What's in a name?...

Hey Y'all:
 So maybe I am just in one of my Brother Malcolm moods. I tend to get this way from time to time, where I become extremely sensitive to areas in which I think micro aggressions are occurring.

What is a Micro Aggression?- A theory that proposes that interactions between those of different, races, genders and cultures can be interpreted as small acts of non-physical aggression.

If you are fascinated by Critical Race Theory then this is something you should take a look at. It's really interesting and it can be connected to the subtle "jokes" that people make, to even the larger scale continuation of not pronouncing a person's name accurately or continually calling a Latina- Maria when her name is Elizabeth.

Anyway, it't the latter that kind of confuses me.

If you haven't seen this viral video of Mateo talking to his mom Linda, then I really need you to watch it for the pure humor. It only makes me more satisfied that little Mateo and his family are from San Jose California- Bay Area, stand up!

It's not this video that has me frustrated or annoyed, it's the video where Mateo and his mother go on the Ellen show:

What annoys me, is his name is Mateo. His mom is addressing him as Mateo, but Ellen continues to call him Matthew.. Now it might be something that other people have missed or don't even catch, but I cant be excited for this moment for Mateo, because all I keep getting frustrated with is the fact that Ellen keeps calling him something other than his name. Now.. I get it, translate Mateo into American English and it becomes Matthew. But his name IS Mateo! Why call him Matthew.

I might also be frustrated by the cultural assimilation that Ellen- probably not intentionally, proposes. It's annoying that in order to make things a little more palpable for others we have to conform to some notions that our names don't matter. I don't say this without my own biases.. I choose not to use my full name- Nakeesha, when I am being addressed. I choose only to go by Keesha. But, in doing so I am taking away the power of the name that my parents blessed me with and the meaning behind that name. As I get older, I allow that name to be used more often, but it still doesn't come with a sense of some general shock. But it's a choice, that I MADE.. Not someone else.

Maybe I shouldn't be so frustrated, but I think the conflict arose when the mother spoke and she called him Mateo, but Ellen speaking to Mateo said "Matthew."

---Let the commentary begin.

Undefeated- A mindset not just about stats

Hey y'all so I am taking this post from one of my other blogs- my SportsGal89 Blog. I felt it necessary because of the passions I have in sports to also share this here with you. I am adding a little more to what was originally written because I think it is telling to know what or how you can Be the Change for others around you without even knowing it.

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Hey Y'all It's your favorite SportsGal89 Innnnnnnnnnnn the Buildin'. I am bringing you today a different style in my posts then I have normally.
  Today I am posting still about sports, but it's the sides we don't always talk about or it's the beginning of the journey for the players that we constantly cheer for but don't always know what drives them when they play.
  I watched a well celebrated documentary about a 2009 Tennessee Football Team called "Undefeated." It is one of the BEST documentaries that I have seen and still very much a reminder of what I feel is a true responsibility of fans of the game to remember what these athletes are putting themselves through or what adversity they are overcoming to "entertain" us for a lack of a better word. Yes, they make careers out of the game that they love and something that they are passionate about, but it's bigger than that.

Undefeated- Simply means NOT DEFEATED! What a brilliant title. When you think football (or any sport for that matter) and you think the word undefeated you assume that what it means is that the team had one heck of a season. That they had however many wins and no losses.

But as the story continues I realized that undefeated was never about football, it was about life. Coach Courtney, the coach of the team opens with this great quote, "Young men of character end up winning in life and winning in football." His investment in these inner city kids, who are up against life was so amazing. Undefeated for these young men was about being undefeated in life.

Coach Courtney told the young men after they had their first loss of the season that "The character of a man is not measured in how he handles his wins, but how he handles his failures." When life gets a hold of us in general we are all measured by how we handle our failures. Do we allow it to cripple us or do we get back up, head high and keep pressing forward?

