There's something important happening this weekend. Something of great importance to African Americans.
Let's see...
Martin Luther King's birthday weekend?
No..
The weekend before the inauguration of the first black president of the United States?
Naw..
Oh, yeah. "Notorious ," the Biggie Smalls movie comes out!
I don't know about you but I can't remember the last time I have seen a movie hyped up this much. You can't go five minutes without seeing the Notorious trailer during commercial breaks .
It doesn't even matter which channel you're watching, either. Even the Country Music channel.
"The Conway Twitty Story will return after these messages...."
"NO...NO...NOTORIOUS!"
Now, I've seen my share of black movies over the years but I can't remember "Do the Right Thing" gettin' this much attention.
Especially, since most of the white suburban ticket buyin' public don't know Christopher "Biggie Smalls" Wallace from Kris Kross.
Am I suggesting the release of Notorious is some grand conspiracy to divert our attention from the Inauguration?
Nope. But one has to wonder why the marketing execs chose this weekend. It's not like folks haven't known that Obama was gettin' sworn in on January 20th for months. Also, MLK Day has been the third Monday in January for a while now.
Maybe Fox Searchlight Films thinks that black folks will either go see the movie after the MLK Day Parade or will catch the flick on their way to DC for the Inauguration.
Sometimes our priorities are just jacked up.
I guess while the rest of the world is anticipating "change" this weekend, Tyrone will be at the concession stand waiting for his...
Paul Scott writes for No Warning Shots Fired.com
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
NWSF Presents "The Black History Bailout Tour"
Since the election of America's first black president some are saying that there is no longer a need for Black History Month. Therefore, No Warning Shots Fired.com is launching the "Black History Bailout" lecture tour by TRUTH Minista Paul Scott.
The tour will start February 1st 2009.
To bring the tour to your city contact info@nowarningshotsfired.com or (919) 451-8283
The tour will start February 1st 2009.
To bring the tour to your city contact info@nowarningshotsfired.com or (919) 451-8283
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
NWSF Bullet: Mind Playin' Tricks on Me ?
To hear some people tell it, black folks suffer from a combination of hypersensitivity and paranoia. This prevents us from seeing events clearly and causes us to over exaggerate events that effect us. Stuff like police brutality, lynchings, slavery...
In other words, we are not trusted to believe our own eyes.
Well after watching the video of the cold blooded murder of Oakland's Oscar Grant by Bay Area Rapid Transit officer (BART), Johannes Mehserle, that took place on New Year's Day, you can only come to one conclusion no matter how much you speed it up or slow it down:
Murder!
I'm just waiting for the spin doctors to come up with 1000 reasons why the murder was justified. I admit that is going to take a lot of spinning but stranger things have happened.
CNN is running a piece that talks about poor little Mehserle getting death threats. The story also reports that BART is saying that there is the possibility that the officer, who has been on the force two years, may have mistaken his gun for a taser...
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/01/07/BART.shooting/
Talk about reaching.
Reportedly, BART spokesman , Linton Johnson said that there is more to the story than what was captured on the camera phones of the people who were at the scene. However, BART is not releasing the footage from surveillance cameras.
Well, Davey D and the folks at the San Francisco Bay View are doing their usual outstanding job at getting to the bottom of the story.
Check out their version below:
http://hiphopnews.yuku.com/topic/998
We send our condolences out to the family of Oscar Grant.
In other words, we are not trusted to believe our own eyes.
Well after watching the video of the cold blooded murder of Oakland's Oscar Grant by Bay Area Rapid Transit officer (BART), Johannes Mehserle, that took place on New Year's Day, you can only come to one conclusion no matter how much you speed it up or slow it down:
Murder!
I'm just waiting for the spin doctors to come up with 1000 reasons why the murder was justified. I admit that is going to take a lot of spinning but stranger things have happened.
CNN is running a piece that talks about poor little Mehserle getting death threats. The story also reports that BART is saying that there is the possibility that the officer, who has been on the force two years, may have mistaken his gun for a taser...
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/01/07/BART.shooting/
Talk about reaching.
Reportedly, BART spokesman , Linton Johnson said that there is more to the story than what was captured on the camera phones of the people who were at the scene. However, BART is not releasing the footage from surveillance cameras.
Well, Davey D and the folks at the San Francisco Bay View are doing their usual outstanding job at getting to the bottom of the story.
