Mos Def & Dr. Cornell West On Bill Maher: Politically Incorrect

[admin]

Mos Def & Dr. Cornell West On Bill Maher: Politically Incorrect

Artist / Activist Dr. Cornell West and Mos Def laid some knowledge on the table on Bill Maher’s show a few days ago.

Visit the following link to watch the video:

http://mog.com/mollifire/blog_post/110564

[Mahogany Love]

and video footage delivery!!!!!

It stumped me this morning on the radio I heard on Tom Joyner from the "Celebrity Snitch" about the 50 cent & Kanye West mess :( . Know I can not pass judgment on these two “kids” because we aren’t really sure if they have or have not made public announcements in reference to the Jena 6 case but I do tell you that I agree with Tom Joyner that the celebrities that have been given names like God Father or Queen of Soul were titled by the people not from themselves and most certainly did they not waste energies on crazy tactics like these.

Oh, I’m sorry I forgot this is a different day & age and we let our children get sucked into these ploy’s that is why these celebrities today can go as far as they do because of THE PEOPLE! It’s what THE PEOPLE seem to ask for, it’s what they seem to like IT’S what they will continue to DO until EVERYONE together stand up and say its ALL garbage!!!! There are more important things in the world than a childish ploy to get more record sales. Get a grip and gain more record sales based on what you do in your community in the VERY end that is what will truly count to the REAL people & not to even mention OUR LORD & SAVIOR.

[dlove78]

I was blessed to catch this show on Saturday night. And I have told all my friends to watch it. Mos Def is truly a remarkable Man. He is what HIP HOP is. Kanye and 50 Rappers. Mos Def is truly an enlightened man the sad part is that his music is not played. Which I understand if you read the Art of War. You keep your enemy trying to fight each other and not 1 common goal. You preoccupy them with bling bling and not with actually issues. Until we can get the Masses to this so called Hip Hop Generation to care about the community. Then we are destined to keep chasing our tail.

[Kalimba3701]

This was one of the best shows I've seen on Mayer's show and I've watched them all!! Cornel West, of course, did not disappoint me. He's always brilliant. But, Mos Def stepped into another dimension for me. I've always admired his talent on stage and in music and film, but I was beyond impressed with his knowledge of black history and his humor. My faith is renewed...

[vrep]

folks in Atl was talking about the Bill Maher show again today.

[grenetta b]

:) Mos Def Has Always Been An Inspiring Young Man And One That Has Always Stood Up For The Black Community. I Give Him Praise
And I Pray For His Continued Success In Life.

"never Forget Your Roots Cause It Was Those Roots That Help You To Sprout Out And Become A Tree Of Knowledge"

Written By Grenettab.:)

[Dondexta]

This was refreshing to see Dr. West and Mos Def together. To bad this show is not on Basic cable, where Mos people r watching B.(bs) E.T.:rolleyes: Why can't they have a show like this instead of reruns of Fridays(ad nauseum?)

Kanye could have used his Katrina statement to inspire his colleagues to become Activists. And use their influence to inspire the masses whose ears they have "On Lock".

The lack of coverage on this story by the National Media, is more reason we need our own networks to "Wake The F*** UP!" :eek:

Jena 6, Katrina, Darfur, The '08 vote etc..... need to be covered, explained, exposed, discussed.

Peace to The Family

[muzikalaw]

As a 24 year old.. this is the kind of commentary i wish there was more of. I get so sick of how current artist have cheapened our culture. I wish that our schools and HBCUs could be a real forum for discussing these issues amongst our own, instead of BET factories where students are rarely forced to look at the issues that confront our race still. I feel like I am one of few people in my age bracket who has a strong distaste for what a lot of artist have done to black music. And me, and people like me who refuse to buy into this modern foolishness that threatens to destroy true hip hop are made to feel like strangers in our own race because we cant listen to today's 'hip hop and r&b radio stations without getting angry at what is passing for music nowadays. But I digress.. Ive always loved Bill Maher, and I appreciate his honesty in presenting all sides to the story, and exposing the spin for what it is. I wish that THIS kind of honesty could and would be shown on PBS, BET and TVONE. I am tired of the shuck and jive hook factories where anything can be said, and people will buy it as long as the beat is hot. WAKE UP! LISTEN TO THESE LYRICS!! again, props to Mos Def and Dr. West for callin people out on this...

[petiteandsavy]

Family please read this by David Banner on black leaders

By David Banner

To all the black ‘so called leaders’. Al, Oprah, Jesse, etc, etc, etc… I’m saddened by your current direction and current ‘pet projects’ you guys have taken under your wing at the expense of Young Black America. As an urban professional living in this crazy world, I dare ask, who are you leading? I listen to what you say, I hear you complain about the youth, and about the direction of our lives, the kids, and where Black America is going and yet I still ask – who are you guys leading? And most importantly, where are we going? Do we know the goal we are trying to reach before we get there? Have we identified our end before articulating our means to an end! Who are you REALLY reaching?



Why do you feel the need to attack the young generation for the things we are doing? "WHO DID WE LEARN THESE THINGS FROM?" We are trying to have fun in the midst of our traumatic circumstances. People are trying to make a living by any means necessary, people are voicing their experiences, people are speaking the truth about situations and honestly the truth hurts and sometimes it’s ugly. If music/Hip-Hop/ rappers are wrong with the language they use, the images they portray in their videos – then come talk to us – I use the term ‘us’ as a collective because I’m defending what I have a passion for so this also involves me. Pull us to the side and say “hey kids, that’s not the way to go” and then we can say “change what we see daily so we can sing and rap about the roses and not about the bullets”.



We will say, help give us better situations to create better verbal material”. Don’t just go running off to the media to air the dirty laundry of the family and not expect us to fight back in some kind of way. What you are doing is wrong and it’s pissing off a lot of people with less money and camera time! Young Black America’s problem is not Hip-Hop or the music, Young Black America’s problem is Old White America. In the young black community, there is a growing level of resentment toward the ‘so called leaders’ because you guys DON’T WANT TO REALLY FIX OUR PROBLEMS.



You guys don’t really want to be on our side fighting for better school systems, more after school programs, more money for college funding! Where are you leaders at when there’s a need to break down to freshman in college on how not to get caught up with credit cards by singing up for an MBNA card, with high interest rates that eventually screw up your credit and makes it that much harder for you to become a homeowner after you graduate college pending you can find a job in your field after you’ve spent all this money in student loans! Where are those seminars? Dubois had it right when he spoke of the Talented Tenth! Rally around us to help teach us about THIS life! It’s not our fault that the world is messed up and filled with debauchery. It’s not our fault that our communities are screwed! The problems in our community should not fall on our lap. And if you begin to hold us accountable for simply our words – then I will begin to hold you accountable for your actions; or lack there of. Right is right and wrong is wrong. You as our leaders should have taken a better approach to gaining the attention of those that you are dissatisfied with and had a conversation with them. You don’t scold your child in public without fair warning!



Al Sharpton: You run around towns and cities speaking words of wanting to better our community by cleaning up the airwaves. You hold rallies in front of radio stations saying turn off the music and clean the airwaves. You want to shut down local stations that are playing urban music when most of these local stations house and employ the same people in your community – the black community. When you visit any station in any city (big or small) playing urban/rap music, the staff is generally black. Now if those stations were to ever shut down – where do those employees go? Al, if you are for the people, where was your rally when the 3 college students were executed in New Jersey by black men. Where is the rally at for those families and that neighborhood??? I don’t see you out there asking for justice yet that incident happened in a black community. If someone was to rap about “how f**** up black on black crime is and how even if you go to college you aren’t safe on the streets and n***a’s aint’ s---” – that kind of tone is offensive to you and you want to stop that! If that’s the truth, then why are you censoring it? No, you need to stop the crime before it happens so that there is no gangster song about a gangster situation.



Oprah: You recently you held a town hall meeting dedicating 2 days of talk to have an open forum about the “Nappy Headed Ho” comment from Imus. Everyone had their 2cents to say and yet the people that needed to REALLY be there were not at all on your panel of ‘experts’. The questions all were about “why use the word ho or b**** or n***a etc” yet the rappers in question a la Nelly, Snoop, and Ludacris weren’t anywhere present on your panel. In my eyes you had all the wrong people on there representing and speaking on behalf of other people.



Common is great but he’s not gangsta. If you had a problem with the true content of rap songs then where were those that do that kind of rap 100%? You want to talk about change, and about having us not call women in rap songs “b**ches” and “hoes” but one thing I noted, you had all men on your panel of executives. Russell is wonderful but he’s not the Zenith when it comes to new school rappers or their new school mentality. Kevin Liles is great but what happened to Sylvia Rhone the head of the label that Nelly is signed to, or Kathy Hughes the head of Radio One or Deborah Lee the head of BET. If the problem really was about women and the “b**ch, ho” term being used, where were those ladies to speak on their stance on this issue! They are the ones with the ultimate say pulling all the strings and yet they weren’t dully noted as absent from your panel! Oprah you are supposed to protect us, I can find more harm being done to the black community by the movies and sponsors you promote than any rap song.



