>I don't even look to hip
>hop as a tool for
>revolution.

i disgree...and i think you do too (see below)

> I don't think anyone
>got it.

you'd be amazed. remember when you first learned the alphabet song. at first it was just catchy, but it planted the seed in your head abou the order of those letters. besides the folk around you may not have "got it", although i bet more did than you gie credit to, but i PERSONALLY know maany who did (some felt the recognition of a phenomenon they experienced, some wondered if such a thing really exists and were shocked when they found out it did. many will often miss the message, but if one "gets it" then that's better than nothing right. i mean YOU got it didn't you?


>Even at the highest heights of
>conscious hip hop, folks singing
>along, rocking the fashion, they
>still didn't get it.

those were the ones for whom it was just that the fashion. but i'd like to think that even if they didn't get it then that maybe something stuck and they got i now.


>Hip Hop for me, is a
>good segue for getting into
>deeper issues.

so then you do see it as a tool. this is my point. i look at hiphop the same way i look at a hammer. the hammer isn't goiing to build me a house. it's up to me to USE that hammer. I can use it a hundred different ways, some more efficient toward the goal than others, but that doesn't negate it's value as a tool.

>But as a tool to inspire
>people, put ideas in their
>heads...?

again the hammer isn't going to put the nail in the wall either, now is it?

>The average cat
>isn't looking for a sermon
>with his beats.

so preach to the non average cats and slip something in past the "average cats". remember "you must learn"? mad folk danced their behinds off and more than a few took the time to look up the people accociated with the names in the verses. it worked then, and it can work now. to say it won't without trying is defeatism. this music can reach millions. the same way it can make prada, coogi, hilfilger, cristal and a thousand other brands household words it can do the same with concepts a little less throwaway.

>It's escapism for blacks and browns.

On many insances youre absolutely right, but why not utilize it for more? It's like only using the phone book as a booster seat for your baby. There is a wealth of potential that is being ignored.

> Forget what you heard
>about Suburban Johnny have ghetto
>fantasies, ghetto Jamal and Miguel
>are having those dreams of
>being a gangsta.

Nah b, if only for the reason that you cannot exist in a world of 100% fantasy. Not only that but the thngs of fantasy have a reall sneaky way of becomeing the reality if you allow them to.

>And those 5% were already, ready
>to recieve.

so then give those 5% something they crave right?

------QUOTE STARTS HERE------
BooDaah-OkayActivist Moderator
** PLEASE READ THE POSTING GUIDELINES:
http://www.okayplayer.com/guidelines.html
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Sister SheRise's Activist Stew Recipe:
step 1. inform yourself step /step 2. inform others/step 3. discuss the problem /step 4. DISCUSS SOLUTIONS/step 5. EXECUTE SOLUTIONS/step 6. evaluate how well the solution worked/step 7. start over at 1 until desired result is accomplished.
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Coolest thing I've read on OKP recently (courtesy of Quinn):
"when eminem gets on the cover of some teen fan zine with nick from n'sync, kevin from bsb and sisqo, it's because america is more comfortable with a white guy rapping about rapeing his mother than method man rapping about anything."
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