Rollin’ With Rush: How Rap Helps the Right Wing

by TRUTH Minista Paul Scott 

 

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There’s a famous scene from the cult classic movie “Scarface” where inebriated gangster, Tony Montana (Al Pacino) disses a bunch of classy conservative folks by telling them that they need people like him so they can point their fingers and say “that’s the bad guy.”
Such is the strange relationship between the Right Wing and rap music.

So, it should come as no real surprise that Rush Limbaugh defended his new homie, Shorty Lo on his radio show.  Limbaugh thinks that the people who caused Oxygen TV to squash plans for Shorty’s “All My Babies Mama’s” reality show are a bunch of haters.

While at first glance they may appear to be at polar opposites of the political spectrum, the ideologies of gangsta-ism and conservatism are actually dependent upon each other for survival. Just like in the world of Hollywood, every hero needs a villain and every villain needs a hero.

Since the inception of gangsta rap in the late 80′s, the conservatives have used the music to embody everything that is socially and morally reprehensible in this country and the gangsta’s have been quick to label anyone who disapproves of their violent and misogynistic lyrics as a wrinkled right wing ole fogy.

It must be noted that when the term “Hip Hop” is used here it is not meant to include the music of legendary political artists such as Public Enemy whose legacy is seen today in the lyrics of noncommercial groups such as Dead Prez but the majority of the commercial rap that has dominated the charts and radio playlists for well over a decade.

While much of the criticism from the Right has centered around naughty words and suggestive lyrics, the apolitical and anti intellectual nature of “gangsta rap” has, in many ways, fulfilled the wishes of those who seek to conserve power by the dumbing down of the powerless. This may be the reason why the commercial era of “political” Hip Hop lasted a mere four years but the reign of gangsta rap has been going strong for 20 years.

Therefore, it is no surprise that the late gangsta rap pioneer Eric “Eazy E” Wright had lunch with President George H Bush at a reception for the Republican Senatorial Inner Circle in 1991. That becomes even more strange in the context that the Right is not exactly known for breaking bread with the enemy as former VP candidate Sara Palin pointed out ad nauseum.

It must be noted that while the protest against rappers Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dog led by C. Delores Tucker and William Bennett only helped to elevate their status as cult heroes who were merely fighting, according to them, represent their community. Bennett went on a decade later to issue what could be a considered a call for gangsta eugenics when he said that if you abort every black baby in this country ,the crime rate would go down.

Also, during the mid 90′s while aid to the poor was under attack, MTV showed a clip with the late rapper Russel “Ol Dirty Bastard” Jones arriving at a welfare office via stretch limo to pick up food stamps during an era when the Right Wing was holding up images of black women as “welfare queens.”

Fast forward to 2013 and we see that Hip Hop has not changed much and neither has the Republican Party. Despite the many rappers who moonlight as voter registration organizers during political season, their day jobs are still keeping the masses of ”ghetto”  youth politically misdirected and justifying the Right’s political scare tactics.

So, today what to do about the so called “Hip Hop Generation” is seen as the new “white man’s burden.” In states across the country there are laws being imposed where the wearing of Hip Hop inspired clothing may be probable cause for the implementation of legislation reminiscent of Richard Nixon’s tough on crime policies of the early 70′s.

With the economy saggin’ like rapper ‘Lil Wayne’s pants, the Conservatives need poverty poster children who they can say enjoy being broke. Who can argue for more social programs when the image of “tha hood” being broadcast across the planet is not an area filled with hungry children and dilapidated buildings but a fantasy land where black men with gold teeth ride around in expensive cars with spinning rims blasting loud music all day. Not exactly the best argument for affirmative action.

Now, I’m not suggesting that a rap mogul is in a studio somewhere composing rap lyrics with a Republican strategist but stranger things have happened in the wild world of politics.

However, at a time when the whole world seems to be yelling for change, maybe Hip Hop artists won’t turn a deaf ear.

Maybe, this year, to quote Tony Montana, we can finally say “goodnight to the bad guy.”

TRUTH Minista Paul Scott’s website is No Warning Shots Fired.com. He can be reached at info@nowarningshotsfired.com Follow on Twitter @truthminista.Cource all hip hop.com

MISS UTALII VIPAJI KUFANYIKA TAREHE 27.01.2012

Tamasha kubwa la vipaji litafanyika katika Ukumbi wa Ikondolelo Lodge  Hoteli ya Kitalii  Kibamba Jumapili hii, ambapo warembo zaidi ya Thelasini   wataingia katika kuonesha vipaji mbalimbali vikiwemo na, Kucheza ngoma, Kuimba, pamoja kuonesha mavazi mbalimbali ya Asilia.

