Back in high school, I remember having to read some ol' tired story about some white dude playing a fiddle while Rome burned. I remember telling my crew “so what if he wants to get his groove on; play on, playa play on!” I did not think about the incident again until September 11, 2001 while listening to a DJ emotionally talk about the World Trade Attack, only to have his report followed by some brotha rapping about how “he was going to work; but then he got high.”

I started to call the radio station and in my best imitation of Lawrence Fishburne (he was Larry back then) in School Dayz shout “WAKE UP!” in my “cellie” as the DJ asked for caller number 9; but instead, I chilled and took a deep look at the effect of the negative variety of Hip Hop has had on the condition of Black people.

After 10 years of “bangin’ on wax” and “Bling blingin', “ I have always wondered how the Hip Hop community, would respond to a really heavy socio-political issue. Could they really make a smooth segue between “I got Ho's in different area codes" and political discourse? Of course, those of us from the “old school” could have easily done it as we were being mentored by the X-Clan and Public Enemy who encouraged us to at least read “Malcolm” whether we wanted to become “revolutionaries” or not. Although, we had the annoying habit of starting each statement, with “Well, basically…” we could hold our own in an intellectual debate as being a “militant brainiac” was cool at the time. Even the brothas on the block who today would call themselves “THUGS” , referred to themselves as “Intelligent Hoodlums”

Am I saying that we were somehow smarter than this generation; of course not. But to quote Beauford’s uncle from Spike Lee’s Drop Squad, “Let me tell you something young brotha. The game they’re running on you they developed on your daddy and me. Y’all are just the next phase.”

The Era of Terror that white folks in this country have dealt with over the last year, is something that Black folks have had to deal with since we were kidnapped from Africa and brought here in chains. The South is full of stories of houses and churches bombed by the KKK and other terrorists. The failure of the Hip Hop generation failure to put present day issues in a historical perspective has crippled our advancement. The events of 9/11 made the depressed state of Black culture (in the form of Hip Hop) even more depressing as I heard more than one Hip Hop Talk show host sigh in disgust that “we really need to become more aware,” in post 9/11 comments.

Call me paranoid, but I think that a society that has prided itself in manipulating Black folks; physically, spiritually and mentality gains certain strategic advantages when it convinces black youth that “knowing your history” means being able to name all the members of NWA. Did rap crews Cash Money ( army) and No Limit (soldiers) with all the videos with brothas riding around in military hummers and tanks so condition the minds of our youth that they have become Manchurian mercenaries; lean, mean fighting machines who will kill at the snap of a finger(or change of a beat) without asking who, what, when why or where? To borrow from Dr. Carter G.Woodson' s “The Miseducation of the Negro” once you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about how he will act.

When you add this with negative Hip Hop’s constant urging for brotha’s to get high (drunk, blunted, etc) it is the perfect making for a Stephen King novel. For if your sense of reality has been altered by mind dulling substances, it would be impossible to grasp the seriousness of the times in which we find ourselves. And believe me, anytime white paranoia mixes with a great celebration of the “great white way” historically, it has meant serious times for Black folks. Just ask your grandma how cocky white supremacists can get when there is even the slightest rise in their popularity poll.

We are witnessing the dawn of an era that will make racial profiling look like a walk in the park. And the Freedom of Speech that many in the Hip Hop Nation have misunderstood to mean the right to give explicit details of sex acts or the murdering of another brotha, may fall under the knife of the censoring of anything that does not promote the ideals of white supremacy.

Some young brothers have been brainwashed into swallowing the capitalist idea, hook, line and sinker. Survival of the fittest and the pursuit of the bling, bling, American dream, reigns supreme in the lyrics of hip hop artists. Just look at how many CD’s (Jay-Z) sold weeks after 9/11 , even in a time of “national turmoil.” Now that we are in a recession (depression for Black folks) can the rappers (playa’s, balla’s and shot calla’s) in good conscience brag about how they have “enough ice on their wrists to freeze their arms” while little Black children are going hungry because Daddy got laid off. How many homeless people can you roll by in your Escalade before the guilt of an over indulgence in the philosophy of “all about me ’ism” wakes you up at night?

After the accusations of playa hatin’ and the excuses of “not being my brotha’s keeper “ have faded away, the ramifications of not viewing the welfare of the Black community as a collective responsibility will linger.

The scriptures teach us that without vision, the people perish. I just hope that once the thick haze of Philly blunt smoke clears we do not find ourselves back on the plantation or in concentration camps.

Min. Paul Scott is founder of the New Righteous Movement based in Durham NC. He recently launched the National Hip Hop Reformation Campaign. For more information contact: operationmedia@yahoo.com