Check out their version below:
http://hiphopnews.yuku.com/topic/998
We send our condolences out to the family of Oscar Grant.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Black Like He: Will Obama Change Hip Hop?
Black Like He:
Will Obama Change Hip Hop?
Paul Scott
Hate it or love it, the one good thing that can be said about commercialized Hip Hop of the thuggish variety (gangsta rap) is its resilience.
The day after a nuclear holocaust, the only things that will be left on the planet will be roaches, Spam and Snoop Dog.
Since its "official" coming out party in the form of NWA's "Straight Outta Compton, a generation ago, the longevity of lyrics spoutin' tales of drug slangin, gang bangin' and bling blingin' boggles the mind. While other forms of music have come and gone over the years, "gangsta rap" remains as strong as ever with the original members of NWA and its immediate offspring still crankin' out cds like they did almost 20 years ago.
Although, the early fathers of conscious Hip Hop warned the gangsta's about the legacy they were leaving for the future generations of black youth, the thugs had the last laugh as their words have been immortalized while the lyrics of the conscious have faded into obscurity.
Commercial Hip Hop has survived two Bushes, two wars and 9/11. Even when the winds of change were blowin' like Hurricane Katrina, Hip Hop stood firm in its policy of socio-political apathy. I still can't figure out, for the life of me, how the rappers got past the Million Million Man March's Day of Atonement without atoning back in '95.
But the question facing Hip Hop in 2009, is "can it survive four years of Obama?"
Since, its inception, "gangsta-ism" has promoted itself as being a reflection of what was going on in economically depressed communities. The gangstas have always prided themselves as being more realistic than their alter egos such as Public Enemy with their Utopian ideas of a pro black paradise. Even their harshest hata's had their criticisms betrayed by their own statistics of the drugs, crime and unemployment that plagued "da hood."
It was assumed at the genesis of the gangsta that the societal problems disproportionately affecting the black community would force even the hardest, grimace faced rapper to, in time, become a reluctant revolutionary. But actions ranging from the Rodney King beating to the shooting of unarmed black men like Sean Bell failed to produce anything more than the one obligatory F*** the Police cut on a few cd's.
Even the benign neglect that Black and Latino communities suffered over the last decade only seemed to feed into the escapist fantasy world of the ballas who preached that if you dropped out of high school to slang rock or hustle a demo, you too could live the life of the hood rich and ghetto fabulous.
Even though time has gone by, are the masses of black people, collectively better off than they were 20 years ago?
Maybe, Hip Hop hasn't changed because black life hasn't changed measurably since 1989. The oppressed are still oppressed and the condition of the permanent underclass is still permanent.
It has been the job of the media giants of Capitalism to cram the collective suffering of black folks into a bottle and sell it to mainstream America for $14.99.
But with the election of Barack Obama, the forecast for black folks has gone from gloomy to sunny. Now whether, this is a crack pipe dream or reality remains to be seen. But like the old Sprite commercial used to claim "image is everything."
Can the thugs, playa's and ballas answer the challenge of the "spirit of the new black man" that is embodied in Obama, a spirit that has the audacity to make change instead of just writing lyrics complaining about how bad things are?
For the most part, the view of black men by America has been myopic. Hip Hop has capitalized off of the idea of the average black man being a somewhat uneducated victim of society "doin' what he's gotta do to survive."
But now here comes a Harvard educated black man with just enough swagga to captivate the imagination of America and enough of a community activist background to give him street cred. He may even puff on a Newport every now and then to appease a Hip Hop generation trying to come to grips with its own vices.
How will the anti-intellectual nature of Hip Hop adapt when Knowledge really reigns supreme over everybody to a degree that the Blastmaster ,himself, never thought possible.
Forget Cool J, ladies love Obama. I remember watching the election night coverage, last November and seeing black women in a state of ecstasy like they were at an Usher concert. Suppose, instead of wanting some thug luvin' from 50, sistas started givin' some love to the educated rapper? Instead of wanting to hear some nasty lyrics whispered in their ears in the back of the club, black women in '09 will be in the back of the library begging a bookworm to, "Quote something from the Harvard Law Review to me, Daddy."
Economically speaking, we are approaching a time when throwin' C-Notes at strippers and spending hundreds of dollars poppin' Champagne while black children, globally, go to bed hungry, will no longer be in vogue. We are entering an age when the Marxist philosophy of "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need" will become the flava of the month.
