0 Page 8 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, October 24, 1990 These by Peter Shapiro The rhythm is indeed the rebel for the best hip hop bands. The pulsat- ing dance-floor grooves facilitate the oppositional leisure politics of danc- ig (and the subsequent transcen- dence of banality and cultural op- pression which dancing allows). The frequent use of alienating drum ca- dences and instrumentation and the blitzkreig fury of scratching con- fronts Amerikkkan culture and whi- te ownership head on with a sonic barrage that cuts like the Harmattan winds blowing across the Sahelian landscape of Mali. Unfortunately, critics concentrate too much on this aspect of the mu- sic because of the prevailing Carte- sian dualism myth about the separa- tion of the mind and the body. West- ern culture dictates that whi-tes have sole possession of the "superior" mind, leaving people of color to fight over various territories of the body. This notion has led to the un- questioned assumptions that Marvin Gaye is great only because of his sultry voice and Paul Simon is more of a poet than Robert Johnson. But long before Chuck D. and KRS-One united the aphorisms of Gil Scott-Heron ("Women will not care if Dick finally got down with Jane on Search for Tomorrow! Because Black people will be in the street looking for a brighter day/ The revolution will not be televised") and The Last Poets ("Jesus will be try- ing to hail the last gypsy cab out of Harlem/ When the revolution comes") with a brutally realistic au- ral portrait of inner city life, lies an even more ignored facet of African American culture, the true roots of rap. Some time in the post-Harlem Renaissance era, after Lasngston Hughes had been silenced by the House Committee on Un-American Activities, when signifying had be- come an art form, and when the bloated intellectualism of Robert Hayden had given way to the ghetto realism of Gwendolyn Brooks, Black poems, poets gained a militant conscious- ness. Even more marginalized in Amerikkkan society than the achievments of their native African culture, African-American poets of the '60s, particularly LeRoi Jones (Imamu Amiri Baraka), Don L. Lee and Nikki Giovanni, exist in a ne- glectedly small world of bitter pain offering only momentary glimpses of joy in traditional rhythms, bur- geoning nationhood and love. Refusing to be confined in a rigid academic world defined by consti- pated intellectuals like the New Crit- ics where art exists in some holy nether region above and beyond triv- ial matters like politics, economics and social constructs, the militant Black poets flaunted the process that went into the creation of their art. Wearing the pain of cultural imperi- alism on their sleeves, these poets re-invented the English language for their own purposes, taking centuries of whi-te definition by stereotypes through the same humiliating injury of hair straightening with lye or skin whitening. All African-American art is, by definition, revolutionary. But this would never be ascertained without looking at the process that went into the creation of their culture- 350 years of being raped, coerced into menial labor, turned into Sambos, fire-hosed, lynched and burned. Baraka, Lee and Giovanni made this as blunt as a shot from Stagger Lee's .45. LeRoi Jones liberated himself from the beatnik imitation of African-American culture as a quest- for-experience type of poetics with which he had concerned himself for the first part of his career. As a re- sult, he inaugurated one of the 20th century's. most important literary movements. Taking his inspiration from the musical pulse of everyday African-American culture, Jones transferred English into a vehicle for expressing the sublime and holy -beauty of a culture intimately inter- twined with the earth not the here- after (read: death). Quickly, this lyri- cism changed into a verbal Mau Mau movement stressing the Black soul and persecuting Satanic caucasians with a combination of violent in- dictment and prophecy: THE QUALITY OF THE NIGHT THAT YOU HATE MOST IS ITS BLACK AND ITS STAR TEETH EYES, AND STICKS ITS STICKY FIN- GERS IN YOUR EARS. RED NIGGER EYES LOOKING UP FROM A BLACK HOLE. RED NIGGER LIPS TURNING