Little Brother > Lupe Fiasco

As I drive through North Carolina and past the Duke University Date Rape Center I think about what would have happened this fall had the producers from the Vh-1 Hip-Hop Honors Awards chosen Phonte and Big Pooh to hold down the tribute for Tribe Called Quest instead of Pharell and the D-bag? I prah’lee wouldn’t have shit to talk about I suppose. Other than the fact that Lil’ Wang sucks.

How long does a Southern bred rapper have to toil in obscurity because he doesn’t make rhymes about fried chicken dances or car wheels? I’ve always wondered what was up with the majority of artists that come from South of the Mason-Dixon line. Why don’t they have the spirit of justice in their hearts that the folks that were part of the Civil Rights movement had. Are these even the kids of that movement? I think the people that stayed in the South post-Civil Rights movement were the families that were scared to march in the beginning.

I can’t say I blame them either since this country has already set the precedent that they won’t prosecute or punish the people that disenfranchise others of their civil liberties. Maybe some of these longtime Southerners remember the days when the only Black people that white came to see on stage were standing on the gallows about to be lynched. How about that for progress? Do you think white would be willing to make the Wu sign openly in public fifty years ago? Prah’lee not, unless the ‘W’ was for white power.

This is why I give Little Brother all the credit for being a group that is willing to stand for a social purpose instead of being a bunch of happy go lucky minstrel performers. There’s certainly nothing wrong with being celebratory, but there is still so much work to do to educate people and remove racism and poverty. That job can’t fall on the shoulders of artists alone but at least its good to see some rappers from the South like David Banner, Juvenile and the group Little Brother that recognize the journey is still underway. My next stop is Atlanta, Georgia where the only king that black people care about is T.I., not Martin Luther.

Oh, and Burger King too.