ride heavy on Jimmy!

The point of this article is not whether there is really such a committee at record companies that scrutinize the lyrics of rap artists. The point is that the major record companies do, as evidenced by the aforementioned incident, ultimately decide what lyrics the rapper can or can not put on his or her album.

It's no longer SMART to be DUMB!

WISE INTELLIGENT

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BUY Wise Intelligent's new album "Blessed be tha Poor?" The Un-MixTape NOW at our Official website...

www.intelligentmuzik.com

Also check us out at... www.myspace.com/wiseintelligent

IT'S NO LONGER SMART TO BE DUMB!

Tisch Junior, Hip-hop Star

As a fair-haired hip-hop artist from Minneapolis, Minn., Tisch junior Chaz Kangas has endured his share of unflattering physical comparisons. His appearance - likened to Napoleon Dynamite, Chucky (the homicidal doll or the rugrat, take your pick) and the brothers Hanson - is an easy target during rap battles. But name-dropping Carrot Top is seldom successful at unnerving the three-time champion of SinSin's Off-the-Head Game Show battle.

"In battles, it's all in fun," Kangas said. "I've performed at Zulu Nation meetings, I've performed at Black Watch, a large west coast movement. And so if I was doing something incredibly wrong based on my appearance, I would have been stomped out for it several times by now, which I haven't."

A two-year absence from the barber's chair has given Kangas plenty of time to build his track record on the open-mic circuit. When the 20-year-old cinema studies major is not working on his third album, which he hopes to release independently later this year, he's building his reputation at open mic nights and battles across the city. One of Kangas' career highlights includes opening for Louis Logic, J-Zone and The Juggaknots at CBGB's final hip-hop show before the legendary Bowery venue closed because of skyrocketing rent costs.

Other hip-hop artists say Kangas' potential is evident.

"He has that spirit that hip-hop was born with," said Conscious, a New York-based emcee who founded FreeHipHopNow.com. "I think he's confident, he's got a lot of skill and talent, and I think he's just going to get better as he continues to do it. He's the kind of person who's trying to work on getting better and being better, because it never ends - as an artist you will continue to grow, and I think he realizes that."

Outside of the clubs, Kangas is part of group of rappers who are taking their performances to an unorthodox venue: the subway. Trains, platforms and stations have long been home to panhandling musical acts, but the Hip-Hop Subway Series goes for something more "organic" and doesn't look for handouts. Responding to the commercialization of hip-hop, Beatboxer Entertainment began organizing bi-monthly gatherings in which up to 50 hip-hop artists board the rear car of train and freestyle with feverish enthusiasm as the train crosses different boroughs and takes on new passengers. The artists usually represent elements from the full spectrum of hip-hop, including emcees, dancers, beatboxers and singers.

Kangas said he's been participating in the series once a month for about a year because it highlights an important yet overlooked facet of hip-hop. "There's plenty of open mics or different spots for just rapping around the city, but [the Subway Series] is really one of those last bastions of just getting together and just freestyling," Kangas said. "It's being able to, for lack of a better word, improv and work off of things another person has said, and just keep it in that constant momentum. You have all elements represented - I've seen people break dancing on trains. I've seen people do graff writing on the train, but not in a matter of vandalism. I've seen people beatboxing on the trains. It's really hip-hop in its purest form, and it's what draws me to it."

Freestyling in the compressed space of a subway car enhances the intimacy between artist and audience, Kangas said.

"They're really a one-of-a-kind, and each one is different, too," he said. "It's such an addicting one-of-a-kind thing, and the beauty of freestyling is always that spontaneous reaction from the crowd and the fact that [it's] this crowd - I mean you're on a subway, they're not going to be looking at anything else except for maybe the new Metlife ad, which really is not that much of a source of entertainment."

Whether on the subway or the stage, Kangas said he just wants to build his foundation and do his part to help hip-hop, which he said is lagging behind other genres.

"One rap album that came out last year went platinum within the 12-month span of 2006, where by comparison Dane Cook went double-platinum," he said. "Something's not adding up."

In the future, Kangas hopes to be able to influence new rappers to look to their past. "I'd love to form some sort of label that would have a concentration on re-releasing classic, out-of-print albums," he said, "because one thing that hip-hop's been really criticized for is that we're a genre of music where kids don't often look back to what's come before and they just focus on the now."

Kangas actually credits his Midwestern hometown for grounding him with a diverse understanding of hip-hop.

"The beauty of Minneapolis is, when I came up, our hip-hop scene was still, like, really forming," he said, which brought a diversity of acts to the city's first hip-hop generation. Kangas said listeners can detect this background in his own music. "I'm not comparing myself to Prince at all like this - which is easy for somebody from Minneapolis to do - but I see myself in sort of the position where he was 25 years ago, where I'm just a student who studied so many different areas of recent music for so long that I find that it allows me to really create something truly unique."

