DEF POETRY - DEAD PREZ

SIIIIK

ANIMAL IN MAN

Various elements important to this analysis—firstly, ‘Animal in Man’ might be understood in direct relation to ‘America’ as a ‘country’ which was and is still built and maintained through ‘slavery’. Chomsky’s ‘Hegemony or Survival’ is a very striking book—length analysis of this—at least in terms of contemporary America in terms of the relation between ‘power’ and the ‘powerless’ and how this system (perhaps quite natural to human-relations) is maintained through ‘differences’. Farmer ‘Sam’ is America itself in every institutional reading possible and deployed throughout history and perhaps a striking example is ‘Jim Crowe’. The metaphorical allusion to ‘slavery’ in the track is quite obvious but there is another analogy I am more interested in bringing into the discussion here—Wyclef Jean’s track ‘If I was President’. Hannibal the pig in Dead Prez’s ‘Animal in Man’ points to the cynicism associated with ‘leaders’ of revolutionary-uprising. Perhaps a vague analogy would be Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe but more close to Dead Prez soil is Rev. Jesse Jackson. Now, everybody knows about him and the fondness he’s developed towards Obama. Nevertheless, I think the idea being that there are various people associated with the process of struggle for freedom yet in instances of acquiring status within such historical and political events or ‘spaces’; assumes the same role against which their very status was previously attained.

Wyclef’s track ‘If I was President’ is perhaps a quite cynical outlook on the idea of ‘blackness’ surviving through to presidential status. “If I was President, I’ll get elected on Friday, assassinated on Saturday, buried on Sunday, & go back to work on Monday”. Here, the idea of ‘identity’ in direct relation to ‘blackness’ is generated with an emphasis on ‘ideas’ and ‘values’ rather than colour—that the idea of having a ‘black’ president is in itself a mere rhetoric which appeals more to the incompetence of skin colour as a justification for one’s identity. The cynicism is in the lies more within the tacit and temporal structures to which Wyclef’s chorus refers. “If I was president, I’ll get elected on Friday” is a play on the first initiation of a ‘black’ person into the presidential ‘space’ regarded quite implicitly as an embodiment alluding to the ‘absoluteness of power as corruption’. So that the very ‘value’ or ‘blackness’ entrenched in a ‘black’ person’s personal and political ideals is “assassinated” the very moment he becomes a human vessel for the former ‘space’—an assassination which takes place the very next day he or she becomes this ‘space’. More so, such values become something historical attached to that subject’s subjectivity rather than his or her ongoing struggle. On Monday, he or she is reincarnated as a ‘president’ rather than the person he or she is in connection to struggle and issues pertaining to understandings of ‘blackness’.

I mentioned in the previous post (The Danger in..) that there is a fundamental danger in how lyrics such as that of Dead Prez are internalised and re-planted within a context such as Aotearoa—especially in regards to the above analysis. The metaphorical dimension in art (if now rap music is ‘art’ in the broadest sense of the word) has to be emphasised in every processes of interpretations in that such lyrics or contents are from the outset grounded or growing out of a specific cultural and political soil which is perhaps quite radical to a certain listener’s own social context.

To be Cont…

DEAD PREZ --

taken from

http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Dead-Prez-Biography/55A83972884EBB0C48256A1E00261F73

