These are two of my favorite pieces by black spoken word artists. The first expresses an issue of a contemporary stereotype, the second expresses an issue rooted in African American history.
Siaara Freedman - "The Drug Dealer's Daughter"
Written from the perspective of a daughter impacted by her father's embodiment of the black drug dealer thug caricature, Freedman examines what it feels to be a real person confined to a stereotype, burdened by a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Javon Johnson - "Last Conversation Between Malcolm X and His Daughter"
Johnson takes on the character of Malcolm X and imagines what he would have said to his daughter before being assassinated. He forces the listener to imagine Malcolm X's humanity, to see him as a person who lived and loved and fought for equality, rather than just a figure or a martyr,
[Verse 1:] Look at me, pathetic nigga, this chain that I bought You mix dream pain and fame, this is heinous result Let these words be the colors I'm just paintin' my heart I'm knee-deep in the game and it ain't what I thought Copped the Range Rover, my girl got the Mercedes Iced out crazy I wanna shine like Baby Compared to that nigga, I ain't even got a bib yet Truth be told I ain't even bought a crib yet This is everything they told a nigga not to do Image is everything I see, it got a lot to do With the way people perceive, and what they believe Money short so this jewelry is like a weave Meant to deceive and hear niggas say I see you Now bitches wanna fuck you and niggas wanna be you And police wanna stop you, frisk you wonder what he do If a hater snatch yo chain, I bet it still won't free you Cause I'll be right back grinding 'til I cop another I sit and think about all this shit I coulda copped my mother My partner said that's just the game my nigga So I heard my jeweler say, here go your chain my nigga
[Hook:] This is chaining day (I need you to love me, love me) Chaining day, oh my chaining day (I need you to love me, love me) My chaining day My last piece, I swear, my guilt heavy as this piece I wear They even iced out Jesus' hair My last piece, I swear, they even iced out Jesus' hair
[Verse 2:] Ice on this white Jesus seem a little unholy The real strange thing about this iced out Rolly It's the same shit a broke black nigga get gassed at The same shit a rich white mo'fucka laugh at Well laugh on white man, I ain't paid as you But I bet your rims ain't the same age as you And I ain't got no investment portfolio But my black and white diamonds shinin' like a Oreo I know back home where niggas sit today He rock a chain and he always got some shit to say Even back when I was broke I knew his shit was fake He'd prolly sneeze too hard and his shit could break But hey, you know the sayin', "Fake it 'til you make it" Me, I did the opposite, made it then I faked it And actin' like I gave a fuck, money I was savin' up To buy a crib that's gated to that hundred racks, I gave it up For what
[Hook:] (I need you to love me, love me) Chaining day, oh my chaining day (I need you to love me, love me) My chaining day My last piece, I swear, my guilt heavy as this piece I wear They even iced out Jesus' hair My last piece, I swear, they even iced out Jesus' hair
[Outro:] Lord This is the last time Told my accountant, it's the last time I swear this is the last time I know that I said that shit last time But this the last time Mama I swear this is the last time So don't take my chains from me This is the last time Cause I chose this slavery This is the last time Don't take my chains from me This is the last time Cause I love this slavery I need you to love me, love me, love me... I said this is my last time
When I was working on my paper, I stopped for a minute wondering if I should capitalize the word "black" when referring to black people. I think it's interesting that we rarely every capitalize the word blacks even when it is a name for a group of people. After all, we usually capitalize the word Caucasian, or Hispanic. What is so unique about the word black that makes it different from these other words?
Have any of you witnessed people dressing up in black face or as another ethnicity (Native American in a feathered headdress or Mexican with a colorful sombrero) as a Halloween costume in our supposedly "Post-Racism" society?
When thinking about minstrelsy I remembered a documentary I watched that looks at all the portrayals of African Americans. Ethnic Notions was released in in the 80's but it is still relevant and interesting.
In class we were talking in class about African American culture and music. Hurricane tells a great story and shows how African Americans influenced genres that they might not normally.
This piece of spoken word poetry by Danez Smith is a piece
of African American literature that touches upon the issue of trying to take
race out of our vocabularies, as we discussed in class on Wednesday. The
classification of whites vs. blacks in America became integral to the
development of black culture. Smith mocks this, saying essentially that Africans
were forced to assimilate to American culture, and yet presently people are trying
to strip African American culture of this in their efforts to erase the topic
of racial tension.
Some quotes to consider:
“We did not ask to be part of your America, though are we
not, America?”
“You took one look at the river plump with the body of boy
after boy after sweet boy and asked, ‘why does it always have to be about
race?’ Because you made it that way.”
