This is an interresting quote from Mopreme, Tupac's brother about the significance of Thug Life.....

"Thug Life was supposed to be in the community. We were supposed to be
teaching school, helping drug addicted kids. It was supposed to be more of
a social thing
because the game was way out of control."
- Mopreme, The Source Magazine (April 2001)

Where did they go wrong?
and
How can we find a to mobilize brothers on street?

somewhere in the definition

instead of what he's claiming, "thug life" became known as just that -- celebrating the "life of thuggery".

Couldn't have said it better myself... shit we might as well delete this post, damn Boodah why you got to go ruin everything with your wisdom...lol

peace

the cure of a thing is in its oppostite- Al Haqq

i know that sounds too simple but it was the best thing i could think of that contains the real answer.

what we can do is get our OWN self together and then work our way from the inside out. toward our spouses and children, then friends and neighbors,etc. i don't have a real PLANNED OUT blueprint in my head, but we need to make sure those who have security and stability thier own lives are the ones to be the revered men in the eye of the community.

...i think they went out the same way the panthers did and the same pitfalls...the blind tryning to lead the blind is always a slippery slope, not saying that thug life, the group, was unintelligent but to counter the effect of the streets you have to bring in a foreign agent, a catalyst that succumb to the lure...these are babies trying to raise babies....i remember huey newton while talking on black capitalism saying that just cause blacks get money doesn't mean they'll do what needs to be done, and they can't be expected to if they're not trained
..they had the heart and the desire


"fool, Hip-Hop is what I say it is" -- Saul Williams

This kind of brings me back to that post on CIA drug trafficking in our communities. It seriously debilitated us as a people. I live in L.A. and I've witnessed the demise of many brothers and sisters (as I'm sure many of us have. everybody knows or has known a drug user and dealer). There once was a time when the neighborhood mini markets were BLACK owned...as well as the gas stations, the cleaners, etc. Now they're Korean run. I remember going to the store for my momma and finding out that "Mr. Robinson", who ran the market, had sold it to a Korean man named Jack. Apparently Mr. Robinson needed money to support his drug habit. What happened here??? To make matters worse, "Mr. Robinson's" nephew was his dealer.
I know so many brothers doing 30+ years for selling drugs while we go on with our content little lives, forgetting them until the "system" catches US slipping. I know, cause I'm guilty of it myself. Read the post and article posted in OkayActivist on the CIA and the "pretend" war on drugs. Join the fight with 'Crack the CIA' or just start making a difference in your present communities. Start at home. Every little bit counts.

I was the type of little girl who absorbed everything around me like a sponge. Whatever I learned, in school or in a book, I shared it with just about everyone I knew. People got sick of me always talking and for a while I felt kind of like a nuisance and kept my 2 cents to myself. Until I realized that I WAS getting through to them, no matter how much they hated to hear it and how annoying a "know-it-all" might be. I got them to thinking and learning stuff they wouldn't otherwise take the time to learn on their own. That felt good.

There are so many bright people on this board (you know who you are) that I've learned from and in turn I'm giving it (that knowledge) back to the people I come in contact with. Positivity is contagious too. Set an example.

O.K., so I'm rambling but I hope I got my point across. One way to get youngsters to walk a better path is to lead the way, nahmean? Show them their alternatives and how they can reach 'em. Support them, encourage them, teach them, uplift them, guide them...you get the picture. Just don't give up on 'em.

"If you think you're too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito."
-Bette Reese

"Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."
-Chinese proverb

"Knowing others is Wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment."

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn."

"The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps -- we must step up the stairs."

>Where did they go wrong?

By using "Thug Life" as their anthem ro mantra.



"Quite people aren't the only ones who don't say much." - Bazooka Joe

"Some people get love, but don't command respect/ That's something you can't buy with a check/ Or a Rolle or Lex/ Or icy links that hang from ya neck/ If it's real who needs to deal with the special effect?" - Mos

Sounds like a bunch of crap to me. Why would you use a moniker for a social group that people associate with criminals and people who victimize you?!

As for Koreans owning things in poor Black neighboorhoods, in a lot of those places...competition from larger stores and the general economic decline of the community made it harder for the stores to compete and make a decent profit. Anyway, I suspect that the Koreans are simply willing to live with less and are just happy to over here running a business. It will be interesting to see if their children will want to keep running the establishments or if they'll sell them off too.

Drugs are a factor, but hey I grew up in the burbs and I've known White folks that did the same thing..so I don't think that's a racial or culture issue...that's a country wide American one.