One day a man saw a butterfly shuddering on the sidewalk locked in a seemingly hopeless struggle to free itself from its now useless cocoon.
Feeling pity, he took a pocket knife, carefully cut away the cocoon and set the butterfly free. To his dismay it lay on the sidewalk, convulsed weakly for a while, and died.
A biologist later told him, "That's the worst thing you could have done! A butterfly needs that struggle to develop the muscles to fly. By robbing him of the struggle, you made him too weak to live."
Many of today's youth are not too familiar with the freedom fighters of the turbulent sixties. These men are. As rap faces its most challenging era, two aspiring revolutionaries in their early twenties emerge to pave the way for a stronger tomorrow.
They call themselves dead presidents, and for good reason. M-1 and stic.man are leading the charge towards a topic that seems to be a dead issue in rap - the necessities in life. In conjunction with 7G Entertainment founded by Lord Jamar of Brand Nubian, dead prez offer an alternative to the common pursuits of short term grandeur. Inspired by self defense parties such as the Black Panthers, dead prez is the most politically conscious music group since Public Enemy. They speak the song of Huey and Malcolm with such a modern day pulse that it grabs your attention and broadens your perspective on life.
At LOUD Records, we have always kept our doors open to new artists with an innovative approach and original ideas. In dead prez we found both. In an over-intellectual world, dead prez consciousness in simplicity is common sense. Once hearing their material, one can see that they may be one of the last groups of our generation to make a lot of money by speaking out.
First introduced on the LOUD '97 Set Up Tape, "Food, Clothes, and Shelter" debuted, conveying their main focal points. Money and power are both their energies and their enemies as revealed on the eerie "Root Of All Evil." They examine the so-called New World Order in a powerful song called "These Are The Times (Novus ordo Seclorum)," and raise a curious eye at the mysterious deaths of many controversial figures and unsolved incidents in the news is "Propaganda." Born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida, stic.man embarked on a familiar course he rhymes: "sipping quarts, became the man of my house when my parents divorced. In and out of court, smoking Newports 'cause my friends did...("Rights Of Passage")."
But around the time BPD's "Criminal Minded" came out, stic began to internalize life and music as one culture. A couple of years later, in the midst of a dangerous drug situation, M-1 fled to Florida and the two became as tight as brothers.
At first, they were united in a national activist organization which allowed them to travel around the country. Realizing that they also had to make a living, and hustling proved to be a dead end, they decided to channel their energies towards music.
dead prez elevate themselves through the knowledge of yesterday and its significance in the present day. The symbol in their logo comes from an ancient Chinese oracle called the I-Ching (the book of change). This system was used by the wise men and women of China some three thousand years ago, as a means of analyzing reality and perfecting the art of foresight. That process of change is symbolized in their music, and they believe there is a common link between all historically oppressed people.
Obviously the first interpretation of the term dead prez (dead presidents) is the six inch paper. But for stic.man (the yang) and M-1 (the yin), dead prez represent a spectrum beyond capitalism, addressing the common issues of the most endangered members of human society. These mothefuckers ain't playing. Stay tuned...
M-1's daily routine consists of feeling great, turning ideas into reality, family, studying great leaders (Fred Hampton, Mao Tse Tung and chairman Omali Yeshitela), roots and culture, writing graffiti tags, learning war strategy, making love to Black women, rolling perfect spliffs, eating fresh vegetables and making a good plan then executing it.
Stic enjoys the luxuries of reading, drawing, producing, sex, eating rice, and studying Jeet Kune Do. He also enjoys playing Cee-Lo for push-ups, listening to the musical vibes of the old days and the alternative scene (Al Green, Deseree', Erykah Badu, 4 tops)....and smoking weed.

THE DANGER...

The danger in not being able to ground what it is you are engaging with in rap music and culture is perhaps an endemic and prevalent essence of the ‘misinterpretations’ and ‘mis-representation’ of ‘rap’. Dead Prez is one of my foremost favourite rap duo in the present, yet, at the same time one admires them for the issues they raise in their music, and the rawness with which they are delivered; it is neither a situation a listener as far away as New Zealand should inherit or internalise in his or her approaches to binary issues of ‘power’ and the ‘powerless’.

One very clear thing Dave Chappelle’s Block Party (2004) relate to the viewer is ‘rap’ music is almost always a product of ‘black’ struggles whether in the present or historically—but both dimensions are of the same—struggle is struggle whether historically, or in the present. This is especially the case with issues of ‘blackness’ as it is something carved and determined out of a very emphatic history of physical as well as mental oppression; slavery. Perhaps the preceding descriptions are quite under-rated but I guess the most important thing is, in any preliminary stages of discussions about ‘blackness’ is the emphatic role an ongoing phenomenon such as Slavery plays in one’s understanding (or at least attempt to understand).