Just like your son or daughter, niece or nephew… rappers are just kids growing into their own. They aren’t always right, but they aren’t always wrong either. If our path is misguided, then help us get back on the right road. I’m young, I’m black, and I’m a hard worker. I’m from the hood where mother’s leave their kids in the hands of strangers and never look back, I’ve been with killers, dope dealers, b******, , church folk, grandparents, bad parenting from good parents, pushers, junkies, robbers, middleclass workers, but that’s the life I’ve been around. Gunshots and church hymns usually go hand in hand in most neighborhoods. The grim reality for a lot of kids out there living alone is that life is harsh and cold; kids grow up faster than they want to because they are forced too! Kids are growing up in situations that are f***** up. So the songs we listen to mirror the things we see, the things we dream about and the fantasies we have! Don’t change the songs I listen to, change the circumstance from which it comes from---then the situation will be better!



Growing up in this world of Hip-Hop it’s disheartening to see our ‘so called leaders’ leave us out to dry. Fine you don’t like what we say. Fine disagree with our choice of topics; however, the things we talk about aren’t new. We didn’t invent the term pimps, pushers, hoes, tricks, doobies, n***a’s and gangsta’s. Hip-Hop didn’t create that. Those words were left here for us to use by you guys, your generation. This life we are continuing to live was handed to us by the people before us who didn’t do much to clean it up. There may never be a time that we agree on anything, but there is always room for change. As a family – we will agree to disagree but it’s the synergy in which we do it. If you are on one extreme tangent, and I’m on another, we will never meet eye to eye. At the same time, I will not allow you to bash, yell, condemn, and have a condescending tone on my source of refugee and happiness. As you leaders call out the Hip-Hop community saying that we are wrong for what we do and how we do it, I am CALLING EACH OF YOU OUT saying you are wrong for what you are doing to us.



How dare you guys not call Nelly, Snoop, Lil Wayne, David Banner, Jim Jones, Akon, Rick Ross, Fabulous, 50 cent, Young Buck, Bun B, Too Short and say let's talk this through. Do you even know who ANY of these people are??????? You are so disconnected from us that we don’t even look at you for guidance. If you really want to change something, start by changing your dialogue. Don’t talk at us, talk to us!




-DAVID BANNER

[bucsfan02]

I was blessed to catch this show on Saturday night. And I have told all my friends to watch it. Mos Def is truly a remarkable Man. He is what HIP HOP is. Kanye and 50 Rappers. Mos Def is truly an enlightened man the sad part is that his music is not played. Which I understand if you read the Art of War. You keep your enemy trying to fight each other and not 1 common goal. You preoccupy them with bling bling and not with actually issues. Until we can get the Masses to this so called Hip Hop Generation to care about the community. Then we are destined to keep chasing our tail.

your on the right path with this. As a minority not african american, they keep you preoccupied with issues of less importance so we will miss out on the real important ones. We have to somehow educate these kids out here.We are doing exactly what they want us to do, rob,kill.fight each other.When are we going to wake up!!!!!!

[bucsfan02]

Family please read this by David Banner on black leaders

By David Banner

To all the black ‘so called leaders’. Al, Oprah, Jesse, etc, etc, etc… I’m saddened by your current direction and current ‘pet projects’ you guys have taken under your wing at the expense of Young Black America. As an urban professional living in this crazy world, I dare ask, who are you leading? I listen to what you say, I hear you complain about the youth, and about the direction of our lives, the kids, and where Black America is going and yet I still ask – who are you guys leading? And most importantly, where are we going? Do we know the goal we are trying to reach before we get there? Have we identified our end before articulating our means to an end! Who are you REALLY reaching?



Why do you feel the need to attack the young generation for the things we are doing? "WHO DID WE LEARN THESE THINGS FROM?" We are trying to have fun in the midst of our traumatic circumstances. People are trying to make a living by any means necessary, people are voicing their experiences, people are speaking the truth about situations and honestly the truth hurts and sometimes it’s ugly. If music/Hip-Hop/ rappers are wrong with the language they use, the images they portray in their videos – then come talk to us – I use the term ‘us’ as a collective because I’m defending what I have a passion for so this also involves me. Pull us to the side and say “hey kids, that’s not the way to go” and then we can say “change what we see daily so we can sing and rap about the roses and not about the bullets”.



We will say, help give us better situations to create better verbal material”. Don’t just go running off to the media to air the dirty laundry of the family and not expect us to fight back in some kind of way. What you are doing is wrong and it’s pissing off a lot of people with less money and camera time! Young Black America’s problem is not Hip-Hop or the music, Young Black America’s problem is Old White America. In the young black community, there is a growing level of resentment toward the ‘so called leaders’ because you guys DON’T WANT TO REALLY FIX OUR PROBLEMS.



You guys don’t really want to be on our side fighting for better school systems, more after school programs, more money for college funding! Where are you leaders at when there’s a need to break down to freshman in college on how not to get caught up with credit cards by singing up for an MBNA card, with high interest rates that eventually screw up your credit and makes it that much harder for you to become a homeowner after you graduate college pending you can find a job in your field after you’ve spent all this money in student loans! Where are those seminars? Dubois had it right when he spoke of the Talented Tenth! Rally around us to help teach us about THIS life! It’s not our fault that the world is messed up and filled with debauchery. It’s not our fault that our communities are screwed! The problems in our community should not fall on our lap. And if you begin to hold us accountable for simply our words – then I will begin to hold you accountable for your actions; or lack there of. Right is right and wrong is wrong. You as our leaders should have taken a better approach to gaining the attention of those that you are dissatisfied with and had a conversation with them. You don’t scold your child in public without fair warning!



Al Sharpton: You run around towns and cities speaking words of wanting to better our community by cleaning up the airwaves. You hold rallies in front of radio stations saying turn off the music and clean the airwaves. You want to shut down local stations that are playing urban music when most of these local stations house and employ the same people in your community – the black community. When you visit any station in any city (big or small) playing urban/rap music, the staff is generally black. Now if those stations were to ever shut down – where do those employees go? Al, if you are for the people, where was your rally when the 3 college students were executed in New Jersey by black men. Where is the rally at for those families and that neighborhood??? I don’t see you out there asking for justice yet that incident happened in a black community. If someone was to rap about “how f**** up black on black crime is and how even if you go to college you aren’t safe on the streets and n***a’s aint’ s---” – that kind of tone is offensive to you and you want to stop that! If that’s the truth, then why are you censoring it? No, you need to stop the crime before it happens so that there is no gangster song about a gangster situation.



Oprah: You recently you held a town hall meeting dedicating 2 days of talk to have an open forum about the “Nappy Headed Ho” comment from Imus. Everyone had their 2cents to say and yet the people that needed to REALLY be there were not at all on your panel of ‘experts’. The questions all were about “why use the word ho or b**** or n***a etc” yet the rappers in question a la Nelly, Snoop, and Ludacris weren’t anywhere present on your panel. In my eyes you had all the wrong people on there representing and speaking on behalf of other people.



Common is great but he’s not gangsta. If you had a problem with the true content of rap songs then where were those that do that kind of rap 100%? You want to talk about change, and about having us not call women in rap songs “b**ches” and “hoes” but one thing I noted, you had all men on your panel of executives. Russell is wonderful but he’s not the Zenith when it comes to new school rappers or their new school mentality. Kevin Liles is great but what happened to Sylvia Rhone the head of the label that Nelly is signed to, or Kathy Hughes the head of Radio One or Deborah Lee the head of BET. If the problem really was about women and the “b**ch, ho” term being used, where were those ladies to speak on their stance on this issue! They are the ones with the ultimate say pulling all the strings and yet they weren’t dully noted as absent from your panel! Oprah you are supposed to protect us, I can find more harm being done to the black community by the movies and sponsors you promote than any rap song.



Just like your son or daughter, niece or nephew… rappers are just kids growing into their own. They aren’t always right, but they aren’t always wrong either. If our path is misguided, then help us get back on the right road. I’m young, I’m black, and I’m a hard worker. I’m from the hood where mother’s leave their kids in the hands of strangers and never look back, I’ve been with killers, dope dealers, b******, , church folk, grandparents, bad parenting from good parents, pushers, junkies, robbers, middleclass workers, but that’s the life I’ve been around. Gunshots and church hymns usually go hand in hand in most neighborhoods. The grim reality for a lot of kids out there living alone is that life is harsh and cold; kids grow up faster than they want to because they are forced too! Kids are growing up in situations that are f***** up. So the songs we listen to mirror the things we see, the things we dream about and the fantasies we have! Don’t change the songs I listen to, change the circumstance from which it comes from---then the situation will be better!



