AllHipHop.com: …forever!
KRS-One: Yeah, man! Since the ’70s. Forever, this dude’s been in our ear. Minister Farrakhan! Now keep in mind, too, this is an elder. Minister Farrakhan’s been sick. He beat cancer. He’s always getting criticized. His work was hard – death threats, all that s**t. And then the Nation of Islam itself don’t let Minister Farrakhan start talking about the internal structure of the Nation. He’s brutal, even with his own people. He’s a leader. So, at the end of the day, I felt it fitting in a book like this that goes down forever, and also is a book from the youth — like I’m the youth compared to Minister Farrakhan – let’s start the book off with the dude that Public Enemy rapped about, that Kane quoted, that we all heard and admired and saw the struggle first-hand. And even if you don’t agree, you’ve got to agree with this dude’s eye on hip hop. From day one, Minister Farrakhan’s been pointing at us, telling us we are divine and we need to stop this nonsense. Minister Farrakhan’s never pulled punches with hip hop. He’s called us out, called cats out. Big gangsta dudes, he had them on their knees, crying. He had Ja Rule crying – straight up and down! This is a man in our culture taking meetings and summits. Sad to say, I ain’t see no Jews do that. I don’t see no Christians come like that. There’s one Christian that I mention in the book. His name’s Clarence McClendon – Bishop Clarence McClendon. I met him out in California. He was running a hip hop church in California and was getting heat for it. And I went there and I got saved in his church, right there.
AllHipHop.com: Oh, wow!
KRS-One: But I mention him in the book because he put out a thing called The X Blessing. And he talked about how biblically hip hop is the new way in the new world. And he, as a Christian minister, this dude was saying, these dudes are going to come smelling like weed with guns in their pockets, and we Christians are not going to know how to deal with them. We’re not going to know. He was telling them: “Get prepared. This is how God always works. It’s the least one, the one you don’t expect, the one who looks like they bugging – that’s the one God’s gonna pick and raise up.” I quoted his whole thing. That, too, is in the Gospel as well. But that’s about it. Everybody else was dissing. And to get back to your question about what’s the responsibility of the artist. Preacher’s day is done. Of course you got to read into that, I mean, because the preachers day is not done. It has only just begun. But what Minister Farrakhan is speaking to is that old style -- “We gonna make it.” Same old quotes. “No weapon formed against me shall prosper.” Same old quote on the Muslim side. “All praise to Allah.” Farrakhan says all that is over now. There’s a new day popping, and everybody feels it, but very few people have the courage to step up in their position because you’re going to get dissed by those who have to hold on to the old power. And you’re going to get praised by those who are standing at the door trying to get in. And so you’ve got to decide yourself in even putting a gospel like that forward — which goes back to the question you posed about the responsibility of the art. You’ve got to ask yourself the question: “Who am I?”
AllHipHop.com: Yes! It is a question that many of us spend an entire lifetime trying to answer.
KRS-One: This is why your question is half-half for me. It’s yes and no with this responsibility to the artist, because really to be honest with you, it’s not even about the artist. It’s about the man or the woman. It’s really about what type of person are you. And I honestly believe that you’ve got to be ordained to do these things. Like to feel like a Poor Righteous Teacher or a Public Enemy or to feel like any of X-Clan — that’s an inner thing. That’s a thing that motivates you, like you as a man or as a woman are the type to not let injustice go past you. You as a man, as a woman, cannot be bought or bribed in that sense. So you’ve got to be a certain kind of person to want to help people, to want to save people. I used to get criticized for that, too. They said I had a savior complex. I was trying to be a messiah. I was starting a cult when I mentioned the temple of hiphoppas. People were like, “Oh, Kris is starting a cult.” And when I put out Spiritual Minded. Then it was: “Oh, Kris is a Christian, now.” And when I started talking about hip hop building its own secret society. Folk said: “Kris is with the Illuminati, now.” And I can imagine, what’s people going to think now of the Gospel of Hip Hop? [laughing]
AllHipHop.com: It’s enlightening to hear you say all of this, because I get a lot of heat from people, because I’m really big on artist responsibility. I know you said you were half and half on it, but when I had the chance to study abroad in college, I was floored by how international audiences digest American culture. 99% of the time, that is the only way in which black people, and hip hop culture in general, are introduced to the world – through multimedia. No disrespect to Charles Barkley and other superstars who use the recycled -- “I’m not a role model. That’s not my responsibility.” – line. But I feel that once you have elevated yourself via some platform and you make your life work available for mass consumption, you have to embrace that and say, “I am a role model even if I don’t want to be.” So, with all that being said, there is a quote in the Gospel of Hip Hop where you breakdown and create an acronym for the word sin – selfish, inconsiderate, needs. There are a lot of artists out there who are claiming, “I’m the best rapper alive. I’m the best rapper ever.” But I don’t really feel like the product they’re putting out is changing lives. It’s selling albums, but I don’t really feel like it’s making the type of music that would inspire social or political change. So when I look at an artist like yourself, who doesn’t have that commercial success, but for some reason, people are coming back to you and doling out mounds of critical acclaim, what does that say?
KRS-One: Well, to be perfectly honest, the music doesn’t match the statement. Your music is not matching your claims. And this is what the issue really is.
