“The Code Of The Streets…”
GENERAL By TSSCrew on November 28, 2007 at 3:56 pmWords By Matthew Mundy
All too often in hip-hop, the refusal to snitch can be boiled down to it simply being the ‘code of the streets.’ Fair enough, I suppose – having not grown up in an area or an environment where this was an issue, I can’t really bring to the table any learned, personal opinions on the matter.
However, boiling it down to this simple moral arithmetic leaves a lot to be desired, for it doesn’t make things any clearer. It allows the sneering buffoons and denigrators of hip-hop to seize the reins of the debate and steer it wherever they want, leaving us with a grotesquely one-sided discussion of the issue, where hip-hop artists are portrayed as walking in perfect, immoral lockstep with criminals, context be damned.
What M-1 did here – and, funnily enough, by throwing M-1 on a couple times during the Imus and Cam’ron/snitching controversies, Fox gained a brief, begrudged smidgeon of my respect – was properly contextualize the issue.
The issue isn’t about aiding and abetting criminals, it’s about community control, as he pointed out. It’s about a justified wariness of the justice system. It’s about steering clear of a vicious, rotten appendage of an economic, political and cultural system that has done nothing but criminalize, brutalize and politically, economically and demographically eviscerate people of color.
With hundreds of years of mistrust and skepticism of the justice system hardwired – for good reason – into poor communities of color, is it really any surprise that snitching is frowned upon? With the names of Amadou Diallo, Abner Louima and Sean Bell, among many, many others, still haunting police-community relations, and the ongoing onslaught of the war on drugs continuing unabated, it doesn’t take much contextualizing or critical thinking to get to the root of the matter.
Unfortunately, apparently it does, and M-1 should be commended for digging a little deeper. Without this context, hip-hop artists and community leaders run the risk of letting an opportunity to critically engage the justice system – which is what this should have been about – fall by the wayside. Dead Prez were right – it is bigger than hip-hop.
Gym Class Heroes, Ghostface, and Reef - Clothes Off (Remix)
Gillie Da Kid, Peedi Crakk, Freeway & Bump J - Get Down On The Ground (Remix)
Crooked I - Hip Hop Weekly 35 (Dynasty Freestyle)
Ransom Ft. Gillie Da Kid- Doing My Thing
Murs - 1st Love
David Banner-I Want You
Ne-Yo - Together (Prod. By Stargate)
M.O.P. - Make Em Clap
Jugganot Ft. Joell Ortiz - It Could Be Anything (Remix)
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60 Comments
Off the topic but anyone got both the flipmode Cd that came out “The Imperial” and the one that was rumored to come out but never surfaced? If you could post those that would be cool or anything flipmode because flipmode is the squad…..
what does more literal harm to the community then; drugs and murder or police and the government?
It’s ALWAYS bigger than hip-hop. But the music is the most accessible form of protest. Don’t like something, write a song about it lol.
http://paidandpopular.blogspot.com
I’m very proud to be a black man and I’m also proud of how M-1 spoke. I honestly thought that after m-1 was on the first time fox would realize that he wasn’t on to promote his album or get real animated and in turn no longer invite him back. But to the advantage to myself and many other American citizens and individuals world wide viewing this clip via youtube or blogs like this he was back and he spoke very honestly and intelligently about this issue at hand. I feel like he represented the black community well and the best way he could have in the very narrow window the network gave him and the other indivicual. I do partially agree with your commending of Fox News but with the due respect to you as a journalist Matt and The Smoking Section, Fuck Fox News, they’re a racist medium network not different from Disney and many other stations and businesses in the united states. They get none of my respect or rating points. Did you see how dude said “You can start hitting each other after the break” like they were just two thug monkeys they pulled in off the streets to talk? Great post though once agin from you all tho. Great read
Dead Prez always talking the real deal, I was glad to see this. Great stuff.
Finally they bring on an emcee who can actually carry on an intelligent convo and not make hip hop look like its full of clowns. Ive been waiting for them to geta real emcee/activist for to long. Big ups to M-1 for holdin it down.
ya’ll seen this yet- http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3lx3p_snoop-dogg-sensual-seduction-closed_music
Great Stuff.
that snoop vid is bobo
Who told Neil Cavuto that Dead Prez was cakin’? He talkin’ like M-1 is going multi platinum every time out!