Fellow hip-hop artists say that one thing that Kangas has on his side is respect for the genre and craft. "He's a good dude, and I think he has hip-hop's best interests in mind," Conscious said. "He doesn't claim to be the definition of hip-hop. He just says he's a piece of the puzzle, just like Conscious is a piece of the puzzle."

Chaz Kangas will perform at NYU's Gentlemen of Quality Talent Showcase on Friday, April 13 at the Kimmel Center's Shorin Auditorium, room 802. Admission is $3.

Chaz Kangas will be going on tour this May with Louis Logic and The MINDSpray Crew.

Real underground hip-hop

Beatboxer Entertainment, a New York-based production company, organizes the Hip-Hop Subway Series in an underground venue. Literally.

Twice a month, usually on Sundays, about 50 hip-hop artists pour into the last car of a subway train and showcase their talents, which could be rapping, beat-boxing, break-dancing and anything in between. The performers don't look for compensation, just a new audience and opportunity to change dominant stereotypes about the genre.

Conscious, who works with Beatboxer Entertainment, said the Subway Series aims to change the misconceptions surrounding contemporary hip-hop.

"We have a culture that's being called dead, and we have a lot of things going on to change the way people perceive us, and this is way of doing it in the spirit of hip-hop, of making something out of nothing," Conscious said. "Why not show another face, another side, and use it as a springboard for artists - to give people a chance to network with each other? It's creating a progressive energy, and it's not trying to get commercial approval or get bank or anything for it."

Before boarding the train, organizers urge the crowd not to respond to antagonism from commuters, though they stress that such reactions are rare if anything.

Bill "Mr. Freespirit" Malpartida Jr., a 31-year-old computer technician, participated in his first Series event on March 25.

"This is a very positive thing going on that shows hip-hop can't be all negative," Malpartida said. "We get together, have fun - that's all that matters."

Commuters enjoyed the show as Malpartida and about 45 other artists performed on the Bronx-bound D-train that night.

"It's the way it's supposed to be without all the negative elements going on," said Brian Ellis, 36, a Lower East Side resident originally from Harlem. "This is what hip-hop is supposed to be: just rhyming off the top of their heads and laying beats. And it's every nationality: You've got from Asian to Middle Eastern and white. It's not just out in the hood, it's world-over. ... This is what you call a hip-hop melting pot."

- Barbara Leonard, staff writer

An Intelligent Perspective

An article was written this week entitled “Critical Minded: Why Does Jeezy Get a Pass for Being Wack? By J-23 for Hiphopdx.com

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/columns-editorials/id.687/title.critical-minded-why-does-jeezy-get-a-pass-for-being-wack

These are my thoughts…

INTELLIGENTNEWZNET

INFORMING the HIP-HOP COMMUNITY

***My article is NOT about Young Jeezy!*** this build session attempts to answer the question posed in the 1^st sentence of the original article, as well as other topics related to Hiphop’s turbulent life and supposed death…

“Since when did mediocrity become acceptable for emcees in hip-hop?”

An Intelligent Perspective…

This argument about mediocrity in hip-hop is not a new one, neither is the Northeast vs. the South lyrical "beef." Ironically, the East took the same position when the West Coast hip-hop scene popped-off. Think about it, this problem with "hip-hop has changed", “hip-hop is wack” or "hip-hop is dead" has only happened when some other city, coast, or quadrant other than New York, develops a vibrant hip-hop scene. Before hip-hop in other parts of the country began to blow-up, it was all about New York. But, didn’t New York MC’s have lyrical beef with each other? Absolutely, the Bronx (hip-hops birth-place) had lyrical issues with other boroughs who they felt was not as hip-hop as they, thus, "The Bridge is Over." Lyrical "beef" was focused primarily in New York between blocks, crews, boroughs, etc. But, as soon as Cali threw their hip-hop hats in the arena it seemed as if the five boroughs magically united to deal with the so-called common threat, "the West Coast." Now it’s "the south." I say let the “niggas” live! Of course, you can criticize someone’s art, after all its art, but don't make it appear as if rappers whose art you may not care for is the reason "hip-hop is dead." Because that is far from the truth! Mediocrity has nothing to do with where you come from! The reasons that many of today’s rappers choose the same exact “mediocre” subject matter speaks more to the CORPORATE control over hip-hop’s current image and direction than to their natural lyrical abilities.

When the East Coast was the sole-controller of the hip-hop genre, while growing up in my hood I caught the same hell for criticizing Milk D's rhymes, my opinion was that his shit was mediocre, but I liked the overall song. Was it not the intellectual Ultramagnetic MC's who said "to the scientific matter I probe for evidence.../leaving melodies obtaining slight positive beams.../of the average formulation applied mechanically..." and dissed RUN-DMC for their apparent mediocrity by saying "they keep singing back and forth the same ole' rhythms../that a baby can pick-up and join right with'em.../their rhymes are pathetic.../they think they copasetic.../using nursery terms, at least not poetic...” Shit, Ced Gee said straight out "Say What…Peter Piper? …to hell with childish rhymes.../but this jam steady moving, the crowd is steady grooving.." What I am saying is that Hip-Hop is NOT dead! Hip-Hop has always had its "mediocre" rappers (Milk D amongst others), its gangstas (Just-Ice, Kool G Rap, etc.), political (PE, BDP, X-CLAN, PRT, etc.), party/dancing rappers (Kid-N-Play, Steezo, etc.), etc., etc. The only apparent difference I see in Hip-Hop is "CORPORATE AMERICA!"

