I’m pretty much as postmodern as anybody out there. I took some Womens Studies courses. I know gender is, to some extent, as much a social construct as race…to some extent… But when you tell me a transgender man (went from woman to man) is pregnant? Young. I lose all sense of reason and my vocabulary starts to fail me. I just be sittin there like, ‘is you serious?’

What’s even more astounding to me is the fact that it’s jokers who will argue the…ionwanna say ‘normalcy’…that there’s nothing wrong wit that. See, I know it can get all complicated and all that, but lemme cut through the action. If you cloned it, what would come up? That’s what I wanna know. I’m sideskirtin all that, ‘what was you born’ and all that. Eff dat. If it got cloned, then what? If it got a short chromosome, it’s a boy. If it got two long chromosomes, it’s a girl. Bam. We can save the complicated talk for xyy and whatnot.

Seven. Surprised I made it this long without mentioning this artist or this song, let alone this verse. But it’s fitting for the 7th run, since the number seven is oh-so-prominent in this verse. Sevens abound, but this was the first verse that I remember really knocking me out. I mean, I had heard other verses I liked, but this one right here? I was staggered.

I’m not a regular competitor, first rhyme editor
Melody arranger, poet, et cetera
Extra events, the grand finale like bonus
I am the man they call the microphonist
With wisdom which means wise words bein spoken
Too many at one time watch the mic start smokin
I came to express the rap I manifest
Stand in my way and I’ll lead a ??? words protest
MC’s that wanna beat this they’re gonna
Be dissed if they don’t get from in fronta
All they can go get is me a glass of Moet
A hard time, sip your juice and watch a smooth poet
I take 7 MC’s put em in a line
And add 7 more brothas who think they can rhyme
Well, it’ll take 7 more before I go for mine
And that’s 21 MC’s ate up at the same time
Easy does it, do it easy, that’s what I’m doin
No fessin, no messin around, no chewin
No robbin, no buyin, bitin, why bother
This slob’ll stop tryin fightin to follow
My unusual style will confuse you a while
If I was water, I flow in the Nile
So many rhymes you won’t have time to go for yours
Just because of a cause I have to pause
Right after tonight is when I prepare
To catch another sucka duck MC out there
Cos my strategy has to be tragedy, catastrophe
And after this you’ll call me your majesty
My melody…

My Melody - Eric B. & Rakim

I’m always ambivalent when read opinions on the “prison industrial complex.” On the one hand, given the grossly disproportionate numbers of Black folks in jail, it looks like something has to be wrong at one or more points in the system. How can such a small percentage of the population have such a large presence in prison? There must be some malfeasance afoot. On the other hand, when I think about Black folks in jail, I know that in the majority of the instances, their victims are Black, as well. Now, the second idea and the first idea are not mutually exclusive, so it’s not a matter of either/or, it’s both. Yeah, we’re disproportionately represented on the prison roles AND the majority of the people who are hurt by our criminal activities are us. But then, that makes the question a lot harder to deal with, because which takes precedence? Should we be primarily concerned with the incarceration rate or the crime (read: victimization of our families) rate?

For me, it’s the latter. While I am concerned about the fact that so many Black folks wind up in jail, I make no bones about the fact that I’m far more concerned about the Black folks who were the victims of whatever they did to go to jail in the first place. And yeah, I know that sometimes innocent people get arrested, tried, sentenced, and actually do some time. Even believing as I do, that innocent imprisonment is not an uncommon occurrence, that still represents a small, small minority of the cases - Far smaller than the number of our mothers and grandmothers who are virtually imprisoned because of the reckless abandon which knuckleheads are running the streets and making them feel unsafe. I mean to break it down, if it comes to Cuzzo, my cousin the thug, or Granny, I’m takin’ Granny every time.

Only thing is, from our Black intelligencia, there seems to be more concern for Cuzzo than Granny. And again, I’m not really arguing whether Cuzzo would get prison time faster than Chaz for committing the same crime. Statistically, he would. That’s a separate issue. That, I think, is an extremely important question, and one that deserves some deliberate, focused, attention. However, that doesn’t mitigate the fact that of the Black cats who actually commit crimes, their victims are primarily Black. I, for one, don’t wanna lose sight of that fact.

But while I’m thinking about it:

Here’s the Daryl Hunt Project for Freedom and Justice