Although some may claim it (Slavery) as a mere metaphor nowadays in response to its historical claims on the present, it should also be re-assessed as an underlying ‘axiom’ in discussions of perhaps every aspect of ‘black’ culture popularised whether through music, art, or whatever. The focus though is ‘rap’ and how it is re-planted within a very strange (for the time being) and dynamic cultural soil such as Aotearoa. Of course, already, anyone willing to begin a discussion such as this would eventually end up analysing pioneering figures such as Upper Hutt Posse and various other groups attuned to the social and cultural importance of rap music as a political tool within a NZ context; but, the focus is neither a historical account of ‘rap’ as a phenomenon and its process in Aotearoa; rather, I am concerned merely with how (following on from the previous post about Dave’s Block Party) everyday individuals and rap listeners here in NZ internalise (whether they do or not) issues of struggle prevalent and dominant in rap lyrics—such as the example above of Dead Prez.
I am trying very hard here not to go into issues of colours and race; especially in terms of economic background and what so, but heck, I am probably kidding myself!! I was always aware of Dead Prez for about five or may be six years now, but I never gave them much thought and time until they featured on Dave’s Block Party (2004). These dudes are fresh out of the frying pan man, revolutionary style and raising a generation of oppressed kids soldier styles—at least as they say in their lyrics. Ok, let me say this from the outset before I make any more analysis; it is quite weird but most hard listeners to rough and raw lyricists such as Dead Prez and heavy dozed Gangster shits like that coming out of Curtis’ mouth and just about every other dude associated with him, are...people from wealthy home background with both parents holding very good jobs, living in a nice and very quiet but expensive suburban area and what so..Better yet, they are probably the ones buying up all that shit since poor youths from “you know where” can’t afford to buy any of that shit.

However, the fact is, tracing back to Lil-Cease’s “chiiling-out-interview” with Dave, one can separate the bullshit from the real shit—the bullshit is the “movement” with which people associate these people. This is quite vague now but I think the important thing is, listening to Lil-Cease and Dave, you can assume that the idea is/was to make some money and get out of the present situation—which is most oftenly articulated as “the hood”, “the ghetto”. These are not straight forward references; one other fundamental characteristic of ‘rap’ music is; it is an ‘art’ imbued with metaphors and not so straight forward type of references. However, such are grounded in rappers’ reality which means that if one lacks the experience and therefore knowledge with which these voices speak; it can as most oftenly happens be misinterpreted. Of course, we can always say, but this is my own interpretation and this is someone’s own take and shit, or don’t player-hate on my shit or whatever. We on the outside can only relate to lyrics to a certain extent—perhaps a very limited extent. What I meant when I associated the “movement” with the “bull shit” is this—listeners and fans determines what they hear and see—its human nature—and by doing so, the rappers no longer have a voice in this process, all they do is rap and make money so they can enjoy things never available to them beforehand.

Lil-Cease said that what they had (Junior Mafia) between them as friends and perhaps co-strugglers was more than ‘hip-hop’ or ‘rap’. He refers directly to a context negated in any listener’s awareness with respect to their music and lyrics. He lives in a context quite anonymous in music tracks made by him and his friends—of course, listeners hear New York New York and all that type of stuff, but it is impersonal issues far removed from the reality which connects them and which is also absent from hip-hop fans’ knowledge because they are (fans) attached more to the “movement” rather than the intimacy inherent and prevalent between its voices. These stuffs are highlighted but in a very distinct manner that is much more attached to the “movement” rather than the persons. What I am saying here is that there are perhaps two dimensions to the understanding of ‘rap’ as well as ‘rappers’. There is the dimension attached to ‘rap’—this is a dimension which is also a filter through which listeners gain an insight into the phenomenon; but not an insight of the phenomenon as it is in connection to its voices but rather, it is an insight in subjection to the listener [I talked a little about this in the early stages of the blog with respects to NZ youths receptions of the media].