One of the players, O.C. Brown was slated to be the most recruited out of the players on the team. But he had a huge obstacle, one that I see constantly in athletes and one of those areas that I will continue to be passionate about. O.C.'s hindrance was his grades. He was skilled on the field, but in the classroom he struggled. This is something we see in athletes all the time. Especially when it comes to College Ball, you can't play if you don't have the grades- It's called STUDENT athlete, not athlete student. But there is a lot at risk when you come from a community like these boys do. If they are not prepared adequately to be able to do both then how do they succeed. The other part of it is, the preparation sets them up to be able to handle the new environment in college. I am always fascinated to know what happened to the people in documentaries after we see a glimpse of their success. So I Googled it- I won't share that here, because I want you to see the film before you know the outcome of his story.

But 4 years changes people, and if you are an urban male youth who is not exposed to certain things, a change as drastic as going to college with the mindset that you are an athlete student, will lead to a lot of struggles.

I loved this documentary for giving me a chance to see the back story of the next great College Star or NFL player.

I think as fans of the game we need to remember their story, we need to share it and celebrate it.

I need you to  get on your Netflix account and check out this film. I promise you it will be worth it. You will walk away from the screen, whether it be tv or computer, and you will be satisfied. You will be encouraged and moved. I am so glad I got to watch this film, and there is still probably a lot that I can ponder on about the documentary, but I think I am going to leave that for my other blog- Be the Change.  

That's all she wrote focus, please watch this documentary!

"You don't quit because you are frustrated you just keep going"- Coach Courtney #Undefeated

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So why am I sharing this here with you now. Because, Coach Courtney was just a volunteer who invested in these young men's lives without question. He battled with them and what they were up against for 6 years. He sacrificed time with his family to invest in this larger family he was creating. I think we all have a responsibility to get out of our own way and realize how much of a gift it is to share our life, our story a testimony with others. I am learning this lesson in a big way, more than I realized I would.

We live our lives somewhat sheltered and closed off from people we are around. We don't take time to listen to the stories of the people we pass in the street and we miss out on real opportunities to care for others around us. I have trouble letting people in, but I am free and open in sharing with the Internet. Ha, but what could I be doing for young people, a generation I care deeply about, if I don't open myself a little more and take that risk?

We have it in our capacity to change lives to really make a difference. I know I can be a difference for a generation and I know you can too!

In response to actor Joe Morton's blog "When will Black Historical Films Focus on Triumph, rather than plight?"

I recently came across this blog post written on Huffington Post by actor Joe Morton... Those of you who follow Scandal will know him as Eli, Rownan or Command.

While I don't necessarily disagree with Morton's comments, I do however feel the need to make some sort of response.

Morton opens his post with the following questions. I respond to each question in purple:

What does this scenario illustrate that we didn't know or haven't seen before? 
   While I understand that 12 Years a Slave is repetitive of what we know or have seen to some extent, it is still important to illustrate our history. In the time that we are living, there are still many injustices when it comes to race. There are still so many who do not understand the magnitude of what slavery has done against a people. And to be honest, no film has depicted slavery in such a graphic and unbelievably poignant way. 

And why does such a film garner such popularity? 
 It garners popularity, because while it is a depiction of our history, it is done so tastefully. And I will be honest, let's talk about the films in this genre that have gained popularity- we can all count them on our fingers- Glory, Roots, Rosewood, Amistad . 12 Years a Slave will be this generations, and this decades film of slavery. It in many ways will be the film that will top those others I have mentioned above. 

And the list of questions goes on: Why are equal rights the greatest, and seemingly the only, commercial product for so-called black film coming out of Hollywood?
I won't disagree with you here. The same ole, same ole is definitely frustrating. But why do we want there to be a commercial product, don't want diversity in the films that we produce? I think the call should be to promote more of our producers, directors and writers to challenge themselves to think more about the products they put out. 

 Does this imply that mea-culpa-slavery-films are an artistic perennial for a predominately white audience? 
In 2013, even though we have a Multiracial President. We are still facing the same racial challenges that we had 10-15-20 and 200 years ago. The truth is in this day and age, there are more individuals who believe we live in a post-racial environment. That Mr. Morton, might not be how you define it. But for those of us, like myself who will not and do not align ourselves with this thought, I have to believe that there is still very much a need for us to remind the country and those ignorant out there that what happened during the historical depiction of 12 Years a Slave,  is still very reflective of what we are still seeing here today in the US. Race is still very much a taboo topic here, we do not talk about the pain of the history we have to collectively face and be open to dealing with. 

