Editorial: I Remember Rap
I remember in my high school days competing in daily rap contest, in the Lunch room, at Mt. Healthy high school. Back in 1985, that was the time when my friends and I could think only of rapping, scratching, stereo mixing, and dancing. Those were the days when hip hop and its derivatives were very popular among teenagers of diverse ethnic origins. Those were the days when Run DMC, Fat Boys, Curtis Blow, Grand Master Melle Mel and the Furious Five were very popular. How much I miss those old school jams. Yeah, those great message raps of Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five, Sugar Hill, Run DMC, and others. Do any of you remember THE MESSAGE, by Grand Master Flash & The Furious Five, which described the daily horror and struggles of the average African American life. Or what about Run DMC's HARD TIMES. Or do any of you remember Grand Master Melle Mel's NEW YORK NEW YORK, which graphically expounded upon the consequences of not honoring the social contract. Do you remember Grand Master Melle Mel words: "...So you don't have enough money to help feed two. So you have to choose between the baby and you. The sky was screamin, rainin hail when you put yo baby in the garbage pail. You kiss the kid. Put down the lid. And tried to forget what you just did. The mother screams of a dying baby. It was enough to drive the young mother crazy. So she ran in the rain. Tried to ease her pain. She drove herself insane. New York New York big city dreams, but everything in New York aint all what it seems. you might get fooled if you come from out of town, but I'm down by law I know my way around..." I am recalling these 11 year old words from my memory because I have been penetrated by them for so long. In my heart, I wish that rappers revive the categorically message rap in its most authentic form. Because this type of rap will positively impinge on the social process. Let's go forward with rap, not backwards.
Editor's Note: The editorial "I Remember Rap" was originally written by Baruti M. Kamau and subsequently published in the second edition of Barutiwa Newspaper on December 13, 1993.
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