Who knew that listening to all that hip hop in high school and college would pay off one day? It’s been a crazy month with finals, grading, and all the end-of-the-year scrambling that comes in June. So in some ways, it’s a relief to travel to an academic conference to present some research on hip hop and urban missiology.
Don’t think these record deals
Gonna feed your seeds
And pay your bills because they not
MCs get a little bit of love and think they hot
Talkin’ ’bout how much money they got
All y’all records sound the same
I sick of that fake thug, R&B
Rap scenario all day on the radio
Same scenes in the video, monotonous material
Y’all don’t here me though
These record labels slang our tapes like dope
You can be next in line, and signed
And still be writing rhymes and broke
Would you rather have a Lexus or justice
A dream or some substance
A Bimmer, a necklace, or freedom
Still, I don’t playa’ hate
I just stay awake
This is real hip-hop, and it don’t stop
‘Til we get the po-po off the block
-Dead Prez, “It’s Bigger than Hip Hop” (2000)
I never thought I’d be talking about Dead Prez, Blue Scholars, Du Bois, and Walter Brueggemann in the same sentence, but that’s the fun of the academy!
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