Why are there few films about African American heroes, produced by Hollywood, as opposed to African American victims? Why has there never been a film about Nat Love or William Pickett (African American cowboys), Bass Reeves (the first African American lawman in the west who, if Reeves were fictional, would be a combination of Sherlock Holmes, Superman, and the Lone Ranger) or The Exodusters (African American pioneers who ventured west)? These are stories about people who took charge of their own destinies and were only victims of their individual circumstances, like their white counterparts. These are characters that are heroic, not victims.

I don't think it is fair to belittle a man like Solomon Northup as a victim. His story is one story of many slaves, who didn't get to tell their stories or return to the lives they once lived. His story is reflective of the stories of many who were robbed of their lives, of their free lives. We will NEVER truly know why he was chosen, but I don't think that it's right to call Northup or any other story about African American history as those of being victims. Each man, woman and child who lived through slavery is a hero! They lived and their stories should be remembered, and should be told and should be celebrated.

Could there definitely be more stories about our triumphs, yes. 

I applaud Mr. Morton for beginning the conversation of where we go next when it comes to our art. I think it is important and something that is reflective of the battle between Spike Lee and Tyler Perry, that the arguments were really about doing more. To not continue to allow our story to be on repeat in the same way. I get that, so Mr. Morton, while I don't disagree, I think that this is part of our history. We have a right to tell it our way and if we don't do it with honor and dignity then who will? But I also say to those of you current and aspiring in this field. Do more, do better and let's continue to share our history and celebrate it respectfully. 

Let us remember what films we do have coming up: Mandela- A Long Walk to Freedom  is a highly anticipated film about triumph of one of the world's most celebrated leaders. While it is not a story of African American history, it is a story of our African connection. And one that I think will begin to further open the gates to what we can accomplish. 

We just need to grow up

Normally I do not pay attention or take certain websites so seriously. However, this #BuzzFeed article caught my attention as it flooded my Facebook news feed with words associated to it like "Disgusting" "Outraged" "Angered" "Disturbed..." and so on and so on.

Clearly my friends were in a rage about something and I wanted to know what it was.

So I read the following post http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/a-lot-of-people-are-very-upset-that-an-indian-american-woman with the title " A Lot of people are very upset that an Indian-American woman won the Miss America Pageant". As I began to read the brief and started to scroll through the highlighted tweets, I found myself beginning to be really disturbed by the comments and the feedback that was being made.

Here we are again 2013 dealing with the very real fact that there are people in this country who continue to talk to me as a young "Black" woman in America, that my plight in that is no longer critical. I am constantly bombarded with messaging that racism does not exist in this country. But an post pointing out the very real responses of several ignorant people, leaves me wanting to shake those people and say " You will NEVER get it!" and "Your continued ability to be blind to it, continues to allow the space for ignorance and stupidity, like this to prevail."

 I will give room to the fact that this post only highlighted the negatives, but did not highlight any comments that might have been positive post the announcement.

I don't want to get angry anymore, I want a solution to how we overcome statements like these and how we as a country don't celebrate the successes of individuals who achieve so much. My solution, I continue to encourage and develop young women around me to be proud of who they are, to be proud of their individualism, to be proud of their background and where they came from. We live in a country that has a mass amount of power and potential and to keep being metaphorically punched in the face when things like this come out is disgusting, degrading and overall annoying.

To the individuals who made these comments, thank you for reminding me that our work is NOT at all done. And that there are still some very valuable lessons that need to be learned. We have work to do and I plan on being a voice for that work.