Growing up in this world of Hip-Hop it’s disheartening to see our ‘so called leaders’ leave us out to dry. Fine you don’t like what we say. Fine disagree with our choice of topics; however, the things we talk about aren’t new. We didn’t invent the term pimps, pushers, hoes, tricks, doobies, n***a’s and gangsta’s. Hip-Hop didn’t create that. Those words were left here for us to use by you guys, your generation. This life we are continuing to live was handed to us by the people before us who didn’t do much to clean it up. There may never be a time that we agree on anything, but there is always room for change. As a family – we will agree to disagree but it’s the synergy in which we do it. If you are on one extreme tangent, and I’m on another, we will never meet eye to eye. At the same time, I will not allow you to bash, yell, condemn, and have a condescending tone on my source of refugee and happiness. As you leaders call out the Hip-Hop community saying that we are wrong for what we do and how we do it, I am CALLING EACH OF YOU OUT saying you are wrong for what you are doing to us.



How dare you guys not call Nelly, Snoop, Lil Wayne, David Banner, Jim Jones, Akon, Rick Ross, Fabulous, 50 cent, Young Buck, Bun B, Too Short and say let's talk this through. Do you even know who ANY of these people are??????? You are so disconnected from us that we don’t even look at you for guidance. If you really want to change something, start by changing your dialogue. Don’t talk at us, talk to us!




-DAVID BANNER

i think this young man just called out al sharpton and other african american political leaders. Al sharpton not interested in black on black crime. He is interested in Al Sharpton . The only reason hes there is because the town is 85 percent white and he can try to fool african americans that hes trying to help them.Helping 6 people doesnt help a whole race.This kind of injustice happens all the time to minorities it just so happens this community is 85 percent white. Mr banner seems to be in touch with the real issues and will not stand for being used as a political ploy!!!!!!!

[gypsy1234]

I have just had the opportunity to view the video which was amazing. Mos Def hit the nail on the head. P. Diddy, 50 Cents, Kanye West and all the rest of the music moguls need to listen and follow suit. If we don't come together as a people, we will be back in the 50s and 60s.

Michael Baisden, you the man for getting this started. Let's not stop at this incident. We need to also address what just happen to the 20 year old young lady that was brutally beaten and so badly mistreated in Virginia. We are facing so many injustices here in this so called United States, it is just unthinkable. I am a Hurricane Katrina evacuee and I still cannot return home because I cannot afford to live in my home because I cannot afford to rebuild. 90% of the city still looks as though the hurricane just hit. There are so many racial incidences, not only here in Louisiana, but throughout this nation. We gotta stand together and fight for our rights. Let's keep this thing going.
I will be in Jena on September 20th for this march. I will be wherever I need to be to fight for the rights of any other injustices that need to be addressed.

[SkinShip]

I thought Dr. West and Mos made a wonderful duo. I've always had a great amount of respect for both and I loved how informative, militant, but at the same time humorous and warm.

Every time I see or hear Mos Def, I'm always been very impressed with his talent and humanity and conviction.

[kenia79]

I caught the show on HBO Sunday night and i must say, I am proud of MOS DEF and Dr. West they were passionate about their views.

THIS Is infuriating THE constant disreguard for us as a people. RACISM is Blatent! although Michael Baisden says that the Jena 6 is not a black and white thing IT IS!

The white government and media is making it plain as day that they see us below DOGS, they treat their DOGS better than US and ENOUGH is ENOUGH!!!

I served this country for 6 years, I pay my taxes and I Abide by the rules...I know that I am an AMERICAN and demand to be treated with EQUAL respect, FIRST as a HUMAN being, SECOND as a CITIZEN!!!!!!!

THEY are CREATING A MODERN DAY SLAVERY for the Black/Brown!, The POOR!, THe DISENFRANCHISED!

WE MUST TAKE CARE OF OURSELVES AND EACH OTHER!
WE MUST HAVE EACHOTHER's BACK!!!!

WE MUST UNITE!!!!!

[Fliboi]

OK people...1st off i've been watching Bill since his days on comedy central...love the show. Mos Def is a gifted rapper and maybe an even more gifted actor. But his political views are way off from main stream america or black america. THE MAN BELIEVES IN BIG FOOT!! WE DID NOT LAND ON THE MOON? OSAMA IS NOT REAL!! Inteligent this man might be, but his views are more waaaaaay out there.

[Marcus Richardson]

To: 'rthames@charlotteobserver.com'
Cc: 'jena6@minglecity.com'
Subject: Jena 6 (Louisiana)

Letter to the Editor:
I'm a subscriber to the Observer and I wonder how informative your paper is (?). I may be wrong, but I can't recall reading anything regarding the gross and sad miscarriage of justice in Jena, La. It is frightening to me as a black man in America that such obvious, blatant racism can be allowed in 2007. And, it scares me even more that most major news agencies have chosen to back page this or ignore it altogether. However, it is interesting that the Duke Lacrosse team miscarriage was blasted into every living room in the country until justice was delivered (as it should have been). It is noted that the Duke case involved white athletes and their futures, and the Jena case involves black athletes and their futures.

Please tell me and everyone else what is the position of the Charlotte Observer and it's management on this issue? I have not detailed the circumstances in this e-mail because I'm sure that your newspaper is already aware of them. If not, please feel free to contact me or go to democracynow.org for more information. This issue is too important to ignore, as many have done, in hopes that it will just go away. This brings back vivid memories of pre 1960's Amerikkka. I'm old enough to remember, are you. If this is the beginning of the new justice in the south, it will only lead to the old solutions, civil unrest and violence in mass by a disgruntled, discouraged, and mistreated population. What is your stand? It should be one of outrage, rather than one of passive pacification. This an issue of national concern and no one should sit on the sidelines. Please, let's not regress after so many have suffered, sacrificed, and died for progress.

Marcus Richardson

[umbia]

BRAVO young man. With all respect to you you're correct. We should have changed the language for your generation. Quite frankly it should have been changed for me. I can remember as a yougster my uncles saying N***** this and N***** that. I hated it from the age of 5!! My circle of friends and family don't use the word, and i encourage anybody that i come in contact with not to use it. We have a lot of work to do in our community and you are right we should not talk at you, but to you with respect; however, that is a 2way street. We need to talk to each other with love and respect. I look forward to dialoge with you in the future....

[umbia]

BRAVO young man. With all respect to you you're correct. We should have changed the language for your generation. Quite frankly it should have been changed for me. I can remember as a yougster my uncles saying N***** this and N***** that. I hated it from the age of 5!! My circle of friends and family don't use the word, and i encourage anybody that i come in contact with not to use it. We have a lot of work to do in our community and you are right we should not talk at you, but to you with respect; however, that is a 2way street. We need to talk to each other with love and respect. I look forward to dialoge with you in the future....

[bucsfan02]

To: 'rthames@charlotteobserver.com'
Cc: 'jena6@minglecity.com'
Subject: Jena 6 (Louisiana)

Letter to the Editor:
I'm a subscriber to the Observer and I wonder how informative your paper is (?). I may be wrong, but I can't recall reading anything regarding the gross and sad miscarriage of justice in Jena, La. It is frightening to me as a black man in America that such obvious, blatant racism can be allowed in 2007. And, it scares me even more that most major news agencies have chosen to back page this or ignore it altogether. However, it is interesting that the Duke Lacrosse team miscarriage was blasted into every living room in the country until justice was delivered (as it should have been). It is noted that the Duke case involved white athletes and their futures, and the Jena case involves black athletes and their futures.

Please tell me and everyone else what is the position of the Charlotte Observer and it's management on this issue? I have not detailed the circumstances in this e-mail because I'm sure that your newspaper is already aware of them. If not, please feel free to contact me or go to democracynow.org for more information. This issue is too important to ignore, as many have done, in hopes that it will just go away. This brings back vivid memories of pre 1960's Amerikkka. I'm old enough to remember, are you. If this is the beginning of the new justice in the south, it will only lead to the old solutions, civil unrest and violence in mass by a disgruntled, discouraged, and mistreated population. What is your stand? It should be one of outrage, rather than one of passive pacification. This an issue of national concern and no one should sit on the sidelines. Please, let's not regress after so many have suffered, sacrificed, and died for progress.

Marcus Richardson

thiis kind of stuff been going on for years where you been. It just so happens to be a community thats 85 percent white!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kenia79]

OK people...1st off i've been watching Bill since his days on comedy central...love the show. Mos Def is a gifted rapper and maybe an even more gifted actor. But his political views are way off from main stream america or black america. THE MAN BELIEVES IN BIG FOOT!! WE DID NOT LAND ON THE MOON? OSAMA IS NOT REAL!! Inteligent this man might be, but his views are more waaaaaay out there.