Katika Tamasha hilo Maalum Mgeni Rasmi atakuwa Muheshimiwa Iddy Azan Zungu  Mbunge wa  Jimbo la kinondoni. Sambamba na Hayo Muheshimiwa Zungu atazindua tuzo Mbalimbali za Utalii Tanzania, kama Tuzo ya Mazingira, Tuzo ya Utamaduni, Tuzo ya Jinsia, wanawake na watoto, Tuzo ya Polisi Jamii, Tuzo ya Elimu ya Jamii, Tuzo ya Hifadhi ya Serengeti, Tuzo ya Mlima Kilimanjaro, Tuzo ya Michezo pamoja na Tuzo  zengine mbalimbali.
Viingilio katika Tamasha hilo vitakuwa kama ifuatavyo, V.I.P 20,000 , Watu wa kawaida 10,000 na watoto 5,000.
Tamasha litaanza kuanzia sa nane mchana na kuendelea.
Asante.
Fredy Tony Njeje
Mkurugenzi wa Masoko na Mahusiano

CHOSHA MAADUI: WEMA SEPETU ANUNUA GARI YA MIL.70 NA ZAIDI

Picha za Gari mpya ya Wema Sepetu aina ya Audi Q7 yenye rangi nyeusi zimeonekana kwenye akaunti ya Wema ya Instagram alipokuwa beach hivi karibuni na kuiandikia caption, ‘my baby at da beach.’

Kwenye akaunti ya meneja wake Martin Kadinda pia kuna picha nyingine ya gari hiyo aliyoiandikia maneno, ‘#maisha sio manhattan…..You can creat your own Manhattan in Tz… Hata kama ni Ya muda mfupi… #Kiphating.’

Gharama ya gari hiyo inaweza kuanzia shilingi milioni 70 na kuendelea.Kaandika Mussa Mateja kwenye blogu yake

Mwanamitindo Huyu Anazidi Kung'ara Kilakukicha

MWANAMITINDO wa kimataifa wa Tanzania, Flaviana Matata ameendelea kung’ara kimataifa baaada ya kushinda tuzo ya Nigeria’s Next Super model na kuwa mwanamitindo bora barani Afrika wa mwaka 2012 (Africa’s Most Outstanding Model 2012).

Tuzo hiyo utolewa kwa wanamitindo ambao bado wanailetea sifa Afrika kimataifa na Flaviana amekuwa katika chati ya juu. Mwaka jana Desemba,  Flaviana alishinda tuzo nyingine  ya uwanamintindo bora kutoka kwa diaspora ya Waafrika.

Flaviana kwa ambaye kwa sasa  anaishi na kufanya kazi ya uanamitindo New York nchini Marekani kupitia shirika la Wilhelmina Models, mpaka sasa ameweza kuitangaza Tanzania kimataifa kutokana na umahiri wake katika maonyesho ya mavazi.

Tangu ashinde taji la Miss Universe Tanzania mwaka 2007, Flaviana amekuwa aking’ara katika kona zote za dunia na hasa baada ya kumaliza katika nafasi ya sita katika mashindano ya kimataifa ya Miss Universe, huku Tanzania ikishiriki kwa mara ya kwanza.

Ameweza kushiriki katika maonyesho ya mavaz mengi Ulaya na Amerika huku akitoa misaada mingi kwa Watanzania wenzake ambao wamekuwa na ndoto ya kufika mbali katika fani hiyo.

Kwa sasa Flaviana anaendesha taasisi yake, Flaviana Matata Foundation ambayo inasomesha watoto wa kike 16 na mwaka jana alitoa msaada wa vifaa vya kuokoa maisha kama sehemu ya kumbukumbu ya kuzama kwa meli ya MV Bukoba huku ikiwa kumbukumbu ya kifo cha mama yake mzazi katika ajali hiyo ya mwaka 1996.

Mkurugenzi Mtendaji wa kampuni ya Compass Communication Tanzania Limited, Maria Sarungi Tsehai alisema kuwa wamejisikia faraja sana kwa kumvumbua mwanamitindo huyo ambaye kwa sasa anashika chati ya juu Tanzania na nje ya nchi.

Maria alisema kuwa Flaviana amedhihirisha ubora wake na mpaka sasa amepitiliza kiwango cha kuitangaza Tanzania nje ya mipaka yake, ndoto ambayo alikuwa nayo muda mrefu.