"A Plague on both your houses," For #Trayvon

I have been silent for the most part when it comes to the story of #TrayvonMartin. I was vocal and just as outraged as the rest of the nation when news first broke that a young 17 unarmed boy was killed while walking home from a store. My call for justice was that the known suspect would be taken into custody and that we allowed the courts to handle it. Through the course of the 28 or 29 day trial, I have stayed away from the news and anything remotely close to the case. Sometimes though that is easier said than done; in what I was trying to separate myself from, I got sucked in. Into the disgusting way a young woman was viewed by the public who commented on how she spoke, the fact that she lied about her age etc. Into the social media day to day response about what was happening in the court room and what would be the outcome. On Saturday a verdict was laid down- “Not guilty.” And like many others, my social media outlets erupted. I have been tuning in at a distance so as not to be emotionally wrapped up in what is happening. Seeing the comments from all sides is stressful: there are those who comment that race should not be a factor, there are those who say that in the value of justice, our system did what it was supposed to, there are those who are outraged, who feel let down by a system that continuously tells them their lives are not valuable or worthy enough for “guilty.” In seeing this back and forth I have wanted to comment, I have wanted to scream, cry out and shout.

In the wake of it all I was only able to post this:

My silence isn't because I don't have a ton to say. My silence is because I don't know HOW to say it.. 

I have been reading my news feed, and taking in a lot of comments. Some points I agree with and some points I disagree with. I have been seeing posts on Twitter and through other media outlets, and have seen the arguments from both sides. But my heart still weeps because in spite of our arguing a young man is still dead and we are no more closer to a better society.

I know now is the time to vent, to speak from your emotion, but I do hope that people take time to think before they speak. What we are seeing as a result of the Zimmerman Trial is just emotion. What comes later when the "smoke settles," is a time for healing and you can't heal if you spent this time shooting other people down. 

Healing means a time for ALL people to come together and grieve. Because we lost a human life and collectively we lost a part of our development as a better society.

So don't mistake my silence for not paying attention, I am simply seeking discernment and wisdom because despite our differences of opinion today, I NEED you in order to survive this life tomorrow...

Ella Baker, a SHEro of the Civil Rights movement once said "Remember, we are not fighting for the freedom of the Negro alone, but for the freedom of the human spirit a larger freedom that encompasses all mankind.”

I guess, that quote is a great starting place for this conversation. This case for me fundamentally is at the fault of all of us. We allowed a system in which it was okay for someone to stereotype another person and cause loss of a young life. We allowed a system where a flawed gun law protected him.

To those of my friends who do not identify with Black or African- American, until you have walked in my shoes, you will NEVER understand the emotions and thoughts that I go through, most especially when it is heightened in moments such as these. Making comments, posting status updates and sharing articles about what you believe is flawed, is your way of being able to contribute to the conversation. But what I ask instead of discounting, undermining and telling me my feelings are not valid, that you take time to listen. Do not dismiss me, us..

To my friends who might not identify with the Black/ African- American Community, our outrage is not simply because of #TrayvonMartin, our outrage is what he represents- the COLLECTIVE GRIEVANCES, EMOTIONAL STRESS and LOSS OF LIFE . Trayvon will never again be an individual, instead he will be the heartache that a community feels.

When you say we don’t understand the justice system, understand that historically the justice system has time and time again, let this community down. Understand that you are speaking from a place of privilege without having to have this history as your backdrop. When more of our Black men are in jail or their murders are not upheld in the same rate or fashion of those of other races it becomes an issue. When Trayvon was killed, it was on the heels of series of misses by the justice system- see Sean Bell, see Oscar Grant; Two cases that recently saw lax responses by the courts when the deaths of these two individuals was unnecessary.

While I understand your wanting to remove the Black/White Binary that litters this story today, you also have to understand that there IS no running away from it. It lives in the very fabric of what this country is and until we are comfortable to talk about it we will never get away from it. A friend shared an article during the aftermath of the case, where the Black author was questioned by her white friend who said “Why are you (my Black friend) so sensitive to race.” This question sparked a lot of frustration by the author, echoing several points that I have listed and will list through this blog. But it also raised this one for me- why do you (her white friend) think that you are NOT sensitive to it? In quickly dismissing our feelings, by saying we are sensitive to race, I believe that you are showing how sensitive you are to it. On the one hand you have Black individuals who are happy to confront the issues of race- if that calls us sensitive, because we are no longer willing to allow race conversations to be these subtle digs in our lives, than SORRY, NOT SORRY!!! But in your statement it reminds me that you are not to easily able to confront it either.

