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I’ve seen Akala do a variation of this presentation – he never ceases to impress. Hip Hop = Intelligent Movement. So get with it!

Dr. Cornel West is one of those people who reminds me of the wider struggle. So eloquent, so powerful and so true.

And the young people are hungry and thirsty, but the young people are thirsty for truth. Oh, yes. They’re hungry for truth. And the problem is that most of our leaders have either sold out, caved in, gave up. They don’t want to tell people the truth. They’re too concerned about their careers. They’re too concerned about success. They’re too concerned about just winning the next election for their status. In 1971, the Attica brothers told the truth. But they weren’t the only ones. You had a whole cacophony of voices telling the truth. But who wants to tell the truth? The condition of truth is to allow suffering to speak. If you don’t talk about poverty, you’re not telling the truth. If you’re not talking about working people being pushed against the wall, with corporate profits high, you’re not telling the truth. If you’re not talking about the criminal activity on Wall Street and not one person gone to jail yet, you’re not telling the truth. Don’t tell me about the crime on the block with brothers and sisters and Jamal and Latisha out taken to jail, and yet gangsters who are engaged in fraudulent activity, insider trading, market manipulation, walking around having tea at night. That’s what we need.

Full transcript at Democracy Now!

Tupac Shakur is a name with a lot of connotations. He’s one of the best-selling music artists in the world, and one of the most known rappers. He was shot dead in 1996.

Despite popular misconceptions, 2pac was a conscious artist and often spoke about the social issues surrounding him. There are numerous arguments about his progression and the popularisation of his music, and many see his music from different angles.

In this interview shot in prison around 1994 he says a lot of profound things. These words particularly stood out to me:

“Now if we do wana live the thugs life and the gangster life and all that, okay, so stop being cowards and let’s have a revolution. But we don’t wana do that, dudes just wana live a character, they wana be cartoons. But if they really wanted to do something, if they was that tough, alright let’s start our own country, let’s start a revolution, let’s get out of here, let’s do something. But they don’t wana do that, they wana pimp our communities and portray this image that they know we all can’t survive…”

This is one of my favourite songs of all time.

“Because even though we survived through the struggle that made us
We still look at ourselves through the eyes of the people that hate us”

Immortal Technique – Caught in a Hustle Lyrics:

Continue reading “Caught in a Hustle” »