Chanzo ni mtandao wa www.allhiphop.com
KRS-One: Yeah, man! Since the ’70s. Forever, this dude’s been in our ear. Minister Farrakhan! Now keep in mind, too, this is an elder. Minister Farrakhan’s been sick. He beat cancer. He’s always getting criticized. His work was hard – death threats, all that s**t. And then the Nation of Islam itself don’t let Minister Farrakhan start talking about the internal structure of the Nation. He’s brutal, even with his own people. He’s a leader. So, at the end of the day, I felt it fitting in a book like this that goes down forever, and also is a book from the youth — like I’m the youth compared to Minister Farrakhan – let’s start the book off with the dude that Public Enemy rapped about, that Kane quoted, that we all heard and admired and saw the struggle first-hand. And even if you don’t agree, you’ve got to agree with this dude’s eye on hip hop. From day one, Minister Farrakhan’s been pointing at us, telling us we are divine and we need to stop this nonsense. Minister Farrakhan’s never pulled punches with hip hop. He’s called us out, called cats out. Big gangsta dudes, he had them on their knees, crying. He had Ja Rule crying – straight up and down! This is a man in our culture taking meetings and summits. Sad to say, I ain’t see no Jews do that. I don’t see no Christians come like that. There’s one Christian that I mention in the book. His name’s Clarence McClendon – Bishop Clarence McClendon. I met him out in California. He was running a hip hop church in California and was getting heat for it. And I went there and I got saved in his church, right there.
AllHipHop.com: Oh, wow!
KRS-One: But I mention him in the book because he put out a thing called The X Blessing. And he talked about how biblically hip hop is the new way in the new world. And he, as a Christian minister, this dude was saying, these dudes are going to come smelling like weed with guns in their pockets, and we Christians are not going to know how to deal with them. We’re not going to know. He was telling them: “Get prepared. This is how God always works. It’s the least one, the one you don’t expect, the one who looks like they bugging – that’s the one God’s gonna pick and raise up.” I quoted his whole thing. That, too, is in the Gospel as well. But that’s about it. Everybody else was dissing. And to get back to your question about what’s the responsibility of the artist. Preacher’s day is done. Of course you got to read into that, I mean, because the preachers day is not done. It has only just begun. But what Minister Farrakhan is speaking to is that old style -- “We gonna make it.” Same old quotes. “No weapon formed against me shall prosper.” Same old quote on the Muslim side. “All praise to Allah.” Farrakhan says all that is over now. There’s a new day popping, and everybody feels it, but very few people have the courage to step up in their position because you’re going to get dissed by those who have to hold on to the old power. And you’re going to get praised by those who are standing at the door trying to get in. And so you’ve got to decide yourself in even putting a gospel like that forward — which goes back to the question you posed about the responsibility of the art. You’ve got to ask yourself the question: “Who am I?”
AllHipHop.com: Yes! It is a question that many of us spend an entire lifetime trying to answer.
KRS-One: This is why your question is half-half for me. It’s yes and no with this responsibility to the artist, because really to be honest with you, it’s not even about the artist. It’s about the man or the woman. It’s really about what type of person are you. And I honestly believe that you’ve got to be ordained to do these things. Like to feel like a Poor Righteous Teacher or a Public Enemy or to feel like any of X-Clan — that’s an inner thing. That’s a thing that motivates you, like you as a man or as a woman are the type to not let injustice go past you. You as a man, as a woman, cannot be bought or bribed in that sense. So you’ve got to be a certain kind of person to want to help people, to want to save people. I used to get criticized for that, too. They said I had a savior complex. I was trying to be a messiah. I was starting a cult when I mentioned the temple of hiphoppas. People were like, “Oh, Kris is starting a cult.” And when I put out Spiritual Minded. Then it was: “Oh, Kris is a Christian, now.” And when I started talking about hip hop building its own secret society. Folk said: “Kris is with the Illuminati, now.” And I can imagine, what’s people going to think now of the Gospel of Hip Hop? [laughing]
AllHipHop.com: It’s enlightening to hear you say all of this, because I get a lot of heat from people, because I’m really big on artist responsibility. I know you said you were half and half on it, but when I had the chance to study abroad in college, I was floored by how international audiences digest American culture. 99% of the time, that is the only way in which black people, and hip hop culture in general, are introduced to the world – through multimedia. No disrespect to Charles Barkley and other superstars who use the recycled -- “I’m not a role model. That’s not my responsibility.” – line. But I feel that once you have elevated yourself via some platform and you make your life work available for mass consumption, you have to embrace that and say, “I am a role model even if I don’t want to be.” So, with all that being said, there is a quote in the Gospel of Hip Hop where you breakdown and create an acronym for the word sin – selfish, inconsiderate, needs. There are a lot of artists out there who are claiming, “I’m the best rapper alive. I’m the best rapper ever.” But I don’t really feel like the product they’re putting out is changing lives. It’s selling albums, but I don’t really feel like it’s making the type of music that would inspire social or political change. So when I look at an artist like yourself, who doesn’t have that commercial success, but for some reason, people are coming back to you and doling out mounds of critical acclaim, what does that say?
KRS-One: Well, to be perfectly honest, the music doesn’t match the statement. Your music is not matching your claims. And this is what the issue really is.
Chanzo ni mtandao wa www.allhiphop.com
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