The 411, April 9, 2001

Supplied This Week By
H|Y|P|E Information Service - Your "Talking Drum"
By Yemi Toure

April 9, 2001

Pimp and Ho Party for White Folks

Talk about it! To respond to this article, click here.

I came across a newspaper advice column from the New York Times recently that stopped me in my tracks. Here is a question sent in to the column from a white male, and the answer. I am not making this up:

"Q: Friends invited my wife and me to a 'Pimp and Ho' party, asking us to wear outrageous attire inspired by the '70s blaxploitation movies. The prospect of being in a room full of white people dressed as stereotypes of black street criminals makes me squeamish. Should I confront my friends about their racist party? Simply not go? Or just get over my white liberal guilt and shop for a zebra-print fedora? —Anonymous, New York

"A: I share your discomfort and agree that this event is creepily racist. It also manages to insult women. You should decline the invitation and explain why, gently and tactfully—make it not a confrontation but a quiet conversation or even just add a line or two to your R.S.V.P."

Giving the Finger to "They Schools"

"The public schools are not failing; they are doing just what they are supposed to do. They are succeeding—in keeping us down."

So says old-school nationalist and master educator Anyim Palmer of Los Angeles, head of the private and very successful Marcus Garvey School.

We don't know if Palmer watches many videos, but if he does, he should see "They Schools" by hip-hop group dead prez. We have heard that many cable outlets won't show it, so you can catch it here: http://www.onlinehiphopawards.com/sohh/apps/media_player.cfm?mediaID=42

The video shows young Black students in a run-down public school. The teachers have no appreciation or understanding of the students. So the students are in revolt against "They Schools." HYPE talked to the video's director, Tamarat Makonnen, about some controversial scenes:

"As far as the sisters giving the 'finger' (because of their bad schools), that's reality for many of the youth today. All we did was expose the truth to the people who are oblivious of these types of emotions.

"But the image that seems to be causing the most controversy is the shot with dead prez hanging from nooses. It's a powerful image that reflects what is mentally happening to many of our youth in the school system… I hope people begin to demand that 'true' black history be better reflected in our classrooms."

But youth have a responsibility, too, Makonnen told us: "Young people need to begin to pick up books and read about their history…"

Makonnen, 28, lives in of Queens, N.Y. He tells HYPE that our readers can reach him at VisionTDM@aol.com. "I also shot a video for dead prez—'Mind Sex'—that's currently airing on BET."

Both joints, "They Schools" and "Mind Sex," are on the dead prez CD titled "Lets Get Free." Get it.

Who is the World's Biggest Pornographer?

So you think Larry Flynt, of Hustler magazine fame, is the world's biggest pornographer? Urrrrrrnnk.

The world heavyweight porn champ is General Motors. That's right; the car company. The New York Times reported Oct. 23, 2000 that "The General Motors Corporation, the world's largest company, now sells more graphic sex films every year than does Larry Flynt… The 8.7 million Americans who subscribe to DirecTV, a General Motors subsidiary, buy nearly $200 million a year in pay-per-view sex films…"

In addition, EchoStar, "the No. 2 satellite provider… makes more money selling graphic adult films… than Playboy… does with its magazine, cable and Internet businesses combined…"

There's more: "AT&T Corporation offers a hard-core sex channel called the Hot Network to (cable) subscribers… It also… sells (pay-per-view) sex videos to nearly a million hotel rooms."

So maybe when you go in to GM to buy your next car, the salesperson will ask you if you want a subscription to a video series, along with those cup holders.

Down in the Bowels of the New Media

If you have ever been down in the bowels of a New York subway station, you will feel right at home when you look at this Web page. The color, the motion, the soundz of a subway station are here—everything but that pissy smell. Remember the taggers and bombers who took spray paint cans and used the sides of those trains for their canvas? This web page gives them an honored home for their work—work that has influenced hip-hop, art and advertising. Few pages combine cutting-edge images, movement and sounds so well.

Here is some multimedia you can do: Bring your separate CD player next to your computer, and put Wyclef's "911" on it. Then turn on your speakers on your computer, and click. When Clef and Mary sing and you see that subway train pull up—it's all New York!

http://360hiphop.com/360hiphop/variations/0,1070,0-1608-Trainspotting_Articl e,00.html

Rap and Rhapsody

So you know who Grandmaster Flash is. You may even know who Gil Scott-Heron is. (One of the godfathers of spoken word.) But hip-hop's roots go deeper than that, and a new CD set weaves the Harlem Renaissance and Chuck D into one fabric.

Rhino Records has dropped "Rhapsodies In Black," a four-disc box set. It includes music from some of the most important names in jazz and blues, including Bessie Smith and Duke Ellington. But you will also hear Chuck D interpreting Sterling Brown's "Odyssey Of Big Boy"; Coolio reading Arna Bontemps' poem "The Day Breakers." Watch out for Ice-T's stunning interpretation of "If We Must Die," an Earth-shaking poem by Claude McKay. And you will also hear the voices of Angela Bassett and Debbie Allen. A portion of the royalties will be donated to the Studio Museum in Harlem, dedicated to the preservation, documentation, and presentation of the art of Blacks in the U.S. and the Afrikan diaspora.

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