Message To The Hip Hop Nation (Revised)

 Rap music is here to stay! To be sure, a frightening thought to many, yet music to the ears of many more. This duality has and will always characterize the world’s reaction to rap music in particular and to the Hip Hop culture in general.

Given this landscape it is the absolute belief of Forty Million And A Tool that the rap music industry must have its own independent apparatus acting faithfully for its furtherance and unrelenting defense, rather than just relying on the protections afforded by freedom of speech and the resources of a few in the industry. The past onslaught of negative media aimed at limiting profitable opportunities for rap artists (i.e. Bill O’Reilly’s campaign against Ludacris and Pepsi Cola) signaled a revival of the type of persecution launched against the 2 Live Crew, NWA, Ice T and Public Enemy, just to name a few. These tactics, along with their counterparts of repressive legislation and stereotypical smear, will gain dangerous momentum if left un-monitored and unchallenged, for they seek nothing less than a stranglehold over Hip Hop and the wealth it generates, if not to outright destroy it.

Forty Million And A Tool has a very direct message and appeal to the creators and current practitioners of the art form, as well as the many innovators, caretakers and beneficiaries of the genre and culture. The message is this: rap music burst on the scene and manifested itself as the most powerful contemporary phenomenon stimulating the revitalization of black identity, self‑esteem and economic independence. Let’s not get that twisted. Even with all the obstacles and all the self‑destructive tendencies I shudder to think of where black youth would be without 45 years of Hip Hop. The appeal is that the Hip Hop nation join forces with Forty Million And A Tool to produce the wealth for African Americans that is their birthright, thereby preserving and harvesting the original potential of the genre even as it evolves into the worldwide multi‑ethnic vehicle of expression that allows all who embrace it to prosper.

MAKING THE CASE

From the earliest days of Hip Hop non-stop to the present, parents, activists types and elected officials have negatively criticized and denounced various artists and/or the content of their lyrics.  At first these critics mainly consisted of older generation adults who didn’t realize it then (though many realize it now) that Rap was born of necessity and would provide yet another platform of speech, resistance and, most importantly, black resiliency.  They now marvel at how the Rap Music Industry alone has produced more black millionaires, executives and entrepreneurs in 45 years than their generation or previous generations combined.  As a result, we now find many who initially opposed Hip Hop, jumping on the bandwagon for one reason or another.

 Not only has Hip Hop and Hip Hop‑spawned businesses been the most consistent and continuous source of employment for black youth, it is the most mimicked and universally embraced phenomenon by young people all over the world. When you look at Hip Hop from top to bottom you see a world of racial equality and equality of opportunity only dreamed about by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; a society where competition thrives and where wealth is rewarded based on one’s initiative, ability and achievement. Just look at the fan base, the videos, the TV shows, the clothing lines, the movies and the many other movements and black enterprises that are the branches of Hip Hop culture.

After 45 solid years it’s time to recognize Hip Hop in its true historical context: it is perhaps the final invention and innovation of an enslaved and oppressed people in America; one from which they might finally amass the wealth withheld from them for too long and one from which they create lifelong financial security for their families. African Americans better know that Hip Hop is the perfect vehicle offering us a real chance to take what is rightfully ours: our birthright of wealth. And unlike past movements Hip Hop is inclusive of every black voice, be it militant, intellectual, political or spiritual. Obviously refinement is continually needed in Hip Hop just as there is in all cultures, but that’s the job of its founders and those who infuse the culture in their own lifetimes, not the critics and hypocrites who attack and demonize the culture.

TIME TO UPDATE

Forty Million And A Tool offers a philosophical framework and foundational basis for an up‑front, unapologetic, in‑your‑face, Hip Hop style power move that seeks to secure lifelong wealth for African Americans from now on! While the old guard of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements did not effectively pass the mantle to the younger generation, important elements of both did get through; others were abandoned or obscured. The old guard neglected and perhaps resisted updating itself, its premises and its terms and thereby lost multitudes of young black folk in successive generations. These young black folk gave birth to Hip Hop. These were and are the young black folk who understand that there are no more “colored” people for the NAACP to defend and that there are no more “Negroes” for the UNCF to send to college.

This was a generation that sensed a black leadership going soft, stale and out of touch with their day to day reality; a generation whose renewed understanding of history told them that racial profiling of black folk is not something new, but that slavery and Jim Crow stand as the two towering monuments from which all of today’s black profiling continue to flow. They know full well the legacy of long‑stemmed blatant and subtle disrespect of black humanity and will not be bamboozled by these recycled realities presented as new phenomena. When white state police in Oregon ticket black drivers and falsify their racial identity by putting a “W” in the box marked “ethnicity” or “race,” the Hip Hop generation recognizes this mentality as not disconnected from the post‑Reconstruction mentality of sharecropping and Black Codes or that of Jim Crow, voter fraud, redlining, gentrification, slumlords and police brutality. It’s a mentality that says “we will not respect black humanity no matter what the laws say; we will find a way to deny, harass, terrorize, falsely accuse and kill you.”

This dynamic Hip Hop generation, however, has yet to formulate a strategy or an offensive that truly unleashes its full power and potential. The powers that be in government and in the music industry itself continue to find ways to keep Hip Hop on the defensive, continually fighting off negative media and continually fighting for a fair share of wealth and power in the industry, but stay tuned …..we brought the noise, next comes full clarity.