Just because his views are not of main stream america doesn't mean that he is "waaaaaaay out there" everyone doesn't need to follow the flock of the other sheep, we are all entitled to our own opinions. that seems to be the problem with people they follow what others do or say so they are not deemed as weird or insubordinate. I applaud MOS DEF and DR. WEST for standing by 'THEIR' beliefs and THEIR views to what THEY have experienced in THEIR lives and what THEIR true CONVICTIONS are! WE as a SOCIETY take for a grain of salt what people like BUSH, and other IDIOTS may say...MOst of AMERICA believed that There was WEAPONS of MASS destruction, and that AL Queda was the sole group behind 9/11 etc. etc because what they were told to believe. MOS DEF views were his views and Beliefs. to each its own! 1

[totalpkg69]

I never miss Bill Maher, and this show had me standing up in the bed. Not only did these brothers shut Bill and his ideology down, but they spoke from a "REAL" place, their hearts and souls and used history and actual experience to sustain it. There is two different Americas, you are kidding yourself if you believe otherwise.

Mos Def is one of the most conscious brothers out here, much love Def.....

[D_bkny]

OK people...1st off i've been watching Bill since his days on comedy central...love the show. Mos Def is a gifted rapper and maybe an even more gifted actor. But his political views are way off from main stream america or black america. THE MAN BELIEVES IN BIG FOOT!! WE DID NOT LAND ON THE MOON? OSAMA IS NOT REAL!! Inteligent this man might be, but his views are more waaaaaay out there.

Maybe he was playing devil's advocate. All in all it has to be one of the best Bill Maher shows I've ever seen. And kudos to Bill for having them on.

[Fliboi]

Maybe he was playing devil's advocate. All in all it has to be one of the best Bill Maher shows I've ever seen. And kudos to Bill for having them on.

I hope so...but he seemed pretty confident in his questionable beliefs. Bill always IMO goes out of his way to have intelligent black guests on his show.

[Jedi Master Kunle]

Music is our life thats why we need Hip Hop. I thought it was said to read what 50cent said about Nas If all these so called MC's think like this then Hip Hop is dead:

50 Says Nas' Career is Dead
September 13th, 2007 | Author: Slava Kuperstein

50 Cent had some words for Nas in a recent interview with the LA Times. The feud, which goes back as far as a concert during which Nas called 50 out, continued this week with 50's latests barbs at God's Son.
“Hip-Hop ain’t dead. That’s just coming from an artist that’s dead,” said 50, referring to Nas' album and concept for Hip Hop Is Dead. “Hip-Hop being what it was in his era - the 2Pac/Nas/Biggie/Jay-Z era - is dead. Right now [fans] don’t want to hear that nonsense.”
Interestingly enough, these comments came right as 50's album Curtis hit stores. “Those guys that flood their music with too much intellectual information don’t sell. You could be so creative that you just got a smock and a French accent!”
This criticism is in the same vein as a previous one, in which 50 said "Nas is a really smart guy. He reads books constantly. We were around him on the Nastradamus tour. He was almost weirder than me 'cause we would go to breakfast and he'd be there reading a book. Conceptually, I think that's what made him drift away from what his initial audience enjoys from him and why he's not hot right now."

[fr_double83]

I have always watched Real Time with Bill Maher and before that I watched Politically Incorrect. Even though I don't always agree with Bill Maher opinions, I applaud him for having a show where opinions from all sides can be heard.

One things Mos Def said on the show is that he was calling everybody. 50cent, Kanye, everybody and telling them to come down to Jena. And I wonder if they will. I wonder if the artist that these young men support by buying their cds, wearing their clothing (sean john and rocawear), and putting their ringtones on cell phones will take the time to come and support them in a time of injustice. I'm not able to attend the march in Jena, but I hope when I turn on CNN that day I will see Ludacris, Diddy, Jay Z, Souljah Boy (yeah right, lol), and the many faces of hip hop.

[GA420]

This was found @ xxlmag.com
Written by Byron Crawford:

Tuesday, September 11th, 2007
Free the Jena Six?
Speaking of Mos Def, I see he’s headed down to Louisiana to rally in favor of the Jena Six. He may not be sure whether or not bin Laden had anything to do with 9/11, but he’s for damn certain this bullshit down in Louisiana is a miscarriage of justice, and he’s urging his fellow rappers to join him. Interestingly enough, I wonder if there isn’t a parallel to be drawn between the Jena Six and the terrorist attacks that took place six years ago today.
While Mos Def claims to not believe that Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda had anything to do with 9/11, you get the idea that he doesn’t give a shit whether they did it one way or the other, not unlike many black people’s view of the OJ trial. Indeed, when asked by Bill Maher*to elaborate on why he’s so certain the official story re: 9/11 is BS, Mos mentions that he’s not the only one who believes that it is and then launches into a whole litany of things cracka-ass crackas here in the US are guilty of, and why aren’t we calling that terrorism?
As I mentioned here yesterday, I’m not sure how you can read this as anything other than him suggesting that the attacks of 9/11 were justified. Granted Mos Def is hardly the first person to suggest that the attacks of September 11th had to do with anything other than the fact that “they hate us for our freedom,” as President Sieg Howdy once put forth; similar arguments have been put forth by the likes of Ron Paul and Ward Churchill and even KRS-One. But I think Mos Def even goes them one further in that he almost seems to be aligning himself with the terrorists.
Where as I’m pretty sure those other guys meant to suggest that the murder of 3,000 (more or less) innocent people may have been justified in the mind of a crazed islamofascist, if not in a more general sense, Mos Def is careful not to draw any such distinction. Every time Bill would bring up the fact that there’s crazed Muslim fucks out there who would love to see us all dead, Mos immediately jumped to some shit someone else did that could be construed as terrorism, if not under the legal definition. You wonder what he meant to suggest.
Is it any wonder, then, that Mos Def would take up the case of the Jena Six as his cause du jour? As it occurred to me, over my morning coffee just now, there’s some obvious correlations to be drawn between the brutal beating of some racist cracka-ass cracka high school student and the brutal murders of 3,000 of the little Eichmanns of American economic imperialism six years ago today. Note that it’s definitely not my goal here to draw some sort of moral equivalency between those juvenile delinquents down in Louisiana and the terrorists, or to suggest that the railroading of the Jena Six isn’t yet another example of nasty, racist, Errol Morris-style redneck justice. I’m just saying.
Thanks to the liberal Jew-run media, it’s a little known fact that Osama bin Laden had reasons for knocking down the twin towers other than the fact that he hates us for our freedom, which I’m sure he does anyway. The main beef between al Qaeda and the US, as stated by the man himself back in the late ’90s, is the American imperial presence in the Middle East, particularly with regard to our support of Israel and our military bases in Saudi Arabia. Similarly, the origin of the dispute that eventually lead to the fateful ass whippin’ in the Jena Six case was a silly*turf battle over black kids’ right to sit under the rather ironically titled tree of knowledge.
I think we can all agree that the idea of white kids having a tree that only they’re allowed to sit under is the kind of bizarre, racist bullshit that could take place in a rural, southern shit hole of a town like Jena, Louisiana. But is there a difference between these cracka-ass cracka’s “knowledge tree” and the terrorists’ “holy land” in the Saudi Arabia? Well obviously one is here in the US and the other is over in the Middle East, but I’d say the gist of these two issues is roughly the same: insane, bigoted fucks attempting to wield an ideology that’s based on intolerance and is ultimately founded in bullshit (i.e. Islam and white supremacy).
In both cases, maybe none of this shit would have ever happened had someone with some sense stepped in and attempted to sort this all out before it ultimately erupted into violence. In the case of the Jena Six, the superintendent was in the wrong for not expelling the students and reporting their hate crime to the proper authorities. Similarly, I know the UN has issued plenty of orders to Israel to cut out their apartheid bullshit, pretty much all of which they’ve ignored. And it couldn’t have possibly helped matters that the US elected President Sieg Howdy and his gang of oil-soaked ne’er do wells into office a mere matter of months before the attack.
And granted I think we were all kinda pissed to see Sieg Howdy take office, but does there not come a point where we put our foot down against violence, no matter how justified it can be perceived as being? I mean, how come Mos Def can’t just admit that it was wrong what those islamofascists did to us on 9/11? As I alluded to earlier, I wonder if there’s not a connection between this “enemy of my enemy is my friend” mentality and black people’s utter amusement with the OJ verdict and, now, this drive to free the Jena Six, as if they’re not guilty of beating a kid unconscious and then beating him some more. I’m not saying we’re in the wrong for taking up the cause of the Jena Six. I’m just saying.

[GA420]

What are you sayin'? That "Mos Def even goes them one further in that he almost seems to be aligning himself with the terrorists." Who gives a seconds notice to what Mos is doing? How many other "rappers" (if that's what you're tryin' to call him) are involved in anything political? Most (not MOS) are upholding the public perception of black ignorance through this thing they call "rap".

I see no mention of when Mos got locked up in NY for attempting to perform "Katrina Clap" as a sort of political protest. Most (not MOS) are arrested for violence, drug, or gun possession during or after their performances. Does this mean Mos has received "equal" treatment as a"rapper"?