Lata,


M2

Why do I have this feeling that I'm being singled out? I guess since you grew up in the burbs you really don't know much about what goes on in the hood. Or maybe you had relatives in the hood? Or maybe you're just goin on something you heard? I don't know, but I don't think that Koreans are really content with NOT turning a profit, if what you're saying is that they don't make any money in the hood. We DO buy gas in our neighborhoods...and groceries and go to the cleaners, etc.
I'm sure a lot of those ex-gas station, mini market owners, etc. wish they'd kept their businesses...or at least their families wish they'd kept them. I know some who wish they had. Anyway, we know drugs are a problem for all of America but which areas do you think were hit the hardest: the suburbs or the inner city? How many suburban/white folks are serving time for selling drugs? How many suburban/white mothers get tested for drugs in the delivery room against their will and go to jail? How many suburban/WHITE babies are born strung out? Not as much as Blacks. Sounds like a racial issue to me. Admit it or not, black/latino/poor neighborhoods were targeted and hit the hardest by drugs, and it was/is a race thing. Black neighborhoods were thriving before the drug epidemic. Don't you agree? Or would you know? Or have you been readin 'statistics'? As far as it being an American issue...I don't think America cares much about the welfare of urban communities. That's my opinion. But, keeping with the question, what are your suggestions for mobiling brother's on the streets? Are you gonna continue to argue that the problem is not a Black one, or are you gonna find a way to rectify this problem...the best WE can?? To "mobilize" OUR brothers (and sisters). Arguing over won't help nobody...black, white, yellow, purple. Working together to change things will.
Peace

"If you think you're too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito."
-Bette Reese

"Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."
-Chinese proverb

"Knowing others is Wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment."

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn."


"The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps -- we must step up the stairs."

(sorry if you're really a woman).......

Your posts confuse me...I often wonder...what's your point?

My points were as follows:

-claiming "thug life" was some sort of community uplift program is a bunch of crap. Thugs hurt the community not help it.

-Koreans are accepting "lower" profit margins, not NO profit. I see it in the burbs, where the mom and pop can't compete and they sell to the Koreans.

-Drugs are a problem everywhere, but I'm aware of how it disporportionaltely affects Blacks. Whites are more likely to be drug dealers..but who goes to Jail? Whites are more likely to do drugs, but who goes to Jail? I see it all the time, I know white kids who subsidized their livlihoods in college by selling drugs and are now living the high life as well paid professionals. Now they drive their BMWs down the highway, while Black professionals get pulled over and harrassed and told to take it...because "knowledge has costs" PUH-Lease.........

Shoot I may be from the Burbs, but I know what time it is! Just seeing how easily white kids get away with isht can show you that.

Regards,



M2

I'm female. And glad to hear that you "know what time it is"...but do you really? Still interested to know how you're gonna help uplift though. You neglected to mention that.

>Where did they go wrong?
>and
>How can we find a to
>mobilize brothers on street?

read somewhere that the thug life album 'vol. 1' was meant to be part of a series of albums.

tupac would put a bunch of different unsigned rappers on an album and power it through with his own presence.

so everybody gets paid a little, shines a little and can maybe go on to their own things.

like boodaah said, 2pac derailed and the idea got lost in the sauce somewhere.

I believe 't.h.u.g. l.i.f.e.' originally was an acronym for something, like n.i.g.g.a.z.?

not a clue what either stood for.
_______________________________

seize your time! - marley/wailers

if you see me running try to keep up - anon

that nigga stood for Never Ignorant Getting Goals Accomplished. Of course, that may be a southern thing.

"You're here, I'm pleased" Jilly from Philly

Gittin Goals Accomplished (N.I.G.G.A.), as in "Strictly For My..."


I actually argued (it was good natured) w/ Pac for about 15 minutes about the terminology. I was doing music reviews for YSB and that was my first interview -- nothin' major, just about 120 lines but he was cool and we talked for about 40 minutes.

my thing was why you perpetuating that word, and his take was (paraphrased) "heads are saying it anyway, I feel like if I can put a positive spin on it, then that's doing a good thing". we agreed to disagree on that, but i had to respect that he'd thought out his position.

so it makes sense that he'd envision Thugg Life as a continuation of the same philosophy -- take an existing 'negative', and try to make that a positive, reach the brothas an sistas where they at.

of course, 'Pac was also mad conflicted, as we all are, so its easy to see how he could have ended up off course. its ironic that when he was talkin to me, he was saying that "Strictly..." would be his last album. i was like, nah, you gotta keep doing your thing, and i don't seriously think he would have stopped, but he was feeling the strain of what he was becoming (beef w/ the FBI, beef w/ Vice President Quayle, etc.).



peace & blessings,

x.

why they cancel YSB?