The Connecticut Shooting: How Many More?

by Kevin Powell (@kevin_powell) 

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“Babies. He killed babies.” That was the text message that blasted its terror from my iPhone into the sudden numbness of my mind when I first learned of the terrible mass shooting at that Connecticut elementary school. Babies, as young as kindergarteners, murdered, just because they were there. Nearly 30 dead in total, 20 of them children. Babies, yes, babies who will never have children of their own. Also dead, too, the shooter’s mother (a teacher at the school), and the shooter, a man only 20-years-old, from a self-inflicted gun wound. Every single time I hear about a shooting, be it one-on-one in a ghetto or a mass shooting in a suburb I feel sick, very sick. And so profoundly sad.

How did we as a nation get to this? How are we able to be numb to the fact that approximately 9000 gun-related deaths happen every year in America? A number so great, as someone posted on my facebook wall, that if this total were in any country other than ours it would be considered a civil war. Or note that since guns killed Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, just two months apart in 1968, over one million Americans have died from gun violence. Indeed, among the world’s 23 wealthiest countries, 80 percent of all gun deaths are American deaths and 87 percent of all kids killed by guns are American kids. Moreover, in our America, over one dozen guns are legally sold every minute of every day. That means there are almost 300 million privately owned guns in this country-that’s almost enough to arm every man, woman and child. But while there is a gun in four out of every 10 American homes, only a small percentage of owners have most of the weapons, with the average collection swelling in recent years to around seven guns per owner.

America, this is who we are, this is where we are, with no resolution or cease-fire in sight. Violence is as American as apple pie, the Super Bowl, rock and roll, hiphop, and the iPhone I am typing this blog on. It is deeply rooted in the history and psyche of our society and we cannot identify a single American generation that has not experienced the insanity of violence.

And, clearly, no one is immune from this national tragedy of endless gun violence. Not people in America’s ghettoes. Not people in America’s suburbs. Not Black people, not White people, not Latino people, not Asian people, not Native Americans, not straight people, not gay people, not any people, any faith, any region, any class, or any age. Not Trayvon Martin or Jordan Davis, not those little children at that Connecticut school.

For we are a nation held hostage by gun violence. And we do not seem to know how to escape its wrath, even as it murders babies in run-down inner city tenements and babies in neatly manicured suburban schools.

This is an epidemic that we have on our hands. One that has plummeted so far out of control that we wrongly continue to see these as isolated incidents, or simplistically limit them to debates between gun control advocates and pro gun lobbyists.

Yes, I personally support much tighter gun restrictions. Enough of saying, after Columbine, after Virginia Tech, after Aurora, and now after Connecticut, that it is too soon to discuss gun laws. It is actually too late, because yet more Americans are dead, senselessly. In this case, children…

Yes, I feel we need to think long and hard about why it is overwhelmingly American males who commit these shootings, these mass murders. There is something disturbingly wrong with how we define manhood in this country, how we boys and men are socialized. With how manhood is so invested in violence, anger, ego, competition, revenge, guns, murder.

And, yes, I feel we’ve got to, once and for all, have a national conversation on mental illness in our America. For only a seriously unstable human being would hoard guns, and use those guns on others. At a movie theater. On the mother of his child. At an elementary school. What are we not saying and doing for the male population in America where gun violence is the final solution for every single conflict, disturbance, dispute, or beef, be it real or imagined?

But I also believe that America needs to take a hard look at its soul. These mass shootings are piling up. They are happening at high schools, elementary schools, malls, places of work, college campuses, military bases. There is clearly no place called careful, no place to run and hide.

It means we’ve got to confront, head on, the culture of violence that pervades every aspect of our lives, from school textbooks to comic books and blockbuster movies, to our most popular sports and video games, to destructive and abusive domestic relationships, to the way we describe our day-to-day lives with the most aggressive language and imagery. To even the news media and what it chooses to report on a daily, and why.

You teach a people, any people, to be violent, that violence is the remedy for their hurts, wounds, gripes, problems, and they will resort to violence. Without a second thought, and especially, again, if there is a profound emotional and spiritual imbalance. And doubly so if guns are so readily available.

I heard President Barack Obama’s words and felt his tears, very sincerely, when he spoke about the Connecticut school shooting. However, as the leader of our country Mr. Obama must, sooner rather than later, use the full moral weight of his office, of his historical position, and demand we have that national conversation on violence that we’ve continually pushed to the background after a few sensationalistic news cycles have passed.

And we as Americans, from all backgrounds, all walks of life, must come together, and march on Washington, just as the National Rifle Association lobbyists do on a daily, just as we’ve done for other causes. We must come from every corner of our nation and demand massive changes to our America, to gun laws. We need those there who’ve been affected by gun violence in some way, and we need those there who do not want to see this spiral downward any further.

