Hotep,
Hip-hop has always been linked to violence. The tragic deaths of Biggie Small, Tupac Shakur and Big L have given some, who are not affiliated with hip-hop, the interpretation that anyone who picks up a microphone is willing to pull a trigger. Real talk.
In the early 90’s, I was a member of a promising hip-hop group. I was known as “Doc Terra” (Da Mann), in the underground hip-hop circuit. We rocked hip-hop clubs from North Philly to Brooklyn, but the high light of my short-lived career as an MC was autographing a promotional photo for my biggest fan. My “Nyse.”
“Nyse” embraced my hip-hop vocation from day one. To her, the photo was symbolic for her uncle’s success, but the state’s attorney saw this same promotional photo as a symbol of violence and used this symbol to intimidate jurors during my trial. Word is bond!
August 11th, 11:40pm marks the deadline for appellant attorneys to file motions on behalf of death row prisoners concerning the racial justice act (RJA). This may be good news for some, possibly great news for others, but for me the RJA is a mere stain on a system soaked in blood. Pursuing this issue is like reprimanding an airline pilot for drinking alcohol before a flight. If you still allow the pilot to fly the plane, the reprimand is futile. Na mean?
The racial justice argument should not be used as a last resort to spare the lives of death row prisoners. Appellant attorneys should not be content with getting their clients’ death sentences overturned to life without parole. Seeking racial justice is not standing for a life sentence.
I’ve been condemned to die for the last 13 years of my life. The state has murdered 35 prisoners in that timeframe. I’ve been subjected to the ritual of officers celebrating executions by having potluck dinners on execution night. So, I think my upcoming expression is warranted. Racial justice should start at the jury selection, not 13 years after you’re sentenced to die. Ya heard?
My jury consisted of 11 whites and 1black (the 2 alternate jurors were white as well). What type of racial justice do you think I received when the DA/pilot exhibited a promotional photo of me wearing a hoodie, standing in an alley to 13 whites and 1 elderly black man?
Bottom line: Racial justice for me is the state correcting their error of rushing to judgment. My image as a hip-hop artist should not have been an essential element in attaining a conviction for 1st degree murder. A new trial would be racial justice. Ya heard?
I’m the true underdog in this fight, but I’m not the first to step into the ring. I’m prepared to go the distance. I’m an MC, not a murderer. I am who I am and I still have the love of my number one fan. Holla if ya hear me “Nyse.”
One Love,
MannofStat
Copyright © 2010 by Leroy Elwood Mann
Stop playing! I felt like I was an unofficial member of the group. I think I knew the words better than ya'll did. I can remember you calling me asking me to look up words for you in the dictionary. And when I heard those words in your songs I thought I was the ish. Cause I was like yeah I told him what that word meant. But in a seriousness just know, no matter what I will always be your number one fan.
ReplyDeleteNyse,
ReplyDeleteIt is so good to have your presence on this blog. Your words are instrumental to this song I'm giving to the Masses. Feel me?
Without a doubt, you were an honorary member of our group. You were like my own personal Google before there was such a thing. And, your English text books were very helpful to my selective wordplay. Real talk.
It's like everything has come full circle Nyse. I missed out on the lucrative record deal, but my expression lives on in my Word to the Masses and Ball Til We Fall blogs. You don't have to look up words for me no more. I've got a dictionary on one hip and a thesaurus on the other. But, one thing that will always stand true, you were and still are the baseline to my expression.
That's what's up!
Mannofstat
If you somehow got a new trial tomorrow the outcome would be the same. Facts are facts.. you are black.. you murdered someone. You loose. Deal with it.
ReplyDeleteHotep,
ReplyDelete“Facts are facts…you are black…you murdered someone. You lose. Deal with it.”
These are not the words of an academy award winning actor portraying a racist during the pre-civil rights era. Nor are they the punch line of some comedian imitating a racist, as a means of bringing humor to the diverse audience seated before him/her. These are the words of an anonymous voice, a voice that chose the wee hours of New Year’s Day to discredit my expressions to the Masses.
Dr. Martin Luther King gave this country a jolt when he exclaimed, “Let Freedom Ring.” His diligence during the bloody civil rights era in the 1950s and 60s, paved the way for our 44th president to be the man he is today. As the winner of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, Dr. King’s efforts for the civil rights of minorities across the board were halted by an assassin’s bullet four years later.
The marches, the sit-ins, the school board protests, are all forms of exercising the civil rights of black men and women, Hispanics and white women as well. These exercises brought us to where we are today, but this anonymous voice is proof that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Feel me?
Racism has been a cancer to this country for centuries. This cancer has eaten away, at the core of Dr. King’s dream even before he was conceived. Na mean? This disease won’t stop spreading because of what I have to say. In 2011, we still have people believing that being black makes the evidence against you overwhelming. “Facts are facts.” W.O.R.D to the Masses won’t cure that. Ya heard?
Tell me Anonymous, how is it that my case was such a slam dunk when the hordes of circumstantial evidence surrounded two defendants? Was it because I’m black and victim was a white woman? “Facts are facts,” right? I’m well aware that if this was the pre-civil rights era, Anonymous would probably be watching me swinging from a tree, mere days after my arrest. Word is bond!
Anonymous, you may have been close to my friend (may she rest in peace), but I can assure you that if she existed during the civil rights era, the two of you would’ve been on opposite sides of the fire hose. Real talk.
Thank you Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We still have a long way to go to reach the pleasantries of your dream, but the worst of the nightmare is behind us. That’s what’s up!!!
Live Well,
MannofStat
Copyright © 2011 by Leroy Elwood Mann