Sunday, May 29, 2011
Love Letters to Marvin X on his 67th Birthday
Love Letters to Marvin X on his 67th Birthday
Raushanah LilShauny Bashir
As much as you are celebrating a new day, I cannot help but to hear the pain of the possibility of death. Life and death exist as one and the same of two continuum's. I thank you for being an example of one who lives out passionately what he believes in and loves.
My prayer for you today, is that you love yourself as much as you have given life to your writings. It is time to love the pain, hurt, guilt and regret away. You've done what you have done. You've caught up, I pray on what needs to be said. I know that as life continues to unfold their will be more to say, but when do you find time to love, truly? Not a love out of passion, lust, but a love that is inspiring, less based on lust, but based on compatibility and learning how to give what you've been unable to give before. A love that is unconditional, where you give in and embrace the other and you look back and be proud of what you have done, so that you have room to love, and love is not pushed away and put on the back burner. This is a holistic love born out of all of the knowledge of what you've learned about mind, body and soul. It doesn't look like all of the other relationships. This is a new love, not only for woman, but for man, and for yourself.
I thank you for enriching my life with the knowledge that I have, about myself, my people and my history. As much as I have been proud to give credit to all that my mother had invested in me, I realize that I am a beautiful reflection of the two of you, and I love and embrace who I am. I thank you for the beautiful people that I have met through you which have helped to constantly expand the power of my influence and my knowledge.
Although we are far away, I bless you and I thank you on this day and I pray that you will continue to manifest all of the spiritual beauty that is still remaining to come forth from a man who is seeking to be all that God desires of you. With each waking day, it is a reminder that you are still here to grow and not wither. Grow.
Raymond Nat Turner
Dion E. Evans
Ayodele Nzinga
Dear Baba,
Happy Solar return.
Promize Capone posted on your Wall.
'Adeeb Shabazz
Mxolisi T. Sowell
Oshun Bey
Ser Seshs Ab Heter-Boxley
Mical Free
Ayodele Nzinga
"Knowing you know it's never the destination, it's always the journey; you must admit it's been one hella of a trip. I love you and can't wait to see what's next. Keep hitting 'em Baba and maybe they will wake up, if not they can't blame you. You over tried. Blessings and wishes for as many more as you can stand here with us negroes your mama told you to leave alone. We are all so much richer because you are hardheaded. One,"Raushanah LilShauny Bashir
Nefertiti Jackmon, Daughter
As much as you are celebrating a new day, I cannot help but to hear the pain of the possibility of death. Life and death exist as one and the same of two continuum's. I thank you for being an example of one who lives out passionately what he believes in and loves.
My prayer for you today, is that you love yourself as much as you have given life to your writings. It is time to love the pain, hurt, guilt and regret away. You've done what you have done. You've caught up, I pray on what needs to be said. I know that as life continues to unfold their will be more to say, but when do you find time to love, truly? Not a love out of passion, lust, but a love that is inspiring, less based on lust, but based on compatibility and learning how to give what you've been unable to give before. A love that is unconditional, where you give in and embrace the other and you look back and be proud of what you have done, so that you have room to love, and love is not pushed away and put on the back burner. This is a holistic love born out of all of the knowledge of what you've learned about mind, body and soul. It doesn't look like all of the other relationships. This is a new love, not only for woman, but for man, and for yourself.
I thank you for enriching my life with the knowledge that I have, about myself, my people and my history. As much as I have been proud to give credit to all that my mother had invested in me, I realize that I am a beautiful reflection of the two of you, and I love and embrace who I am. I thank you for the beautiful people that I have met through you which have helped to constantly expand the power of my influence and my knowledge.
Although we are far away, I bless you and I thank you on this day and I pray that you will continue to manifest all of the spiritual beauty that is still remaining to come forth from a man who is seeking to be all that God desires of you. With each waking day, it is a reminder that you are still here to grow and not wither. Grow.
Raymond Nat Turner
| "When I grow up I wanna be starvin' like @[1166896430:2048:Marvin]—Happy Birthday and best wishes for many, many more... " |
Dion E. Evans
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Dear Baba,
Happy Solar return.
I wish you all of everything that makes us grow.
I am grateful that we met & more grateful
you have taken the time to help me grow.
you have taken the time to help me grow.
I wish you many more years to shine forth.
Promize Capone posted on your Wall.
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'Adeeb Shabazz
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Mxolisi T. Sowell
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Oshun Bey
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Ser Seshs Ab Heter-Boxley
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Mical Free
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As I Consider My Life at 67
As I consider my life at 67, it's clear to me that I've done everything I wanted to do, written everything I wanted to write, said everything I wanted to say, and had all the beautiful, intelligent women in my life that any man could want. I've had all the dope any fool could want. I never made much money, so at this point I don't desire much. In short, today I live for my children, grandchildren and my people, the wretched of the earth.
I am happy with the knowledge I have more friends than enemies. I would be quite satisfied to go into silence, but for the people, I must continue ranting in the wilderness. My precious muse, Fahizah Alim, said it best, "Muhajir, you are the voice of the Black Man whose cry has been muffled by the clank of prison bars, the explosion of gunfire and the loud silence of apathy and compliance."
