THE HIP HOP NATION

Adisa Banjoko,

I truly thank you for such intellectual nourishment. I can always count on you for some real discussions on the state of our Hiphop community. You are truly a much needed architect on the scaffolds of Hiphop’s cultural development. I appreciate your concerns and comments. Everyone can learn from this.

Before I consider accepting your offer to debate the; I am Hiphop philosophy at the Riekes Center for Human Enhancement, let me be sure that you truly understand the position that you are taking, and how you may be setting yourself up for a public spanking. I am truly in awe of your blindness! It is as if someone is putting you up to this. Be honest, are these your concerns or are you simply representing the insecurities of others? As a thinking man you cannot be serious.

I ask this because before becoming the Host of One Mic Radio you were the Bishop of Hip Hop. And I knew that you were not literally a high-ranking Christian cleric in charge of a diocese. But I did expect from you a discussion on Hiphop that transcended Rap music entertainment. And your earlier writings as the Bishop of Hip Hop suggested as such. What happened? Be careful that the environment of radio broadcasting has not confused your mind as to the principles of true Hiphop? More personally, have you stopped living Hiphop, or were you just fronting as Hiphop’s bishop to get what you needed from KRS-ONE?

Whatever happened to Chicken Soup for the Hip Hop Soul? Is this project still happening? And if so, what then is Hiphop’s Soul? Not Hiphop’s soul as a Muslim, or as a Christian, or as a Jew, or as a Buddhist, etc., but Hiphop’s soul as Hiphop? Before we debate any other issue pertaining to Hiphop, should we not first have closure with the past issues and projects you and I both have invested our time and money into? Your whole challenge sounds like a set-up to me! One rooted in fear and ignorance, and not in truth!

But for the protection of Adisa; my dear friend in the struggle, and for the education of all interested Hiphoppas consider this. WE ARE HIPHOP! We are not just doing Hiphop; WE ARE HIPHOP! We are the spiritual, mental and physical activity of Hiphop in the material world. And why do I say this? Because it is the truth! No other culture, ethnicity or religion truly cares about us. They use us and our elements to further their individual causes with little or nothing going back to the preservation and sustainment of Hiphop itself, but they themselves will not claim a Hiphop ethnicity. And why should anyone who is not Hiphop, care about Hiphop above whatever they have invested their real commitment to? We (Hiphoppas) are not their responsibility. We are our responsibility.

It is up to us to take care of us. For if we are truly committed to the principles of peace, love, unity and having fun as laid down by Afrika Bambaataa in the mid 1980’s, then it is us (the Hiphop nation) that must achieve such high ideals for ourselves. Such privileges as peace, love, unity and having fun are never truly given to anyone; they are achieved by those who desire them. The question for you Adisa is; are you truly free or have you been freed?

A truly free person can decide at any moment to be anyone or anything he/she chooses to be. A freed person relies upon the definitions and interpretations of those people he/she feels inferior to for the survival, meaning and purpose of their own freed lives. A person who has been freed cannot create or even re-create themselves. They are forever defined by interest foreign to their own. Was this not also the intent of the slave trade?

To suggest that we cannot re-create our very ethnicity today for our own human advancement and that of our children is to actually re-enslave ourselves and our children daily to interest foreign to our own. Such a suggestion is actually the cause of political stagnation for any group. If we lose the ability to define ourselves; who then is defining us? If we do not offer ourselves peace, who or what shall we wait upon for such an achievement? Who can we really depend upon for our sustained peace, love, unity and happiness? Black people? White people? Chicanos, Asians, Hindus, Christians, Jews? Who is supposed to ensure our well-being? Who are we waiting on? Is it not obvious today that people are more united by interest and like-mindedness than by race, class or religion? Is it not time for those who are making a living from Hiphop to finally stop using the culture and start building it?