they had nice articles and thier fashion section was tha bomb. especially for way back then! why they stop?

not about the well-being of black people.

as much as i LOVE hip-hop, hip-hop is not the be-all and end-all of existence. when they pulled the plug on that magazine, they ended, i think, the only magazine aimed at young sisters and brothers in totality, leaving us w/ only rappages, the source, vibe, etc...

oh, YSB was owned by BET, and was the sister publication to Emerge. BET claimed YSB was losing money, and pulled the plug. the thing is, they never promoted it. they owned a whole f*ckin network, and the onliest time you'd see commercials for YSB was during Teen Summit. nothing on any other time frame on BET, and certainly nothing in any other medium or outlet.

the editor in chief, Frank Dexter Brown, took a principled stand in terms of what advertising he'd accept, ie, no cigarrettes, no liquor, no nothing which was detrimental to the health and well being of black people. cigs and liquor are mainstays of our other black magazines. that smaller revenue stream, coupled w/ BET's lack of support ultimately spelled doom for YSB.

BET pulled the plug last year on Emerge, leaving black america w/out a serious news magazine. again, i'm not shitting on the source (well, i do in other places for the lack of integrity of their publisher) or rappages, blaze, etc... rp is defunct, and some of the other mags manage to venture out from hip hop to touch on politics, etc, but that's different from a magazine that regularly had features on how to get ready for college, personal finances, health, etc.

BET's latest "Tavisty" is only a continuation of their longstanding m.o.

i think i'll start another post.

peace & blessings,

x.


January is Kool Keith quote month, for lack of anything else:

"I never hearda you stupid, what's your name man??"

"Rappers don't know, I'm out the hospital/
cold buggin' and illin' like Dr. Doolittle"

"I'll chew your ass like monkeys on Wild Kingdom"

"you call yourself GOD, can you make it rain?/
can you tell me now what I'm thinkin' in my brain?"

"under your arms, you're kickin power and musty"

"word to mom, I'm in my own world.../
galaxy raaaaaays... powerful"

T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E.-- The Hate You Gave Lil' Infants Fucks Everybody. Pac was a revolutionary with a good heart and good intentions who got siderailed by stardom, beef, and betrayal. Despite all that, his Thug Life project (yeah-- it was supposed to be a series of albums) was designed to get some brothers who were caught up in the game off the street and into the studios, to get them to do something more positive. It's sad that his move to Death Row averted his attention from the activism he drew his fame from to Thuggin on record and bicostal beef. Either way, u've got 2 give it to the man. He seriously was the Rose that grew from concrete. For ya'll who don't know about that poem he wrote, search for that isht quick...
Peace,
Mstr J aka InfiniteStruggle
"If there is no struggle, there is no progress"-- Frederick Douglass
"Definitions belong to the definer, not the defined."--Toni Morrison
"They toast death and pain like slaves on a ship talkin bout who got the flyest chain"-- Talib Kweli
"Know thyself"-- Latin Proverb
"A Luta Continua"--Caribbean proverb, Portuguese for "the struggle continues"
"Never Ignorant Getting Goals Accomplished"-- 2Pac on the acronym "N.I.G.G.A." (from "Words of Wisdom")
"No Malcolm X in my histoy text why's that?/ Cuz he tried to educate and liberate all blacks/Why's Martin Luther King in my book each week/cuz he told blacks if they get smacked to turn the other cheek."--2Pac, "Words of Wisdom"

peace & blessings,

x.

Pac like many others were died before he got to do what he wanted. So, every believes and see it like that. But, he did do what exactly what his brother said. He gave the idea and played out in plain view, but he left it us to do what he said. To carry that shit on in your community. Just like Marcus,Malcolm,Nat, Martin, and others left enough for us to do it ourselves. There was no way Pac was going to make it in every city physically to get thug life out there. So he rapped the message. We heard it, but didn't react. And thats where we went wrong. We didn't do it. If Pac was to do his full plan as he said than what would be the purpose for us. He could have just did it himself. But, it wasn't suppose to go down like that. SO once we stop letting an answer to our questions pass by we'll grow from this point of ground zero.

"Retribution is ours, Revolution scared no more". connects email me at eyt8knuckoles@hotmail.com and label it Def.

It doesn't get any realer than that.
--Infinite

"So he rapped the message. We heard it, but didn't react. And thats where we went wrong. We didn't do it."

Thank you. That's where WE went wrong. Why are we always waiting for someone else to save US? We need to quit relying on others to make a move/do what's right/lead the way, etc. Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me. You are so right POWER 550.

"The willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life is the source from which self-respect springs."

"Never grow a wishbone, daughter, where your backbone ought to be."
-Clementine Paddelford