What About…Straight Outta Patience

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what about Straight Outta Patience

While the world is thinking Straight Outta Compton, Spooks McGhie is Straight Outta Patience.

Words by Spooks McGhie

So apparently there was a biopic released about a group of gangster rappers from Compton, California that received over 60 million in the box office in the first week, but here’s the crazy part; no one was murdered or stabbed or robbed at any of the movie theaters showing the film!!!

how

How is it possible that black people can gather in large groups to support a definitive moment in their culture without popping at least one negro? There are questions, many questions, that need answers!

Okay. Obviously I’m being sarcastic, but this was actually a news story that CNN ran to express their shock and awe at these civilized hip-hop fans.

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What they fail to comprehend is that hip-hop is a culture that is rarely what it appears to be at face value and only true hip-hop fans understand this. Hip-Hop often parodies itself -sometimes intentional, sometimes unintentional- but the beauty of hip-hop and hip-hop culture is that it is so rich and well rounded that even the “ignorant” rap music serves it’s purpose.

Can I Get a Yeah?
Can I Get a Yeah?

It’s so powerful that even the people creating the music and living in the moment have no idea the impact and social change they incite. In many cases ninjas are  just trying to rap.  Hip-hop is so complex that even if the artist making the music proclaims 10-20 years down the line that it was all just a ruse to make a stronger point about society’s ills, you have no choice to but believe them. I’m not saying rappers are incapable of being tactical and artistic in their statements. What I AM saying is that… a lot of these ninjas had no idea.

As a matter of fact the reason (in my opinion) Hip-Hop music was funded on a grander scale by big corporations was because they thought it would contribute to the downfall of the lower class. Talk about a plan backfiring!

No matter how hard they tried to push negative things into the hip-hop community, they always came back full circle… more powerful and more beautiful than before with more wisdom and a clearer representation of humanity than any art form I can think of.

All that mumbo jumbo brings me back to this “Straight Outta Compton” movie. First off let me apologize for writing an article about a movie I have yet to see, but I’m a new daddy and I can’t find a moment to myself (I’m actually writing this in the bathroom…don’t worry, not pooping).

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What I got merely from this even being a thing is that while hip-hop has been around for 40 years (or 39 for all you nit picky waka flockas) it is constantly being weaved around history like it isn’t a PART of history. As the homie Abib Jahleel said, “Hip-Hop has SO much influence on pop culture but it is NEVER acknowledged.” Hip-Hop has become that older big brother that you steal all your clothes and style from but pretend you don’t know him when you see him in public.

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Now, I haven’t read a school textbook in a while but I’m almost willing to bet my left toe that if you go to the portion in the book that talks about the past 30 years they will mention these key topics:

  1. The Wedding of Princess Diana500 diana
  2. Iranian Hostage Releaseiran 500
  3. Assassination of Ghandigandhi2
  4. Chernobyl
  5. Mandela Prison releaseWorld-62
  6. Gulf War
  7. Fall of The Berlin Wall282112-berlin-wall-fall-1989-afp
  8. Crack Epidemic151012341
  9. Rodney King Riotstumblr_nnktfdEKgM1qc7oaao1_500
  10. O.J. Simpson Trailoj
  11. Sheep Cloning49114779
  12. Princess Diana’s Death
  13. 2000 election recount in Floridadownload
  14. Y2K Scare
  15. September 11th
  16. Hurricane Katrina
  17. Death Of Pope John
  18. Election of First Black President359404-359136-obama-new
  19. Death of Michael Jackson
  20. Earthquake in Haiti
  21. Killing Osama, Sadaam, and Ghadafi
  22. Government Shutdowntumblr_mukqenXEoe1qcm14io1_500

Just to name a few, the list is way too extensive. But out of all of those definitive events, no one will mention the influence hip-hop had on these events. NO one will mention the impact Hip-Hop had on the crack epidemic.  No one will mention the attention hip-hop brought to raise awareness about the AIDS epidemic. No one will mention all the light Hip-Hop has shone on police brutality and injustice in America (shone? Shined?). No one will mention the impact that Hip-Hop had in getting Barack elected. NO one will mention all the Hip-hop artists that got together to raise money for the earthquake in Haiti.  No one will talk about Kanye pointing out how “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” amongst other stuff.  My point is, without making this article too long, for many events like the ones named above, hip-hop music has had a major influence on the way society coped with these traumatic events.  And it wasn’t just little black kids, everyone from every creed, color and race, could connect to these bold and powerful ideas.

But I digress

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I can’t wait to see the film. From what I hear this biopic is pretty freaking awesome, and that hip-hop needs more Straight Outta Comptons and less Lifetime Wendy Williams train wrecks.  The people need to understand that this culture is rich and beautiful and very influential and the last thing we need is more hastily compiled made for T.V. movies with bad acting and cheesy dialogue. Hip-Hop deserves more than that. Our HISTORY deserves more than that.

Signing off,

Spooks McGhie, Stay Dope and Stay winning.

P.S. Always wear Condoms

TLC

and Don’t Do Drugs Kids.

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