AFRICAN FOOLOSOPHER

Two Trains Running

In Hip Hop Tupac is arguably the first tragic-comic artist to attempt to present the implications of consciousness and time and its eschatological underpinnings of how suffering plays out in urban youth. Tupac reduced Dante's Divine Comedy into a particularly phenomenological experience loaded in one question that recurred in his music " I wonder if heaven has a ghetto?". Pac's question might seem irrelevant and rhetoric yet when we probe deeper we realize, hell like the ghetto is sort of a tower of babel, heaven has a unified language you are all there because you accept the gospel, there is only one way to go to Heaven, there are multiple ways to go to hell. Its hard to hear your own voice when surrounded by other voices in agony. On the other hand the crescendo from a choir is in unison and melodious. Hell is a psychological state where we deal with multiple things that all overwhelming the body, causing confusion and anguish for the soul. Heaven is a blissful state where the body is relaxed and naturally moving through the different states that sustain it .Hell is perpetual sorrow, Heaven is perpetual bliss. The enigma is that we neither live our lives in perpetual sorrow or perpetual bliss we experience a mixed bag of sorrow and bliss, hell in that sense becomes closer to reality because of the need to move from sorrow to another state that a human body is conditioned to while we are alive or as Sam Cooke sung on Change is Gonna Come "Its been too hard living but im afraid to die cause I don't know whats up there beyond the sky". Consequently, how does one adjust to an after life of either perpetual sorrow or perpetual bliss?. I wonder if Heaven has a Ghetto or Thug's Mansion creates an element of taking our wretched condition with us to a blissful state. Yet can a soul exist in death if death is the cessation of the body? or is the life function of the soul to adopt another body to be alive whether in hell or heaven?. This seemingly defeats the purpose of death if we must continue living in an afterlife. If it takes a human body 9 months to fully form upon death are there other premade bodies for us to fit into or do we have to wait 9 months to be ushered in either Hell or Heaven with a body? The philosopher Sartre's No Exist explicates this well. If in heaven or hell the body doesn't accompany the soul to serve its verdict then sin is as metaphorical as the soul since we separate the body and the soul during death which would imply separating the act from the sin. Bluntly stated in Tupac formulation of his question is that if the black soul has a double consciousness and is in constant search for a beloved community or roots to keep one grounded does heaven the beloved community that all souls attempt to rest in have a ghetto for the black soul? In other words if double consciousness cant be reconciled here on earth because of the white gaze, can it be transcended in Heaven by the idea of a white benevolent God? Earth like heaven and hell makes us deduce that from our earthly existence no human soul or body is capable of enduring one extreme whether sorrow or bliss without a break up in the makeup of the psyche.

Rose that Grew from the Concrete

She said: How much can a soul break? Ive come to the conclusion im only welcome in your mind and not welcome in your heart Me:Sorry my love could be this cold worlds Achilles Heel we could elope on. **We have conditioned ourselves to believe love is possessive, so much so that in its absence we use its silhouette hurt/hate to trace the space the body of our lover once lay in our heart. Thick love is better than thin love**

A clip from a mini series im doing for a friend titled “Interesting Friends Under 30 I know”. In this segment I talk about What is Hip Hop Philosophy?

Project HIP HOP Stand Your Ground Play.

Toni Morrison, Jazz

Its always interesting when you work with people who accomplish things in the industry/field you aspire to get in and see the sense of nostalgia that creates their current sense of importance. Im always reminded of the Japanese samurai Miyamoto Musashi who never lost a duel in his life. His basis philosophy was each opportunity to engage a new opponent was a unique experience to be in the presence of someone who has mastered a particular skill set, each opponent must be treated with respect for their craft and mastery. Previous victories had no say in the current battle, always meet a new opportunity with clarity and a mind that reframes the situation and actions based on strategy. Even the pawn can bring down a kingdom, never underestimate the level of competence and mastery of skills of people you encounter regardless of their current life situation.

Rainer Maria Rilke