This is a rupturing event perhaps implicit and quite anonymous in the whole reception of ‘rap’. Other people talk about it in more explicit senses but through a different route. ...lets analyse this later....to be cont..

DAVE's BLOCK PARTY

..People watch Dave Chappelle for various reasons and hence there are certainly quite different interpretations and receptions with regards to the issues he deals with—most importantly in how he deals with such issues and proceed to re-present them. Perhaps something positively true about Dave Chappelle from the outset is that he is a funny-ass dude and probably the funniest person on earth at the moment (so many people would testify to this—from every corner and colours). However, something serious and very intellectual about his ‘art’ seems to always go unnoticed in the midst of all the humour!! If you’ve seen ‘Dave Chappelle’s Block Party’ (2004), you’d probably denounce (at least preliminarily) any significance of that film (or documentary) in understanding the idea of ‘blackness’ (as vague as such term is)—and I am talking here about the same ’blackness’ explored and pulverized in academic discourses by authors from every corner and colours!!
Although there are some aspects or dimensions of ‘rap’ music absent in the film—such as ‘south’ and heavy ‘gangster’, ‘rap’ music is surely yet fully re-presented; as both an expressive tool for black people as well as an important entertaining apparatus. The latter is probably the most obvious in respect to the film as the entire film documents Dave putting together his ‘Block Party’ beginning three days before. And obviously, it is about fun and entertainment in a way quite peculiar to ‘black’ people. The featured artists ranged from more popular artists such as Kanye and John Legend, to more conscious-rappers such as Common, Mos def, Roots, and etc to more hard-hitting ‘revolutionary’ rappers like Dead Prez (in fact, I’d probably put Mos def in-between conscious and ‘revolutionary’), further, Fugees came together to close the Party. There are obviously other artists important but there was something quite implicit in the direction of the film that caught me.
The difference which exists between these artists in terms of their approach both to rap as a music and a way of living (business) was obvious on the stage; but there was something else perhaps important for anyone wanting to go into the quite old but yet still relevant dispute over whether “hip-hop is dead or not” debate. Something which seemed to be overlooked in the latter is why people make music and why people rap. Or perhaps reversibly might be more viable to this discussion—why people rap and why people make music. The interview with Lil-Cease outside the little yet quite historic day-care which rap legend Biggie Smalls attended as a kid is was probably the most profound part of the film for me. He (lil-cease) first told Dave about how this little daycare was kind of like a central point for junior Mafia ( almost like a little bedrock) and how Biggie attended it and his (lil-cease) family (cousins and nephews) also attends it even now and how he still comes by every day to pick them and all that other stuff. He then pointed further stating where who and who (in rap) came from. To his left, he pointed out that so and so came from three blocks down the line and to the right, he pointed out that Jay-Z lived two or three blocks down that way and Lil-Kim came from four blocks that way and etc.
Within a space of may be six blocks grew up the most prominent rappers of all time—who influenced a whole world and movement or music. All good and close friends who thought more about life as friends struggling and keeping out of trouble than starting a movement to which millions of people associate themselves—of course in their own ways and interpretations. Listening to Biggie, Lil-Kim, Lil-Cease, Junior Mafia and all those rappers is different from listening to the Fugees or Wyclef Jean because they each deal with different issues—and in instances where they do share the same topic of interest, they would talk and approach it in different ways and outcomes. It is the same with listening to Dead Prez; you definitely won’t hear the same shit with Wyclef.
Dead Prez would blame the ‘white man’ (in terms of an overarching and repressive image) and ‘his’ history for the struggle of ‘black’ people, while Wyclef would say “don’t blame the white man for nothing, the white man didn’t do shit, get yours”. Dead Prez would go as far as saying to “raise babies soldier styles” as well as saying “fuck education” as an American repressive institution while Wyclef would say “get your mayor to put some libraries up in your hood” and get educated.....Continue later.....