Corporate America does NOT want to market an MC who's songs are geared towards the upward mobility of black-people when 75% of the music is purchased by white-kids who they claim/feel don't give a fuck about that, therefore PE, X-CLAN, PRT and others are, at best, a "turn-off" for white kids going out to the store and buying the music. This is why we no-longer have the balance of hip-hop opinions blaring through the radio-speakers or the BET/MTV video networks. CORPORATE AMERICA IS THE REAL PROBLEM! The clap-a-nigga, stripper-bitch, pimps up-hoes down, flossed-out, bling-bling, cognac, $500 blue-jean raps keeps white-kids shopping, clubbing, drinking and SPENDING MONEY! While at the same time it keeps young black kids smuggling, cooking, hustling, pitching and banging, so that they may afford to go shopping, clubbing, drinking and SPENDING MONEY! It is not in the best interest of CORPORATE AMERICA and her hierarchy to have a balanced and healthy representation of Hip-Hop on the radio that mobilizes kids to book-stores, colleges and libraries! I really believe that we should use our time and energy on trying to figure out how to break the legs of CORPORATE AMERICA and take back control over hip-hop’s business and image instead of isolating and blaming one form of the culture as the reason for it’s decline? The bottom line is that mediocre rappers are a hazard of the job, but as long as we have balance and respect…we’ll be fine. Maybe if the overwhelming majority of interviewer’s, journalist’s, and photographers spent an equal amount of time covering, writing and exposing those Mc’s that exceed our lyrical expectations and speak about more than pimps, hoes, clothes, guns and cars, mediocrity in hip-hop wouldn’t be such an issue. Hip-Hop ain't dead, I seen her sliding down a pole in a strip club in Decatur "I kissed the bitch and put a fifty in her thong.../and whispered in her ear, STAY STRONG..."

WISE INTELLIGENT

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2007 is the year of Solutions and Success!

The Daily News is a disgrace-A response letter to their cover story on Assata Shakur By Hired Gun

The lead article and subsequent editorials surrounding the naming of the CCNY's student center after two convicted "felons" is in plain english a disgrace and disgusting. The slanted and very biased view that the paper chooses to uphold only discredits the paper and its writers as a legitimate news source. Sadly, the truth behind the case of Assata Shakur had more to do with a racist judicial system in New Jersey and the climate of fear and hate towards Black activists in the sixties and seventies. The facts still remain that as the various police organizations in the tri-state area spew their anger and hate towards their perception of a violent "criminal", even the most recent history of the department, as late as the mid nineties was one of violence, intolerance and blatant racism against blacks and latinos.

It does not surprise me that in a country that was largely founded on policies of exclusion and subjugation; has a long running history of civil rights injustice, and genocide the discussion that should be goin on; regarding the New York City Police Department "accidentally" shooting
another innocent black man celebrating his soon to be marriage we are treated isn't happening. Instead we are treated to a thinly veiled protest of "reverse racism". How this institution's student center, one of several across the campus, which had this name since 1989 all of the sudden became an affront to the honor of benevolent policemen, is somewhat baffling. When human life is lost it is unfortunate, but sometimes the truth is hard to accept, and what the Daily News and shamefully what the rest of the country believe as truth is a bold face racist lie.

- Hired Gun

www.freeradicalzmusic.com
or freeradicalz(@)gmail.com

Lips Inc.

On a sleepy Sunday evening, a Brooklyn-bound L train lurches to a stop somewhere deep beneath the East River. Strangely, nobody in the last car seems to notice. Not the old ladies clutching shopping bags, not the preening hipsters wobbling in ill-fitting heels, not the starched family men on the way home from church. The packed train is too busy craning its collective neck toward a noise wafting from the middle of the car:

Boom-boom . . . ghat—tssst . . . boom-boo-boom . . . crack! Brooklyn! Bring that beat back!
Boom-boom . . . ghat—tssst . . . boom-boo-boom . . . crack!

Out of a huddle of swaying bodies, a nimble kid in high-top sneakers drifts into view, sputtering improvised rhymes over a heavy beat. His verses are forgettable—"Keepin' it real/You know the deal," etc.—but the musical backbeat is not. Its underlying thump and stutter-step rhythms tickle tired feet along the car's dirty floor. More than just curious, the crowd of onlookers are confused, their quizzical faces all asking the same thing: Where are the drums?

