The Real Beef: Time to go H.A.M.

There's a war going on outside, no man is safe from.
                           Survival of the Fittest-Mobb Deep

By Min. Paul Scott ~

It was destined to happen; a war of massive proportions that had been predicted for months. The masses sat hypnotized by their wide screens watching the events unfold. I'm not talking about the rebellion in Egypt, I'm talking about the season premier of "Beef" on Fuse TV.

For the last couple of years, Fuse TV has aired the Beef series, shows that showcase the sometimes violent confrontations between Hip Hop artists, the majority of whom are black men. For the last few months, the network has promoted the February 9th premier of the next installation of the series like it will be the greatest thing to happen to Hip Hop since RunDMC first put on Adidas.

Besides the shameless exploitation of black on black violence, what makes the grand premier so problematic ,this year, is that its release is not only during Black History Month but also during a period of global, socio-political turmoil . Not only are there rebellions in Egypt but racism is at an all time high and there is an escalating level of police brutality in cities across the US. Somehow, stories about grown black men threatening to shoot other grown black men over song lyrics seem out of place.

Historically, the exploitation of black on black violence can be traced back to the Portuguese entrance into Africa during 16th century where they mastered the divide and conquer strategy. 

According to historian Joseph Harris in his book "Africans and Their History," "as the demand for slaves grew, they used their knowledge of African factionalism to play one leader against the other." So, they gave weapons to both sides of a conflict. Not much different than today as the corporate exploiters of Hip Hop arm both sides of a conflict with microphones.

Later, in America, there was division among slaves on the plantation, which Malcolm X called "the house negro versus the field negro." In Hip Hop, the house Negroes would be the multi-millionaire superstar rap artists and the "field Negroes" would be the underground artists who challenge the establishment.

During the Civil Rights/Black Power Era, there was the emergence of COINTELPRO, a tactic developed by J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI where they pitted black organizations against each other by spreading disinformation, in the same manner that some Hip Hop sites and magazines spread gossip about rival rappers, today. This is documented in John Potash's book, "The FBI War on Tupac Shakur and Black Leaders." as he writes about how the FBI's disinformation campaign led to the imprisonment and deaths of Black Panthers and other activists during that period. Unfortunately. according to Potash, "some Americans only came to know anything about this targeting when anti-war activists eventually burglarized an FBI office in 1971," after the damage had already been done. So, it may be 20 years from now before an intern at one of the major record labels stumbles across a secret memo stating that the Hip Hop beefs were all part of an elaborate plot to keep Hip Hop
artists from uniting to fight the power.

It must be understood how the historical atrocities committed against black people have contributed to black on black violence.

In her book, "The Isis Papers," Dr. Frances Cress Welsing states that beefs between black people are the result of "black defense logic" that manifests itself as black self hate and is "escalated and reinforced by increasing black suicides, black on black homicided, child abuse and spouse abuse."

Also, Dr. Amos Wilson in his book , "Black on Black Violence: The Psychodynamics of Black Self-Annihilation in the Service of White Domination " writes, "for the angry black man overwhelmed by displaced aggressive passions, other Blacks fulfill their chosen roles- that of scapegoats, sacrificial lambs, bearers of the cross for other people's sins, recipients and carriers of others and his own displaced hostilities and aggression." In other words, because the rapper is scared to face his billionaire boss who is jerkin' him for his publishing, he takes his anger out on another rapper.

You would have to be blind today not to see that there is, indeed, something changing in the climate of consciousness on the planet. All over the world the masses are waking up and realizing that the real "beef" has always been between the oppressed and the oppressor, the poor and the rich and the powerless and the powerful. 

Hip Hop is not exempt.

While the "Hip Hop beef" stuff may still play well in Hollywood, in 2011, it no longer reflects the mood of the 'hood. The masses are more concerned with exposing the connection between the millionaire rappers and those multi-national companies that are making their gas prices so high as opposed to a soap opera about who dissed who five years ago.

So, we are calling for a conscious coup; a takeover of Hip Hop. It's time to put black on black beef and other forms of  ignorance in high definition to rest. Conscious Hip Hop artists and activists must snatch the power from the corporations and give it back to the people. Hip Hop must become the voice of the poor and oppressed and a vehicle to speak truth to power.

Like Jay and Kanye said it's time to go H.A.M.

But in this case, H.A.M. stands for "Hard As a Militant."


TRUTH Minista Paul Scott can be reached at (919) 451-8283 or info@nowarningshotsfired.com

Article courtesy of The Militant Mind Militia http://www.militantmindmilitia.com

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