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ForumsMusic Discussion and Showcase → Poverty of Philosophy
Poverty of Philosophy
2005-03-03, 5:43 PM #1
This is... I guess you could say, a "Essay song" by a independant underground hip-hop artist calledImmortal Technique (who sold 40,000 records BY HIMSELF, proof that a middleman isn't needed), in which a beat is played while he talks about whats happening in America and other countries. This REALLY hit me hard, I wanted to hear what your opinion is on... Well, his opinion, heh.

(its looong but honestly, an incredible read):



Most of my Latino and black people who are struggling to get food, clothes and shelter in the hood are so concerned with that, that philosophising about freedom and socialist democracy is usually unfortunately beyond their rationale. They don't realise that America can't exist without separating them from their identity, because if we had some sense of who we really are, there's no way in hell we'd allow this country to push it's genocidal consensus on our homelands. This ignorance exists, but it can be destroyed.

N****z talk about change and working within the system to achieve that. The problem with always being a conformist is that when you try to change the system from within, it's not you who changes the system; it's the system that will eventually change you. There is usually nothing wrong with compromise in a situation, but compromising yourself in a situation is another story completely, and I have seen this happen long enough in the few years that I've been alive to know that it's a serious problem. Latino America is a huge colony of countries whose presidents are cowards in the face of economic imperialism. You see, third world countries are rich places, abundant in resources, and many of these countries have the capacity to feed their starving people and the children we always see digging for food in trash on commercials. But plutocracies, in other words a government run by the rich such as this one and traditionally oppressive European states, force the third world into buying overpriced, unnecessary goods while exporting huge portions of their natural resources.

I'm quite sure that people will look upon my attitude and sentiments and look for hypocrisy and hatred in my words. My revolution is born out of love for my people, not hatred for others.

You see, most of Latinos are here because of the great inflation that was caused by American companies in Latin America. Aside from that, many are seeking a life away from the puppet democracies that were funded by the United States; places like El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru, Columbia, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Republica Dominicana, and not just Spanish-speaking countries either, but Haiti and Jamaica as well.

As different as we have been taught to look at each other by colonial society, we are in the same struggle and until we realise that, we'll be fighting for scraps from the table of a system that has kept us subservient instead of being self-determined. And that's why we have no control over when the embargo will stop in Cuba, or when the bombs will stop dropping in Vieques.

But you see, here in America the attitude that is fed to us is that outside of America there live lesser people. "**** them, let them fend for themselves." No, _**** you_, they _are_ you. No matter how much you want to dye your hair blonde and put fake eyes in, or follow an anorexic standard of beauty, or no matter how many diamonds you buy from people who exploit your own brutally to get them, no matter what kind of car you drive or what kind of fancy clothes you put on, _you will never be them_. They're always gonna look at you as nothing but a little monkey. I'd rather be proud of what I am, rather than desperately try to be something I'm really not, just to fit in. And whether we want to accept it or not, that's what this culture or lack of culture is feeding us.

I want a better life for my family and for my children, but it doesn't have to be at the expense of millions of lives in my homeland. We're given the idea that if we didn't have these people to exploit then America wouldn't be rich enough to let us have these little petty material things in our lives and basic standards of living. No, that's wrong. It's the business giants and the government officials who make all the real money. We have whatever they kick down to us. My enemy is not the average white man, it's not the kid down the block or the kids I see on the street; my enemy is the white man I don't see: the people in the white house, the corporate monopoly owners, fake liberal politicians--those are my enemies. The generals of the armies that are mostly conservatives--those are the real mother-****ers that I need to bring it to, not the poor, broke country-*** soldier that's too stupid to know **** about the way things are set up.

In fact, I have more in common with most working and middle-class white people than I do with most rich black and Latino people. As much as racism bleeds America, we need to understand that classism is the real issue. Many of us are in the same boat and it's sinking, while these bougie [?] mother-****ers ride on a luxury liner, and as long as we keep fighting over kicking people out of the little boat we're all in, we're gonna miss an opportunity to gain a better standard of living as a whole.

In other words, I don't want to escape the plantation--I want to come back, free all my people, hang the mother-****er that kept me there and burn the house to the god damn ground. I want to take over the encomienda and give it back to the people who work the land.