The drums seem to be near Kid Lucky. But upon closer inspection, it's suddenly clear that Kid Lucky is the drums. In fact, he and a couple of motormouths on either side compose an entire rhythm section. Passengers press close behind, and Lucky, feeding off the crowd, huffs and puffs a deep bassline using only his mouth. With loose lips flapping and Adam's apple bobbing, the barrel-chested beatboxer barks out a Fort Apache–style breakbeat, a favorite of the two B-boys in attendance. Decked out in tank tops, tube socks, and headbands, they breakdance in the limited space between the handrails. Shockwave, a lanky, blond-haired beatboxer in his late twenties, steps up to the cipher, seemingly frothing at the mouth. His muscular percussion buttresses Lucky's raspy turntable scratches, and together they give new meaning to the expression "say it, don't spray it." Lucky draws a hurried breath and eggs on the crowd, "Now clap your hands to the beat!"

Only 20 minutes earlier his crew had boarded the train at Eighth Avenue, kicking off the latest edition of the twice-monthly Subway Series, an informal gathering of homegrown beatboxers, B-boys, MCs, and their ilk. In the last year or so they've taken over entire subway cars for freestyle performances. The L is their line of choice tonight, and as it rolls eastward, the rear car sucks in one unsuspecting rider after another. With the train fully loaded and stuck in the tunnel, the beatboxers now face a large and captive audience, something they hadn't had in a long time.

An old-school hip-hop throwback to a time when, as the lyric goes, "shoelaces were fat and Michael Jackson was black," human beatboxing first emerged on the streets of New York City in the early '80s. Pioneers like Doug E. Fresh and Darren "Buffy" Robinson of the Fat Boys began mimicking the drum machines—or beat boxes—popular with DJs. Such high-tech equipment wasn't cheap, so a few enterprising loudmouths started vocalizing their own beats. A minor craze ensued, culminating in the Fat Boys' appearance on Live With Regis and Kathie Lee. Always somewhat of an oddity, beatboxing came to symbolize hip-hop's early invention and innocence. Its proponents once rivaled MCs for mic time, but when hip-hop rose to cultural prominence soon afterward, their mouths fell largely silent.

Beatboxing never really went away, of course—it just went (often literally) underground. And that's where it's thriving on this particular night, in the steamy subway car. The mood may be light and jovial, but the beatboxers have something to prove. They fret about being regarded as charmingly nostalgic at best, and hopelessly outdated at worst. DJs, MCs, breakdancers, and even graffiti writers have long enjoyed deity status as the four official elements of hip-hop. But the culture's outrageous success has somehow left the "fifth element" behind. Beatboxers' quest to regain cultural cachet is odd in terms of the venues they choose (poetry clubs and subway cars), their opponents in the battles they fight (VH1), the now famous former collaborators they sue (the Fresh Prince, for one), and the bizarre schemes they hatch to steal back the spotlight (one plot involves dolphins). Their art may look funny in person, but this is no joke.

Lucky and his ragtag crew have long seen themselves as latter-day John Henrys fight ing an increasingly mechanical and soulless music industry. "It's the human mouth beating technology at its own game," explains veteran beatboxer Baba Israel. "Laptops can break down, and I've been at shows where the DJ didn't show up or the turntable stopped working. So beatboxers are always saving the day." As the beatboxers take their turn in the stalled L-train cipher, their only foe now is the computerized conductor, occasionally interrupting with a polite but insistent "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your patience. We apologize for the delay."

Kid Lucky knows a thing or two about delays. Abandoned on the streets of Youngstown, Ohio, as a baby, Kid Lucky (Terry Lewis, according to his birth certificate) started off life pretty unlucky. "My whole youth was taken from me," he says. "I was at Children's Aid in Cleveland when I was five years old. Then at 13 this guy adopted me but couldn't handle it—he didn't want me, plain and simple." Lucky rattles off the names of more foster homes. "I got to a point where I was too old to be adopted, but was still a minor. At 15 I was put into a mental institution for the next three and a half years."

His powerful voice is quiet now. He's sitting on a low ottoman in his unkempt Crown Heights living room, carefully rolling a blunt. "I was always making music with my mouth as a young kid," he says. "It just kept me really happy, doing it when I was alone." Lucky leans back and slowly exhales. "One time I was put into solitary confinement, and while I was in a straitjacket, I was beatboxing. And they told me to shut up or they'd take away certain privileges. Make me wait, you know, hours before I would eat my next meal." His eyes squint at the memory. "But I just stayed on making that music despite all that, and when I got out of there, you know, it was a constant companion."

The cries of Lucky's baby boy, Psyence, ring out from another room. Dad tries a little cooing to calm him down, but can't resist adding just a hint of hip-hop to his lullaby. Convinced that Psyence is awake for good, Lucky raises the volume: Buddha—boom-boom—dap! Boom-boo-boom—dash! The beatboxer's black-rimmed spectacles vibrate in rhythm to his mouth's bursts of sound. Save for his lips and tongue, he's remarkably still as he loops the same rhythm of snare, kick drum, and hi-hat cymbal over and over again. To the neighboring tenants, the strange noises coming from apartment 4K must sound something like a syncopated demonstration of kitchen appliances, a five-piece combo featuring a grinding can opener, groaning trash compactor, flowing sink faucet, crackling skillet, and spring-loaded toaster. But to Psyence it's simply how Daddy talks.

