The Hip Hop African

George Kyomushula | August 11th, 2023 | Arusha Poetry Club Arumeru | Arusha – Tanzania

Hiphop is a music genre made by Black folks. Culturally and artistically, it can be a weapon or shield which can cause mass destruction or healing to the community once used wisely. Unfortunately, hiphop has been used negatively to ‘PIMP THE SYSTEM’ in recent times. As a result, the genre has become like a lab disease made to standardize and neutralize the oppressed after it was finched poetically by the oppressors (who earn value by pimping the system, causing mass destruction to the ones who should be benefitting from its knowledge, while the oppressors do earn massive wealth through blackmailing, misconduct, miseducation, corruption, misuse and abuse of the minds of the ones who love hiphop!!

So yes, hiphop is a weapon. However, it is now owned by the ones who didn’t invent it but spent fortunes investing in it to corrupt, colonize, and sodomize one’s mind. Sadly, it appears to have become a boomerang used against those who invented it.

When I say hiphop has been pimping the system so far, I am referring to the fact that hiphop has been snatched by the wrong hands of those who tend to use it against its positive direction, which was its intention when created by the righteous hands of its pioneers.

Hip hop was seen as a weaponized art-craft in the new world order after the Civil Rights Movement in the USA where it influenced Black Panther cubs like Tupac Shakur and believers of the revolution who appeared somehow threatening to the system politically, socially, economically, and even psychologically through the use of this genre.

Such systems in desperate measures designed the counterintelligence program to shut down any political and economic revolt during the era of the civil rights movement aforementioned above. At this point, it had come to the attention of the oppressors the problems hiphop could generate towards their personal interests as well as bureaucracy. Hiphop artists like 2pac through his poetic rhymes and self-consciousness successfully brought the heat to the streets after he released his record entitled Panther Power – the rest is history.

The program systematically programmed by the system only aimed at shutting down any sort of community awareness by the genre of hiphop through its contents and contexts. Especially targeted was content that had the potential to fuel consciousness, self-awareness, and good will among each other, especially towards oppressed ones.

The lyricists who were conscious enough to use hiphop as a weaponized genre had pushbacks from record labels and marketing strategies which hindered efforts at spreading knowledge. These obstacles were to ensure the awakening of sleeping beasts was discouraged. This was not only peculiar to the States where hiphop was cooked but also went on in the motherland – where hiphop’s ingredients came from. The struggles may not be the same however the struggle is real as hiphop artists in Alkebulan are programmed to create certain types of content that are merely endorsed by the Oligarchs.

Laurence Kris Parker, well known by his stage name KRS-ONE which is an abbreviation of “Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone” pointed out that hiphop is for knowledge & movements. Anything that acquired knowledge to lead the movement is strictly hiphop to me. Culturally, we do know hiphop isn’t only about rhyming & freestyling through rhythm and poetry (R-A-P). There are many other foundations that can constitutes hiphop like deejaying, graffiti et cetera but a key characteristic is ‘knowledge and movement’.

Graffiti artists had to use their art of spraying ink against the wall to send messages. The deejay has to scratch his turn table to deliver the message. The emcee also had to rhyme to convey the message. When we probe into why everyone is almost eager to give a message we may then probably come to the conclusion that hiphop is a weapon.

An encrypted message which one has to acquire knowledge to understand it may lead the movement. Why then today, are the messages conveyed by this new era of corrupted hiphop artists/rappers and others given to the audience even though they go against our standards? How do rappers take pride in killing one another, slapping this, slapping that? Possession of cocaine, proselytizing homosexuality, and many others.

Do the oligarchs decide what is best for hiphop or do our greed and frustrations blindfold our inner eyes not to see the trap of the likes of Cadillac Records?! If so what then to do? How could this genre be used as a weapon and a shield against all odds?! Who is to blame and held accountable? Isn’t it too hot for TV?! Since the revolution will not be televised. Is it what the communities want?! How about roles of an artist – entertaining, warning & advising?! Aren’t they what we are supposed to focus on? Or are they out fashioned?

Have we given up on trying to educate through this music genre or are we broke to afford rightful verses?! Perhaps, the internet has become a hard avenue to make a breakthrough – compared to the analogue world of VHS and cassettes?! Have we given up because the community is ungrateful?! Or selling out is now the real manly thing to do?! I ask myself these questions as I think about ways through which we can weaponize for good this music genre.

Play wise and not smart; take your time, not the whole goddamn time. Use your pawns to protect the Queen, then checkmate when your mate is busy checking up on your next move. Act with haste but not in a hurry, you can act stupid but not dumb – be wise to organize, and then in the end we all rise.