Wade in the Sunken Place: A New Negro Spiritual

 

 

and all hell broke loose on the innanets…as per usual.  And while the typical angles hit the feed i.e. “Raven Hates herself and us too” to “Oh and here’s another Cosby kid’s opinion” I wanted to be sure the following points weren’t lost:

1) Raven-Symoné posted no words, only three emojis and the wrath of the Twitterverse fell upon her…but where were the posts in response to Speech?  T.I. addressed Raven, but didn’t respond directly to Speech.  Why do we care more about her agreement (with the sentiment) than what Speech actually said? Is it easier to address women than it is to talk man-to-man?  Where’s the think piece on that? Misogynoir is real and the microaggressions play out daily, much like this.  Pay attention.

2) I don’t agree with how Speech worded his post.  I think there was a more constructive way to have the conversation (read: you catch more flies with honey than vinegar). But I think it is important to be clear: we can’t talk about institutional/systemic racism without discussing all the facets, which includes messaging/media/entertainment – much of which is owned (thus funded) by “the man”and intentionally prefers to highlight the negative stereotypes to support an agenda of black inferiority and encourage hedonism. ¹

3) We are ok when people pour out the praise, but want to stifle the criticism – you can’t have it both ways.  As an artist, hopping on a track doesn’t vindicate you.  And I don’t say this from a high horse, I say this looking you right in the eyes.  I am no saint and I am not throwing casting stones first from my glass house.  I’ve done a LOT of things in the dark.  But, bringing it to the light and getting paid for it opens a door to discussion that you can’t shut just because you made enough money to have other options.  Let’s not pretend that for every one successful dope boy who made it out, there aren’t 1,000s who never will; and your soundtrack to the grustle can’t be your only contribution to the those still in the life.

So now what?  Now, it’s time to think:

• About the origins of hip hop and how the music, the genre, the culture has progressed over time…expanded.  And how crazy it is that the same stories are still having to be told.  

• How the Black elite haven’t mobilized resources more efficiently – wealth is generated via ownership of resources not simply the ability to buy the products they create.  (That’s just being a consumer.)

• At what point does story-telling turn into glorification of debauchery and mutate into getting paid off the demise and pain of your people?  ²  Can we just talk  about the ills, or is our responsibility greater once we choose to be the voice (and profit from it)? 

• One music journalist wrote: “The errs of their former, pre-elitism lifestyles were never catalysts to fame and fortune, but convictions that motivated their hunger for more. For better.” –Alexis, D BET Music.  Ok, but what exactly are these convictions?  And what did that hunger require them to do?  And the fallout from these choices?  And what do we mean by better – richer?  Though the statement may be true, the complexity of these life choices are surface-touched at best and go directly to sugar-coating the cost  of this path –something no booth, no pad, and no session can remedy.  We need more than lyrical repentance, we need actionable steps for change not for these men, but for the men they left behind and those coming up disillusioned by the shine.  And before you list the charities and scholarship funds, turkey and school supply giveaways; or talk about how parents need to be role models and not celebrities remember to go deeper than donations of less than 5% of their wealth and remember the meaning of the word “celebrity” which is fame/honor/celebration and be honest – those heralded are role models whether they want to be or not.  It’s the cost of fame.  Deal with it. 

This photo was an opportune time for Speech to bring up our continued lauding of the modern-day shuck and jive funded by the very people whose interests lie in us being a permanent underclass– and that’s not my dashiki speaking, that’s the truth. #SorryNotSorry But know, I live this duality just like everyone else.  I want to be entertained.  I don’t always want to be constantly mired in the struggle.  I like to have fun.  It seemed everyone was looking at, liking, and reposting that photo.  Hell, I hit the like button and may or may not have typed #Winning 😜 in a comment field. There were billions of dollars in that room AND they looked like us?!.  I love to see my people win.  And it’s Black History Month?!. And Black Panther is coming out soon?!.  Mayne. #Lit  Success acknowledged.  But I also know there’s more to the story and until we are willing to talk about both (not just lyrically), it stands that the club of power/influence/money/control of the narrative will remain one that includes only a handful of us but is owned (read: manufactured and distributed) by a SLEW of folks who don’t look like us and are profiting the most.  

On this and the hundreds of complex subtopics, there runs a gamut of Black Thought (pun intended) yet people continue to polarize at “shame on these niggas” and “get it my niggas.”  But there is middle ground and it’s in the middle that solutions to problems are found and REAL change implemented.   So instead of the witch hunt for haters after being reminded that how we come up is just as important (if not more so) as the come up itself, let’s use our platforms to have the hard conversations with each other.  Let’s be honest about what we are doing and how we are doing it and our responsibility not only in exposition but rehabilitation of the conditions that created the need in the first place.  That’s growth.  That’s change.  That’s progression.  And isn’t that the point all of y’all were making when you were yelling at Raven anyway (albeit one-sided)?

Bottomline:  Y’all talk about the sunken place while wading in the same water thinking that it’s ok as long as you don’t drown and taking every opportunity to point fingers at those who didn’t learn how to swim or tread water.  When it remains that we are all STILL in the same pool when we should be atop an OCEAN by now.  I’m not saying don’t hashtag #BlackExcellence #RagsToRiches #WeMadeIt #Winning when we get a “W” but once we are done with that, let’s remember the work.  Because 1 in 1,000 shouldn’t be getting out, all of us should.


1– Hedonism is often thought to be solely about sexual pleasure, but it is really a belief system where actions are justified or not based on pleasure (good) and pain (bad).  Which may seem like common sense until someone’s pleasure is the cause of your pain making you question whether our acts should be based on something more than personal desire.  Yeah, it gets deep, but that’s a whooooole ‘notha post…
2 -It starts when you sell the story.  Then, if change isn’t the goal and effectively implemented, the same story gets told over and over again and starts to morph into glorification (of the plight).  And it seems the more “ratchet” the bigger the check and that’s when you are exploiting the community. Which was part of the point Speech was making.