"He wakes up every morning at 6 a.m., like clockwork," Lucky remarks with a grin. "I just hope Tarsha fed him." Tarsha is Lucky's wife of eight years, a social worker with a degree in psychiatry and, as Lucky freely admits, "the love of my life and a grounding force for me." Lucky was a dope dealer when they first met almost a decade ago at an Alphabet City needle exchange where Tarsha volunteered. "She's helped keep me on the straight and narrow," Lucky says. With the birth of Psyence she's taken to calling him Papa Lucky, and the nickname has stuck.

It's an apt moniker, since Lucky, 34, is a kind of father figure to the restless community that shares his skill. Numbering around 20, they rely on his upstart production company, Beatboxer Entertainment, to provide an outlet for their eccentric talent. Long marginalized, this new generation of beatboxers often comes across like the X-Men of comic-book lore—freaks with a special gift who are often misunderstood.

Masai Electro, a country-club cook in his mid-thirties, says even his own mother didn't get it at first. "I knew I had something different when my mom thought I was possessed by the devil 'cause of the voice. She really thought something was wrong—'That boy got the devil in him!'" he recalls, imitating her shrill cry. "She thought I was kinda crazy. Then fortunately, around the mid '80s beatboxing came around, and it gave me a format to turn my raw sounds into something constructive." His specialty is an uncanny rendition of the Knight Rider theme, complete with the whoor-whooorl sound of David Hasselhoff's car, KITT. When Electro busted it out at a recent show, the crowd first whooped, then fell all over the place cracking up.

That reaction poses a problem Electro and his mates have never quite solved: Their crowd-pleasing antics sometimes come off as corny. Several beatboxers confess to idolizing actor Michael Winslow, better known to the public as that guy from the Police Academy films who makes bizarre and hilarious noises with his mouth—not exactly the thuggish image preferred by today's rap industry. These guys are sensitive on this topic. So it's with some astonishment that I listen to Kid Lucky's latest idea for Beatboxer Entertainment. He's as excited as I've ever seen him. "Yo, are you kidding me?!" he exclaims. "I was trying to figure out what would be dope, you know, the most far-out thing we could do. And I remember watching Flipper a few years ago on TV and I had this idea. And, really, it's not so far- fetched . . . " He arches his eyebrows, relishing the suspense until he breaks down and bellows with laughter, his Yankees cap falling to the floor. "I believe that beatboxers could actually communicate with dolphins!"

He pauses to let this sink in.

"Yo, I'm not kidding! I mean, I was nervous about it being a joke, but the research is serious. Look at the way the dolphins' lips are, the mouth. . . . I'm sure there's stuff we can't do, but they—the Dolphin Research Center— actually got back to me." He catches his breath. "It could really happen." He proceeds to spit out the clicking noise of a dolphin.

Located in the Florida Keys, the Dolphin Research Center is one of the country's top institutes for marine mammal research. "I'll admit, when Terry first approached us, well, it was unusual," says Mary Stella, media relations coordinator for the DRC. "But he was so sincere, so nice, so . . . earnest that I took my notes and ran it by my staff. Bottom line, it's not harmful and he's so enthusiastic."

Stella cautions that the idea is still in the early stages, awaiting a formal research pro posal. But she seems genuinely interested. "I didn't know what beatboxing was until Terry explained it," she admits. "There's not a lot of beatboxing in country music, which is what I mostly listen to." She notes that the center has tried out music before. "We've had choral groups, a cellist, and I even think a didgeridoo player before, but this is unique. Terry said they believe in 'edutainment,' and we are the same way. Our dolphins are always curious." In fact, she mentions one in particular—Theresa, or T for short. "T is a totally goofy show-off, and has an unbelievable repertoire of sounds," she says.

Maybe Lucky's onto something here.

"On the surface, people will think it's a gimmick," he acknowledges. "But from 1978 to 1984 there was research about dolphins communicating using verbal sounds like vowels and consonants. And human beatboxers are essentially trained to do just that. Plus, I got a beatboxer down in D.C. who's a high school science teacher, ya know? So I was like, let's try it."

But not all beatboxers are interested in the call of the wild. The more conventional among their ranks have eked out a living on tour, often revving up a crowd for the bigger acts to follow. Perhaps the busiest mouth around is Rahzel, a/k/a the Godfather of Noyze, who gained notoriety in the mid '90s with Philadelphia hip-hop crew the Roots, wherein he was joined by Scratch, another beatboxer known for his signature turntable sound. Rahzel was one of the first to create vocal beats while singing lyrics simultaneously, and he went on to a modestly successful solo career. Kenny Muhammad, the "Human Orchestra," has carved out a niche, once donning a tux for a gig with the New York Philharmonic. And then there's that crazy Orthodox Jew whose percussive tics became an Internet phenomenon— Brooklyn's Matisyahu may be an international reggae star now, but he got his start as a beatboxer on the same bills as Lucky.

