While most Americans were celebrating the commencement of another generation of college graduates or maybe they were humbly mourning the loss of loved ones who were in the armed services, there was a section of the population centered in Atlanta reliving the good ‘ol bad days of Freaknic in honor of the ‘going away’ of the king of the south.
For many Blacks, going away to the penitentiary is the equivalent of staying in the dorms of the university. So much that I suggested a few years ago that Blacks should swap the usage of the words to increase their self esteem. Instead of young KeyVaun going to jail his mom should say that he is “on campus at the state college”. We all know that nigga is in jail, but shit just sounds better.
Atlanta partied so hard for T.I. this weekend you might think he was given a farewell speech at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. He might as well have since he is now some kind of martyr. I bet if you asked a ten year old which King he liked more, Martin Luther or T.I. you already know the answer. I don’t blame T.I. for this. I blame myself and all the people that could have said they want more from the people they uphold as heroes.
I think about all the shit that Martin Luther King Jr. got himself into where he should have definitely had a gun under his jacket just to feel 100. MLK Jr. was hardbody supreme. Nobody has the platform that he had and speaks the truth to power the way that he did. Malcolm X was always a pariah, so even when he experienced white muslims and had to renounce Elijah Muhammad, there were no white Americans who would touch his ass with a ten foot stick. MLK Jr. was the dude that white let come into their house.
Until MLK Jr. started to rail against the military industrial complex he was safe. The government used MLK Jr. to keep the negroes in check after they merc’ked Malcolm X. MLK Jr. kept the negroes peaceful and passive after JFK and RFK’s murders. Right after that heroin started to find its way into the ghetto in a major way. I wonder if the Vietnam War was a power play for the control of opium trading? Anyhoo, my point is that after heroin filled up the center city streets J. Edgar Hoover’s bosses no longer had a need for MLK Jr. to keep the disenfranchised masses in check.
I’m not putting this drop on the X spot to disparage T.I. That ‘Superstar’ (remix) was one of my 2007 faves. For all I know T.I. might be the coolest, funniest dude of all time. But when you call yourself the modern day Malcom X Martin Luther just because it rhymes, and not because you give that 101% of yourself, you actually destroy the memory of those heroes to people that haven’t had a chance to experience them OGs.
The same way every two-bit despot is called the modern day Hitler by a politician. Hitler was bad as fuck and killed a grip of people. Don’t negate his destruction by comparing him to another less qualified sociopath. And don’t negate Malcolm X and MLK Jr’s hardbody status by comparing yourself to dudes you will never be like. I feel for this guy T.I. and the whole (tech) nine but its not like he came into this rap shit lyrically similar to Paris or Chuck D.
T.I. came up telling us that you could convert your drug money into entertainment success. He has no ‘Letter from a Birmingham Jail‘ in his catalog. He hasn’t created anything as thought provoking as the ‘Ballot or the Bullet‘. He’s a cRapper. Let’s not lose our perspective party people.
music provided by Nah’Right
