TROUBL

1. Malia

   WHAT?!?!?!?!

   Dang Q—- you came hard wit it!!!!! Straight - no chaser, I like……

   “…….Where’s the line, verse or song that talks about him having other options?……” great question!!!! I am so sick and tired of brothers using that line “IT IS WHAT IT IS” (even though I’ve incorporated it into my vocab just to irritate people now).

   NO IT’S WHAT YOU MAKE IT!!!!

   Trust me I’ve been abased and I’ve been abound. I used to live with one of the biggest drug dealers in Los Angeles and we lived just like the videos, there was a huge price to pay for that lifestyle (17 years in prison for him, and humiliation and degradation for me) ….not a good look. I’m writing and sending money to another friend of mine whose getting out May 17th and he already has plans to re-up his empire by slangin “…..until he gets on his feet….” WTF?!?!?! I know I said I never pass judgements or ask qualifying questions but DUDE, COME ON NOW!!!!! And he wants to come visit me in Tulsa???? Yeah, right! That’s NEVER gonna happen!!! I try so hard to believe the best in people, to take people at their word and I get disappointed every time!

   I know alot of brothers who have great intentions but they fall short and get on some old ego ish and that ish is for the birds!!!! I’m so sick and tired of the bravado that I can’t even read some of the stuff without rollin my eyes. It’s like they’re all in the boys locker room measuring their d*cks!!!! They forget the mission, they forget the loyalty, the friendship, the people who hold them down, the respect, EVERYTHING!

   I don’t know what their mission statement is anymore—–please enlighten me!

   Brothers need Jesus!!!!

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2. TROUBLMan

   Q,

   I must admit, I fell victim to those assumptions. When I was younger, my only aspiration was playing football. I thought about college but not for the education that I could receive I thought about getting a scholarship and playing football. I remember when I took the SAT all I wanted to score was an 820. 820 was the magic number my teammates and coaches talked about. 820 was qualifying. Of course I did better than 820 and I got a scholarship but it was only after I got to college that I realized I could be more than an athlete.

   Even though I didn’t care about education, the block never persuaded me. I saw how it destroyed family members lives, my peer’s lives and my community.

   It was the people in my neighborhood and my peers that influenced my low expectations. It was the teachers who never even mentioned college and the schools that didn’t care to prepare me. It was the friends and family who just accepted what they had and didn’t demand more.

   If anything the rappers made me strive for more. I saw them on TV, I saw their CD’s in store. Though they didn’t always preach education, they educated me. They made me play with words and make music. When we talk about biggie we have to talk about “Juicy.” “Birthdays was the worst days, now we sip champagne when we thirstay.” That’s what he meant to me.

   Realize that the boardroom has only recently become a reality for dudes from the block. Dame Dash, Jigga and dudes like that showed us that. Yeah rap music has it flaws, but more than anyone else in the hood it’s the rappers that are inspiring kids to be entrepreneurs.

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3. TROUBLMan

   Malia,

   Their mission statement is “get rich or die trying.” The sad thing about it is that the don’t even know what rich is. Rich is rich in spirit. Rich is rich is knowledge and love. Dude got low-self esteem and are afraid to fail. It’s easier to get knocked and blame the cops.

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4. Mary

   You couldn’t have said it better. I love B.I.G. and Pac but at the same time the things rappers say are so abused in everyday life. It’s so mundane to “sling rocks on the Ave” or play ball or just rap in general. I realize that depending on where you came from, maybe you do feel it’s your only way out but at the same time think outside the box. Thats why there were rappers like Run DMC, Rakim, and Will Smith. I feel like now, depending on what’s on the radio, I am slowly getting dumber. I was just reading an article in Vibe this month about the 5% muslims and how a lot of rappers such as Rakim are part of that; back when rappers used to “drop knowledge”. Now I feel like we have hoarded all of this knowledge away in the attic somewhere in an old box next to the 8-track tapes and vinyls. Its almost formula to rap about what you have and what you did to get it. I feel like hip hop has lost the challenge to provoke thought. People just want to dance not think while they listen to music. My boyfriend’s little cousin was reciting 50 lyrics one day and he is only 8 or 9, but he was rapping about guns. I was feeling like wow this is what my kids are going to grow up on one day. No wonder why my generation is thinking drugs and ballin are part of the 10 commandments. Unfortunately positive rap doesn’t get played on the radio so rappers like Mos Def and groups like the Roots are underestimated. Their skills aren’t doubted but no one wants to hear that in the club. Knowledge can’t make you dance.

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5. Malia

   TROUBLMAN—-

   I feel you on the whole hip-hop thing but at the same time, I feel like it’s pigeon holing our brothers into a one dimensional frame of reference. I know I’m talking to a hip-hop head so I hope my words or intentions behind them aren’t lost. You are not one-dimensional I KNOW THIS!!!! But what about the brother who incorporates those lyrics into his lifestyle and BELIEVES that is success???? Scary thought! The same dude who wants power, money, repect but doesn’t see past the next rap video is going to be who my sons looks up to? The same brother who has the greatest INTENTIONS of changing the world, but can’t even get it right in his own house first, with the people who love him and hold him down. The same dude who wants a virtuous woman by his side but wants a video hoe as his arm candy???? I don’t see the connection - and sadly these one dimensional brothers don’t see the truth.

