#baseheads

Riding back to Dobbs Ferry, on the radio, breaking news "Scott La Rock" has been shot dead that happen on August 27, 1987, the streets have claimed a gifted producer and DJ also social worker who befriended one of the greatest MCs KRS-One, they formed the group Boogie Down Productions. B.D.P.'s first album "Criminal Minded" elevated hip-hop along with Ultramagnetic MC's and Eric B and Rakim, doing away with simple rhyming bringing social awareness from the streets and openly talking about the "crack epidemic." Beats to dance to and poetry to ponder by KRS-One, no lyric sheets to read, rigorously listening to every word "The Blastmaster" had to say, later as a homeless teenager I met him at the infamous "Covenant House." When I played the vinyl I became a pupil, the bubble that was Dobbs Ferry didn't shield me from enlightenment, and I would often take bike rides to Yonkers and became a spectator watching the agonizing dwellers and the baseheads.

"Criminal minded, you've been blinded

Looking for a style like mine you can't find it

They are the audience, and I am the lyricist

Sometimes the suckers on the side gotta hear this

Page, a rage, and I'm not in a cage

Free as a bird to fly up out on stage."

At 15 years old I felt confused, why are things like this I need music to explain it to me. “Criminal Minded” was a course in social studies and street knowledge those on the outside, and stupid lame adults found the cover violent, it's a mistake us old heads should avoid making but we won’t because that's the merry-go-round of hypocrisy as if we changed things for the better.

"See kings lose crowns but teachers stay intelligent."