I must admit that I have never listened to even one of Jay-Z’s songs and so I am in no position to review this latest song of his whereas he is ‘telling’ the police not to shoot us, but I am pretty sure that Jay Z has rapped about bitches, hos, bling, gangbanging and the like; being a rapper, of course. I am pretty sure that the majority of songs recorded by Jay Z, were labeled, “explicit.” And so, I wonder is he walking around calling HIS daughter, a “ho?” I wonder is he walking around calling his daughter, a “bitch?” I wonder is he telling his daughter that when she grows up, get with a guy who is gangbanging in an attempt to bring home some dough, just expect to get with lots of ’em because the life of a gangbanger is short, just as the life of every Black man in AmeriKKKa is shortened by inner city violence and crime and by out-of-control killer Klansmen decked out in blue, otherwise known as the slave patrol.
Now, it has been stated that this latest song is ‘spiritual’. What that means, I don’t know and so let me just post a few lyrics and see if I can find anything ‘spiritual’ about this song that’s ‘telling the Klan decked out in blue, to stop killing us.
Yeah, I am not poison, no I am not poison
Just a boy from the hood that
Got my hands in the air
In despair don’t shoot
I just wanna do good, ah
This is what Jay Z calls, “Spiritual?” I am not poison, just a boy from the hood, got my hands in the air, in despair, and I just wanna do good?” Hmmmm……I am not quite getting the ‘spiritual’ connection here. Now, if he had of said,
“I drink from a poison cup each day,
even at night
when I’m on my knees to pray,
God knows,
I’ve sacrificed my life for my wife and my daughter
and the shit is still hitting the fan in a big ass way.
My hands, are clenched at my side in Bible study
as the bullets pierce my tender flesh.
Lord, what is this mess?
Your creation is killing your creation
and I ain’t feeling the elation.
Where is MY rapture Lord?
Where is MY rapture?
I need some before I die
and I know you know why!”
rap lyrics by Shelby I. Courtland
©2016 Shelby I. Courtland, who by the way, does not rap. So, gi’ me a break!
I’m no rapper and I’ve never claimed to be but to me, writing a song to tell the KKKops that our hands are in the air and so please don’t shoot us is not spiritual, it is demeaning because our hands have been up in the air for hundreds of years and still the only thing that is sought, is our annihilation. Even a blind man that’s been planted can still see this. And, “I just wanna do good?” What is that all about? Black people don’t have to ‘do bad’ to get shot and killed by racist KKKops. Ask Freddie Gray, just what was he doing wrong that got his spine severed and himself inside a casket. So, according to Jay Z, if we tell everyone that we ‘wanna do good’, why, that is going to make all the difference in the world. Tamir Rice, I am sure, is thrilled to hear it!
AND…and…if this song by Jay Z is so spiritual, than why are these lyrics in it?
Nigga ain’t dozed, I ain’t washed in a week
I ain’t changed clothes ’til the Black Album
Til I tapped out ’em, them niggas is WWE
I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to NOT listen to this ‘spiritual’ song whereas Jay Z is still referring to Black people in the most derogatory term ever made up by the ‘whites’. And let me just interject here for a minute with some thoughts of my own. What I am trying to understand and have been trying to understand for quite some time now, is why oh why, are Black people the only race of people that will take up THE most derogatory name in history and apply it to ourselves? What the hell is wrong with us? You see, we have no respect for ourselves as a people and since we don’t, no one else will have any respect for us either and now, I am going to be brutally honest. I am getting to the point whereas I don’t have much respect for Black people, as a whole. I don’t. I never even want to board a bus, ever again because all I hear is “Nigga this and Nigga that!” How many Chinese people do you hear calling other Chinese people, “Chinks?” White Europeans, and this means AmeriKKKans, because they came to AmeriKKKa from Europe, refer to Chinese people using that derogatory term and do you think that the Chinese grabbed it and accepted it? Hell no!
Do you think Mexicans are calling each other “Wetbacks?” Hell no, they’re not! Every group that did not originate in Europe and who were given a derogatory name by Europeans has not accepted or claimed a derogatory name given to them by Europeans except for Black people. Now, that speaks volumes. Again, we are the only group who will look to our oppressors for our identification because that is exactly what Black people have done because more Black people use a version of that word “Nigger” than those of us who don’t. And don’t give me no bullshit about how that is not true because I’ll call you a straight up liar! Every person in my family has used that word to describe another Black person except for me and about 3 others. Even the so-called ‘bougie’ Black folks refer to other Black people as “Niggers or Niggaz.” You can’t dress that word up. You cannot call that word, “a term of endearment.” You cannot write a ‘spiritual’ song and include a version of that word in it because it reduces your message to one of vulgar noise with no substance. It renders your argument, null and void and if your argument is against the Klan decked out in blue killing innocent Black people, then you are part of the problem and most definitely not the solution.