What are you "just saying"? It reads as if you have some ulterior motive for this particular rant about the appearance (and fall out) on the Bill Mauher joint. Come on, are you really that outraged? What have you done significant about any of the issues you seem so concerned about? The Jena 6? This country's mentality toward poor people and its' subsequent methods of "civilization" are rooted in violence. Obviously that is the only language these savages understand. Martin stood for non-violence because he knew that there had to be another way, but they shot him from a distance. Malcolm stood for what they told him, until he found out there was more to believe in, then they shot him from up close. Tupac shoot for more than he was willing to rap about (with consistency), yet they shot him to. Christopher Wallace stood for his daughter, and they shot him with no "political" agenda. Yet, the hip-hop police were trailing him and his "mafia" but didn't see (or report) a thing.

How is it one of the only active "consious rappers" gets so much salt. With the execption of "Get Ya Hustle On" by Juve, "Katrina Clap" was basically the only real "rap" song to address the issue. Whatever their motivations were, Dr. West and Mr. Def accepted the call to come on to the show, and stood for something. What did Mr. Giles do on Bill O' Riley besides act ignorant? Dame did his best to clean up, but O' Riley has his own agenda to uphold.

Mauhr, does comedy (sort of). I mean, seriously (Bigfoot?) is it possible that both are monsters created to control the population through fear? (I'm just sayin') Maybe the reall issue is the creation of a false climate in which you feel justified having personified Willie Lynch and nullify the ignorance rampart in our community?

I guess nobody told you that Christianity was also founded on some bullshit. The root of the word religion is "religio" which basicallly means "to divide" in Greek or something. Any "religion" that professes that there is One creator of all men, yet can take anothers' life for having a different culture is hypocritical.

"Do you fools listen to music, or do you just skip through it" Goto ohhla.com or youtube.com and look up "The Nature of the Threat" by RAS KASS and learn about what REAL HIP-HOP can do. Then respond. If you can't take 4:20 to learn something, don't retort, or I might burn somethin'...
-Cornell South

[GA420]

Now we have got to do something about the ignorance that has run rampant in our communities, but the type of ignorance displayed by so called journalists is appauling. I don' t even know if I want to fight that type of ignorance, I think that type of ignorance should be faught by another type of ignorance, I don't think intelligence should really be wasted on people who are like that. "I'm just sayin'"? Reads like he's just wasting his time and everyone elses who reads his blog. Now, let's FOCUS!
-Cornell South

[Idream2]

Family please read this by David Banner on black leaders

By David Banner

To all the black ‘so called leaders’. Al, Oprah, Jesse, etc, etc, etc… I’m saddened by your current direction and current ‘pet projects’ you guys have taken under your wing at the expense of Young Black America. As an urban professional living in this crazy world, I dare ask, who are you leading? I listen to what you say, I hear you complain about the youth, and about the direction of our lives, the kids, and where Black America is going and yet I still ask – who are you guys leading? And most importantly, where are we going? Do we know the goal we are trying to reach before we get there? Have we identified our end before articulating our means to an end! Who are you REALLY reaching?



Why do you feel the need to attack the young generation for the things we are doing? "WHO DID WE LEARN THESE THINGS FROM?" We are trying to have fun in the midst of our traumatic circumstances. People are trying to make a living by any means necessary, people are voicing their experiences, people are speaking the truth about situations and honestly the truth hurts and sometimes it’s ugly. If music/Hip-Hop/ rappers are wrong with the language they use, the images they portray in their videos – then come talk to us – I use the term ‘us’ as a collective because I’m defending what I have a passion for so this also involves me. Pull us to the side and say “hey kids, that’s not the way to go” and then we can say “change what we see daily so we can sing and rap about the roses and not about the bullets”.



We will say, help give us better situations to create better verbal material”. Don’t just go running off to the media to air the dirty laundry of the family and not expect us to fight back in some kind of way. What you are doing is wrong and it’s pissing off a lot of people with less money and camera time! Young Black America’s problem is not Hip-Hop or the music, Young Black America’s problem is Old White America. In the young black community, there is a growing level of resentment toward the ‘so called leaders’ because you guys DON’T WANT TO REALLY FIX OUR PROBLEMS.



You guys don’t really want to be on our side fighting for better school systems, more after school programs, more money for college funding! Where are you leaders at when there’s a need to break down to freshman in college on how not to get caught up with credit cards by singing up for an MBNA card, with high interest rates that eventually screw up your credit and makes it that much harder for you to become a homeowner after you graduate college pending you can find a job in your field after you’ve spent all this money in student loans! Where are those seminars? Dubois had it right when he spoke of the Talented Tenth! Rally around us to help teach us about THIS life! It’s not our fault that the world is messed up and filled with debauchery. It’s not our fault that our communities are screwed! The problems in our community should not fall on our lap. And if you begin to hold us accountable for simply our words – then I will begin to hold you accountable for your actions; or lack there of. Right is right and wrong is wrong. You as our leaders should have taken a better approach to gaining the attention of those that you are dissatisfied with and had a conversation with them. You don’t scold your child in public without fair warning!



Al Sharpton: You run around towns and cities speaking words of wanting to better our community by cleaning up the airwaves. You hold rallies in front of radio stations saying turn off the music and clean the airwaves. You want to shut down local stations that are playing urban music when most of these local stations house and employ the same people in your community – the black community. When you visit any station in any city (big or small) playing urban/rap music, the staff is generally black. Now if those stations were to ever shut down – where do those employees go? Al, if you are for the people, where was your rally when the 3 college students were executed in New Jersey by black men. Where is the rally at for those families and that neighborhood??? I don’t see you out there asking for justice yet that incident happened in a black community. If someone was to rap about “how f**** up black on black crime is and how even if you go to college you aren’t safe on the streets and n***a’s aint’ s---” – that kind of tone is offensive to you and you want to stop that! If that’s the truth, then why are you censoring it? No, you need to stop the crime before it happens so that there is no gangster song about a gangster situation.



Oprah: You recently you held a town hall meeting dedicating 2 days of talk to have an open forum about the “Nappy Headed Ho” comment from Imus. Everyone had their 2cents to say and yet the people that needed to REALLY be there were not at all on your panel of ‘experts’. The questions all were about “why use the word ho or b**** or n***a etc” yet the rappers in question a la Nelly, Snoop, and Ludacris weren’t anywhere present on your panel. In my eyes you had all the wrong people on there representing and speaking on behalf of other people.



Common is great but he’s not gangsta. If you had a problem with the true content of rap songs then where were those that do that kind of rap 100%? You want to talk about change, and about having us not call women in rap songs “b**ches” and “hoes” but one thing I noted, you had all men on your panel of executives. Russell is wonderful but he’s not the Zenith when it comes to new school rappers or their new school mentality. Kevin Liles is great but what happened to Sylvia Rhone the head of the label that Nelly is signed to, or Kathy Hughes the head of Radio One or Deborah Lee the head of BET. If the problem really was about women and the “b**ch, ho” term being used, where were those ladies to speak on their stance on this issue! They are the ones with the ultimate say pulling all the strings and yet they weren’t dully noted as absent from your panel! Oprah you are supposed to protect us, I can find more harm being done to the black community by the movies and sponsors you promote than any rap song.



Just like your son or daughter, niece or nephew… rappers are just kids growing into their own. They aren’t always right, but they aren’t always wrong either. If our path is misguided, then help us get back on the right road. I’m young, I’m black, and I’m a hard worker. I’m from the hood where mother’s leave their kids in the hands of strangers and never look back, I’ve been with killers, dope dealers, b******, , church folk, grandparents, bad parenting from good parents, pushers, junkies, robbers, middleclass workers, but that’s the life I’ve been around. Gunshots and church hymns usually go hand in hand in most neighborhoods. The grim reality for a lot of kids out there living alone is that life is harsh and cold; kids grow up faster than they want to because they are forced too! Kids are growing up in situations that are f***** up. So the songs we listen to mirror the things we see, the things we dream about and the fantasies we have! Don’t change the songs I listen to, change the circumstance from which it comes from---then the situation will be better!



Growing up in this world of Hip-Hop it’s disheartening to see our ‘so called leaders’ leave us out to dry. Fine you don’t like what we say. Fine disagree with our choice of topics; however, the things we talk about aren’t new. We didn’t invent the term pimps, pushers, hoes, tricks, doobies, n***a’s and gangsta’s. Hip-Hop didn’t create that. Those words were left here for us to use by you guys, your generation. This life we are continuing to live was handed to us by the people before us who didn’t do much to clean it up. There may never be a time that we agree on anything, but there is always room for change. As a family – we will agree to disagree but it’s the synergy in which we do it. If you are on one extreme tangent, and I’m on another, we will never meet eye to eye. At the same time, I will not allow you to bash, yell, condemn, and have a condescending tone on my source of refugee and happiness. As you leaders call out the Hip-Hop community saying that we are wrong for what we do and how we do it, I am CALLING EACH OF YOU OUT saying you are wrong for what you are doing to us.



How dare you guys not call Nelly, Snoop, Lil Wayne, David Banner, Jim Jones, Akon, Rick Ross, Fabulous, 50 cent, Young Buck, Bun B, Too Short and say let's talk this through. Do you even know who ANY of these people are??????? You are so disconnected from us that we don’t even look at you for guidance. If you really want to change something, start by changing your dialogue. Don’t talk at us, talk to us!




