(originally uploaded by ElPrimo181)
[...] Nas you’re that nigga that pretends to have a grasp on the social quagmire that our people are stuck in and yet cannot for the life of you articulate or justify your position on this obvious plea for controversy. Does this brother realize that his attempts at diffusing the word “Nigger” by making it some all inclusive colloquialism to represent all races is as weak as the beat he spit it too?
Does he realize that when Robert Schwartz decides to stop being a nigger all he has to do is change his look; maybe trade in the bapes and backpack put on a suit and he’s right and exact.
When Robert Yung decides he’s no longer a nigga he can be whatever an person of Asian decent can be in the country stereo types not withstanding.
When Robert Rodriguez decides to stop being a nigger he can become a proud man of Latin descent.
However for Robert Jenkins, whose Grand parents were NIGGERS, blown over by fire hoses and beat within an inch of their lives, when the term meant what it will always mean despite his attempts to make it a term of endearment. Whom despite his affluence or allegiance has to be as scared as a runaway slave when pulled over for driving black or shopping black, or standing in a group of more than 3 in his own neighborhood while black or any of the number of things blacks can do innocently while being black and end up dead because the Cop who shot him 50 times like Shawn Bell or 42 like Amadou Diallo didn’t consider himself a nigger… We’re the only race that embraces our disgrace, and now you would have everyone else sing along with us in our shame.
My nigga Nas
You’ve been everything they ever told you to be. Nasty Nas, Nastrodomas, Nas Escobar. and now you’re their Nigga.
At what point are you going to be a MAN? [...]
I’ll save my opinion until I vic the album, digest the lyrics and flow and write a review. Of course I’ll be coming from a different position with my opinion than NYOIL, but I think I’ll be able to speak to dispersing self-degradation as a concept.
In any case, can you say, “OUCH!?”
UPDATE: I had to include NYOIL’s What Up My Wgga? in the conversation:
“you can hate me now”
“this goes out to the fuck nas coalition”
“feeling like a black republican, all this money coming in”
he is what he is…jayZ is better.
if we’re having that conversation, i’ll have to beg to differ:
i’m a Nas fan, but that quote in your post made me want to say HALLELUJAH! That word is unnecessary. I understand the argument about “owning” the word, but how about we create a new term altogether…that would be more empowering!
my favorite nas jam, post-anything on illmatic, has to be one mic.
it has such a dope progression to it and the flow made me want to rise up, but to NYOIL’s point — if you actually study the lyrics, there are a lot of thoughts in his flow that could read as “not thought out.”
or are there?
check it:
so the lyrics start off with a vivid picture of a man who needs to express and perform and shifts into a picture of a man who needs a steady relationship and a home… while being strapped.
ok, he’s taking us into his world. or a world he knows. so let’s go.
before you know it, nas is mixing religion and alcohol, painting a picture of a man losing his mind and control to violent plots, while neighborhood children follow in his footsteps. so the cops are out to stop it… we don’t flow into how the cycle needs to be stopped — real solutions in a real flow — we’re stuck in the perspective of a high, crazed man reppin’ his hood by any means necessary, endangering the lives of himself and others.
remember what de la said about keeping it right, not real?
the climax of this stanza’s progression — which works really well as a build to a chorus, but not as much as a conscious narrative — has nas inferring that people should have babies to join the epic battle in the streets. the abortion line is loaded, as there are plenty of reasons to not have an abortion, but having babies to soldier up — in this flow — reads as a weak attempt to join a greater meme that an m1 or stic-man lives day in & day out.
unless there’s Five Percent numerology at play in the last few lines with the mention of Nines (born), wtf is nas saying?
who cares, the drop to the chorus is dope. right?
nas gets so deep in his poetry that the interpretation is completely left up to the listener. as a poet, that’s why i’m giving him the benefit of the doubt. i need to hear this ish for myself.
once art leaves the hand, mouth, etc. of the artist the interpretation is always left up to the listener/audience. no matter what an artist wants their work to be about…they have no control over the audience interpretation.
the chorus is beyond dope!
this song is just another example of (in my opinion) the double consciousness…W.E.B. Dubois used that term in reference to the black experience, and i can personally vouch for that. but all humans are complex people longing for the emergence of one aspect of our ego, while fighting to repress the other.
and nines could be glock nines, maybe…
yep, that’s art for you. that’s why i want to hear his latest for myself. though i’ll probably pay only after i play and only *if* i respect it. ;-)
ok, we now have some mon/tues afternoon discussion material. i want to hear more about the “double consciousness” in reference to the black experience.
i figured glock nines would be the easy translation, but that would put an exclamation point on NYOIL’s point about nas bringing half-ass consciousness to his lyrics. you know?