Because even our children are dying because of guns…

And we cannot wait any longer. Not for the sake of our America. Not for the sake of our children, both the ones gone, and the ones yet to be born.

Kevin Powell is an activist, public speaker, and author or editor of 11 books, including “Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan, and The Ghost of Dr. King: Blogs and Essays.” Email him at kevin@kevinpowell.net or follow him on twitter @kevin_powell

NOTE: You can also read this blog on the Daily Kos at http://www.dailykos.com/blog/uid:260683.Source.allhiphop.com

Katt On A Hot-Tin Roof: An Open Letter To Those Who Love Mr. Williams

by Skyyhook (@SkyyhookRadio) 

 

Katt Williams is from my hometown. He has been held up on a high pedestal for being one of the few that have made it out of our small Ohio city and go on to have actually, really done something amazing for themselves. The current roster contains his name, along with John Legend and Dave Chappelle – and, as you can see, that totals only three guys out there doing it. So to all of us on the home team, that is saying a lot!

Katt took a city’s hopes and dreams and lived them out. It saddens the community that he has spiraled down a murky path as of late, and many hope that he will decide to return home so he can find insulation and protection from those who apparently are preying on his sickness. To many, he is just a comedian with problems, or maybe even one of the funniest guys they know of, but where he’s from, he is a part of a legacy. This is worth remembering, because the fear is that people will be saying these words at his funeral if he doesn’t get some major help soon.

I traveled to Seattle in the same week that Katt found himself suddenly announcing his retirement. The fact that he did so in the middle of the street, as he was being thrown out of yet another hotel in the Seattle area, was sad. The fact that people in Seattle had formed a very different opinion of his accomplishments than those from our hometown – as a result of constant arrests and not being able to remain sober enough to tell the jokes he was sent there to tell – was even sadder. But knowing that Katt has reduced himself to being the punchline in the jokes he used to tell about the people in Hollywood is the saddest fact of all.

I spoke to Nicole Higgins of Seattle, and she expressed her disappointment with the last three shows: “Every single time we paid to go to his show, he either didn’t show up or was so out of it that he couldn’t follow his own jokes! He would start to tell a story, and then trail off and start saying things that made no sense. It was so weird! He’d say ‘My mother is such a trip that, she umm, yeah, it’s just crazy how that goes.’ We were looking at him like, ‘That isn’t a joke, that wasn’t even a complete thought!’ He just couldn’t keep it together.”

Carlos Imaini of South Seattle said, “The rumor about last week’s show was that he actually was backstage at the show that night, but was allegedly so high that they couldn’t get him to physically walk up on the stage, let alone leave him to entertain the crowd.”

If this is the case, and Katt was that terribly sick/high, that serves as even more evidence that there are people out here who will continue to push artists of all types to their deaths if they send mentally unhealthy people out into the streets. Add the spotlights, and you further showcase their illnesses. I mean, are they selling tickets to concerts, or sideshow attractions? At the end of the day, stars like Katt are human beings that have families and lives. They are being treated as chattel. The exploiters know these people need help, but they would rather make a buck off the morbid curiosity of onlookers. It’s sad.

So, if Katt Williams returns to my little hometown in a coffin, there will be plenty of “friends” and “colleagues” with blood on their hands. Don’t pretend to care about this man if you stand by and watch as we tragically lose him to his demons. Demonstrate that you love him by getting him the help he needs now, before it’s too late. This nation can’t take too many more fallen stars and funeral tears from those who “loved” their meal tickets. If you really love Katt, tell him ‘no,’ before that option is gone, before Katt is gone. Don’t allow him to continue to be a joke, when he used to master the art of the joke.

“It’s on your nose” stopped being funny a long while ago.Source all hip hop.com

Wasome Kanye West na Kim Kardashian

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Editor

Kim Kardashian anadaiwa kuwa kwenye mipango ya kufanya harusi ya kifahari na Kanye West itakayogharimu dola milioni 20.

Nyota huyo wa reality TV show, ambaye amekuwa na uhusiano na Kanye kwa miezi nane sasa na hivi karibuni kurejea toka kwenye mapumziko ya Rome hadi Venice kusherehekea siku yake ya kuzaliwa, anadaiwa kutaka kuvaa shela yenye gharama ya dola milioni 8 muda mfupi akipata taraka yake kutoka kwa mume wake wa zamani Kris Humphrie.

Chanzo kimoja kimeliambia jarida la OK! Kuwa Kim ameshaanza kuwasiliana na waandaji wa shughuli za harusi. Continue reading →