   Someone once asked me which I would rather have - POWER vs. FORCE? I said Power most definitely because power comes from within, forced is external and based on fear so it is always struggling (and very dangerous). Power flows naturally, and grows when used for good. Force will always be weak and depend on external efforts for gain…..just something that came to mind….the BLOCK is FORCE the BOARDROOM is POWER!!!!

   I’ll take a boardroom brother any day of the week!

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6. Troublsome

   Q great post, I’m with troublman.I fell victim to these circumstances as well. I could remember playing high school football and being recruited and offered scholarships to Ivy League schools, and I laughed at them. I use to het calls from Brown and Dartmouth on the regular and blew them off like a bad cold. For one reason and one reason only, because I was a football nigga and who the hell was going to see me playing ball for one of those teams. You see I was naturally a smart nigga with little or no effort in the classroom. I can remember taking my SAT’s and the minimum score that you needed to get a football scholarship was 820. I went to a party the night before my test, with very little sleep I went to take my test, and not to mention half way through my attention span shut down and I just began to bubble in answers. When the scores came back I got a 1080. Shit did you think I was going to take it again? Hell No… Did you hear me say that all I needed was an 820 for a football scholarship?

   My best friend’s pops use to always tell us why it that we would slave was and sacrifice or bodies for someone else and that corporate America was where it was at! We heard him, but didn’t want to hear him… He couldn’t tell us anything when niggas like Michael Jordan was getting hundred million dollar contracts to play a sport…

   The Mass Media will glorify minororities in these positions and indirectly it is brainwashing every little kid in the hood. These athletes are glamorized so much that the it distracts us from the real muthafuckas who are making the money. If A-Rod, Beckam, and Lebaron can get paid so much, how much do you think the people who are paying them are getting paid?

   So at career day in all of the inner city schools, and schools you hear little kids saying what they want to be when they grow up. You always hear answers like: Basketball players, Football Players, Rappers and Producers. When these answers are spoken there is a specific person that these kids are emulating. The crazy thing is that we are emulating the wrong people as kids. It’s not our faults we have been brainwashed for years, but once we realize that we can concur a lot more.

   You are totally right the block and the streets is Force, and the Boardroom is power…

   Now a nigga from the block who has adopted and understands corporate America! Now that’s TROUBL…

   Unfortunately our youth are being educated by the Mass Media wrongfully, and not enough by the people in high places of power and prestige…

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7. Troublsome

   Troublman, think about how our conversations have changed but yet stayed the same since 2000 in regards to this topic…

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8. Malia

   TROUBLSOME——

   Thanks for enlightening us. “….It’s not our faults we have been brainwashed for years, but once we realize that we can concur a lot more…..” I agree with that statement cuz when you KNOW better you DO better! That’s the whole point—-to turn it around so they can look up to the boardroom brother instead of the block cat——how do we make the transition? How does the nigga from the block (as you say) get to boardroom status? I’m sick of looking up to cats who represent somebody’s sports team or record label.

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9. Boosy

   amazing post, it is true that we project images of athletics/entertainment to our kids. May times the excuse that i have heard is that, ooo “i’m getting mine”.. what happened to the community…..

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10. Terry

    “If A-Rod, Beckam, and Lebaron can get paid so much, how much do you think the people who are paying them are getting paid?”

    Troublsome,

    I agree with what you said because it rings true for all entertainers. The guys in the spot light get paid for their talent, but its those fronting the money for their swagger who get paid in the end. Agents and talent scouts get paid just for finding and representing you. But in the end, the owner gets the lion’s share of the check.

    “Listen: If I am going to put out $10 million for you to play with, you better believe that I am making at least $100 million on your superfly ass. From that perspective, you are nothing more than an investment based on speculation. There are only so many spots to be filled from league to label. They exist in the thousands, maybe. How many millions are hungry. If I see a return, I’ll show you more love, but if not then its on to the next “talent.” It’s just business. One where I profit from your community being vicious and divided, especially if I can aid in the process by creating artificial titles and categories. Somebody get that “hood” magazine’s parent company on the line, (I was just playing golf with its owner the other day), tell them that we need a few new ways for these “unique talents” to define themselves so that we can repackage and sell “cool” to the next generation.”

    “Call me what you want to, but from my perspective, you are the one whoring yourself out for a “deal.” It’s not my problem, I don’t even listen or watch whatever shit you think your nice at. I pay someone to do that for me too. Better figure out what to do with all that money quick, because when its gone and you are all used up, I’m out. Don’t worry though, your Uncle Sam will be dropping by along with the bank rep who actually owns everything you lease. On to the next “talent” who just wants to make it for the “Love of the Game.” (Still one of our most ingenious marketing gimmicks.) Excuse me, the private jet leaves in…wait, who am I kidding…that shit leaves when I arrive. Tata.”