Lucky likes to point out that several a cappella vocal groups now also tout themselves as beatboxers. He mentions Björk's 2002 album Medúlla, constructed entirely of human vocals, beatboxers foremost among them. And he's got special affection for Justin Timberlake, who dabbles in the art briefly on both 2002's Justified and this year's FutureSex/LoveSounds. In the meantime, Lucky has made it his mission to track down all the old-school greats, guys like Biz Markie, Jock Box, Wise from Stetsa-sonic, and Doug E. Fresh. He's held court with most of them—the only major figure to elude him was Buffy from the Fat Boys, who died of a heart attack in 1995 at 28 years old and 450 pounds.

But there was one other legendary name who, though still very much alive, was particularly tough to draw out. "I finally found him just outside Philly," Lucky says. "In fact, I was the first in the beatbox community to get his contact info. Dude eventually called me back on Christmas Day."

Long before he moved to the Philadelphia suburbs, acquired a beautiful wife and four rambunctious kids, was born again through Jesus Christ, and sued boyhood-friend-turned-superstar Will Smith for $2.6 million, Clarence Holmes, now 38, was simply Ready Rock C, the human beatbox. "I was always ready," he explains. "To do what? Rock. What's the first initial in my name? C. That's how it came about: Ready Rock C. Ready to rock a beat!" He's yelling all this while reclining in a plush leather love seat on a recent afternoon in his duplex's spotless living room. Ready's personal website lists his favorite color as "all of them"; he's just as magnanimous in person.

Like most beatboxers, he discovered his unusual gift early in life. A shy kid from the black middle-class neighborhood of Wynne-field in West Philadelphia, Ready liked making funny noises with his mouth. One particular routine he became known for was the Sanford and Son television theme, but with a twist: He pretended he was underwater. "That came about, me just sitting home in the kitchen with a cup of juice or something," he recalls. "I was drinking at the time, blowing bubbles, you know? And then God inspired me. I just felt it in my spirit. Like, OK, that's cool, now lemme see you do it and make a beat." Ready tries to resurrect the tune, but he's nursing a nasty cold and only manages to cough out a few frustrated notes before giving up. Embarrassed, he scoots to the kitchen and grabs a box of Clorox disinfectant wipes.

Around the time Ready's big mouth evolved into a booming beatmaker, he met a lanky rapper with big ears who called himself the Fresh Prince. "We played basketball together, went to the arcades, put change together to buy burgers from McDonald's," Ready recalls of his new friend Will Smith. The young MC needed to build his reputation as a freestyler, and it helped to have a mobile percussionist like Ready Rock C to supply the beats. Hanging out in West Philly, they were always looking to test their skills against other crews. "I mean, we would literally pull up on guys," Ready remembers. "If we seen them bobbing their heads on the corner or in a B-boy stance and it looked like they was rapping, Will was like errr!!, pulling over, out of the car, kachutt!! 'Yo, you wanna battle?!' And we're going at it." The scene is captured on the beatbox classic "My Buddy":

up4 Tryin' to beat us, that doesn't make any sense
He's Ready Rock C, and I'm the Fresh Prince
In the rap industry we're ranked as first
Ain't a better combination in the whole universe!
up4 So if you wanna battle your future looks muddy
up4 'Cause you just can't beat my buddy

"That's when hip-hop was fun, you know?" Ready says. "You could just go head-to-head, display your craft to one another, and no one gets offended or pulls any guns." The duo eventually brought in local DJ Jeffrey Townes, and the rest was history. Unfortunately, Ready was largely left out of it—"My Buddy" appeared on 1988's wildly successful He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper, credited to DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. Ready appears on a number of tracks from that album and claims to have conceived the idea for mega-hit "Parents Just Don't Understand." He says he didn't mind being left out of the group's name at first, because his beatboxing was often at the forefront. But over time the omission was telling. DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince went on to sell millions of records, winning rap's first Grammy in 1988. At the awards ceremony Ready was asked to sit out the group's performance onstage, and shortly thereafter was booted from the group altogether.

Ready blows his nose clear of mucus and spits in a small Styrofoam cup. "I mean, I was kept in the background. 'Cause to be honest, I was a threat, and Will wanted the spotlight all to himself." He creases his brow. "'My Buddy' was written by Will Smith and composed by myself. In spite of how Will Smith treated me in the long run, that's how I know he felt about me. That song was about our friendship."

It's a friendship that's grown acrimonious over the years. A few years ago Ready filed a lawsuit asking for back royalties he contends never came his way. The case went before federal court but was thrown out due to the statute of limitations. Ready shakes his head. "He promised me and lied to me all these years, which is why I waited. He's very smart and manipulative." (Through a PR rep, Will Smith declined to comment.)

