Black Entertainment : Has hip-hop benefited the black community?

[jamesfrmphilly]

 

[jamesfrmphilly]

 

[One-Hundredd]

I would consider it a great honor if you would simply consider a few thoughts of mine as you considered how to weaponize your own expression.

1. Magic - magic exists as a manipulation of the mind; thus allowing the magician to create something in the mind of the audience.
2. Memory - Our 5 senses are channels through which information/ideas get into our minds. The EYE, the EAR, Touch, Taste, Smell... pair words with sounds while evoking images and that "flavor in ya ear" that people can FEEL... when you combine these with words used in repetition you can affect the inner programming of the human mind. The more people can match your vision the more "magic" you can create
3. Listeners are too used to the rapper making themselves the "chosen one" and pushing their ego as power. This plays into church mentality and giving power to a god, a priest, a king. Give that power and energy back to the people and they will reciprocate. This is why Beyonce is so powerful beyond her singing ability.
4. Western minds deconstruct to gain understanding. We divide sciences and people become masters in one area, leaving them blind to where science overlaps. Consider how you can reintegrate different pieces into the greater constructive understanding of a new whole.
5. Consider integrating different cultures to evoke higher spiritual awareness they were known for, such as martial arts references to Buddhism and Shintoism
6. Gods in the most prehistoric times were simply tools used to teach. It was only through the "commercialization" of those gods and the consolidation of power through them that most people now contemplate them as being real people; corrupting the ideas of polytheism. American Gods did an excellent job of going back to these concepts but even anime shows like Naruto have done the same thing for Asian mythology.
7. Consider my favorite music genre... Reggae. Because like Tupac, Reggae has been versatile in both entertainment and education and protest. Reggae has a conscious heart and isn't afraid to judge and uphold a higher standard. The music biz wants artists to let the audience decide morality by what they want to hear instead of artists being voices of reason, watchmen on the walls, standard bearers, and the voice of consicousness/God.
8. Symbolism. One of the keys is repeating ideas as symbols, capturing the complex in more simple language. And then put it on repeat. One of the ways of doing this is calling out names of icons who represent those things. You mentioned Garvey. That's a great example. And it's the same reason why Reggae arts envoke Selassie. This is iconic. Even magical. If you "FEEL" me. When you say these names you can invoke their spirits/energy/consciousness. I don't follow modern mainstream Hip Hop but when someone's verses are like "I'm black, I'm black, I'm black" yeah that's now stuck in my memory too.
9. The very things being stripped out of our music are the very things that can be understood to be weapons against our community, leading to more crime, broken homes, etc. because we're already acclimated to dysfunction. If the dysfunction was like hot water we would recoil. So the more dysfunction is sold to us in a lukewarm state the more we can no longer tell how hot or cold it is, how normal or abnormal our lives are becoming until normality itself is seen as alien.
10. Study and integrate the Art of War. Pick your battles wisely. Think of the role as being a fisher of men. Warm them up to more controversial ideas. Stay away from ideas that will get you blacklisted until you have the political capital to say them.


Finally... the mainstream is saturated and controlled by white masters. Stay out of their fields for as long as you can. Real Hip Hop is a threat to them because only the real can expose what's fake. Don't sell out. Crowdfund your stuff to market yourself while you gain traction and investors. It's really good that you're already thinking about the business side. Keep it real. Catering to a niche market is perfectly sound business strategy as long as they're buying, but "shareware" and "freemium" models should not be overlooked.

I appreciate everything you've bestowed upon me brother. I will try my best to strive for those things. I know the ideas are will prove beneficial. Just a matter of strategizing. And I know what type of enemy is out there. We're essentially making an attempt to shift the culture back into our favor and that may look like an uphill battle.

 

[One-Hundredd]

if that is the case then they are the worst kind of sellouts.

View attachment 30733

Indeed our people have much work to do to correct the wrong and the false messengers but we must not get discouraged, distracted nor pessimistic about it. We must remember we are powerful. We have to take the approach of ingenuity and mix the music that will speak to the soul, while also uplifting the masses and also at the same time appealing to a particular audience. The youth has always been great at reaching the masses, so it's a matter of appealing to them. Today people want to have fun and worry less...so while giving them the music they want we also need to mix the messages within the lyrics some times so they'll go back and rewind the track and listen to the jewels dropped. If we talking about twerking, sneak a line in there suggesting women to stay natural and not get any BBLs nor surgery due to the dangers. If we talking about smoking weed we also have to talk about the effects of too much dependency. If we talk about confrontation with someone we don't like we need to be talking about fighting with blows instead of guns...but the delivery of the bars has to be on point and catchy. We have to start mixing the lyrics so we sneak valuable info in the new music. Survival music has to be at an all time high. I have heard some songs that really uplift like Last Emperor "Heaven"

 

[One-Hundredd]

@jamesfrmphilly @IPXninja

This real hip hop right here!