KILLER GEOMETRY, LIKE HIS EYES ROLL UP LIKE HE THOUGHT RELIGION WAS BEBOP ... These are the words of lovers. Of dancers, of dynamite singers These are the songs if you have the music (from "Three Movements and a Coda") Of course, it is not only whitey that doesn't have the music, but the Black bourgeoisie who, "grins po- litely in restaurants/ has a good word to say/ never says it/ does not hate ofays/ hates, instead, him self/ him black self." Jones' Black self leaped out of his skin with panther claws fully extended when his gruesome 1966 poem, "Black Art," was pub- lished. With all the subtlety of a Zulu war cry, Jones screamed and pleaded that, Poems are bullshit unless they are teeth or trees or lemons piled on a step.... Black poems to smear on girdlemamma mulatto bitches whose brains are red jelly stuck between 'lizabeth taylor's toes. ...We want "poems that kill." Assassin poems, Poems that shoot guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys and take their weapons leaving them dead ...We want a black poem. And a Black World. Let the world be a Black Poem And Let All Black People Speak This Poem Silently or LOUD. Taking Jones' idea that Black po- ems should kill, Don L. Lee's po- etry speaks with the same imperative power as an anxiously clenched muscle girded by an iron chain. His1 best work absorbs the power of a caged beast spitting its rage at the pale ugly tourists coming to gawk at him: "re-act to whi-te actions:/with. real acts of blk/action./ BAM BAM BAM..re-act/ NOW niggers/ & you won't have to/act/false ac- tions/at/your/children's graves." Proving that the myths of Shine and Stagger Lee speak not only to Black men but to all African Ameri- cans, Nikki Giovanni takes Lee's militancy one step further. Daring Black men to become fully realized males by confronting their castrating oppressors head-on, her "The True Import of Present Dialogue: Black vs. Negro" is perhaps the most sweeping of these new militant po- ems: "Nigger/Can you kill/Can a nigger kill/Can a nigger kill a honkie/...Can you piss on a blond head/Can you cut it off/...Can we learn to kill WHITE for BLACK/Learn to kill niggers/Learn to be Black men." Long before the debate about using language that identifies with the oppressor that emerged with N.W.A.; Giovanni and Lee showed that placid liberals preaching peace and love are more dangerous to African Americans than an honest expression of rage: "His headstone said/FREE AT LAST, FREE AT LAST/But death is slave's freedom." While Vernon Reid and Nonat Hendryx can whine and whimper at Ice-T and Ice Cube for saying "nigger" at a music biz convention, . the fury that their language expresses is less harmful and more culturally grounded than any coalition of Blacks wanting to switch. The blar- ing warnings of Public Enemy, the cock-whipping power of N.W.A., and the Afrocentric utopian visions of the Native Tongues and BDP would not exist without Don L. Lee's "The Primitive:" taken from the shores of Mother Africa.p the savages they thought we 1 were- they being the real savages.. to save us. (from what?) A our happiness, our love, each k other? f their bible fri our land. (introduction to eco-a nomics) christanized us.a ...against our nature, this ' weapon called civilization- C they brought us here- to drive us mad.Y (like them). r d hoot guns Blastmaster KRS-One, the teacher, taking a lesson from Amiri Baraka, tries to create a world that is a Black poem Records Continued from page 7 The Skels Be With That Mystery Fez "Accidentally Leon Errol" is the eason to listen to this album. Sport - lead vocalist, harmonica player and pennywhistler- delivers yrics to kill (and laugh along with) amidst this '90s version of rock 'n' oll. Sport tells us: "When he wants ove he gets a blow job... wants irearms to buy the farms... I've tried t drunk and I tried it sober and neither one was that great... I was a baby in the '50s, a boy in the '60s... a youth in the '70s and a man in the 80s and in the '90s I'm gonna be a god." The Skels show us that you an still rock hard and heavy without banging your head or screeching your guitar, "You Can't Stand Up" incites a reaction of something like, "Cool, dude!" Bill "Rosebud" Hafener and