To those who say we live in a post-racial society, PLEASE do some research, spend some time talking to those of us in the community who constantly feel the pressures of the world around us. Yes, some of it is an ingrained sense of anxiety, but the other part of it is reality—too often it gets dismissed by others of our community saying we are “playing the race card,” and at other times it gets dismissed by other communities because they feel like we are past the tense race issues of the past. Because there are no dogs, fire hoses, cross burnings and lynchings, doesn’t mean that race conflict does not exist in this country. Because you can’t see it and touch it, doesn’t mean it’s not real. You don’t know my reality, our reality and the privilege you have is that you don’t have to know or feel that reality. But you must at least respect that it exists. You must at least have an interest in recognizing that it is an experience that we have. And you must accept the privilege that you have in not dealing with it the way we do.

In moments like these, my frustration lays in the WHEN will we be at the point. I think for our community we continue to have situations like these that we just "add to the pile," and I think people misunderstand that our outrage and outcry isn't because of this one situation, but that it adds to the collective grieving historically that our community has been faced with.. But I caution our community in these moments to use terms, "Like not in our lifetime." I want the WHEN to happen IN my lifetime.

At the core of Trayvon Martin is this misunderstood sense of Justice. We have this idea that Justice is mean to do something for good an evil. That Justice means retribution. In this case specifically, “not guilty” did not deny the fact that George Zimmerman is at fault for the death of Trayvon Martin. What “not guilty” did was say that George Zimmerman acted in his right to protect himself. It said that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that he acted out of his turn. I know that this is a tough thing for many of us to understand, but I think we all need to take a step back. This should invigorate us to take politics and government more seriously, we should be moved to educate ourselves, our peers and our community about the system and we should work to make it work for us. In this time, the parents of Trayvon Martin need healing. He is no longer just their son. Like the many Black boys, known and unknown, Trayvon became ours. He became the image that we can add to the story that is so cloudy and painful. He will never just be theirs alone and this is their time to regroup to grieve again and to have that peace.

Before we ask them to take up our stripes even more, we need to give them time. I urge our leaders who speak about this case to be mindful that there are some people who just simply don’t know. While we argue that it is 2013, we can’t expect them to know in a time and in a country that is unwilling to make it matter.

So going back to Ms. Baker’s quote—Trayvon is our son. His story is our story and it is our responsibility to make up for our mistakes and failures so that we do not have another Trayvon story in our future. Until then, " a plague on both your houses." A line from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. When the bickering of the families was much greater than the loss of life of both Romeo and Juliet. 

The denial of both communities to acknowledge their insecurities, privileges and lack of will power to discuss race- a Plague on us. Shame on us!

I hope that more than anything this life of 17, continues to spark a conversation. We have more work to do.

That's all she wrote! 

Killed Softly: Optimism dying

I'm 27 years old. Over the course of my life I have lived through some amazing shifts in our culture, nationally and internationally. How those shifts impacted me was greatly magnified based on the color of my skin.
  Being a member of what I choose to identify as the Black Community, (also referred to as the African-American community, here in the states) has with it a few DEEP rooted feelings and sentiments, ones that have been expounded upon by the likes of Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Carter G. Woodson, W.E.B Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Malcom X, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., bell hooks-- just to name a few. For many of these profound thinkers the historical legacy of the Black community in the world has caused this symptom or disease that continues to creep into generation after generation. They had different terms for it, I call it FEAR.
  Being a member and a witness to the Black community in the U.S means that we teach our young men to be careful of their actions for fear that they will wind up dead, or in jail. Being a member and a witness to the Black community in the U.S. means that we teach our young women to be careful about who they give their hearts to. One because we are concerned of young women becoming mother’s way too soon, and two in reference to my first point our young men face many challenges but the most prevalent- death or jail.  We encourage our younger generation to strive for greatness and excellence in their education and their own self-value and worth. The backdrop of this fear, a history riddled with genocide at the hands of others and our own.
  In the decades of my life the Black community has been ravaged by Crack-- Black men and communities destroyed by 6 x 8-foot cells. Miles away from the "mean streets" they grow up in and are ultimately placed into what only science and great philosophers would classify as "chaos" or "the root of civil societies."