As the formerly indestructible wall of Capitalism continues to shatter into a thousand pieces and the new president leads America into something closely resembling Socialism, one dreads to think about the fate of those who once proudly touted their bling in front of their poverty stricken fans even during the height of a recession. In the very near future, the snatching of gold chains will become less about dissin' and more about making a political statement over the evils of materialism.
The one thing that the changing political climate will do is force rappers to leave Never Never Land and finally grow up. In, 2009 we will be facing grown man decisions that only grown men and women can make. Hip Hop must either roll with the coming tide or get swept away by it.
Like a song writer once said, eventually, "everything must change."
Even Hip Hop.
Paul Scott, the Hip Hop TRUTH Minista writes for No Warning Shots Fired.com. http://www.nowarningshotsfired.com/ He can be reached at (919) 451-8283 or info@nowarningshotsfired.com
Will Obama Change Hip Hop?
Paul Scott
Hate it or love it, the one good thing that can be said about commercialized Hip Hop of the thuggish variety (gangsta rap) is its resilience.
The day after a nuclear holocaust, the only things that will be left on the planet will be roaches, Spam and Snoop Dog.
Since its "official" coming out party in the form of NWA's "Straight Outta Compton, a generation ago, the longevity of lyrics spoutin' tales of drug slangin, gang bangin' and bling blingin' boggles the mind. While other forms of music have come and gone over the years, "gangsta rap" remains as strong as ever with the original members of NWA and its immediate offspring still crankin' out cds like they did almost 20 years ago.
Although, the early fathers of conscious Hip Hop warned the gangsta's about the legacy they were leaving for the future generations of black youth, the thugs had the last laugh as their words have been immortalized while the lyrics of the conscious have faded into obscurity.
Commercial Hip Hop has survived two Bushes, two wars and 9/11. Even when the winds of change were blowin' like Hurricane Katrina, Hip Hop stood firm in its policy of socio-political apathy. I still can't figure out, for the life of me, how the rappers got past the Million Million Man March's Day of Atonement without atoning back in '95.
But the question facing Hip Hop in 2009, is "can it survive four years of Obama?"
Since, its inception, "gangsta-ism" has promoted itself as being a reflection of what was going on in economically depressed communities. The gangstas have always prided themselves as being more realistic than their alter egos such as Public Enemy with their Utopian ideas of a pro black paradise. Even their harshest hata's had their criticisms betrayed by their own statistics of the drugs, crime and unemployment that plagued "da hood."
It was assumed at the genesis of the gangsta that the societal problems disproportionately affecting the black community would force even the hardest, grimace faced rapper to, in time, become a reluctant revolutionary. But actions ranging from the Rodney King beating to the shooting of unarmed black men like Sean Bell failed to produce anything more than the one obligatory F*** the Police cut on a few cd's.
Even the benign neglect that Black and Latino communities suffered over the last decade only seemed to feed into the escapist fantasy world of the ballas who preached that if you dropped out of high school to slang rock or hustle a demo, you too could live the life of the hood rich and ghetto fabulous.
Even though time has gone by, are the masses of black people, collectively better off than they were 20 years ago?
Maybe, Hip Hop hasn't changed because black life hasn't changed measurably since 1989. The oppressed are still oppressed and the condition of the permanent underclass is still permanent.
It has been the job of the media giants of Capitalism to cram the collective suffering of black folks into a bottle and sell it to mainstream America for $14.99.
But with the election of Barack Obama, the forecast for black folks has gone from gloomy to sunny. Now whether, this is a crack pipe dream or reality remains to be seen. But like the old Sprite commercial used to claim "image is everything."
Can the thugs, playa's and ballas answer the challenge of the "spirit of the new black man" that is embodied in Obama, a spirit that has the audacity to make change instead of just writing lyrics complaining about how bad things are?
For the most part, the view of black men by America has been myopic. Hip Hop has capitalized off of the idea of the average black man being a somewhat uneducated victim of society "doin' what he's gotta do to survive."
But now here comes a Harvard educated black man with just enough swagga to captivate the imagination of America and enough of a community activist background to give him street cred. He may even puff on a Newport every now and then to appease a Hip Hop generation trying to come to grips with its own vices.
How will the anti-intellectual nature of Hip Hop adapt when Knowledge really reigns supreme over everybody to a degree that the Blastmaster ,himself, never thought possible.
