As you might expect, the return of Jasiri X and his crew is already controversial. Feel his new video called Just a Minstrel. It starts with a bluesy riff on Spike Lee’s under-appreciated yet brilliant movie Bamboozled which takes black entertainers who exploit & distort our culture for riches, selling their soul and acting as modern day minstrels in the process, then kicks it hardcore with a great hook:

Bamboozled is a fictional story of a group of black entertainers who literally put on blackface and play the buffoon. The movie however educates you about the history of how negative portrayals of African-Americans have factored into our oppression while making a few people rich in the process. It’s deep. Above, Jasiri X & his collaborators Paradise Gray, Idasa Tariq and Living Proofe deliver a beat you’ll nod to while delivering some potent social commentary. Here are some of the lyrics I like best:

I know the people fell in love with the jive and shucks
N!gg@s do anything for a line of bucks
nip tuck for the video clown you up
Youtube or the Vimeo wound you up
hit the club get it poppin
as bottles and cash droppin
world going green we clean and do the moppin
quick to serve a fiend we dream of pork choppin

[…]

No need for Blackface just ignorant rap takes
and feminine mcs that are sweeter than snack cakes
spineless in need of a permanent back brace
saying cheese so they stay in the lead in this rat race
weaker still if they don’t show every teeth in they grill
these dudes ain’t keeping they deals see what I’m speaking is real
no wonder they be needed them pills
to behave like a slave when God gave free will
check the record here’s ya contract step and fetch it
women wear your tightest better yet dress naked
that’s if you expect acceptance
a major label deal with the best connections
as long as they don’t’ detect a message
if you don’t dumb it down than your intelligence questioned
and I turn on the TV and be damn confused too
Is this BET or the movie Bamboozled

Just a Minstrel
On TV acting a fool and always showing off ya teeth you’re
Just a Minstrel
How can it be you’d rather die in the streets then ever try to be free you’re
Just a Minstrel
On CD say it’s entertaining when it’s degrading to me you’re
Just a Minstrel
Why can’t you see the lullaby you’re singing’s putting us all to sleep N!gg@

There’s been some static however. Jasiri X sent me this video response to his critics and goes into deets about the theory behind the video – a must-watch:

Peace,

Jasiri X responds to criticism of the video Just A Minstrel, including do he and Paradise of X-Clan have a problem with rappers from the South, are they hatin because these rappers have money and major label deals, blogs afraid to post the video and what are their future plans?

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