Ready is wearing a white T-shirt emblazoned with his own "READY ROCK C" logo stretched over a pronounced paunch. He strokes his close-cut beard and sits forward in his seat. "See all of this?" he asks, gesturing with his brawny arms at the comfortable middle-class possessions that surround him. "None of this is Ready Rock C money. I worked hard, got an education, and made this through my IT company. Will hasn't done this—pulled himself up by his bootstraps, I mean." The burly beatboxer is a seesaw of emotions. "But I'm blessed— children clothed, roof over our head, meat in the fridge . . . " His voice fades out as his face tightens into a grimace. "Even though I pray for Will, I need my money. I need to get paid!" By now he's almost growling, but quickly laughs it off.

"Ready Rock C's a cat who got hurt," Lucky says. "No doubt." He's been trying to bring his childhood hero out of retirement for some time now. "But it's like he's trying to recoup all his lost dollars—crazy dol lars— at once. We can't do that, but we can give him a mic and a stage." At times like this Lucky seems more like a support group leader tending to his flock of bruised egos. He's bruised himself, but his optimism is infectious. "Here's the thing," he continues, clapping his hands together. "Why have we survived so long? Live shows! That's it. Our live shows are bangin'! I mean MCs just go back and forth, back and forth." Lucky mimics them swaying lazily from side to side. "But people are amazed and dazzled by our live shows. Cats are just bending and breaking notes all over the place—you'd think TV would wanna see that."

Sometimes TV does. A couple of months ago NBC approached Lucky's crew about participating in the next season of their hit reality show America's Got Talent. Andreas Thai-yan, Lucky's manager, says the beatboxers chewed it over but eventually turned NBC down. "The people who do these things are not taken seriously," he explains. "They're looked at as a novelty." Lucky concurs: "Some of the guys were worried about being pigeonholed. The issue of exploitation came up. Fact is, so much is going on now, we can afford to turn it down."

He's got a point. Despite their struggles in hip-hop, beatboxers are thriving elsewhere. They work fashion shows, peddle their own line of ringtones, and have inked promotional deals with everyone from Google to Verizon. "I like authenticity and originality, and beatboxers can really make the crowd go crazy," says Matt Herron, executive producer of MTV Networks, who hired Beatboxer Entertainment a few months ago. "We used them for an e-mail blast and an advertising upfront. They just had that certain . . . something." Thai-yan thinks he knows what that something might be: "Honestly, it's very nonthreatening. Hip-hop without the dirty words; just dope music that draws you in."

But it doesn't draw everyone. Though MTV showed them some love, sister network VH1 failed to do the same during its third annual Hip-Hop Honors Week in October. Sponsored by Mayor Bloomberg, this year's event was a citywide celebration of all the elements: rapping, DJ'ing, graf writing, and breakdancing. All but one, that is. Beatboxing was conspicuously absent. Martha Diaz, a leader of the grassroots Hip-Hop Association and a friend of Beatboxer Entertainment, says VH1 had pledged to work with them but later "brushed us off. They made promises and then reneged. Sad to say, I'm really not that surprised."

Neither is Lucky. "Do we get respect?" he asks. "No, we don't. VH1, they may not be giving the culture its own shine like the others, but at some point they're gonna have to. They're just ill-informed right now. I'll take the 'I told you so!' down the road, ya know what I'm sayin'?"

"Our decision of what to put on the calendar for the week was based on good old-fashioned research of what was going on 'hip-hop-wise,' " counters VH1's Wendy Weatherford, the station's VP of consumer and music marketing, in an e-mail. "As far as the celebrity talent involved in HHH Week is concerned, we tried to book talent that was also involved in the [televised awards] show. Actually, our Celebrity Basketball game on Sunday was hosted by the original human beat box, Dougie Fresh."

True, but in all the promotional materials for Hip-Hop Honors, not once was Doug E. Fresh billed as the "original human beatbox." Instead he was one of many "celebrity MCs." A pedantic quibble, perhaps, but a significant one. As hip-hop officially becomes History —enshrined in the Smithsonian and canonized by tastemakers at VH1 —will beatboxers ever get their proper due? The irrepressible Kid Lucky takes the long view. "'No' doesn't mean 'never,' it just means 'not now,' " he believes. "You gotta pick your battles. Besides, history books can be rewritten."

Maybe if spurned long enough, beatboxers will decide they don't need hip-hop at all. Or other human beings, for that matter. The last time I speak to Lucky, all he can talk about are his dolphins. "This is like some Nobel Prize shit!" he cries. "I'm very proud of this. I mean, I didn't go to college like a lot of people. After you've been locked up in a small room for most of your adolescence, done the 'Yes sir, no sir' thing in the military, been homeless, sold drugs . . . " His voice trails off. "Yeah, this is big."

Back on the sweaty L train—still jammed but now jamming in the tunnel—the smiles are as bountiful and organic as the beats. For just this moment, the beatboxers have everyone's attention. Then the robotic voice cuts in once more: "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your patience. We apologize for the delay. We will be moving shortly." In the space of four kicks, two snares, and six lip smacks, the train rumbles to life and rolls toward Brooklyn.

This piece is dedicated to Ellen Willis.