You cannot change the past but you can make the future, and anyone who tells you different is a ****ing lethargic devil. I don't look at a few token Latinos and black people in the public eye as some type of achievement for my people as a whole. Most of those successful individuals are sell-outs and house Negroes.

But, I don't consider brothers a sell-out if they move out of the ghetto. Poverty has nothing to do with our people. It's not in our culture to be poor. That's only been the last 500 years of our history; look at the last 2000 years of our existence and what we brought to the world in terms of science, mathematics, agriculture and forms of government. You know the idea of a confederation of provinces where one federal government controls the states? The Europeans who came to this country stole that idea from the Iroquois lead. The idea of impeaching a ruler comes from an Aztec tradition. That's why Montezuma was stoned to death by his own people 'cause he represented the agenda of white Spaniards once he was captured, not the Aztec people who would become Mexicans.

So in conclusion, I'm not gonna vote for anybody just 'cause they black or Latino--they have to truly represent the community and represent what's good for all of us proletariat.

[Concluding line in Spanish.]
Got a permanent feather in my cap;
Got a stretch to my stride;
a stroll to my step;
2005-03-03, 7:40 PM #2
yeah, interesting read. Unfortunately it's mostly the same grossly overgeneralized, hypocritical bull**** fingerpointing that he is basing completely on his own emotional beliefs...
The top ten times in history when using the "F" word
was appropriate.....
10) "What the *&%# was that?" -Mayor of Hiroshima - August 1945
9) "Where did all these *&%#ing Indians come from?" - Custer 1877
8) "Any *&%#ing idiot could understand that." - Einstein 1938
7) "It does SO *&%#ing look like her!" - Picasso 1926
6) "How the *&%# did you work that out?" - Pythagoras 126 BC
5) "You want WHAT on the *&%#ing ceiling?" - Michelangelo 1566
4) "I don't suppose it's gonna *&%#ing rain." - Joan of Arc 1434
3) "Scattered *&%#ing showers...my a$$!" - Noah 2114 BC
2) "I need this parade like I need a *&%#ing hole in my head!" -
JFK 1963
1) "Aw c'mon, who the *&%# is going to find out?" - Bill Clinton 1997
2005-03-03, 7:51 PM #3
He does make a bunch of good points though. For what I've gotten from his songs, this guy has been through **** that would mentally scar people.

"The things I've seen in life will make you choke by suprise;
Like an aborted fetus in a jar that opened it's eyes;
Provoking my demise, I'll leave your spirit broken inside;
Like the feeling of 50 million people hoping you'd die;
And n****z wonder why my heart is filled with hatred and anger
Cause some ***** killed my first born son with a coat hanger;
I strangled out the pain until my soul was empty was cold;
Crippled and worthless, so I thought that it could never be sold;
My mother told me that placing my faith in God was the answer;
But then I hated God cause he gave my mother cancer;"



:eek:
Got a permanent feather in my cap;
Got a stretch to my stride;
a stroll to my step;
2005-03-03, 11:17 PM #4
I didn't read all of that, but I heard an Immortal Technique song on the radio once. I don't remember it, but I liked it enough that I listened for them to announce who it was and wrote down his name so I could look it up later.

I'm so lucky. I have the best radio station ever here.
It's not the side effects of cocaine, so then I'm thinking that it must be love
2005-03-04, 4:11 AM #5
Quote:
Originally posted by dry gear the frog
I didn't read all of that, but I heard an Immortal Technique song on the radio once. I don't remember it, but I liked it enough that I listened for them to announce who it was and wrote down his name so I could look it up later.

I'm so lucky. I have the best radio station ever here.


Damn, whats this station called?
Got a permanent feather in my cap;
Got a stretch to my stride;
a stroll to my step;
2005-03-04, 9:58 PM #6
Radio K, AM 770 in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, 91.5 FM in St. Louis Park.

They've played some great hip-hop like Dizzee Rascal, Public Enemy, Queen Latifah, and a lot that I don't remember who they were.

We also have a new radio station, the second best radio station ever, MPR The Current. You can listen online:
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/radio/services/thecurrent/
It's not the side effects of cocaine, so then I'm thinking that it must be love

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