-DAVID BANNER
I find it ironic that David Banner made this statement. When did he write this? I'm assuming it was before the Jena6 situation became public "How dare you guys not call Nelly, Snoop, Lil Wayne, David Banner, Jim Jones, Akon, Rick Ross, Fabulous, 50 cent, Young Buck, Bun B, Too Short and say let's talk this through. Do you even know who ANY of these people are??????? You are so disconnected from us that we don’t even look at you for guidance. If you really want to change something, start by changing your dialogue. Don’t talk at us, talk to us!" How dare Nelly, Snoop, Lil Wayne, David Banner, Jim Jones, Akon, Rick Ross, Fabulous, 50 cent, Young Buck, Bun B, Too Short don't weight in on this Jena-6 issue? Do they know what's going on? I find statements like these absurd. If he doesn't like what Al Sharpton is doing nobody is stopping him from setting up a sit down. That is what is wrong. You can't keep complaining about how things are being done and not do anything yourself. Al doesn't have to come to them. Neither does Oprah or anyone else. The world is still turning while you are sitting there with your arms folded across your chest waiting to be placated. Nobody cares anymore. Move on. If you're so gangsta, show up in Jena on the 20th. Otherwise, this is all just lipservice.

[onemoment]

Why are we begging for money to help these kids when we have the great African American Heros Like Kobe, Jordan, Oprah, Magic, Arsenio, Star Jones, Jay z, 50, Phatfarm owner, babyphat, fubu, kathy hughes, NBA STARS, NFL STARS, HOCKEY STARS, WHY i ask you are we not concerned as americans, simple, here we have a situation where people from all walks of life could step up to the plate and try to stop this madness, will they or want they, where are all the great white leaders who claim to not be racist, the great hispanic leaders, the great asian leaders who all claim to be American citizens, why are they sitting by and watching the bs go on. nancy grace, hasnt aired this subject one time, i now see that this country that i served as a soldier for twenty years was all for nothing, this is not a black affair, this is an american affair, corrupt racist people running this country should be banned and deported somewhere else, like far away from america. I dont just call on African americans, i call on all americans to step up and let the world know, America will not stand by and be ruled by jim crow laws for any american, step up is say america, step up mr president, step up condolezza, step up hillary, step up colin powell, step up bill maher, step up and be be accounted for. America the beautiful, please, are you serious.

[Autoboxx]

Family please read this by David Banner on black leaders

By David Banner

To all the black ‘so called leaders’. Al, Oprah, Jesse, etc, etc, etc… I’m saddened by your current direction and current ‘pet projects’ you guys have taken under your wing at the expense of Young Black America. As an urban professional living in this crazy world, I dare ask, who are you leading? I listen to what you say, I hear you complain about the youth, and about the direction of our lives, the kids, and where Black America is going and yet I still ask – who are you guys leading? And most importantly, where are we going? Do we know the goal we are trying to reach before we get there? Have we identified our end before articulating our means to an end! Who are you REALLY reaching?



Why do you feel the need to attack the young generation for the things we are doing? "WHO DID WE LEARN THESE THINGS FROM?" We are trying to have fun in the midst of our traumatic circumstances. People are trying to make a living by any means necessary, people are voicing their experiences, people are speaking the truth about situations and honestly the truth hurts and sometimes it’s ugly. If music/Hip-Hop/ rappers are wrong with the language they use, the images they portray in their videos – then come talk to us – I use the term ‘us’ as a collective because I’m defending what I have a passion for so this also involves me. Pull us to the side and say “hey kids, that’s not the way to go” and then we can say “change what we see daily so we can sing and rap about the roses and not about the bullets”.



We will say, help give us better situations to create better verbal material”. Don’t just go running off to the media to air the dirty laundry of the family and not expect us to fight back in some kind of way. What you are doing is wrong and it’s pissing off a lot of people with less money and camera time! Young Black America’s problem is not Hip-Hop or the music, Young Black America’s problem is Old White America. In the young black community, there is a growing level of resentment toward the ‘so called leaders’ because you guys DON’T WANT TO REALLY FIX OUR PROBLEMS.



You guys don’t really want to be on our side fighting for better school systems, more after school programs, more money for college funding! Where are you leaders at when there’s a need to break down to freshman in college on how not to get caught up with credit cards by singing up for an MBNA card, with high interest rates that eventually screw up your credit and makes it that much harder for you to become a homeowner after you graduate college pending you can find a job in your field after you’ve spent all this money in student loans! Where are those seminars? Dubois had it right when he spoke of the Talented Tenth! Rally around us to help teach us about THIS life! It’s not our fault that the world is messed up and filled with debauchery. It’s not our fault that our communities are screwed! The problems in our community should not fall on our lap. And if you begin to hold us accountable for simply our words – then I will begin to hold you accountable for your actions; or lack there of. Right is right and wrong is wrong. You as our leaders should have taken a better approach to gaining the attention of those that you are dissatisfied with and had a conversation with them. You don’t scold your child in public without fair warning!



Al Sharpton: You run around towns and cities speaking words of wanting to better our community by cleaning up the airwaves. You hold rallies in front of radio stations saying turn off the music and clean the airwaves. You want to shut down local stations that are playing urban music when most of these local stations house and employ the same people in your community – the black community. When you visit any station in any city (big or small) playing urban/rap music, the staff is generally black. Now if those stations were to ever shut down – where do those employees go? Al, if you are for the people, where was your rally when the 3 college students were executed in New Jersey by black men. Where is the rally at for those families and that neighborhood??? I don’t see you out there asking for justice yet that incident happened in a black community. If someone was to rap about “how f**** up black on black crime is and how even if you go to college you aren’t safe on the streets and n***a’s aint’ s---” – that kind of tone is offensive to you and you want to stop that! If that’s the truth, then why are you censoring it? No, you need to stop the crime before it happens so that there is no gangster song about a gangster situation.



Oprah: You recently you held a town hall meeting dedicating 2 days of talk to have an open forum about the “Nappy Headed Ho” comment from Imus. Everyone had their 2cents to say and yet the people that needed to REALLY be there were not at all on your panel of ‘experts’. The questions all were about “why use the word ho or b**** or n***a etc” yet the rappers in question a la Nelly, Snoop, and Ludacris weren’t anywhere present on your panel. In my eyes you had all the wrong people on there representing and speaking on behalf of other people.



Common is great but he’s not gangsta. If you had a problem with the true content of rap songs then where were those that do that kind of rap 100%? You want to talk about change, and about having us not call women in rap songs “b**ches” and “hoes” but one thing I noted, you had all men on your panel of executives. Russell is wonderful but he’s not the Zenith when it comes to new school rappers or their new school mentality. Kevin Liles is great but what happened to Sylvia Rhone the head of the label that Nelly is signed to, or Kathy Hughes the head of Radio One or Deborah Lee the head of BET. If the problem really was about women and the “b**ch, ho” term being used, where were those ladies to speak on their stance on this issue! They are the ones with the ultimate say pulling all the strings and yet they weren’t dully noted as absent from your panel! Oprah you are supposed to protect us, I can find more harm being done to the black community by the movies and sponsors you promote than any rap song.



Just like your son or daughter, niece or nephew… rappers are just kids growing into their own. They aren’t always right, but they aren’t always wrong either. If our path is misguided, then help us get back on the right road. I’m young, I’m black, and I’m a hard worker. I’m from the hood where mother’s leave their kids in the hands of strangers and never look back, I’ve been with killers, dope dealers, b******, , church folk, grandparents, bad parenting from good parents, pushers, junkies, robbers, middleclass workers, but that’s the life I’ve been around. Gunshots and church hymns usually go hand in hand in most neighborhoods. The grim reality for a lot of kids out there living alone is that life is harsh and cold; kids grow up faster than they want to because they are forced too! Kids are growing up in situations that are f***** up. So the songs we listen to mirror the things we see, the things we dream about and the fantasies we have! Don’t change the songs I listen to, change the circumstance from which it comes from---then the situation will be better!



Growing up in this world of Hip-Hop it’s disheartening to see our ‘so called leaders’ leave us out to dry. Fine you don’t like what we say. Fine disagree with our choice of topics; however, the things we talk about aren’t new. We didn’t invent the term pimps, pushers, hoes, tricks, doobies, n***a’s and gangsta’s. Hip-Hop didn’t create that. Those words were left here for us to use by you guys, your generation. This life we are continuing to live was handed to us by the people before us who didn’t do much to clean it up. There may never be a time that we agree on anything, but there is always room for change. As a family – we will agree to disagree but it’s the synergy in which we do it. If you are on one extreme tangent, and I’m on another, we will never meet eye to eye. At the same time, I will not allow you to bash, yell, condemn, and have a condescending tone on my source of refugee and happiness. As you leaders call out the Hip-Hop community saying that we are wrong for what we do and how we do it, I am CALLING EACH OF YOU OUT saying you are wrong for what you are doing to us.