Hip-hop with a porpoise

NOV 27, 2006

MANHATTAN When Terry “Kid Lucky” Lewis isn’t organizing the bimonthly Sunday Hip-Hop Subway Series — where rappers, singers, beatboxers and even tap dancers jam in transit — he’s running his own production company, Beatboxer Entertainment. In his spare time, the Brooklynite has been reading about dolphins and dreaming of a way to unite his armchair research with hip-hop.

He recently won approval from the Dolphin Research Center in Grassy Key, Fla., to send a team of seven beatboxers to perform and conduct research with dolphins.

“I’m trying to figure out musically what we can do that will bring out something unique with the dolphins,” said Kid Lucky, who expects to stage the performance in October 2007. “But it’s not just about music, it’s also about science.

“In hip-hop culture there have been questions about how to get the youth exposed to more about science and math,” he said. “We have a spiritual base and we haven’t complemented it with a knowledge of science.”

Kid Lucky wants to know if dolphins will respond to beats.

“The concept of dolphins being able to work with music isn’t anything new,” he said. “Dolphins are very smart.”

Mary Stella, media relations coordinator at the Dolphin Research Center, sent an e-mail to Kid Lucky last month with some ideas: “We envision some performers standing in the water on one of our special DolphinSplash underwater platforms to perform. Our trainers would then ask the dolphins to come in close to interact and, hopefully, make some sounds, too.”

The performers, who will be about hip- to waist-deep in the water, depending on their height and the tide, won’t use any lyrics. They will use clicks, pops and whistles to create their musical compositions.

Kid Lucky acknowledged some people might find the dolphin project gimmicky but, “I don’t want that amusement to stay amusement. I want it to progress into something greater. We have a scientist who’s a beatboxer, we have teachers, we’ve talked to research scientists.

“Sometimes you need to take risks, like the risk of being laughed at and losing it all,” Kid Lucky said, “to do what you know is right.”

Article taken from Metro New York: Here

Lean With It, Rock With It, Stop With It...

I'm in the house recently, cooking up something for the kids while my oldest is flipping the channels looking for the next best thing to watch on the tube until her favorite show Degrassi comes on. From a few seconds of MTV Cribs re-runs to VH1 and then she finally decides to leave it on BET.

At first it was all good – I was bobbing my head to one of Beyonce's recent bangers then Busta's "Touch It" jam came on, but it slowly went downhill from there. I thought I had put too many onions in the dish that I was making but then I realized that I was beginning to shed a tear at the garbage that I was hearing.

I won't say any names of the groups and artists that were played but I honestly believe we are not only at a state of emergency when it comes to the politics of this nation - we are also in a state of emergency when it comes to the negative and repulsive music that's aired on TV and radio.

As I continued to listen, I found myself standing completely still, staring at the television in disappointment as I heard more about ass-shaking and drugs in two songs than I have heard in one week of listening to several CDs. What hurt the most was that these songs were categorized as hip-hop!

I really don't think that the average listener of top 40 radio knows what hip-hop is. Hip-hop is not rap, and rap is not hip-hop. People often say, "Hip-Hop is a culture, and rap is what you do within that culture," which is true to some degree, but it's more than that. Hip-hop is not only about beats and lyrics, but it's about unity, love, peace, spirituality. Hip-hop was created to bring people together to speak about various things on a common ground with common goals in mind.

When listening and viewing the so called "hip-hop" today, I don't see much unity nor do I see anything that truly uplifts the community, I see more negative things that brings down our community. From songs that glorify drug selling, to prostitution, to simply killing another person, when is it going to end? How does it affect our young people, our next leaders? Our kids are dancing and singing this crap at home, with their friends, and at school. This is part of the reason why we have kids having sex early, getting killed and going to prison – because the music is raising our kids, not the parents.

When it comes to the next generation of leaders, I feel sorry for this nation, most people my age and older grew up listening to songs like "What's Going On?" by Marvin Gaye to Queen Latifah's "Unity," "If I Rule The World" by Curtis Blow - songs that motivated me to question injustice and join to end it. But the songs out now are not motivating, just brainwashing.

In the end, change begins with you, stand out, be yourself. I was told that the people you hang around will be the people who you will end up acting like; and I believe that the music you listen to fits the same mold. Be yourself, listen to music that will motivate you to reach your goals and don't follow suit. The trump card sits within you.

Parents, it's your responsibility to keep you child's mind as pure as possible while they are under your roof. Make it happen to the best of your ability.

Much love and respect.

- Chosun

Attn: Artists – It’s In The Approach

Attn: Artists – It’s In The Approach
Every couple of months or so I like to dish out the free advice. I’ve been told this is something I could, and should, be charging for, but I’d rather give it out for free and hopefully help as many artists as possible. This time around I’m giving my five golden rules on approaching writers and radio DJs. OK, so maybe I’m also doing this a little for me, because when an artist is doing everything the right way in terms of the approach he or she makes life a lot easier on the writers and radio personalities of the world. Regardless, it’s free information from a seasoned veteran, so take a minute and see if you’ve been following these five major rules of networking.Read it...