Single: Nas - Who Are You (radio rip)

What better way to bring in the second day of twenty leven' than w/ a new banger from Nasir...

This potent and highly analytical jumpoff finds the artist formerly known as Esco exploring the seemingly endless topic that is identity, and more specifically American black identity and how when upward mobility within the white power structure is infused into it, sometimes it mutates for the worst.

Here Nas rhymes about a character that has escaped the ills and pitfalls that wait for minorities in this country to get his education, but did so only to start sneering at where he once came from and where his people still are...I've seen this snobbish reality up close and yeah, it does exist among many educated, middle and upper class (i hate using those terms) minorities. And while I do also think it is somewhat dangerous to sort of walk the fine line of posturing against reaching for better things educationally and keeping it real, I have had far too many debates with so-called "intellectual minorities" who "have beaten the odds" of impoverished neighborhoods who only seem to further tear down and loathe who they really are to say that what Nas is kickin here is somehow false or mis-placed....

There really is a good deal of sellout ass clown muthafuckas that come back to the hood  after they graduate from college or grad school and try to act like they shit beige, while the rest of us are just ignorant, lazy and hopeless dregs who should stop buying Jordans and eating fried food 24/7...all the while ignoring the fact that the one thing that they use most to validate themselves, i.e. an education, can be earned in many ways, not just the route they procured it. Don't get it twisted, I'm in college myself and I believe that it truly is a positive experience to get one's education, but I will never forget who D O is, nor where he comes from, nor the people that slipped through the cracks in those locations where quite frankly, there ain't a whole lot for a man with any type of melanin to do. When I do float through my old haunts round' the way I got nuthin but love and more importantly respect for the cats I left behind there that is still fighting to survive. Do I wish they'd take the risk and maybe invest in a higher education? Of course, but I also realize that route isn't for everyone, nor is it feasible sometimes when you dealing w/ certain things. In the end, I'm glad Nas finally shed a bit of light on this...I feel him 100 percent.

link via Mr. X

-BIG D O


Nas - Who Are You (Radio Rip)