How dare you guys not call Nelly, Snoop, Lil Wayne, David Banner, Jim Jones, Akon, Rick Ross, Fabulous, 50 cent, Young Buck, Bun B, Too Short and say let's talk this through. Do you even know who ANY of these people are??????? You are so disconnected from us that we don’t even look at you for guidance. If you really want to change something, start by changing your dialogue. Don’t talk at us, talk to us!




-DAVID BANNER



Great article.. A lot of people try to write David Banner off as just some other rapper. But unlike a lot of rappers David Banner has his Master's Degree. Its harder to write off a brotha with an education and actually knows what he is talking about.

[winnerinlife]

Family please read this by David Banner on black leaders

By David Banner

To all the black ‘so called leaders’. Al, Oprah, Jesse, etc, etc, etc… I’m saddened by your current direction and current ‘pet projects’ you guys have taken under your wing at the expense of Young Black America. As an urban professional living in this crazy world, I dare ask, who are you leading? I listen to what you say, I hear you complain about the youth, and about the direction of our lives, the kids, and where Black America is going and yet I still ask – who are you guys leading? And most importantly, where are we going? Do we know the goal we are trying to reach before we get there? Have we identified our end before articulating our means to an end! Who are you REALLY reaching?



Why do you feel the need to attack the young generation for the things we are doing? "WHO DID WE LEARN THESE THINGS FROM?" We are trying to have fun in the midst of our traumatic circumstances. People are trying to make a living by any means necessary, people are voicing their experiences, people are speaking the truth about situations and honestly the truth hurts and sometimes it’s ugly. If music/Hip-Hop/ rappers are wrong with the language they use, the images they portray in their videos – then come talk to us – I use the term ‘us’ as a collective because I’m defending what I have a passion for so this also involves me. Pull us to the side and say “hey kids, that’s not the way to go” and then we can say “change what we see daily so we can sing and rap about the roses and not about the bullets”.



We will say, help give us better situations to create better verbal material”. Don’t just go running off to the media to air the dirty laundry of the family and not expect us to fight back in some kind of way. What you are doing is wrong and it’s pissing off a lot of people with less money and camera time! Young Black America’s problem is not Hip-Hop or the music, Young Black America’s problem is Old White America. In the young black community, there is a growing level of resentment toward the ‘so called leaders’ because you guys DON’T WANT TO REALLY FIX OUR PROBLEMS.



You guys don’t really want to be on our side fighting for better school systems, more after school programs, more money for college funding! Where are you leaders at when there’s a need to break down to freshman in college on how not to get caught up with credit cards by singing up for an MBNA card, with high interest rates that eventually screw up your credit and makes it that much harder for you to become a homeowner after you graduate college pending you can find a job in your field after you’ve spent all this money in student loans! Where are those seminars? Dubois had it right when he spoke of the Talented Tenth! Rally around us to help teach us about THIS life! It’s not our fault that the world is messed up and filled with debauchery. It’s not our fault that our communities are screwed! The problems in our community should not fall on our lap. And if you begin to hold us accountable for simply our words – then I will begin to hold you accountable for your actions; or lack there of. Right is right and wrong is wrong. You as our leaders should have taken a better approach to gaining the attention of those that you are dissatisfied with and had a conversation with them. You don’t scold your child in public without fair warning!



Al Sharpton: You run around towns and cities speaking words of wanting to better our community by cleaning up the airwaves. You hold rallies in front of radio stations saying turn off the music and clean the airwaves. You want to shut down local stations that are playing urban music when most of these local stations house and employ the same people in your community – the black community. When you visit any station in any city (big or small) playing urban/rap music, the staff is generally black. Now if those stations were to ever shut down – where do those employees go? Al, if you are for the people, where was your rally when the 3 college students were executed in New Jersey by black men. Where is the rally at for those families and that neighborhood??? I don’t see you out there asking for justice yet that incident happened in a black community. If someone was to rap about “how f**** up black on black crime is and how even if you go to college you aren’t safe on the streets and n***a’s aint’ s---” – that kind of tone is offensive to you and you want to stop that! If that’s the truth, then why are you censoring it? No, you need to stop the crime before it happens so that there is no gangster song about a gangster situation.



Oprah: You recently you held a town hall meeting dedicating 2 days of talk to have an open forum about the “Nappy Headed Ho” comment from Imus. Everyone had their 2cents to say and yet the people that needed to REALLY be there were not at all on your panel of ‘experts’. The questions all were about “why use the word ho or b**** or n***a etc” yet the rappers in question a la Nelly, Snoop, and Ludacris weren’t anywhere present on your panel. In my eyes you had all the wrong people on there representing and speaking on behalf of other people.



Common is great but he’s not gangsta. If you had a problem with the true content of rap songs then where were those that do that kind of rap 100%? You want to talk about change, and about having us not call women in rap songs “b**ches” and “hoes” but one thing I noted, you had all men on your panel of executives. Russell is wonderful but he’s not the Zenith when it comes to new school rappers or their new school mentality. Kevin Liles is great but what happened to Sylvia Rhone the head of the label that Nelly is signed to, or Kathy Hughes the head of Radio One or Deborah Lee the head of BET. If the problem really was about women and the “b**ch, ho” term being used, where were those ladies to speak on their stance on this issue! They are the ones with the ultimate say pulling all the strings and yet they weren’t dully noted as absent from your panel! Oprah you are supposed to protect us, I can find more harm being done to the black community by the movies and sponsors you promote than any rap song.



Just like your son or daughter, niece or nephew… rappers are just kids growing into their own. They aren’t always right, but they aren’t always wrong either. If our path is misguided, then help us get back on the right road. I’m young, I’m black, and I’m a hard worker. I’m from the hood where mother’s leave their kids in the hands of strangers and never look back, I’ve been with killers, dope dealers, b******, , church folk, grandparents, bad parenting from good parents, pushers, junkies, robbers, middleclass workers, but that’s the life I’ve been around. Gunshots and church hymns usually go hand in hand in most neighborhoods. The grim reality for a lot of kids out there living alone is that life is harsh and cold; kids grow up faster than they want to because they are forced too! Kids are growing up in situations that are f***** up. So the songs we listen to mirror the things we see, the things we dream about and the fantasies we have! Don’t change the songs I listen to, change the circumstance from which it comes from---then the situation will be better!



Growing up in this world of Hip-Hop it’s disheartening to see our ‘so called leaders’ leave us out to dry. Fine you don’t like what we say. Fine disagree with our choice of topics; however, the things we talk about aren’t new. We didn’t invent the term pimps, pushers, hoes, tricks, doobies, n***a’s and gangsta’s. Hip-Hop didn’t create that. Those words were left here for us to use by you guys, your generation. This life we are continuing to live was handed to us by the people before us who didn’t do much to clean it up. There may never be a time that we agree on anything, but there is always room for change. As a family – we will agree to disagree but it’s the synergy in which we do it. If you are on one extreme tangent, and I’m on another, we will never meet eye to eye. At the same time, I will not allow you to bash, yell, condemn, and have a condescending tone on my source of refugee and happiness. As you leaders call out the Hip-Hop community saying that we are wrong for what we do and how we do it, I am CALLING EACH OF YOU OUT saying you are wrong for what you are doing to us.


How dare you guys not call Nelly, Snoop, Lil Wayne, David Banner, Jim Jones, Akon, Rick Ross, Fabulous, 50 cent, Young Buck, Bun B, Too Short and say let's talk this through. Do you even know who ANY of these people are??????? You are so disconnected from us that we don’t even look at you for guidance. If you really want to change something, start by changing your dialogue. Don’t talk at us, talk to us!


-DAVID BANNER

This brother David is on point! He's absolutely right! Don't get it twisted. Do some real investigative research about these cats and you'll understand what he means.

[Dicharden]

Your President has a college degree. What are u saying. Bill Gates was a college drop out, as they say every time they post Bill's biography. Degree? So in having a degree a person conforms, pays tuition, goes to class and is teachable. Enlighten me.

[Dicharden]

Just because his views are not of main stream america doesn't mean that he is "waaaaaaay out there" everyone doesn't need to follow the flock of the other sheep, we are all entitled to our own opinions. that seems to be the problem with people they follow what others do or say so they are not deemed as weird or insubordinate. I applaud MOS DEF and DR. WEST for standing by 'THEIR' beliefs and THEIR views to what THEY have experienced in THEIR lives and what THEIR true CONVICTIONS are! WE as a SOCIETY take for a grain of salt what people like BUSH, and other IDIOTS may say...Most of AMERICA believed that There was WEAPONS of MASS destruction, and that AL Qaeda was the sole group behind 9/11 etc. etc because what they were told to believe. MOS DEF views were his views and Beliefs. to each its own! 1

I agree. He's entitled to his opinion. Propaganda is relevant always in the U.S. media. The man on the moon thing, why haven't we ever been back and how come no other nation has gone there? We need to read sources of news outside the U.S. BBC, Reuters they have nothing to loose in telling the truth. No propaganda there. Remember the BBC was the first news source to air the Jena case. It had been in affect a year before we heard about it. Right here in your United States!