Willy Liguori parade some original guitar licks while Sport yells the words - not the all-too-typical horror-movie-style screaming, but a less distancing angry cry to which we can relate. "She's the kind that scares me most of all" is the kind that Sport-is des::ribing in "She's the Kind." This is a pleasantly peculiar track. Spo doesn't try to hit any notes, but he doesn't need to. Best of all, he gives us a taste of the pennywhistle. "Mesmerised" finally gives Jim "Bamm Bamm" Colford a chance to wear in the drum skins. The drums kick in and pound on your chest, later joined by frantic guitar and John "Flatlever" Borghardt powering the bass to the songs' completion.,,. Be With That, the follow-up 4o*. The Skels debut How Do You Like It Here Now, is welcomingly different from the majority of new material around. They deliver an album worth listening to without trying to: rekindle the past, taking the paved path, being incredibly obscure or selling out. -Kim Yaged ELIO 1* DEAD l HE DOESN'T WRITE FOR ARTS. You can. Call 763-0379. Saturday, October 27 8pm-2am a East Quad $3 in advance/$4 at tE door Careers to create change Jeff Tirengel provides individual psychotherapy and family therapy as part of his fourth year supervised clinical internship experience ata major mentalhealth center. He also takes advanced seminars in clinical intervention that draw on psychodynamic, cognitive- behavioral, and systemic theories. As his third year PsyD project, Tirengel produced a videotaped program examining the critical issues of pregnancy loss. Several national organizations, im- pressed by the video, have helped the program reach a wide: audience. Jeff is a student in the Doctorof Psychology (PsyD) Program at the California School of Professional Psychology, Los Angeles, apro- gram that prepares students for practice-oriented careers. For more information about our PsyD and PhD programs at our campuses in Berkeley/Alameda, Fresno, Los Angeles, and San Diego call us at 800/457-1273 (National) or 800/457-5261 (California). O OPEN WIDE! UM ( :Free Mouthguard Clinic 1) 9. Saturday, October 8:30 - 2:30 PM 27, 1990 The Students and faculty of the UnIietyof Micgan School of Dentistrywilhs Mouthguard Day A Custom made mouthguard will, be fabricated free of charge (occasionaly a moulhguard cannot be made because of Indivdual mouth shapes. Everyone wiN be screened, and advised as to whether or not one can be fabricated for them) Al ages are welcome ParkngIb available In the Fletcher St. paskg lot. The Universtty of Michigan School of Dentistry North Universlty Ave. Ann Arbor. Mlchktaan 48104 Phone# 764-15 64 Located on the corner of N. University and Fletcher St. RPbic may enter thou the mah entrance off North Uriverslty.'or the entrance off Fletcher St. 2 Bards ariaDJ Dirty Street Detour Skinflip Costume Contest - Horror Movie Marathon 7. You expect a lot. So do we. Career Planning and Placement presents....I don't be left outl Jan Harold Brunvand The Scholar of Urban Legends Featured speaker at Caer Expo 1990 Wednesday, October 24 5:00 - 6:00 p.m. Pendleton Room, Michigan Union Your first job is more than just a place to begin your career It's where you'll receive the training and development that will help deter- mine your future. You've set high standards - so have we. One of the nation's 15 largest corporations, Aetna was recently named by Fortune magazineas one of America's most admired corpora- tions. What's more, Aetna has been recognized by Good Housekeeping, Worng Mothei Black Enterprise, munication skills; commitment initia- tive, flexibility and creativity. We hire graduates with degrees in arts and sciences, economics, finance, accounting, information systems, and marketing We'd like to meet you and learn more about your expectations. Look for us on campus on the following dates: Reception/Information Session lhesday, October 23, 1990 Career po Bmivmd, a syndiodco t and CmsI BrvildAgnau*,The Mim Padhehai gDbhwsg will = emmii bmy. yet bsesyable, view of hwarm of wait Sri011 lr Brown Bag with Brunvand Noon - 1 p.m. hosdby Ameribm u 'alhar flnawjut SENIORS This is it! Here's your chance to get your picture in the 1991 MichiganEnsian yearbook Our photographer is back!