--Marvin X, May 29, 2011
--Marvin X, May 29, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Gil Scott-Heron Joins Ancestors
Gil Scott-Heron was the bridge between The Black Arts Movement and Hip Hop. Surely we are from Allah and to Him we return.
--Marvin X
Gil Scott-Heron dies aged 62
Poet and songwriter was hailed as 'Godfather of Rap' after penning The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
David Sharrock
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 28 May 2011
Gil Scott-Heron, the poet and musician regarded as the 'Godfather of Rap', has died in New York.
The musician and poet Gil Scott-Heron – best known for his pioneering rap The Revolution Will Not Be Televised – has died at the age of 62, having fallen ill after a European trip.
Jamie Byng, his UK publisher, announced the news via Twitter: "Just heard the very sad news that my dear friend and one of the most inspiring people I've ever met, the great Gil Scott-Heron, died today."
Scott-Heron's spoken word recordings helped shape the emerging hip-hop culture. Generations of rappers cite his work as an influence.
He was known as the Godfather of Rap but disapproved of the title, preferring to describe what he did as "bluesology" – a fusion of poetry, soul, blues and jazz, all shot through with a piercing social conscience and strong political messages, tackling issues such as apartheid and nuclear arms.
"If there was any individual initiative that I was responsible for it might have been that there was music in certain poems of mine, with complete progression and repeating 'hooks', which made them more like songs than just recitations with percussion," Scott-Heron wrote in the introduction to his 1990 Now and Then collection of poems.
He was best known for The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, the critically acclaimed recording from his first album Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, and for his collaborations with jazz/funk pianist and flautist Brian Jackson.
In The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, first recorded in 1970, he issued a fierce critique of the role of race in the mass media and advertising age. "The revolution will not be right back after a message about a white tornado, white lightning or white people," he sang.
He performed at the No Nukes concerts, held in 1979 at Madison Square Garden. The concerts were organised by a group called Musicians United for Safe Energy and protested against the use of nuclear energy following the meltdown at Three Mile Island. The group included singer-songwriters such as Jackson Browne, Graham Nash and Bonnie Raitt.
Scott-Heron's song We Almost Lost Detroit, written about a previous accident at a nuclear power plant, is sampled on rapper Kanye West's single The People. Scott-Heron's 2010 album, I'm New Here, was his first new studio release in 16 years and was hailed by critics. The album's first song, On Coming From a Broken Home, is an ode to his maternal grandmother, Lillie, who raised him in Jackson, Tennessee, until her death when he was 13. He moved to New York after that.
Scott-Heron was HIV positive and battled drug addiction through most of his career. He spent a year and a half in prison for possession. In a 2009 interview he said that his jail term had forced him to confront the reality of his situation.
"When you wake up every day and you're in the joint, not only do you have a problem but you have a problem with admitting you have a problem." Yet in spite of some "unhappy moments" in the past few years he still felt the need to challenge rights abuses and "the things that you pay for with your taxes".
"If the right of free speech is truly what it's supposed to be, then anything you say is all right."
Scott-Heron's friend Doris Nolan said the musician had died at St Luke's hospital on Friday afternoon. "We're all sort of shattered," she told the Associated Press.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Parable of the Poor Righteous Teacher
for Haki Madhubuti (Don L. Lee)
Sooner or later, they always come for the teacher. After all, the more popular, the more dangerous. The more serious and sincere, the more a threat to the bourgeoisie whose philosophy is do nothing, say nothing, know nothing. Thus, the serious teacher has no seat at the table. Yes, he is tolerated for a time, maybe a long time, but the plot was hatched the first day he arrived to teach, when the contract was signed, his doom was sealed.
No matter what chairs he established, no matter how many institutions he created in the name of God. The bourgeoisie care nothing for God, only as a cover for their filthy behavior in the dark, their winking and blinking at the water hole.
The teacher must know absolutely if he is on his job he won't have a job, for no matter how many years he gives of his soul, his mental genius, he is not wanted. No matter how many students he is able to raise from the box, his services are not wanted.
The bourgeoisie do not want Jack out of the box, this must be understood. They prefer Jack and Jackie stay confined and proscribed in the box of ignorance. They are mere pawns in the game of chance the bourgeoisie play until they are removed from power, after they steal all they can, when the coffers are empty, the institution bankrupt and they are under indictment.
Now they will never put down their butcher knives, never turn into Buddha heads. This is why one must practice eternal vigilance with them. They are planning and plotting the demise of the poor righteous teachers at every turn.
So the teacher must teach his students about power, but when he does, his exit papers are signed. He may not know this. He may believe he has friends on the board of trustees, but he is only fooling himself. He is a starry eyed idealist, a dreamer, who shall be awakened from his dream one day for sure. And on that day he shall find his office door locked. His classroom door secured by a guard. His students transferred to other colleagues he thought were with him. But they will only say to him, "Sorry, brother."
--Marvin X
4/5/10
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