[Dicharden]

As a 24 year old.. this is the kind of commentary i wish there was more of. I get so sick of how current artist have cheapened our culture. I wish that our schools and HBCUs could be a real forum for discussing these issues amongst our own, instead of BET factories where students are rarely forced to look at the issues that confront our race still. I feel like I am one of few people in my age bracket who has a strong distaste for what a lot of artist have done to black music. And me, and people like me who refuse to buy into this modern foolishness that threatens to destroy true hip hop are made to feel like strangers in our own race because we cant listen to today's 'hip hop and r&b radio stations without getting angry at what is passing for music nowadays. But I digress.. Ive always loved Bill Maher, and I appreciate his honesty in presenting all sides to the story, and exposing the spin for what it is. I wish that THIS kind of honesty could and would be shown on PBS, BET and TVONE. I am tired of the shuck and jive hook factories where anything can be said, and people will buy it as long as the beat is hot. WAKE UP! LISTEN TO THESE LYRICS!! again, props to Mos Def and Dr. West for callin people out on this...

Breh, Michael Basden,grown folks radio, young old heads, old heads, family google it. Scrap Bet

[Blackman7]

David Banner is RIGHT! Since the black race no longer has any TRUE leaders(i.e Malcolm, Martin, Medgar, Huey, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, James Brown, Marcus Garvey, Muhammad Ali, e.t.c), we have no other choice but to LEAD OURSELVES!!!

Before we can LEAD ourselves, we have to learn to THINK for ourselves and stop listening to the WHITE MAN.

Instead of listening to the WHITE MAN, we need to listen to GOD!

[paula ward]

Mos Def & Dr. Cornell West On Bill Maher: Politically Incorrect

Artist / Activist Dr. Cornell West and Mos Def laid some knowledge on the table on Bill Maher’s show a few days ago.

Visit the following link to watch the video:

http://mog.com/mollifire/blog_post/110564

****************************************

I enjoyed watching this show and more importantly, it looked as though the host enjoyed allowing the two gentlemen to get their views out on the table without controlling the show as most of them do. What I wasn't happy with is the fact that MOS DEF had a lot of interesting points to make and I wanted to hear them ALL. He definitely has a platform and much to say. I like Dr. West as well, but MOS DEF is one who would obtain the most in popularity because of his involvement in the media. We love him.

I also wanted to comment on the fact that whoever was responsible for the written portion made some errors in facts. Those were NOT univeristy students - but high school.

[rae_rae911]

This was one of the best shows I've seen on Mayer's show and I've watched them all!! Cornel West, of course, did not disappoint me. He's always brilliant. But, Mos Def stepped into another dimension for me. I've always admired his talent on stage and in music and film, but I was beyond impressed with his knowledge of black history and his humor. My faith is renewed...

I felt exactly the same way!!! I have heard his music and seen him act, but I've never seen him in a serious setting speaking before. I was blown away!!!
He was the truth for real!!! He came to the table and when he sat down he knew his shit. I was very much impressed. He and Dr. Cornell West together were no joke. Those white people on there were not ready for the two of them together. I have seen Dr. Cornell West on a panel before along with Tavis Smiley and others, what I would like to see is a panel with Tavis, Cornell West and Mos Def talking about the issues that affect us as Black folks. It would be something to hear. I am truly impressed with Mos Def and have found a newfound respect for him all over again.

[blackcat22]

This was found @ xxlmag.com
Written by Byron Crawford:

Tuesday, September 11th, 2007
Free the Jena Six?
Speaking of Mos Def, I see he’s headed down to Louisiana to rally in favor of the Jena Six. He may not be sure whether or not bin Laden had anything to do with 9/11, but he’s for damn certain this bullshit down in Louisiana is a miscarriage of justice, and he’s urging his fellow rappers to join him. Interestingly enough, I wonder if there isn’t a parallel to be drawn between the Jena Six and the terrorist attacks that took place six years ago today.
While Mos Def claims to not believe that Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda had anything to do with 9/11, you get the idea that he doesn’t give a shit whether they did it one way or the other, not unlike many black people’s view of the OJ trial. Indeed, when asked by Bill Maher*to elaborate on why he’s so certain the official story re: 9/11 is BS, Mos mentions that he’s not the only one who believes that it is and then launches into a whole litany of things cracka-ass crackas here in the US are guilty of, and why aren’t we calling that terrorism?
As I mentioned here yesterday, I’m not sure how you can read this as anything other than him suggesting that the attacks of 9/11 were justified. Granted Mos Def is hardly the first person to suggest that the attacks of September 11th had to do with anything other than the fact that “they hate us for our freedom,” as President Sieg Howdy once put forth; similar arguments have been put forth by the likes of Ron Paul and Ward Churchill and even KRS-One. But I think Mos Def even goes them one further in that he almost seems to be aligning himself with the terrorists.
Where as I’m pretty sure those other guys meant to suggest that the murder of 3,000 (more or less) innocent people may have been justified in the mind of a crazed islamofascist, if not in a more general sense, Mos Def is careful not to draw any such distinction. Every time Bill would bring up the fact that there’s crazed Muslim fucks out there who would love to see us all dead, Mos immediately jumped to some shit someone else did that could be construed as terrorism, if not under the legal definition. You wonder what he meant to suggest.
Is it any wonder, then, that Mos Def would take up the case of the Jena Six as his cause du jour? As it occurred to me, over my morning coffee just now, there’s some obvious correlations to be drawn between the brutal beating of some racist cracka-ass cracka high school student and the brutal murders of 3,000 of the little Eichmanns of American economic imperialism six years ago today. Note that it’s definitely not my goal here to draw some sort of moral equivalency between those juvenile delinquents down in Louisiana and the terrorists, or to suggest that the railroading of the Jena Six isn’t yet another example of nasty, racist, Errol Morris-style redneck justice. I’m just saying.
Thanks to the liberal Jew-run media, it’s a little known fact that Osama bin Laden had reasons for knocking down the twin towers other than the fact that he hates us for our freedom, which I’m sure he does anyway. The main beef between al Qaeda and the US, as stated by the man himself back in the late ’90s, is the American imperial presence in the Middle East, particularly with regard to our support of Israel and our military bases in Saudi Arabia. Similarly, the origin of the dispute that eventually lead to the fateful ass whippin’ in the Jena Six case was a silly*turf battle over black kids’ right to sit under the rather ironically titled tree of knowledge.
I think we can all agree that the idea of white kids having a tree that only they’re allowed to sit under is the kind of bizarre, racist bullshit that could take place in a rural, southern shit hole of a town like Jena, Louisiana. But is there a difference between these cracka-ass cracka’s “knowledge tree” and the terrorists’ “holy land” in the Saudi Arabia? Well obviously one is here in the US and the other is over in the Middle East, but I’d say the gist of these two issues is roughly the same: insane, bigoted fucks attempting to wield an ideology that’s based on intolerance and is ultimately founded in bullshit (i.e. Islam and white supremacy).
In both cases, maybe none of this shit would have ever happened had someone with some sense stepped in and attempted to sort this all out before it ultimately erupted into violence. In the case of the Jena Six, the superintendent was in the wrong for not expelling the students and reporting their hate crime to the proper authorities. Similarly, I know the UN has issued plenty of orders to Israel to cut out their apartheid bullshit, pretty much all of which they’ve ignored. And it couldn’t have possibly helped matters that the US elected President Sieg Howdy and his gang of oil-soaked ne’er do wells into office a mere matter of months before the attack.
And granted I think we were all kinda pissed to see Sieg Howdy take office, but does there not come a point where we put our foot down against violence, no matter how justified it can be perceived as being? I mean, how come Mos Def can’t just admit that it was wrong what those islamofascists did to us on 9/11? As I alluded to earlier, I wonder if there’s not a connection between this “enemy of my enemy is my friend” mentality and black people’s utter amusement with the OJ verdict and, now, this drive to free the Jena Six, as if they’re not guilty of beating a kid unconscious and then beating him some more. I’m not saying we’re in the wrong for taking up the cause of the Jena Six. I’m just saying.


If you get a chance, check out www.zeitgeistmovie.com. It has some compelling information regarding the origins of religion in Amerikkka as we know it, information on the 9/11 "attacks" and the origins of the socioeconomic that we flounder in today. Be careful, what you may see may upset you. However, once the mind has been stretched beyond its normal capacity; it will never retain its original stature again.

Peace

[Fliboi]

That so many of you are just now finding out about Mos. Clearly many of you have never listened to Black Star IMO one of the most under rated hip-hop albums ever!! Many of his views were spelled out quite eloquently in this album. And it's like 10 years old!!

Many of his extremist views come from his religion as a Muslim (12%) and Nation influence. That's where he and I differ. I studied in the Nation for over a year and read many of the same books he has, we drew different conclusions.

And Russia also went to the moon FYI!