In the decades of my life, I have listened to and seen  the stories members of my community crushed by poverty. I have listened to and seen the stories of members of my community gunned down story after story on the news of another life lost. We have seen police brutality on a daily basis, that sometimes within the community it is no longer about who it will happen to and more about when.
   Over the last few years the story of the young Black man in the U.S. has been this-- 50 shots took Sean Bell, a gun mistaken for a taser took Oscar Grant, and recently incomprehensible motives took the lives of Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis. These are the names of the men that made national headlines, these are not even the start of the many countless men who have been murdered shot and killed, gone too soon and in only something that can be defined as senseless. The undertones in these stories bring back our nation's racist roots. Bringing back the subtle and sometimes not so subtle understanding that we haven't moved that far from the feelings of a polarized us vs. them, Black vs. white dichotomy.
  When was it okay to automatically assume that another individual could cause harm, based solely on the fact that he happened to be Black? Trayvon and Jordan both 17 years old, young men, living the life that my parent's generation cautioned mine about exhibiting, end up being gunned down because of a look, a stereotype about their behavior and who they are. Dr. King Jr. said, in his well-known speech I have a Dream, :
    I have a dream that one day my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of the character.

Today, I think that dream died and continues to die a little more when not only are our young men being judged, but they are also losing their lives because of the color of their skin.

TuPac in his song Changes rapped about the gun violence within the Black community. He also rapped about gun violence and brutality AGAINST the Black community. The chorus of the song: 

"Come on, come on
That's just the way it is
Things'll never be the same
That's just the way it is
aww yeah"

The song for me always made me think that maybe ‘Pac was too pessimistic. On the one hand he looks at the world around him and sees that the same stuff that plagued the community before, still plague the community, in his lifetime.  But towards the end, 'Pac tells his audience that we have the power to see the changes we want to see, but we have to be willing and almost ready to change. 

Whenever I heard this song, I would look out at the world around me and see that there were still the same problems that 'Pac addressed, but as I grew up, I began to feel that we were making bigger better strides for change.

It's in these moments, reflecting on a life that should have been promised for these young men, a life that was robbed from them, from their families and their friends that I think 'Pac might have gotten it right in the chorus- That's just the way it is. There is an EPIDEMIC within the Black community. I don't want to live in a world, where I must be pessimistic and think That's just the way it is, and we are going to have to forever keep protecting our children from the living out the stereotypes that are killing them. I'm tired of having to convince myself that the Black community has it wrong, that we must change, when all Trayvon and Jordan were doing was living their lives, being young men- walking home, or getting gas with friends. They didn't deserve to die, and we shouldn't continue to sit back and toss up our hands and think that this is what our lives must be.

  As a member of and a witness within the Black community, as a future mother, as an aunt to nephews, a cousin to young men in urban environments I don't want to live in constant fear that one day the image that flashes across that TV screen could be them.

 My heart is heavy when I read these stories and see the reports. It breaks and it is full of pain, and a constant reminder that there is still much work to be done, that when it comes to race relations in the U.S we are still taking one step forward and two steps back. We have a Multi-Racial (Black for those of you who must claim it) President and on the one side this descriptive representation of a HUGE part of this society, means absolutely nothing when we are still rife with racist undertones and young men who could have been future Presidents  themselves, are gunned down in this day and age. 

  I am 27 years old, and what I see over the decades that I have lived is that we still haven't learned, and the changes that we had been hopeful for are still far out of our way. I don't want to lose my optimism, but each day that we lose another one of our young generation and our future in this fashion, my optimism gets killed softly.

R.I.P- Sean[23], Oscar[23], Trayvon[17] and Jordan[17] and now Michael Brown[18] (see below)

(This post was originally published on 11/28/2012) 

At the time I was 27 years old. I am now 29 and due to an event on my birthday, the country has erupted yet again. His name was Mike Brown, he was 18 years old. He was unarmed. He was shot 6 times, twice in the head and he lost his life.  

The city of Ferguson, MO is aggravated, and all eyes are on this city. But it's not just Ferguson, it's cities all over the country and all over the world. 

