You know I just posted my gratitude to David Banner for his insight on the Trayvon Martin case just last nite. I find out today that after those comments, he said that hip hop artists don't have an obligation to speak about Trayvon Martin, but do have an obligation to make hit songs.
I mean damn!! Just when I thought there was an unafraid brother in the industry. Was this about his need to keep the love with the rest of his rap cohorts that don't stand up for sh*t, or was he scurrrred after realizing he said some powerful stuff and wanted to quiet down the masses. I mean all that money they make collectively and the threat they pose to the mainstream when they have something to say that is serious is power. Because nobody really likes a serious Black man-not even other Black men. Keep making & playing plantation shit about your sexual verility, your luxury items, your condos and cognac so nobody has to deal with the broke ass community that produced your celebrated behind. He was my hip hop hero until I read that shit.
Where was Talib Kweli, Lupe Fiasco, Common, Mos Def, hell KRS-1? Where the fuck are yall at? Your sons and daughters are watching.
O.K. So I'm a bit out of the loop. Never heard of him, so when I read your post I thought, 'David Banner? That's the Hulk.. So in reading-up on dude, I learned that's his stage name. So I figure his message/ what he's all about is not always so easy to see. I'm convinced of this even more so after watching the Black Enterprise clip. I believe there's an obvious point and also a subtle message in his statement about hip hop artists not being obligated to speak out about Trayvon Martin, but that they're obliged to make hit records.
ReplyDeleteThe obvious point is record companies require hip hop artists to make them money. He's right, we all know that. The subtle message is that folks that look like Trayvon Martin, that could have given birth to Trayvon Martin, or that (in some very easy way to imagine), could have been related to Trayvon Martin, do not require hip hop artist to speak out regarding incidents such as the systematic murder young black men. Such folks, (in overwhelming numbers) are content to let hip hop artists make billions for record companies and millions for themselves by glamorizing crime, glorifying black men killing black men, and regarding black women with such misogynistic disrespect and disdain.. it's hard to believe they came out of one. ..Again, he's right, and we all know that too.
If that was actually the point of his comment, I think he can still be your hip hop hero.