Faux News be wildin!
fox news will probably never have an extended, honest dialogue about the true relationship between the police and people of color…
we may have a moment here and there (such as this) that is free of buffoonery and/or misrepresentation, but often, what appears as fair discussion typically isn’t.
ain’t nothing changed…
the revolution will not be televised…
they already had I Love New York in its time slot.
^^^ word
man, it feels good to have a computer again. gotty or anyone, i am back, but i been out the loop for a minute (about when Kanye and 50) came out. what are my definite must grab albums and tracks? i got nothing and tonite i’m gonna spend 6 hours grabbing music from the SS. if you guys have time help me out. thanks in advance,.
I should probably just clarify that I have absolutely no love for Fox News. I just wanted to say that, despite its earned and legitimate reputation as a retrograde haven for blabbering, racist cretins, I was briefly impressed that they brought on M-1 to speak about it (and had him on another time as well). It does nothing to shake their reputation though - just a pleasant blip amid years of execrable broadcasting…
SENSUAL SEDUCTION…
shit…Fuck M-1…I’m still laughing my balls off at Snoop’s new video for “Sexual Eruption”…that is all sorts of hilarious!
They just want to tell Imus its OK to say nigga
Veego - Grab a Snickers. You’re gonna be a while lol.
i dont agree with m-1 at all
granted…white kid from suburbs.
i dont know anything sooo
^^^ FO’ real!
look at me being tss compatiable …
evil lyrics ……
I am that Stop Snitch Shirt
That Just don’t Get involved
I am present In All of y’all
Mp.3 on my site….
^^^ part two @ veego
FO’ real…
get caught up w/ todays onslaught, Little Brother, Caltroit, Freeway, Wu,… man, you just got a LOT of catching up to do!
I was thinking the same thing. since 50 and Kanye? man you gotta a whole lot of good listening to look fwd to
@ train
the imperial
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QH6ONK00
After listening to Big Doe Rehab a few good times throughout the day, I’m convinced that its Ghostface’s fault that I didn’t like 8 Diagrams. I think he was being “stingy” with the production. I’m convinced.
End of discussion.
@gotty….
wha happened to the Kuti Shots?
“There’s a reason I call them the Black KKK. The pain, the fear and the destruction are all the same.
Someone who loved Sean Taylor is crying right now. The life they knew has been destroyed, an 18-month-old baby lost her father, and, if you’re a black man living in America, you’ve been reminded once again that your life is in constant jeopardy of violent death.
The Black KKK claimed another victim, a high-profile professional football player with a checkered past this time.
No, we don’t know for certain the circumstances surrounding Taylor’s death. I could very well be proven wrong for engaging in this sort of aggressive speculation. But it’s no different than if you saw a fat man fall to the ground clutching his chest. You’d assume a heart attack, and you’d know, no matter the cause, the man needed to lose weight.
Well, when shots are fired and a black man hits the pavement, there’s every statistical reason to believe another black man pulled the trigger. That’s not some negative, unfair stereotype. It’s a reality we’ve been living with, tolerating and rationalizing for far too long.
When the traditional, white KKK lynched, terrorized and intimidated black folks at a slower rate than its modern-day dark-skinned replacement, at least we had the good sense to be outraged and in no mood to contemplate rationalizations or be fooled by distractions.
Our new millennium strategy is to pray the Black KKK goes away or ignores us. How’s that working?
About as well as the attempt to shift attention away from this uniquely African-American crisis by focusing on an alleged injustice the white media allegedly perpetrated against Sean Taylor.
Within hours of his death, there was a story circulating that members of the black press were complaining that news outlets were disrespecting Taylor’s victimhood by reporting on his troubled past
No disrespect to Taylor, but he controlled the way he would be remembered by the way he lived. His immature, undisciplined behavior with his employer, his run-ins with law enforcement, which included allegedly threatening a man with a loaded gun, and the fact a vehicle he owned was once sprayed with bullets are all pertinent details when you’ve been murdered.
Marcellus Wiley, a former NFL player, made the radio circuit Wednesday, singing the tune that athletes are targets. That was his explanation for the murders of Taylor and Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams and the armed robberies of NBA players Antoine Walker and Eddy Curry.
