Monday, June 12, 2006
Why yes. Yes I am.
Since I'm embroiled in a summer course right now, I have no mental energy to write much. Instead I'll continue the mp3 posting I began last month. Today's song is:
Are you really ready for black power? - Gary Byrd
From the compilation Stand up and be counted
It works on so many levels: as a lecture, as a soul track, as an early rap. It is a song: Byrd has lyrics and a repeating chorus. But he doesn't sing, he talks. Yet he talks over a chorus of horns and funky rhythm guitar. It's the only lecture I've heard that you can dance to.
This could be because Imhotep 'Gary' Byrd was - and possibly still is - a New York DJ. For the longest time I couldn't figure out why he wasn't speaking ebonics, particularly when so much of the RnB of the time was about getting 'back to the streets'. But Byrd's got a different agenda: he wants a revolution, and he wants to be taken seriously. I'd argue the formal speech is about beating whitey at his own game.
These nuances might seem arcane today, but they mattered a lot in the context of the black power movement. Revolutionary socialism and cultural nationalism existed as two poles within it, with a myriad of positions in between. Byrd falls squarely on the left. He castigates those with a "false black face", who think black pride is just an identity. For him it's a plan of action, part of the socialist struggle:
Each one teach one
Byrd has some anti-mixed relationship politics that haven't aged well. But even if you don't agree, you can still feel inspired when he demands, "Black power means that when trouble occurs, we all answer the call."
Are you really ready for black power? - Gary Byrd
From the compilation Stand up and be countedIt works on so many levels: as a lecture, as a soul track, as an early rap. It is a song: Byrd has lyrics and a repeating chorus. But he doesn't sing, he talks. Yet he talks over a chorus of horns and funky rhythm guitar. It's the only lecture I've heard that you can dance to.
This could be because Imhotep 'Gary' Byrd was - and possibly still is - a New York DJ. For the longest time I couldn't figure out why he wasn't speaking ebonics, particularly when so much of the RnB of the time was about getting 'back to the streets'. But Byrd's got a different agenda: he wants a revolution, and he wants to be taken seriously. I'd argue the formal speech is about beating whitey at his own game.
These nuances might seem arcane today, but they mattered a lot in the context of the black power movement. Revolutionary socialism and cultural nationalism existed as two poles within it, with a myriad of positions in between. Byrd falls squarely on the left. He castigates those with a "false black face", who think black pride is just an identity. For him it's a plan of action, part of the socialist struggle:
The idea seems to beCompare this activist assessment with the Nation of Islam's black self-sufficiency; what Robin Kelley calls the 'negrocons'; or the nihilism of later hip-hop. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the late 80s/early 90s political revival doesn't match up - compare "Are you really ready for black power" with KRS-One's "Check yourself" ('chickity check yourself before you wreck yourself') which pales by comparison. Even Byrd's name, 'Imhotep', shows a commitment to afro-centrism that was part of liberation - an unfashionable political concept, post black-power.
That money will make us free
Black capitalism says the system
Is what we really need.
But what difference does it make
In the colour of the hand
When it takes food from mouths of black folks
To become a richer man?
Each one teach oneByrd has some anti-mixed relationship politics that haven't aged well. But even if you don't agree, you can still feel inspired when he demands, "Black power means that when trouble occurs, we all answer the call."