I mean just as men and fathers Adisa, who is responsible for the well-being of our children? Can we truly trust the leadership of our own ethnicities? Be honest! If we are truly free (and I am), why then can’t we start a new civilization right now in the 21st century? Why complain about the nation that you live within when you are free to start a nation of your own? Are we, or are we not, nation builders! How can we demand a better United States government if we are unable to govern ourselves? How else shall we (Hiphoppas) achieve the peace, love, unity and happiness that we desire for ourselves if we Hiphoppas (even as a sub-culture) do not organize ourselves into a community capable of achieving such privileges? You cannot avoid the truth of this inquiry.

No one is going to hand us peace, love, unity and happiness. We must be disciplined, intelligent and organized enough to achieve such privileges for ourselves! Otherwise we don’t deserve them and basically we are just talking about the achievement of peace, love, unity and having fun; but in actuality we are comfortable with the way things are. Is this not a phony? Is this not weak leadership? As we watch our children helplessly being mishandled by law enforcement; how can we as men sit around and just do nothing! Is this not a coward? Tell me Adisa, what kind of person are you? If you are not loyal to the development of the Hiphop nation, which nation are you loyal to? For what reason do you exploit our elements? When you take from us, who do you give the fruits of our culture to?

Really, I am surprised at your challenge. You are an educated man Adisa. You seem to be upset and emotionally driven to cry over the death of your impotent and powerless ethnic identity. As a social scientist didn’t you see this day coming? You know that nothing weak in Nature is meant to survive. And behold, African-American as a description for free thinking human beings in the 21st century is quickly losing its ability to insure peace, love, unity and happiness for those that claim such an ethnicity. Keep it real! I have said for years; before you are a race, a religion, or an occupation, you are a Human Being!

So tell me Adisa; are you Black or are you Human? Think about this slowly. As a man thinketh, so he is. Are you Black or are you Human? Is it not the Human spirit that gives rise to all ethnicities, nations and civilizations? Is Hiphop separate from Human creativity? Even better; if God is the totality of the conscious universe and beyond, why wouldn’t Hiphop be part of that same conscious universe? Tell me Adisa, what exist outside of God? And think slowly on this one as well. What exist outside of the oneness of God? Isn’t Hiphop, like everything else within God? Isn’t Hiphop also an idea of God’s Divine Mind like every other religion, ethnicity, nation, etc. Why then must we (Hiphoppas) depend upon others to define our God and our ethnicity for us? We may hold the spiritual salvation of the entire world within the existence of Hiphop itself, and all that is preventing us from fulfilling God’s Will is the conquering of our own fears and doubts.

Tell me Adisa, how real is your God? Do you truly hear your God? See your God? Feel your God? Do you communicate with your God? Did your God tell you to challenge me, or was it your own fears (demons) that took control of you. Stop listening to the desires of your mechanical arms Dr. Octopus! I know this may shock you but, God may just as well be a Divine Hiphoppa that bombs and tags the hearts of Humanity while cutting, scratching and mixing life itself! But isn’t this how it always goes? Haven’t we been here before Judas? When will you learn? I will only be resurrected and all who believe shall be reborn as a new people on the earth!

I feel your pain though. However, the truth does hurt sometimes, and I am a bringer of truth. You know how I feel about Hiphop. I take Hiphop and the lives of its people very seriously. I think very deeply. Flawed philosophy? I don’t think so. Unless of course you are referring to the second definition of a flaw meaning: a brief gust or blast of wind. A passing storm. This, my philosophy may be today. But in the future such a breeze may be welcomed as the coming of new ideas. Watch yourself Adisa. A battle? You don’t really want it!

With all due respect to everyone that you have quoted in your formal request; they are not Hiphop’s leadership. I am! They do not teach and guide the culture internationally. I do! Front if you like. But let us go before the people with our cultural resumes, and asks them who they consider Hiphop’s most credible voice to be, and the truth shall be confirmed with the demise of your own reputation!