Really?
Let’s cut through the bull(manure) and deal with reality. Black men are targets of black men. Period. Go check the coroner’s office and talk with a police detective. These bullets aren’t checking W-2s.
Rather than whine about white folks’ insensitivity or reserve a special place of sorrow for rich athletes, we’d be better served mustering the kind of outrage and courage it took in the 1950s and 1960s to stop the white KKK from hanging black men from trees.
But we don’t want to deal with ourselves. We take great joy in prescribing medicine to cure the hate in other people’s hearts. Meanwhile, our self-hatred, on full display for the world to see, remains untreated, undiagnosed and unrepentant.
Our self-hatred has been set to music and reinforced by a pervasive culture that promotes a crab-in-barrel mentality.
You’re damn straight I blame hip hop for playing a role in the genocide of American black men. When your leading causes of death and dysfunction are murder, ignorance and incarceration, there’s no reason to give a free pass to a culture that celebrates murder, ignorance and incarceration.
Make your voice heard…
This story has touched off some very spirited debate. If you would like to join in, it is being discussed on our community page.
Of course there are other catalysts, but until we recapture the minds of black youth, convince them that it’s not OK to “super man dat ho” and end any and every dispute by “cocking on your bitch,” nothing will change.
Does a Soulja Boy want an education?
HBO did a fascinating documentary on Little Rock Central High School, the Arkansas school that required the National Guard so that nine black kids could attend in the 1950s. Fifty years later, the school is one of the nation’s best in terms of funding and educational opportunities. It’s 60 percent black and located in a poor black community.
Watch the documentary and ask yourself why nine poor kids in the ’50s risked their lives to get a good education and a thousand poor black kids today ignore the opportunity that is served to them on a platter.
Blame drugs, blame Ronald Reagan, blame George Bush, blame it on the rain or whatever. There’s only one group of people who can change the rotten, anti-education, pro-violence culture our kids have adopted. We have to do it.
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According to reports, Sean Taylor had difficulty breaking free from the unsavory characters he associated with during his youth.
The “keepin’ it real” mantra of hip hop is in direct defiance to evolution. There’s always someone ready to tell you you’re selling out if you move away from the immature and dangerous activities you used to do, you’re selling out if you speak proper English, embrace education, dress like a grown man, do anything mainstream.
The Black KKK is enforcing the same crippling standards as its parent organization. It wants to keep black men in their place — uneducated, outside the mainstream and six feet deep.
In all likelihood, the Black Klan and its mentality buried Sean Taylor, and any black man or boy reading this could be next.”
-Jason Whitlock
FOXSports.com
i’ve been a big fan of ghost ever since, and (IMO) Big Doe is probably his best sequenced, most polished, and cohesive album so far…
this is jumping the gun a LOTTA bit, but I hope Raekwon’s OBFCL2 is along the lines of this…
good article Wit-E.
Turk - Patience. Everything in due time ;) You know if we’re gonna do it, we’re gonna attempt to do it properly.
the revolution will not be televised…
they already had I Love New York in its time slot.
preach!
Damn, I just got home. 11pm DC time. Today has been crazy. I’m already importing the new Ghost and just finished doing that with the Scarface. I’ll have to listen on my way to work tomorrow morning. I’m about to drop about 300 reggae links on ya’ll in a minute.
@ Gotty - Can you make sure that it goes thru? (No spam)
THANK YOU SIR! TAKE YOUR TIME!
