Pop Culture Wisdom: Hip Hop pt. 2
Knowledge and wisdom are free for us all, truth will always respond if you truly call. So, while we search through the verses in hopes of finding something to serve us, let us recognize those that proselytize and fragmentize their words to expose the truth of their sermons. Life experiences are more didactic than an anti-climactic series of lectures. Classical education has its place for the tactical stagnation of occupied headspace, but all true poets and philosophers speak the truth. They knew that less occurs unless you can reach the youth and wisdom is wise and knowledge is for the mind, and everything contains the truth. So let those that have eyes see, those that have ears, hear, that knowledge and wisdom are free, and knowledge and wisdom are clear whether it be written by Jay-Z or William Shakespeare.
Mos Def
“Why did the one straw break the camel’s back? here’s the secret, the million other straws underneath it.” — Mos Def, “Mathematics”
It would be possible to write an entire academic thesis on “Mathematics” by Mos Def. Released in 1999 on his “Black on Both Sides” album. It is fittingly a mathematical rumination on the experiences, realities, and injustices that many black Americans face. To me they are the words of a modern-day prophet, and the entirety of the lyrics should be considered, but let us focus on the climactic culmination, a precise calculation of his lyrical mathematical equation.
“Why did one straw break the camel’s back?” This could easily be a rhetorical riddle with an ambiguous explanation. Anyone could have provided a different answer, but Mos Def, in keeping with the mathematical ideal of the song gives a cold and concrete answer, just as math itself would: “Here’s the secret, the million other straws underneath it.”
So many times, in our lives, careers and relationships we reach a critical breaking point. A point in time where something happens, which causes a once precariously balanced scale, crash towards the base of one side. Is it truly that this event is so monumental to create such an effect of havoc? Usually not, it’s often something minor, but in conjunction with all the other things that have happened it becomes too much. In “Mathematics” Mos Def, simply and with inspired profundity, explains how things get out of control. It’s almost always a slow build and not a singular destructive event.
Apply this concept to your life and consider how close you could be to your breaking point. Look deep into the soul of America, it’s politics, finances, divisions among race and class and you’ll likely be fearful of what you see. The straws have slowly been piling for a long time and the camel’s back is strong but eventually the sheer concrete number of straws add up; it’s simple mathematics.
Immortal Technique
“If the solution has never been to look in yourself. How is it that you expect to find it anywhere else?” — Immortal Technique, “Caught in The Hustle”
Released on September 18, 2001, the debut album of Immortal Technique perhaps unintentionally served as an exclamatory postscript to the 9/11 attacks on New York City and the Pentagon. Much like “Mathematics”, “Caught in The Hustle” is an almost clinical dissection of what it means to be marginalized in America at the turn of the 21st Century; sadly, it still rings true 21 years later.
This song also deserves a more in-depth analysis of its themes because they are important, insightful, and with richly vivid descriptions of the struggles that too many faced, still face, and some others that are more universal. At its core it’s a struggle as old as time, man versus himself.
Too often in America, we look to others for answers instead of asking ourselves the hard questions. The questions that we might not truly want to know the answers to. Oftentimes, those that we look to for answers also don’t have our best interests at heart. Who would you trust more with an important decision that directly impacts yourself; you or someone else?
“If the solution has never been to look in yourself. How is it that you expect to find it anywhere else?” With these two lines, Immortal Technique has insightfully pointed out one of the core struggles of America and Americans. All too often, Americans will look to placate themselves with a quick hit of dopamine to avoid some inner conflict. To some, it’s drugs or alcohol, consumerism, physical exercise, becoming a workaholic, or countless other distractions. What it is will vary from person to person but what will be the same, is the lack of introspection, that same introspection which will allow them to free themselves from the eternal search for meaning, not the meaning of life, but the meaning of their life.
Thousands of years ago, Socrates famously said: “to know thyself is the beginning of wisdom”. Thousands of years later, Immortal Technique has reminded us that every revolution begins with the evolution of the mind. But how many of us are truly wise? How many of us are looking at life with blank unblinking eyes? And how many of us are subsidized by the ease of life and just don’t want to realize?
Black Star
“At exactly which point do you start to realize, that life without knowledge is death in disguise?” — Black Star, “K.O.S (Determination)”
Black Star is a rap duo consisting of two of the most cerebral and profound lyricists in the game; Talib Kweli and Mos Def. Released in 1998 on the seminal “Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star” album, “K.O.S (Determination)” is a philosophical contemplation of the black experience, knowledge of self, and ultimately determination in the face of it all.
Once again, we are so eloquently reminded in this song of something that should be so simple for all of us, the knowledge of self. All true wisdom and success first flows from the introspection and understanding of oneself. If you don’t know and understand yourself, how can you know, understand, or prepare yourself for anything else? Just as you face the mirror each day and have no choice but to accept the physical reality that stands before you, you also must investigate your mind and soul to completely know yourself. Once you understand your needs, wants, desires, and all the other truths that are within you then you can begin to truly write the story of your life.
“At which point do you start to realize that life without knowledge is death in disguise?” With these lines Talib Kweli explains it very clearly; know yourself and truly live or coast through unknowing and unfulfilled in the dark ages of your mind. The next couplet reinforces and elaborates upon the theme: “That’s why, knowledge of self is like life after death. Apply it to your life, let destiny manifest.” Once you truly know yourself you are reborn to the possibilities and thus able to truly live life to the fullest of your potential.
The ancient Chinese philosopher, Confucius, is credited with the famous quote “every man has two lives, and the second begins when he realizes he has just one.” This is a direct correlation to the Black Star lyrics that we are analyzing. After all, we’re all born as a blank page and we can either stay that way or put pen to paper, soul awaken, reborn with the knowledge to truly live today.
Conclusion
Knowledge and wisdom are all around us, it is merely a question of whether we will accept the message from an unfamiliar messenger. Analyze their words but don’t let them paralyze you, because sometimes words are just words, and sometimes they are things that you wished that you knew. Live well, seek the knowledge and wisdom that you don’t have, and share that which you do.
The author, Jamie, is thankful for the time given to consider this article. He also strives to completely know himself and is continually on the hunt for knowledge and wisdom in random places where it exists without pretense. Understand yourself, understand the world, and strive to improve both.