Be careful my friend. The people are not as forgiving as I am. They don’t have time for such pointless debates. Jam Master Jay is Dead! Ras Kas is in jail! As the prison industry expands, our children are being taught through mass media that the ultimate achievement for a Hiphoppa is to be dead or in jail! Multi-national entertainment institutions are paying the very artist that you have mentioned in your request a fraction of what they are truly worth! How then can we as men (with children) sit back and allow such counter-intelligence programs to continue with no plan of our own for our own liberation? Is this not a coward? What is the meaning of our Fatherhood if it is not to free our own children from the bondage that we face today?

Adisa, if my plan for peace, love, unity and happiness is unacceptable to you, I humbly suggest that you lay out a plan of your own. Such is the character of true leadership! But to have no plan of your own yet critique and even demean the value of the plan that I lay out is exactly what those who would exploit Hiphop and its elements want from you. Free yourself! Don’t be used as a miter-shaped chess piece that moves diagonally across any number of unoccupied Hiphop spaces—a bishop. In truth Adisa, you do have the authority to become whatever you have the capability to achieve. The decision is truly yours to make.

I have decided to live my life as a citizen of Hiphop Kulture. If you have not, such is your choice. I am not better than you. I do not look down upon you. In fact, through Hiphop I am better able to love you; to understand you; to empower you. Your decisions on life and its meaning are for you, and my life decisions are for me. Hiphop is my faith! And how can anyone debate the reality of another man’s faith? Such a debate is pointless. It is faith! And isn’t it true that faith makes all things possible. You speak as if you have no faith in Hiphop.

I know that such ways of looking at the world as an attuned Hiphoppa may sound strange to many. But I am Hiphop’s Teacha. My work is to help Hiphoppas understand themselves and raise up a free and prosperous Hiphop nation. In fact, through Hiphop I have personally achieved already that which I teach to others. In Hiphop I am truly free and prosperous. I have inner peace, I give and receive much love, the Temple of Hiphop is strong and unified, and with my wife and children I am having fun! Others may decide to live in other ways; such is their decision to make. But when thousands of people that participate in Hiphop’s elements approach me for the secrets to the success Hiphop has given me, my love for them compels me to speak the truth regarding my life.

England did not work for George Washington, James Madison or Thomas Jefferson. Babylon did not work for Abraham. Egypt did not work for Moses. Judaism did not work for Jesus. And likewise, being African-American did not and does not work for me. It may work for others, but it does not work for me. For me, it is limiting. For others it is liberating! But for me, it is Hiphop that is truly liberating! And if you are getting something out of being your ethnicity, race or religion, I truly wish you well. But for all those who are not satisfied with the potentials of their ethnicities, religions, careers, etc. I offer exactly what has helped me—HIPHOP!

I am not saying that if you do not practice Hiphop in the way that I practice it that you are not Hiphop. I am not even saying that my way is the only way. What I am saying is that; we have an opportunity to re-create ourselves for the purpose of achieving true peace, love, unity and happiness for ourselves and for our children through Hiphop. Other art forms and sub-cultures had and continue to have the same choice. Whether they choose to take advantage of such an opportunity in their own lives, is their own business. Our decisions as Hiphoppas are not contingent upon the decisions they may or may not have made. We are truly free.

By seeing Hiphop beyond entertainment and Rap music product we create a political, intellectual and spiritual blank tablet to which we can write our own futures upon. Is this not true freedom? Why then do you not understand this concept? Why does my faith in Hiphop disturb you so? You are free to interpret Hiphop in any way that you may decide. However, I am successful at the style of Hiphop that I present. Everything that I teach, I have successfully lived. Those who decide not to follow such teachings are free to go elsewhere. But let me be crystal clear here; I AM HIPHOP!

Therefore, due to your lack of evidence regarding my flawed philosophy I will reject your offer for a public debate until you can more accurately prove the intent of your inquiry. If such a debate does not benefit the further development of Hiphop Kulture, I cannot waste Hiphop’s time debating you publicly. My 13th album KEEP RIGHT comes out on July 13th 2004. I have real work to do. However, you and I can talk privately anytime. The struggle continues. Much love.