Nevermind. I’ll up the list to rapidshare and y’all can take as you see fit. Some examples of what is on there:
10 Ft. Ganja Plant
Afroreggae
Alpha Blondy
The Wailers
Bob Marley & The Wailers
Born Jamericans
Burning Spear
Burning Spear
Burning Spear
Circuito Reggae
Consciência Roots
Culture
Dagô e Radical Roots
Elephant Man
Eric Donaldson
Eric Donaldson
Expressão Regueira
Fauzi Beydoun
Gregory Isaacs
Israel Vibration
Jah Live
Jahcareggae
Jamaica 69
Jimmy Cliff
Johnny Jack Mesclado
Kalle Baah
Los Cafres
Luciano
Lucky Dube
Matisyahu
Matisyahu
Matisyahu
Max Romeo
Maytones
Natiruts
Pablo Moses
Peter Broggs
Peter Broggs
Peter Broggs
Peter Tosh
Ponto de Equilibrio
Raizes Rasta
Rebel Lion
Red Meditation
Reggae Gold
Reggae Roots
Rootvalta
S.O.J.A - Soldiers Of Jah Army
Shabba Ranks
Sine Calmon
Steel Pulse
Still Cool
The Gladiators
The Starlights
Third World
Third World
Tijolada Reggae
Tijolada Reggae
Tiken Jah Fakoly
Tiken Jah Fakoly
Tiken Jah Fakoly
To Fly
Tribo de Jah
Yellowman
Yellowman & Josey Wales
Yo Mana Ho
Ziggy Marley
This document is in excel format. Its pretty self explanatory. Just copy and paste the links you want. THESE ARE NOT MY LINKS. I found them on another site. The ones I used do work. If you check the bottom of the worksheet you will see that there is another tab for Brega and Funk albums as well.
http://rapidshare.com/files/73023672/Reggae_Links.xls
Happy Downloading.
AGAIN…..THESE ARE NOT MY LINKS
Ahhh Jason Whitlock “Uncle Ruckus” in the flesh.
The new champion of White America who puts these negroes in their place lets white people know nothing is their fault and hip hop is the cause for all the ills in society.
Sean Taylor didnt have any legal trouble for over 2 years. He had a baby and settled down. People act like he was Bumpy Johnson. There was nothing to show that Taylor had been doing anything but playing football and having a family since June 05.
But, pieces of shit like Whitlock want to make it seem like Taylor has been wylin’ from day 1 like Pac Man Jones. He wasnt.
The guy was murdered and he was victim. Uncle Toms like Whitlock immediately believe that it was Taylor’s fault that someone broke into his house and killed him.
If this had happened to a white player or better yet a white woman there would be throwing gilded lillies at their memory.
Cats got that snitchin’ shit twisted. This is the same jail house mentalitly thatyou hear in alot of hip hop. Aggins get locked down and when they get out they don’t know how to cope so they try to make that jail shit cool so they feel comfortable.
Fuck you …I’m tellin…so don’t do shit around me!!!
@GO14…..someting I heard today that makes sense….”just cause you change your life don’t mean those same cats you was beefin’ with a few weeks ago changed theirs”
True Shit!!!
yo i got my record collection on ebay right now check it out…
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZlvcrates
What era did these cats grow up in? “Snitchin” use to mean if I do a crime with you and I get caught I wont tell on you because we were both involved in the crime. To say that if you knew of a person in your building that committed murder and you didn’t turn them in because you didn’t want to be considered a snitch is utterly rediculous! If this is truly the mindset of young Black and Latino kids my generation has failed in passing down real street knowledge and codes.
PEACE
80’s STREETZ
Doug Fresh dropped some real talk “just cause you change your life don’t mean those same cats you was beefin’ with a few weeks ago changed theirs”
While Witlock is extreme, some shit he said is true. But hip hop isn’t the evil or the cure. When I white dude kills another white dude rock groups like Slayer don’t take the blame. It’s true black man are killing other black man, but white men are killing white men, asians killing asians, mexicans killing mexicans, Etc.. People having killing each other for a long time without music leading them to do it.
But black people we take the cake cause we’re haters. We have been taught to pull each other down. The Willie Lynch Letter was written in 1712. Sad to say old Willie’s plan is working like a charm.
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_2167.shtml
@ Gift…here’s the Fela Tribute album i mentioned to you earlier today “Red Hot+Riot”
http://www.zshare.net/download/524307853a9f40/
Ghost……..u da man! I was looking for that album ever since I heard ?love on Chocolate city!!! I thank you also!!!
@ DopeWax….is Ol’ Girl for sale also???? I could always use one of those!!!!!
I’m white..I enjoy listening to negroids rhyming words.
There are no simple answers to the issue! Crime is directly related to poverty BUT poverty is not the only factor. Things you see and hear everyday do effect your psyche BUT to what extent should be the REAL debate. People in the media love to sum up the worlds problems in 30 sec sound bytes and THAT’S THEIR JOB…so i can’t hate, I just recognize bullshit when i see it.
