The Hip Hop Anthropologist

 Prompted by weariness with the pedestrian fare found on social media, a group entitled "Black Intellectuals" seemed to be the ideal landing spot. However, unless I am missing something, it is also bereft of content. There is a lot of news directly impacting Black folks throughout the Diaspora. But "Black Intellectuals" are not discussing any of it either critically or in depth. In fact they seem to be "missing in action." I used to be in a group that will remain anonymous because a member there is also a member of Black Intellectuals. We used to have always lively, often raucous, sometimes bitter conversations about topics that engaged Black men of all races. It had over ten thousand members during its height of all political persuasions.  The group's owner was around my age in his mid-sixties but unlike me, retired. After a series of posts Meta's online reputation management (ORM) system and/or human censors found objectionable, the group had to ...

 So, how do you strategically combat against an avaricious, aggressive, violent, warmongering tribe who projects its duplicity, hypocrisy, and criminality on to other tribes? By roundly denouncing the off-the-reservation tribe at every turn without fear of either reprisal or retaliation: its brazen theft of innate creativity, intellectual property, valuable mineral (and human) resources and real property of other tribes; by championing our own story: promoting excellence in our community where possible, agitating for it where not. By becoming the protagonist in our own stories. By becoming agents of change. The tribe in question is no longer in the mainstream of American political discourse replete as it is with ancient alabaster relics of a time long past. Its current worldview is a rusty artifact of that period fostered by a false sense of racial superiority naively employed to rationalize "manifest destiny," which is little more than an euphemism for conquest, plunder, mur...

  I never got how playing music at disco volumn or, more importantly, sitting in a car with music blaring so loud you can hear it a mile away was pleasurable. You have to know that you're damaging your hearing beyond disturbing the peace. A good stereo is like seasoning on food. It is supposed to accentuate the music enabling you to hear the highs, midrange, and lows with clarity. Allowing you to savor every note. Like a perfectly cooked steak seasoned with only clarified butter and a few grains of kosher salt. 'nuff said.