    It’s an illusion that people make it on talent alone. Hard work, luck and connections are just as important. Plus, there is a reason that it’s called 15 minutes of fame.

    So, how do we communicate that to our kids?

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11. Q.

    appreciate the love..

    TM, TS (i’m lazy):

    I feel y’all.. i think on many levels we all get caught up.. i mean, i got caught up when i started to just contemplate how to be better at that drug game.. people that know me, know that i still wear my hat cocked to the left side (my Chicago fam understand).. so, yeah, we all get caught up.. i feel it’s what we do with that information and how far we take it.. if i was a kid, i would just watch “Oz”.. that would do it for me,Terry.. i’m hoping that people start to realize that it’s not a game.. and that even if it was, the game don’ changed..

    what i’m not really getting is that we’re in a different time and age.. we see Oprah.. we see Barack.. Hov’.. Diddy.. Will Smith.. Carol’s Daughter.. so many things we see.. so many different avenues to explore.. we see the rebirth of our businesses.. we see TROUBL.. so, i’m not understanding it anymore.. you can’t tell me it’s not sexy or exciting to run for President or get a deal for $150 million for performing on stage.. you can’t tell me that the money isn’t longer when you’re getting $20 million for a film, or running a multi-million dollar company..

    so, i start to point fingers again.. Media? Rappers? Niggas?? what is it, that keeps us trapped?

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12. alwayswrite

    Good read Q. Rap music, though flawed as Troublman mentioned, is definitely not the culprit of the black man’s issues. Then, again, it doesn’t help the cause either, I see that. However, it would be a gross overstatement to take those lines of Biggie or Pac, or anyone else for that matter, and portray it as the archetype. And Q., I think you recognize this. Those lines resonate with so many black men that it’s hard to pick anything else. At least, nowadays, as Troublman mentioned, rap stars are starting their own companies, so a kid dreaming of being a rapper is also dreaming of owning a record company (long overdue of course). So, though the steps are really tiny, there are some being made.

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13. TROUBLMan

    MALIA

    The brothers who incorporate those lyrics into their lifestyle don’t get it. Our job is to make them get it. It is scary but we have to be leaders. We have to make this shit so hot that they believe, The radio is wack. The Net is where its @. We have to find more music, more e-books, more articles online that they can get with.

    Rapper still drop knowledge. Have you ever heard of Buff1? Have you heard of Kids in the Hall? Jigga is doing his thing. Nas bout to drop an album called “nigger” that the record labels don’t want to come out…

    We here… It’s just the beginning.

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14. Q.

    AW:

    i feel you.. it’s not the only reason we, Black men, have issues, but it is one of the main reasons (as of late) we succumb to stupidity.. what’s sad is that it has become the archetype.. it has (as shown by others posting) become something that we grew up automatically believing.. we saw crime and sports as the only true ways to get out.. at least in major inner-cities.. we grew up seeing those flashy cars and MJ moments.. we saw very little of everything else, or at least ways to get those flashy cars and MJ moments without being in crime or hitting a 3.. we went through the 80’s baby years, which was all about the drug game.. 90’s MJ became “that dude”, and we got caught up in being like Mike..

    while i understand that we had much more going on in our communities, the thing that resonated was crime and sports (and that Biggie line).. i’m not calling out Biggie or Pac, or even other rappers.. i’m calling out us, as a people, that have made those lines our cultural quotable.. Biggie, being the gifted man that he was, just gave us that line to run with and capture and then repeat.. i spit it constantly once i heard it.. i was like “yea, what he said!”, and i didn’t even realize it, and no one pulled my coat for it.. cuz we all was saying the same thing..

    while i realize that many have gone down the rapper path, this blog was much deeper than that.. i just used that voice as a way to get everybody on the same page with the goal of striving to be more than crime and sports..

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15. Malia

    TROUBLMAN—–

    I agree that there are rappers who drop knowledge, my thing is when a brother lives his life based on some rap ish…..I don’t get it (but then again I do….I just don’t repect it) I love Nas!!!! - but when some of that music gets up in a brother (in his spirit) it gives him street dreams for real!!!!! He can’t differentiate the fact that Nas is rapping a song about HIS life, NOT THEIRS! It is not a manual on how to be a pimp, playa, hustla, mac, slanga!

    There’s alot of romaticism associated with the street life and the music that these brothers are listening to makes them feel 10ft tall and bulletproof! Dude…it’s just a song! The boardroom brother just seems boring compared to Jigga. Living life on the edge…… or contingent on rap lyrics is not condusive to real life success!!! It’s NOT REAL! Mos Def is WHAT IT IS - yes I completely agree…but CAN A BROTHER HAVE AN ORIGINAL THOUGHT????? DOES A BROTHER HAVE TO DO SOMETHING JUST BECAUE MOS DEF DOES IT? I’m sayin…..

    …….and I’m sure he would say them thing!

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Reply to “AOG: From the Block to the Boardroom”

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