Forget Cool J, ladies love Obama. I remember watching the election night coverage, last November and seeing black women in a state of ecstasy like they were at an Usher concert. Suppose, instead of wanting some thug luvin' from 50, sistas started givin' some love to the educated rapper? Instead of wanting to hear some nasty lyrics whispered in their ears in the back of the club, black women in '09 will be in the back of the library begging a bookworm to, "Quote something from the Harvard Law Review to me, Daddy."
Economically speaking, we are approaching a time when throwin' C-Notes at strippers and spending hundreds of dollars poppin' Champagne while black children, globally, go to bed hungry, will no longer be in vogue. We are entering an age when the Marxist philosophy of "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need" will become the flava of the month.
As the formerly indestructible wall of Capitalism continues to shatter into a thousand pieces and the new president leads America into something closely resembling Socialism, one dreads to think about the fate of those who once proudly touted their bling in front of their poverty stricken fans even during the height of a recession. In the very near future, the snatching of gold chains will become less about dissin' and more about making a political statement over the evils of materialism.
The one thing that the changing political climate will do is force rappers to leave Never Never Land and finally grow up. In, 2009 we will be facing grown man decisions that only grown men and women can make. Hip Hop must either roll with the coming tide or get swept away by it.
Like a song writer once said, eventually, "everything must change."
Even Hip Hop.
Paul Scott, the Hip Hop TRUTH Minista writes for No Warning Shots Fired.com. http://www.nowarningshotsfired.com/ He can be reached at (919) 451-8283 or info@nowarningshotsfired.com
Saturday, January 3, 2009
NWSF Top 10 Articles of 2008
Best of 2008
The Dark Side of Black History
http://nowarningshotsfired.blogspot.com/2008/02/dark-side-of-black-history-time-to-tell.html
Confessions of Fox's Black Boogeyman
http://nowarningshotsfired.blogspot.com/2008/03/confessions-of-foxs-black-boogeyman-min.html
Crisis of the Nigga Intellectual
http://nowarningshotsfired.blogspot.com/2008/04/crisis-of-nigga-intellectual-how.html
Mayberry Revisited:
http://nowarningshotsfired.blogspot.com/2008/05/mayberry-revisited.html
The Mis Education of Black Children
http://nowarningshotsfired.blogspot.com/2008/08/mis-education-of-black-children.html
Open Letter to Trina:
http://nowarningshotsfired.blogspot.com/2008/09/open-letter-to-trina.html
Jay Z Stumpin' for Prez
http://nowarningshotsfired.blogspot.com/2008/10/jay-z-stumpin-for-prez-politics-of-hip.html
From Goddess to Gangstress
http://nowarningshotsfired.blogspot.com/2008/12/from-goddess-to-gangstress.html
Notoriously Overrated:What Was So Big About Biggie Smalls ?
http://nowarningshotsfired.blogspot.com/2008/12/notoriously-overrated.html
White Daddies, Pink Caddies and Black Bastards
http://nowarningshotsfired.blogspot.com/2008/12/white-daddies-red-caddies-and-black.html
The Dark Side of Black History
http://nowarningshotsfired.blogspot.com/2008/02/dark-side-of-black-history-time-to-tell.html
Confessions of Fox's Black Boogeyman
http://nowarningshotsfired.blogspot.com/2008/03/confessions-of-foxs-black-boogeyman-min.html
Crisis of the Nigga Intellectual
http://nowarningshotsfired.blogspot.com/2008/04/crisis-of-nigga-intellectual-how.html
Mayberry Revisited:
http://nowarningshotsfired.blogspot.com/2008/05/mayberry-revisited.html
The Mis Education of Black Children
http://nowarningshotsfired.blogspot.com/2008/08/mis-education-of-black-children.html
Open Letter to Trina:
http://nowarningshotsfired.blogspot.com/2008/09/open-letter-to-trina.html
Jay Z Stumpin' for Prez
http://nowarningshotsfired.blogspot.com/2008/10/jay-z-stumpin-for-prez-politics-of-hip.html
From Goddess to Gangstress
http://nowarningshotsfired.blogspot.com/2008/12/from-goddess-to-gangstress.html
Notoriously Overrated:What Was So Big About Biggie Smalls ?