My words above speak for this situation as much as they resonated at the sadness, I felt hearing about Trayvon and Jordan. When will it stop? When will this no longer be our story? 

Power of the Mic- Why I love Lupe Fiasco

If you read my other blogs, you know I love music! I love the way music transforms people, I love how music can make people think. I have am particularly fond of hip hop and rap music. I have clear definitions of what these are.. Hip hop for me sparks people to think deeper, it provokes action. I look at Hip Hop starting in the 80s and still going on today, except back in the 80s you could count that Hip Hop was largely all of the music that you heard from certain artists and now only a few rappers I feel still fit in the Hip Hop Column. And Hip Hop today in my opinion is a dying breed where Rappers might dip a little into the genre but they are too mainstream and bubble gum producing the same trashy music- that yes I admittedly will play, but that produces an image of a culture that was very much far from what I think the forefathers of Hip Hop were trying to convey.
  So today, one of those artists that I feel continues to be true to Hip Hop is Lupe Fiasco... Lupe doesn't make music to appease the Industry. His music is enlightened, is challenging, teaches you to think, pushes the limits and doesn't fit in the form that many would think rap should. He continues to have a strong base of supporters and in my opinion for Lupe he's in the game not because of the music but because of the message.

 So recently he released a new song and video called "Bitch Bad." I had seen some rumblings of the video in my social media outlets but I hadn't actually seen the video for myself until today. I was blown away and in a GREAT way...
  "Bitch Bad" certainly is controversial. He basically is creating satire of what is known as "hip hop" music today. With the rappers and their money, and grills, showing off their jewelry and cars. It highlights the video women, dancing around in skimpy clothes and the misguided power that young girls think they can have. Images that make many question the sexism and misogyny of hip hop. The video is bananas (in a phenomenal way)  and the part that is so interesting is that not only is he making it a satire on what is mainstream rap, he has the "rapper" and the "video vixen" in his music video in Blackface. As a way to equate mainstream rap as a minstrel, playing into the hands of what the, then "white man" wanted and today an image that some claim as not our own. (Please note, our as I am a African descent woman and am speaking from the community to which I identify most with).
   I must comment here, that my fascination with this music video is also due to the fact that I love music, as I mentioned before and for me, music videos should closely relate to the story in the song. This video does just that, "Bitch Bad" is a play on the ideas that we have about what the word "bitch" means. For some "Bitch Bad" could mean "bad ass," "hot," "down," etc. For others the fight around the word "bitch" is that it is degrading. Women call each other "bitch" sometimes as a term of endearment so they claim, but most often as a way to cast them down.. not with the same meaning as the N-word , but it does have the same power.
  Lupe's wordplay throughout the song  is AMAZING!!  He starts the song "Bitch bad, woman good, lady better," as a reminder of what we should call our female population. Bitch is bad, woman is alright, but calling her a lady, better.
  And then you get to this verse:
  Disclaimer: this rhymer, Lupe, is not usin' "bitch" as a lesson
But as a psychological weapon
To set in your mind and really mess with your conceptions
Discretions, reflections, it's clever misdirection

I think this is what makes Lupe a GENIUS!! Lupe flips the image quick, to let you know that if you thought he was glorifying Bitch, that you had it twisted. 

He continues:

 He caught in a reality, she caught in an illusion

Bad mean good to her, she really nice and smart
But bad mean bad to him, bitch don't play a part
But bitch still bad to her if you say it the wrong way
But she think she a bitch, what a double entendre

This is the reality of the word in our diction today. Many people think bitch is a "good" thing. As I said, it's a term of endearment when your girls call you bitch, it's a negative when your man or another dude or another female that you are having issues with calls you a bitch. We ( as in women, the gender I identify as) use that word as if it is love one minute and a dagger then next. 

So with the lyrics and coupled with the video it is an all around "mind-f%&*." That has left me thinking about the way we use words. It also reminds me of those moments where I am torn between a good beat and a horrible misguided image that continues to taint the fabric of a community. Furthermore, it makes me thankful for the power of music as art, as a movement  and as an opportunity to speak a message and have value. 

But don't take my word for it.. Take Lupe's "Bitch Bad"