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Your Black Brothers: Hip-Hop Star VIGALANTEE: More Than A Rapper…
VIGALANTEE: Hunting for Souls
By: Tolu Olorunda
Staff Writer – YourBlackWorld.com
Vigalantee (born Roger Suggs) is no stranger to the underground Hip-Hop scene. Born in Chicago, Vigalantee has always been a fan of Hip-Hop – though a critic, when necessary. In addition to his musical career, Vigalantee is also an arduous community-organizer and activist, whose youth program is touching many young lives across the city of Kansas. As the name suggests, Vigalantee is hunting for more than nice beats or dope rhymes. As a young man, trapped in between the perils of inter-racial animosity and intra-racial hostility, Vigalantee knows how critical it is for young Black kids to find worthy role-models in the communities that shape their destinies.
Vigalantee grew up in Chicago, and experienced, firsthand, the much-referenced tales of gang warfare. Concerned with the emotional toll this reality wreaks on a child, his mother sent him to a relative’s home in Georgia. Vigalantee describes this as the unraveling of another “extreme” living condition [...]
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Hip Hop Commercialized? Buffoonery or something more complicated?
By Dr. Boyce Watkins
I am not a huge fan of Lil Wayne. I don’t hate him, I just don’t love him. His music doesn’t make me move, but it doesn’t make me sick. The thing that challenges my ability to love Lil Wayne is the environment within which he is operating.
Lil Wayne can be considered, by some, to be a modern day minstrel show: gold chains, diamond grills, 10,000 tattoos on parts of his body that have no business being tattooed, you name it. He engages in the stereotypical rock’n roll/hip hop lifestyle: guns, drugs, alcohol and random women. I fear for Lil Wayne, because at this pace, he might be dead before he turns 35. Lil Wayne makes Tupac Shakur and Eazy E look like conservative school kids.
Lil Wayne impacts the world in which he lives, sells records by the boat load and impacts far more young men than he probably should. It’s not that he chooses to be a role model, he just is one. But when we see Lil Wayne and express justifiable disdain for his behavior and persona, there is certainly more to be said.
You see, Lil Wayne is a product. The corporate executives pulling the strings and making the decision to sign deals with Lil Wayne also see him as a product [...]
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Your Black Scholar: Exclusive Interview With Dr. Cornel West On Obama, Colin Powell, Hip-Hop & More
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Interview with Princeton Professor and acclaimed scholar, Dr. Cornel West, by Tolu Olorunda.
He is, perhaps, the most well-known public scholar the universe has to offer. Alongside that, Dr. Cornel West has also been celebrated as, America’s leading public intellectual. Judging from his scholarly work, dedication, perseverance, intellectual curiosity and diligence, one can certainly confirm the role he plays as a distinct leader of his peers. Dr. West has continuously proved to be a multi-generational force for good. Through the publication of books, Hip-Hop albums and television specials aimed at young adults, Dr. Cornel West has impacted and transformed a whole generation of love-starved and directionless people. His wit notwithstanding, Dr. West’s ability to interpret the harsh conditions of the financially-disempowered is parallel to none. I had the distinguished pleasure of engaging in dialogue with this esteemed scholar on a wide swath of issues affecting our daily lives. I spoke with him on issues including, the presidential campaign of Sen. Obama, Gen. Colin Powell’s endorsement, the role of progressives in an Obama administration, “Hope on a Tightrope,” Hip-Hop, the next generation of Black public intellectuals, and much more:
Thanks for joining us. What has Dr. West been up to lately?
Oh, I’ve been on the moon. I did 15 events for Brother Obama in Ohio, this past weekend. I did 12, the weekend before that. I’ve been to Seattle, Alabama; teaching full time. I’m blessed though, brother.
How does it feel being a surrogate for Sen. Obama’s historic presidential run?
Well, it’s a good thing, because in the end, it’s really about empowering everyday people, and he’s a major vehicle for that. He’s got some genius and inspiring people that give him a sense of possibility and hope. So, it’s a beautiful thing. But there’s always a tension there because I still got to speak my mind. So, I got my criticisms of the brother; but the most important thing to do, is a full-court press to get people out to vote, and to make sure that we contribute to this democratic awakening that’s taking place. This greed out here is running amok, man.
On the subject of greed; you’ve often talked about the melting of the Ice-Age. Do you feel the Democratic platform addresses poverty in a substantive fashion?
Well, it doesn’t address it as much as I would like [...]
Your Black Scholar: Exclusive Interview With Dr. Cornel West On Obama, Colin Powell, Hip-Hop & More
STICKY POST — SCROLL DOWN FOR LATEST ENTRIES:
Interview with Princeton Professor and acclaimed scholar, Dr. Cornel West, by Tolu Olorunda.
He is, perhaps, the most well-known public scholar the universe has to offer. Alongside that, Dr. Cornel West has also been celebrated as, America’s leading public intellectual. Judging from his scholarly work, dedication, perseverance, intellectual curiosity and diligence, one can certainly confirm the role he plays as a distinct leader of his peers. Dr. West has continuously proved to be a multi-generational force for good. Through the publication of books, Hip-Hop albums and television specials aimed at young adults, Dr. Cornel West has impacted and transformed a whole generation of love-starved and directionless people. His wit notwithstanding, Dr. West’s ability to interpret the harsh conditions of the financially-disempowered is parallel to none. I had the distinguished pleasure of engaging in dialogue with this esteemed scholar on a wide swath of issues affecting our daily lives. I spoke with him on issues including, the presidential campaign of Sen. Obama, Gen. Colin Powell’s endorsement, the role of progressives in an Obama administration, “Hope on a Tightrope,” Hip-Hop, the next generation of Black public intellectuals, and much more:
Thanks for joining us. What has Dr. West been up to lately?
Oh, I’ve been on the moon. I did 15 events for Brother Obama in Ohio, this past weekend. I did 12, the weekend before that. I’ve been to Seattle, Alabama; teaching full time. I’m blessed though, brother.
How does it feel being a surrogate for Sen. Obama’s historic presidential run?
Well, it’s a good thing, because in the end, it’s really about empowering everyday people, and he’s a major vehicle for that. He’s got some genius and inspiring people that give him a sense of possibility and hope. So, it’s a beautiful thing. But there’s always a tension there because I still got to speak my mind. So, I got my criticisms of the brother; but the most important thing to do, is a full-court press to get people out to vote, and to make sure that we contribute to this democratic awakening that’s taking place. This greed out here is running amok, man.
On the subject of greed; you’ve often talked about the melting of the Ice-Age. Do you feel the Democratic platform addresses poverty in a substantive fashion?
Well, it doesn’t address it as much as I would like [...]
Your Black Brothers: Would Sojourner Truth Appreciate Lil’ Wayne’s Music?
By: Zekita
One morning while riding in my car I decided to venture away from my regular News programming on the radio and turned to one of our local Hip Hop and R&B stations. It wasn’t long before the commercial for some debt creating pay-day loan went off and my ears, mind, and soul was being violated by rapper lil’ Wayne’s song ‘Lollipop.’ As I listened in disgust to the monotony of his lyrics (similar to many I had heard in some contemporary rap songs today) about how some women wanted to ‘lick the rapper’ amongst other things, my eyes began to tear up from those degrading and humiliating lyrics. [...]
And then I thought back to the glorious African American women like Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Nzingha, Yaa Asante, and Mary McLeod Bethune. I turned my thoughts to these women and I wonder. [...]
I wonder if Harriet Tubman feels like all 19 of her potentially deadly trips were traveled completely in vain. I wonder if Sojourner Truth still feels like a ‘woman’ [...]
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