Rap Music

RBG Street Scholars Think Tank's Purpose:
This Educational Program and Research Project is Dedicated to Further Building the Hip Hop--Black Liberation Movement Connection by Integrating Conscious Digital Edutainment with A Scholarly Self Directed Learning Environment.

N.B. June 3, 2007: From this point forward all post in the article /group blog section without thumbnails will be delete by the editor/RBG Street Scholar. This is because such posts compromise the formating of the zine. Furthermore, we refuse to get side tracked with eurocentric rap/pop culture. So, if posts don't jell with the RBG Movement / Rap Genre and the academic nature of the zine,again, they will be deleted. This is not a democracy, but an educational research project; and as such we intend to stay on point regarding our edutainment mission, goals and objectives. Please don't allow the title to make you get it twisted, the full title is RBG Hip Hop/Conscious Rap Music Wikizine.
Anyone who has a problem with this please start your own zine, it's free.
Asante(Thank You) for your contributions.

This Zine is a Hip Hop / Rap Music guide with photos,audio, videos, links, feeds, news, comments, group blog and forum. Special focus on Hip Hop History, Underground /Indie and the Positive and Socio-politically Conscious Rap Genre / Artists, RBG Style; along with links and extensions to each of the integral aspects of hip hop culture. Including Knowledge, DJing, MCing, Break Dancing and Graffiti.
Please take some time to browse.Your contributions are welcome and encouraged if you're looking for a scholarly, and at the same time entertaining, place to expose your work and help build a comprehensive multi-media resource for others to learn from. It's what we make it--a project in evolution and always under construction.The more of us that have something to share on the subject contribute, the better this resource will be for those wanting to do research.

"Of All The Disciplines Of Study, History Is Best Qualified To Reward All Research". Thus, let's commence the discourse with a brief historical overview.

The Political Origins of Hip-hop:

> Historically poetry/ rap/ spoken word, literature and music have been combine to play a pivotal role in black progress and power, rebellion, revolt and revolution.

Political Rap Started With the Afrikan Talking Drum.

> Because of the perceived potential of talking drums to "speak" in a tongue unknown to slave masters / traders and thus to incite rebellion, in 1838 these and other drums were banned from use by Africans in the United States.

> H “Rap” Brown, known to many of the 1960's/70's Civil Rights and Black Power Movements as the original master rapper. Rap, a given nickname, comes from his being such an eloquent speaker he would be rappin. For more see Dr. Errol Henderson on Black Nationalism and Rap Music and our Hip Hop Audio History.

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The Great Debate 4 (Is Hip Hop Good for Black folks) From the Pin of TRUTH Minister Paul Scott

Written by RBGStreetScholar on

Is Hip Hop Good for Black Folks ?"
I (RBG Street Scholar/ Brotha Imhotep) will be one of the debaters to argue in firm support of hip hop culture as a prime tool for our unification, revolutionary change and a positive force in our liberation struggle, Re-Afrikanization Cultural Movement and nation building process.

ARTICLE ICEBREAKER/
added by myself for position clarification purposes

Hip Hop's Judgement Day
By Minister Paul Scott

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_L6pDyjqqsvY/R-vkL8RIg6I/AAAAAAAAMas/E2ym-4Sb1zE/s320/paul%2Bscott.JPG

For everything there is a season; a Day of Reckoning; a Judgement Day. Now it's Hip Hop's turn.

On March 15th in Harlem NY, some of the greatest Pan-African thinkers will gather to put to rest once and for all, the matter of, "Is Hip Hop Good for Black Folks ?"

While the issue of the positive and negative nature of Hip Hop has been discussed for over 20 years, rarely has this topic been entertained from an Afrocentric point of view. Therefore, most Hip Hop discussions have never ventured far beyond the topics of "dirt words" and "young men pulling their pants up."

Consequently, the view of Hip Hop through an Afrocentric prism has been clouded by the European concept of morality and its many contradictions.

While some may blame the failure to tackle this issue on black youth, in actuality, the reason for this breakdown in communication is multifaceted.

First, while writers such as WEB Dubois wrote extensively about the duality of race and the idea of being both African and American, simultaneously, they never had to deal with members of a "Hip Hop Generation," who have to struggle with the concepts of being "Hip Hop," African and American even when these concepts are diametrically opposed to each other.

Secondly, the elders of the community greatly underestimated the cultural impact that Hip Hop would have on the world during the early days of its conception. What many people considered noise or just a temporary fad in black music in the early 80's,within a decade had morphed into a cultural juggernaut that began to eclipse both the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. What was thought to be a passing phase had now begun to shape the perception of African people, globally and had moved from the arena of entertainment to become a major social, economic and political force.

Thirdly, although many in the black community misjudged the longevity of the pseudo-culture, corporate entities latched on to the Hip Hop movement and turned what began as two turntables and a microphone into a multi -national billion dollar business. While during the early 80's there was a possibility to appeal to the consciousness of the early practitioners of the art form, by the mid 90's the seductive lure of Capitalism had made the success of such appeals improbable.

Perhaps most troubling is the fact that the Pan African community has not held a plebiscite to construct an official position to define Hip Hop from a Pan Africanist point of view. Without a solid consensus, there was no scale available to weigh in the balance the deeds of Hip Hop artists versus the key attributes of African culture/spirituality . It was allowed to become all things to all people and since the majority of those
financially supporting the art form were white middle class Americans, Hip Hop began to reflect either their world view or their warped perceptions of what it meant to be black in America.

In 2009, the black community finds itself at a crossroad. Where we go from here culturally, economically and spiritually depends on the outcomes of events like the Great Harlem debates.

On March 15th, we raise the issue, "is Hip Hop good or bad for black people?"

The answer we give will determine the destiny of a generation.

(The Great Debate 4 " Is Hip Hop Good for Black folks" is sponsored by CEMOTAP and will be held at 3PM March 15th at Salem United Methodist Church . For more information contact (347) 531-8936

TRUTH Minista Paul Scott writes for No Warning Shots Fired.com http://www.nowarningshotsfired.com
"TRUTH Minista" Paul Scott is a minister, writer, lecturer and activist. He has been a guest on talk shows around the world including Hannity and Colmes (Fox News), Fox News Live, Nachman (MSNBC), Hot 97 (NY), The Bev. Smith Show, Mancow Morning Show, Mike Medved Show, Russ Parr Morning Show, Mo in the Midday WVON (Chicago), Tom Pope Show (DC) Newstalk 1010 (Toronto) and SAfm (South Africa) discussing the issues of Rap,Race,Religion and Revolution. He has been interviewed by many newspapers including the USA Today and the Christian Science Monitor. Scott has lectured at universities across the country including West Virginia University and Clemson. Scott was ordained a Baptist minister in 1998 he later went on to coin the phrase Afrikan Liberation Theology, which is "Black Liberation Theology for the 21st century." After forming the New Righteous Movement, Scott formed the Messianic Afrikan Nation in 2003. For more information contact

(919) 4...

or info@nowarningshotsfired.com

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