IMHO…If Taylor wasn’t worried about probation/ his image/ the NFL’s new “get a nigga” policy. He would have been strapped in his own home and would still be alive today.
I would rather be judged by 12 then carried by 6…
Anybody have links to Sa-Ra’s “Sonic Seduction”?
Sa-Ra?
:)
Yo Rich, Appreciate it!!
Let’s cut through the bull(manure) and deal with reality. Black men are targets of black men. Period. Go check the coroner’s office and talk with a police detective. These bullets aren’t checking W-2s.
======================================
Harsh words, but controversial and true. Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, in 2007 black america is its own worst enemy. We do more to destroy ourselves, hold ourselves down, and hold ourselves back than any other race in this country. And while it is true that white men kill white men and hispanic men kill hispanic men, it is NOTHING like the rate of black on black crime.
What happenend to Sean Bell is a tragedy. What happened to Amadou Diallo is a travesty. But why do we only get upset when somebody white pulls the trigger? We pull the triggers on ourselves EVERY DAY, but because nobody wants to be a “snitch,” nothing ever gets said, and the cycle continues; just more niggers shooting niggers. Whitlock was exactly on point with the “Black KKK analogy,” because that’s exactly what it is: modern day lynchings at the hands of our own people, only at a rate Nathan Bedford Forrest never dreamed of.
And just think, I used to have so much respect for Dead Prez. Well, I guess I still do, but not nearly as much. M-1 is a smart dude, but I though he was above this “Stop Snitching” bullshit.
What the fuck did Etcetera say? You know what, I think it’s time we stopped shooting each other and started shooting white people! Then we can see if they blame hiphop for that too, I’m down to blast a few ignorant whites so just pass the heat to me.
LOL @ “Faux News” ….that shit should be on a T-shirt
Jason Whitlock is kind of full of shit. He has a few pet issues/theories and he likes to fit news stories to them. Did he write the exact same column, only changing Taylor’s name to Michael Vick and changing a few sentences around to make it about dogfighting?
Also using the black KKK and genocide is nothing short of sensational, and makes me wonder why I should take the rest of his column seriously.
Fuckin Whitlock…he always has good points, but like Patrick said, he takes em too far to make them sensational…
And honestly, I don’t know how he can feel good about the way he downtalks Black America…I know he’s trying to “speak the hard truths” or whatever…but he’s going too far and sounding just as racist as any of the corporate media/govermental leaders he should REALLY be going after…
@Rich, That link you gave, I downloaded and it came in m4 format… Any idea how I get around that?? Thanks!
What Whitlock said may be extreme, but that doesn’t make it any less true. Black people need to get over this fear that if we address problems within the Black community that we’re “racists” and “sellouts.” Yeah, it may not be pretty to hear about, but we cannot just sit back and let it take care of itself, because it won’t. And we can’t keep blaming white people for the shit that we do to each other everyday.
I keep waiting for a real black leader (Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, just sit down and shut up already, because you’re not doing anything at all) to lead us out of darkness, but it ain’t about to happen. The only thing left is for us to take care of ourselves and lift ourselves up like our ancestors did, and stop blaming the white man in the suburbs who could two shits about our black asses.
The bottom line is that if we don’t wake up to what’s really going on and stop killing each other over some bullshit that we don’t even really own, we will find ourselves right back on the plantation, picking the massa’s cotton for good.
mannnn…f*ck jason whitlock. that dude is the new face of “false consciousness”. if you don’t know what i mean, just think of juan williams or armstrong williams or john mcwhorter or shelby steele…heads paid (attention) by the mainstream media to get a black face onto white supremacist ideology.
i’m not making apologies for black on black crime, but a shallow, crude, BIASED explanation like the “Black KKK” is purely sensationalism and race baiting at its worst.
oh yeah…and the Willie Lynch letter is an INTERNET HOAX. go back and look it up.
I missed this post the other day.
Whitlock is just holding up a mirror
many of us don’t want to look at..Period.
Ef Huttin’s on point. Crabs in a barrel..
better known as ‘Hater’s’..that alarm
clock in ‘School Dayz’ is still too low
for many to hear.
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