MWS Journal -- Godfathers of Gangster Rap by Melvin Smith

"The argument is that titles like Get Rich or Die Trying will sell, but uplifting songs won’t. If that is so, why aren’t Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson broke?" - Rev. Barbara Reynolds

Dear friends,

The short, but brilliant, letter below was "copied" to me via e-mail by a comrade-in-the-struggle, as it were. His name is Melvin Smith. He is a serious brother with a long history in our centuries-old movement for equality, dignity, and justice. He has given me permission to share the letter with you.

Cheers!

G. Djata Bumpus
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MWS Journal
22-Feb-2009

This is the comment that I tried, unsuccessfully, to post [inserted below] at the Seattle Medium (a part of Black Press USA network). Follow this link to the article in question: “Black Leaders Silent As Black Rappers Create Environ Of Death And Abuse”by Rev. Barbara Reynolds, NNPA Columnist, originally posted 2/19/2009

My comment:

This commentary by Barbara Reynolds, as usual, is a model of integrity and courage. I am inspired by her continued presence and unrelenting struggle in the increasingly compromised currents of American journalism.

Some apologists for the American status quo and some presumed defenders of African American dignity will probably claim her remarks here to be old hat and merely a rehashing of Bill Cosby's widely noted complaints about lifestyles of the Black poor, but the substance of Reynolds' charge is far deeper and greater. She reveals the core of the problem and blames "white" power appropriately, whereas Cosby (in his earliest tirades, at least) denied and ignored that aspect of our problem.

While the destructive effects of a sordid but "successful" rap music scene are evident nationwide, the toll is increasing internationally as well. Ms. Reynolds correctly identifies the underside of cultural imperialism in a nation founded and guided by "white" supremacy/privilege. Our attitude and active response to this particular form of attack should be to resist and repell it now. The bottom line is Black people's survival and redevelopment on this planet.


--MWS (aka Melmanjaro)