To The People Who Value Hip Hop But Not Black Lives!!!
You probably like
J. Cole over Jermaine.
You probably think Shawn Carter
and Jay Z are two different people.
You look like you fuck with Yeezus but not Kanye.
Let me guess, you don’t know Christopher Wallace?
But I'm sure you know my man, Biggie.
I'm sure you listen to Lauryn Hill's, Miseducation
I bet you know all the words to Erykah Badu's "Call Tyron"
but throw away the very resume with the same name imprinted on it
When Migos come on do you hit the "Folk" with all the black folk
Do you jump in excitement and sing
“We gon be alright”!
No matter your skin color
because you vibe with the fusion of 808 drums
breaking and banging back, bombastic voices
basking rhythmically over the beats
creating a colorful blend that dances in your eardrums.
Do you delight in the beneficial exchange of musical pleasure
for an empathetic moment?
To the people Who Value Hip Hop But Not Black Lives!!!
Do your words lose syllables so you can feel closer to our poverty line?
Do you sagg your pants a little bit more, to convince yourself that you understand the gravity of this music ?
When you sing along to your favorite song
Does the word nigga spill off your tongue, like you think you have become one?
While listening to hip hop
If you dissect out the appropriation
Circumcise the Ain't shit dick rapper
And Place the needle correctly on the vinyl
you will find out that hip hop was predominately made by people of color.
You will find out that like our skin, this music is a contradiction.
That it killed just as many as it has saved.
To people who value hip hop but not black lives
Are you aware of the struggles that your favorite artists have come from?
How rapping may be the only way to free themself from these bars?
Do you know that Nirvana does not exist in this culture?
Only cycles of mass incarceration and violence plaguing through communities like a pandemic
Do you know of the hood?
or how hoodies are sometimes mistaken as bulls-eyes
how people of color are pushed from school through pipelines to prison
Did you know that cops spring black bodies down like the only season they know is fall?
How they leave us dead in the street like leaves and do it all again in the winter.
Have you heard of the names George Floyd, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice
Did you know that they are music?
That the lyrics to their lives are nothing but an outro interrupted by the intro of another bullet?
For People Who Value Hip Hop But Not Black Lives
You only vibe with strangers over records while denying their existence
You only download the music but delete the artist
You only listen to the beat and ignore the historic prolific analytic lyrics lynching your tongue tighter than the noose they hung us from.
- you say you love hip hop.
But when the record stops,
you emulate these muted tones.
Your silence becomes the very betrayal you think you are avoiding.
Do you love black culture more than you love black people?
You say you love hip hop,
so how can black lives not matter?
