Class is In Session Muthafuckas

Course Objective: The course objective is to enlighten students not so much about what Hip Hop is but what hip Hop is not (as it is fraudulently prepared, packaged, and presented for commercial radio and television).

For example:

Can we say raw? So, I've been meaning to put this post up for a week now. Long story short, I'm taking a class called Hip Hop: A Race, Gender, and Class Perspective. All that sounds nice, but it's a class on hip-hop, period. Hype, much? You wouldn't even know the half. By the time I left the first class, I was amp beyond reason (the result of this amp'ness was When 2 Poems Collide). The sun don't shine forever, but as long it's here- then we might as well shine together.

Anywho, I'm just here to kick some random and out of order knowledge to ya'll that I was intrigued by in class. I'm a poet, of course I was writing random things down... quotes, fun facts, the teachers descriptions, etc. Don't expect order. Just expect substance. Ready?

For starters, the teacher walked through the door in a dope pin striped suit, wearing RocaWear glasses, and carrying a Louis Vuitton brief case. This in itself was bananas to me.

I digress.
Let's kick some quotes:

"I'm not a hater cause I hate you.
I'm a hater, simply cause you're wack." -Common

Hearing this made me giggle. Yes, giggle. It's so true though. Some people assume they're big sh*t, just because someone's hating on them. Six times out of 10 (because I admit that some people are just jealous), someone's hating on you for whatever you lack but are fronting on like you got it. Common hit that over the head.

Cause you went platinum doesn't make you good.
It just means there's 1 million muthafuckas stupid as you are.
-Immortal Technique

Enough said.

I added muthafuckas so you niggas would hear me.
-Lauryn Hill

This line hit home with me simply because, sometimes you feel like you have to get ignorant or explicit for people to pay attention. Lauryn Hill demonstrates that perfectly.

I'm ill literate.
You illiterate.
-Wordsworth

Just read it til' you get it.

Alright, I'm done with the quotes. Just wanna share some things Mr. Teacher said, and then I'm done. For starters: He truly thought that Chris Rock and Dave Chapelle were wearing wigs and doing a hip-hop skit/joke the first time he saw Ying-Yang Twins performing. Ouch. Secondly, he mentioned how Puffy was the anti-Christ of hip hop. Why? Because he commercialized and prostituted it. Hurts, don't it? Oops, I lied. One last quote. The teacher said this one himself: If jazz and blues had a baby, it'd be hip-hop.

So true.
Last but not least: 50 cent is not a real gangster. People have been debating this for years, but our teacher really put all his business out there- and as a journalist, it's my job to inform you. So... for the record, the real 50 cent is a gangster who was imprisoned and actually sued 50 for slandering his name. Why? Because he was a poor representation of it. Furthermore, 50 got shot AT nine times, but was actually shot 3 times. I'm not chopping 3 like I could take em', but it's a big difference between taking 9 bullets and taking 3.

Wait. There's more. You know how he raps about doing a bid for 3 to 6. That 3 to 6 is a reference to months, not years, and this time was spent in a juvenile detention center because he snitched on a 17yr. old female. And the worse fact of all (no, not the fact that he's from Connecticut and not New York): He filed a restraining order against Irv Gotti.

Stop the madness.

You've Been Schooled,
B