http://nowarningshotsfired.blogspot.com/2008/12/notoriously-overrated.html
White Daddies, Pink Caddies and Black Bastards
http://nowarningshotsfired.blogspot.com/2008/12/white-daddies-red-caddies-and-black.html
Friday, January 2, 2009
No Warning Shots Fired 2009
I want to thank all of you who supported NWSF.com in 2008. In 2009, we are looking to do bigger and better things including:
The No Warning Shots Fired.com Lecture Series
A Black History Month Lecture Tour
NWSF Invasion Tour of Hip Hop Panel Discussions
NWSF Newspaper and Magazine Column
"The Firing Squad" Radio Segment
If you are interested in making any of the above happen in your area contact:
(919) 451-8283
info@nowarningshotsfired.com
or
NWSF
PO Box 3474
Durham NC 27702
The No Warning Shots Fired.com Lecture Series
A Black History Month Lecture Tour
NWSF Invasion Tour of Hip Hop Panel Discussions
NWSF Newspaper and Magazine Column
"The Firing Squad" Radio Segment
If you are interested in making any of the above happen in your area contact:
(919) 451-8283
info@nowarningshotsfired.com
or
NWSF
PO Box 3474
Durham NC 27702
Thursday, January 1, 2009
NWSF Bullet: Playin' the Played Out Race Card
I have always hated the term "playing race card." The accusation usually comes out of the mouth of a white America that holds the Queen of Hearts, the Jack of Diamonds and all the rest of those suckas.
But I have to admit that when I heard the comments that were being made about disgraced Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich's, nominee for Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat, Roland Burris, on CNN, I yelled, "I'm so tired of you people playing the darn race card" before I could catch myself.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/31/senate.appointment/
Now don't get me wrong. I am a firm believer that racism, bigotry and white supremacy still make the Euro-centric world go round but in some cases playin' the proverbial race card cheapens the value of the whole deck.
This is one of those cases.
Now, nobody is hatin' on Burris because of his credentials; former Illinois Attorney General, nice suit. But it was clear from the jump that anyone who the fallen angel chose to be Senator would face more scrutiny than a tone deaf American Idol contestant wearing a "I hate Simon" t-shirt.
So why put Burris in that predicament?
Maybe, Blagojevich thought that in this new era of change it was only right that there be a black Senator in congress to champion the rights of poor and oppressed people, everywhere. To fulfill the dream of the Right Reverend Martin Luther King Jr when he said....
Aw, who am I kidding?
This was the manipulative action of a typical white male egotistical maniac using black people for personal gain !
There are thousands of cases of racial discrimination all around us, everyday, where black folks are being denied opportunities or being persecuted for merely being black at the wrong place at the wrong time.
There are also many black political prisoners still being held today for standing up for the rights of African Americans.
If we are really concerned about "the race card" we should be championing the causes of black political prisoners like Dr. Matula Shakur and Mumia Abu-Jamal.
These are examples of people who truly did not deserve the hand that they were dealt.
But I have to admit that when I heard the comments that were being made about disgraced Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich's, nominee for Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat, Roland Burris, on CNN, I yelled, "I'm so tired of you people playing the darn race card" before I could catch myself.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/31/senate.appointment/
Now don't get me wrong. I am a firm believer that racism, bigotry and white supremacy still make the Euro-centric world go round but in some cases playin' the proverbial race card cheapens the value of the whole deck.
This is one of those cases.
Now, nobody is hatin' on Burris because of his credentials; former Illinois Attorney General, nice suit. But it was clear from the jump that anyone who the fallen angel chose to be Senator would face more scrutiny than a tone deaf American Idol contestant wearing a "I hate Simon" t-shirt.
So why put Burris in that predicament?
Maybe, Blagojevich thought that in this new era of change it was only right that there be a black Senator in congress to champion the rights of poor and oppressed people, everywhere. To fulfill the dream of the Right Reverend Martin Luther King Jr when he said....
Aw, who am I kidding?
This was the manipulative action of a typical white male egotistical maniac using black people for personal gain !
There are thousands of cases of racial discrimination all around us, everyday, where black folks are being denied opportunities or being persecuted for merely being black at the wrong place at the wrong time.
There are also many black political prisoners still being held today for standing up for the rights of African Americans.
If we are really concerned about "the race card" we should be championing the causes of black political prisoners like Dr. Matula Shakur and Mumia Abu-Jamal.
These are examples of people who truly did not deserve the hand that they were dealt.
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