The Jay Zs of this world made their money off the Black community, hit it big and then turn their backs on it. They no longer even identify with the Black struggle because they and their ‘product’ have been confiscated by their white masters and they do their bidding. Oh yes, we all know that Jay Z and Beyoncé Knowles hit the big time and some of their ‘product’ they purportedly own, but they are still owned, lock, stock and barrel by the ‘white’ man. But still, they’ve got more money than they know what to do with and yes, I had read that Beyoncé allegedly poured a bottle of champagne costing $20,000 into a hot tub in a Nicki Minaj video, and if this is true, how many hungry children could have been fed with that $20,000? One article of clothing that they wear could keep the lights on for an entire neighborhood and while I do understand that Jay Z and Beyoncé bailed Ferguson and Baltimore protesters out of jail, would they have even been in jail if not for the systemic racism that is endemic to America? Would Freddie Gray have been murdered if we did not live in a society that values Black lives less than it does a cow? For what does it cost Jay Z to put together some lyrics that a child could write, studio up a beat and then sell it to the brainwashed ‘Niggaz’ that he goes on and on about who have raised their arms in the air and who, despite this, are still finding themselves full of bullets shot by racist KKKops? And though Jay Z and Beyoncé and other singers and professional sports players drop a dime every now and then in Haiti and in America as well, they are not the solution to what ails Black communities all across America and the solution to our woes of racism, a school-to-prison pipeline, mass unemployment and underemployment, mass incarceration, abject poverty and homelessness, rampant drug addiction and gentrification will not be solved until we actually believe that we are something other than “Niggaz!”
Why we value ourselves so little is because many of us look to others to define our worth and by doing so, we will always come up short. Our ancestors were assessed for their worth; their value, before having been sold at auction. They were considered to be property and to this day, nothing has changed. We are still considered, ‘property’ to be used and discarded at will. If you are not making money for the ‘white’ man, you are of no value to him and so he has instructed the slave patrols to relieve you of as much of your hard-earned money as he can and then, kill you. That is exactly what happened to Philando Castile as that man was racially profiled over 50 times for seatbelt violations, revoked driver’s license and for having no proof of insurance and Philando Castile paid $6,588 in fines to Massa before Massa killed him by way of the slave patrols; the Klan decked out in blue.
So, as far as I am concerned, Jay Z, you can take your ‘Spiritual’ and shove it up your ass because continuing to ‘spiritually’ or otherwise tell the Klan decked out in blue to, “Don’t Shoot!” is akin to me telling another Black person to stop calling me a ‘Nigger!” It ain’t happening! The time is 3:11PM central daylight savings time, tell me, how many of my Black readers have been called, “Nigger!” today and the person who called you that was not ‘white’? We will never be respected by the ‘whites’, I understand that but the truth of the matter is that we don’t even respect ourselves. And yet, we want to yell and scream that “Black lives matter!” when we don’t even believe that because if we did, we would not continuously disrespect each other by picking up a derogatory name that was given to us by our enemy and then turn it on ourselves. That’ is like me taking a gun from a ‘white’ man and turning it on myself. There are more than enough of them killing us, they don’t need any help from us and yet, we give them plenty. We shoot each other and then we get bent out-of-shape when a racist fills us full of bullets. Why is that? You don’t mind running through the streets, shooting, indiscriminately; killing toddlers, children and innocent women. Why then, should others who see you do this, think highly of you? You give them an excuse to say, “Well, they are killing each other! Look at what’s going down in inner cities!” Yeah! We all know what is going down in inner cities. Some of what is going down is most definitely not on us, but some of what is going down, is most definitely on us.
Excuse me! But we have lost. And we lost long time ago. We lost when we lost our sense of community, when we lost our sense of direction, when we lost our minds, when we lost our dignity, when we lost our humanity, when we lost who we came from when we lost ourselves. Jay Z cannot find you. Beyoncé cannot find you. But because we choose to continue down a destructive path and because we continue to live down to each and every stereotype of us and because we do nothing with our money beyond buying Jay Z’s latest ‘Spiritual’ and Michael Jordan’s latest sneaker and Timberland boots, our neighborhoods will continue to be taken away from us and we will continue to be herded into prison or to the morgue and despite cries of “Don’t shoot!,” KKKops will continue to shoot! Count on it! Because we cannot even count on each other! And that is why no one has come to our defense. No country that has issued travel advisories that warned its citizens to use extreme caution when coming to America has stated that America’s Black citizens need their help. Other countries see what we have become and they want no part of us. And I for one, can’t say as I blame them. I am tired of standing up for people who refuse to stand up for themselves. I am tired of attending protests to tell others to stop killing us when we refuse to do so. I cannot take to task someone else who is doing the same things that we are doing to each other without speaking out on that fact. Are we to blame for everything that is going down on us? Hell no! But at the same time, we are not entirely blameless since we are aiding and abetting our enemy in reducing our numbers. And so before you head to another protest rally, print two signs. One sign should read, “KKKops, Don’t Shoot!” The other sign should read, “Why Are We Shooting Each Other?”
Nigga ain’t dozed, I ain’t washed in a week
I ain’t changed clothes ’til the Black Album
Til I tapped out ’em, them niggas is WWE
“And Jay Z!, get the fuck outta here with that bullshit!”
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