Tha Devil Made Me Do It: Why Black Folks Act Like Niggaz

Nuthin's changed, just another sequel The Devil's still causin' trouble among the righteous people---Wake Up- Brand Nubian

"A Nigga's gotta eat." That's what he tells himself as he stuffs the last of the white rocks into the little vial. He promised Mamma that he wasn't gonna get locked up no more after his last 10 month bid but them streets be callin', man. (Mamma always said that he had tha devil in him.) He sticks his pistol in the back of his saggin' baggy pants and heads out the door mumblin somethin' about how Black folks "don't own no planes boats, trains, poppy fields..." So he makes his way through the alley for another long night of bringin' more death and destruction to an already oppressed people as Mr. Big looks down from his penthouse on Park Ave and laughs....

One of the longest running conversations in the Black community is why do Black folks act the way we do. Are we the victims of some diabolical master plan or do we act tha fool just for the sake of actin' tha fool. There have been numerous Hip Hop "beefs" over the last few years between Hip Hop Headz like Killa Rob B who terrorizes the hood on wax for his "9 to 5" but is a proud member of the Hampton Neighborhood Beautification Committee when he ain't workin' and former television star Dr. Heathcliff" Cliff" Huxtable who says that if Rob B's mamma would have washed his mouth out with soap when he was 5, all Black kids would have a college degree and their would be Black entrepreneurs on every block instead of crack dealers. What both fail to realize is that their careers are two sides of the same coin in the back pocket of white corporate executives and marketing consultants. If Rob G would have been in the business 20 years ago he may have been rappin' about fightin' tha power instead of bustin' caps in Brotha's and if Cliff and tha fam were in that Brownstone in Brooklyn today, Theo would be slangin' yayo on tha block and Vanessa would be strippin' down at Tha Magic Touch on 4th and Broadway. The times may have changed but the people in power have remained the same.

The drug game is the same thang. Those refugees from the Black Power movement who found shelter in Nixon's anti-poverty programs of the 70's as an alternative to the streets may have become crack dealers had the method of operation back then been to get tha hood high instead of replacing the hopes of Black Power with the false promises of capitalistic "revolution" through green power. Ask the little neighborhood drug dealer down tha street why he sells drugs and he will probably tell you anything from a line about "not wanting to work at McDonalds to a get rich scheme about flippin' drug money into a record company/rim shop. Not once will any discussion about the genocidal plot to destroy the Black community through drugs come up. Nor will he visualize his role in the plot and how his single act of defiance could be the catalyst needed to spark tha revolution or at least bring a change to his neighborhood. But neither can Killa Rob G visualize using his chart topping status as a platform to publicly expose the white corporations' plot to dumb down Black children and promote the mass incarceration of Black youth.

So the drug dealer's excuse of "doin' what I got do to survive" and the gangsta or coon rapper's excuse of "it's just entertainment " run parallel in their lack of an in-depth analysis of the web in which they are trapped. While both can give vivid descriptions of the "web" they both fail to identify the white spider that created the web nor give an analysis of why the web was created in the first place.

What is needed is a deeper probe into the historical precedents of this social, economic and psychological manipulation that contribute to our condition as Afrikan people or in plain proletariat terms, to borrow from KRS "Why is that?"

It is hard for many to sleep at night knowing that there is a plot to kill them and their children. So we come up with overly simplistic scenarios like "crack sells in the community are only a part of "ghetto economics" brought on by necessity and once Congress decides to raise the minimum wage high enough for a Brotha to get a nice set of rims, crack will automatically disappear from every hood in America. Also, Hip Hop only reflects what is happening in the streets and once the situation in tha hood changes,

Brotha's will be rappin' about manicured lawns and white picket fences.

If it was only that simple.

The question we must ask is that even though our Hip Hop artists claim to have superior intelligence, both street and otherwise, why has no one been indicted for these crimes against Black humanity? Surely, there must be some sort of paper trail or memo in some CEO's trash can or some smokin' gun to expose the plot? Although, the ProBlack/militant rappers are all up in the office buildings of the major corporations, why has no one pulled a "Watergate" and jacked a handful of computer discs and leaked the info to Allhiphop.com?

The reason why is that despite all the rhetoric, most rappers who have achieved commercial success are just high paid, gold tooth havin', platinum chain wearin' lawn jockeys on the Iovine Plantation and the same slave master that cuts the check for Killa Rob G also cuts the check for "MC Rolo, the Rap Revolutionary."

Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and the same conscious MC that tells you in graphic details why that ham sandwich and side order of chit'lins you had for lunch is destroying your temple is the same rapper on the poster promoting menthol cigarettes in every hood in America.

One may argue that we should not look to rappers but our "Black leaders" for solutions. But Really???

You gotta wonder why the rapper who kicks the most "ignant" lyrics always feels obligated to shout out his favorite Civil Rights leader in every interview like they are homies. Is the industry using Black leadership as a buffer to protect them from those who

have a sincere desire to make change under the guise of "tryin' to keep in touch with the young, black urban youth." So at the very least when it comes to Hip Hop, our Black leaders have been nullified.

We must all come to grips with the fact that from Madison Ave to Crenshaw Blvd, we are all locked in a battle with a white supremacist system that is hell bent on stopping us from reaching "the Promised Land."

So the question is. If we can't look to our Hip Hop artists and Black leaders for guidance, who is able to make war with the Beast?

No, change will not come at the hand of some chosen one in Black leadership or the Entertainment industry but it will come from that mother who just watched her son die on the sidewalk because some kid thought it was cool to gangbang or that father whose baby girl that he held in his arms is now on the corner givin' head for a crack rock.

Who is able to make war with the Beast?

Those who have come up the rough side of the mountain and have had their white Tee's drenched in the blood of too many members a generation who are dying too soon.

TRUTH Minista Paul Scott represents The Messianic Afrikan Nation in Durham, NC.

He can be reached at (919) 451-8283

email: minpaulscott@yahoo.com blog:

http://www.truthminista.blogspot.com

Minister Paul Scott

D.R.I.V.E.

DEATH Row INNER-COMMUNALIST VANGUARD ENGAGEMENT