Cause I'm sure I saw the same thing in the Lesson.

A better question for this forum, is "Can white folks be down with for the 'cause'?"

Can you trust the trustifundian who marches for Mumia? How about Rage against the Machine. They talk the talk, and walk the walk, but they don't musically appeal to oppressed people.

But now that I think about it, if I were to spread an anti-racist, anti-corporate message, who better to address than white kids, who grow up to run these corporations and govts?

In terms of hip hop, you can't stop them. They got you on the grass roots as consumers and at the top of the pyramid as label heads. What does it say about Dead Prez when Rifkind funds them? How indepedent and political can Blackstar be on Rawkus (which was started by the lesser of 2 sons of Rupert Murdoch). Is Mos Def better off on MCA?

As a local hip hop person, I know that the folks that come to see the artists that I like a lot are generally white. I'm not going to get the eastside to come out for KRS-1. Sure they're might be a few mc's from the hood come out, but the neighborhood ain't showing up in force unless it's Lil Keke, Wreckshop family, or UGK. It's not that I dislike the aforementioned artists, in fact I'm sure I've got tapes from all of them. It is very common in my town, and it seems all across the net, to hate on artists that appeal to everyone else in your locale. Usually the salt is based on things other than beats and rhymes, but even then the 'purists' are two-faced.

But the g-rap heads aren't cutting for things not from Houston, or not sounding like Houston. (we even got a song down here about how everyone wants to sound like the Screwed up Clique)

How effective is Aceyalone's words on black empowerment when his fan base is 99% white?

Ideally, everything would be like San Diego. I went to a Gavin there in 97 or 98, but the hip hop heads there were multi-colored, and multi-educated. IE not everyone at the 'underground' shows was from the burbs or in college.

But then again, I"m a hip hop nationalist, so I'm biased.

k. orr