Digable Planets' 1994 Album

Quote
"Ready to put in work; we got mad peoples; your double-dealing is 'spoked'; your tongue is forked, we know. . . . find a spot in this land of Uncle Sam; focus my thoughts and be that true black man that I am; I stand in the face of oppression with my sisters and my brothers. . . . on an onslaught, we plague you. . . . we can take them, take them out; I die fighting; you subtract the devils that get smoked. . . . we're people, black people; steal your mind back, don't die in their wilderness. . . . let's point our heaters [handguns] the other way";
"Dial 7"; Digable Planets, Blowout Comb, 1994, Pendulum Records, Thorn EMI, now being called The EMI Group.

Article
      Later in the year after their GRAMMY Award, Digable Planets came out with an album that continued in the same vein as their previous one. Three popular rappers joined as guests on tracks, namely KRS-One, Guru, and Jeru the Damaja. Ice Cube's raps are referred to in a positive light on the track called "Dog It."

      The following phrases show the importance placed by the rappers on Negroid features: "right on, black man from the East"; "I chose the black power"; "in the hours of black steel power"; "my average per game is pure black soul"; "we grow and take you back to like Afros"; "nappy hair"; "nappy Afro"; "with my nappy hoods down Fulton"; "my head say, 'fro, and my blood say, bro'"; "for complexion, like brass and brown skin, we of this"; "I'm glad to see my nigga"; "like every nigga at the corner store with brown"; "now all the niggas hate the"; "remember we black"; "black notes I quote"; "mazes in black"; "black motion is ocean style"; "redefining black people equal to who"; "blackest"; and "black-mob style."

      The following references to Africa occur: "wants to live like a Zulu king"; "as a flow-er [one whose voice flows continually and smoothly] I'm Nile, rivers of style"; "I swing with my crew to where the beats be phat [great]. . . . they natural black."

      Digable Planets tells the audience that its members have knowledge and wisdom. Examples are as follows: "just like Black Caesar my depths are fresh"; "got the clearance to speak intelligence on the block"; "I transmit; my area is thick; my vision is focused"; "sucker, I got lessons forever"; "I'm rolling . . . manifesting today's lesson"; "I'm high as the winds so I blow minds"; "hear the mental's instruments"; "our radius is the whole universe"; "I got the fish eggs dropping in any block you [the competing street rapper] did"; "we deal real-real, so chill; we linger in the funk"; "I'm fluid after dark in any situation, my tools, jewels, the nation; that's how we bump"; and "we bouncing, moving within the truth circles."

      Numerology is important to groups like Nation of Islam, and even though many rappers do not openly ascribe to it, they use variations of the word "math" to make claims about their knowledge of social conditions and goals. Examples of it on the Digable Planets' album are as follows: "I maximum up the Actual Facts man, as we relax to a Black Caesar flick; in my third vision, my movements is precision; supreme mathematician, indeed I'm true and living"; "we are measured by the ten degrees of math"; "add butter to the math."

      Any given rapper makes it clear on an album that listeners should not view most or all raps as stories for which the rapper is a detached observer, but rather listeners should view the raps as pronouncements made by a leader who guides the listeners along a course of action. Personal experiences are relayed; personal opinions are offered about an array of topics; boasts are made by the host rapper about his or her ability to rap; admonitions are given out to blacks to reprimand them for behavior which is destructive to predominantly black communities; warnings or threats are issued at whites; and calls for coordinated racial violence are sent out. Like any given rapper, the artists behind Digable Planets include their names or make some other sort of reference to themselves, such as the following: "Butterfly got the funk"; "where the crooks lounge out, black power is found; Butterfly, ground to sky"; "lyrical skills of an insect in motion"; and "I got insect thoughts."

      Condemnations of violent behavior are almost nonexistent on the album. One of the only examples is from the guest rapper named Guru who contradicts his own reprimand by using violent imagery to threaten other rappers who use too much violent imagery for his tastes. He says that other rappers should not rap "with that funny hot-dog style" or else they might be "looted" or "executed."

      On the track, "K. B.'s Alley," there is an example of promoting peace among blacks which includes words that call for violent action. In particular, the track is almost entirely instrumental, but in a string of words that echo forth, the words "peace" and "love" are mixed with the words "ghetto," "struggle," and "revolution."

      Although Digable Planets does not glorify gang violence as often as most "gangsta" rappers do, they do glorify it. They call out the name of their hometown not only by its proper name, Brooklyn, but also by a name that they hold up proudly: Crooklyn. Some examples follow: "do that Crooklyn-shit style"; "with the Crooklyn slide"; "Crooklyn type Saturday night"; "Crooklyn, the ex-swingers lounge out spot"; and Digable Planets "is known across the Crooklyn lands." The rappers describe days on the streets rapping where they would rap their messages and do the following: "slap hands from my man's from the lands of crooks." They glorify Brooklyn in a manner that listeners can interpret in two ways, either as a threat to competing rappers who come from out of town, that the rappers in Brooklyn will out rap them, or as a threat to outsiders who enter for any reason, that gangbangers in Brooklyn will hurt them. Examples are as follows: "you might get hurt if you come from out of town"; and "we live in Brooklyn; where lives do-or-die in the land of show-and-prove." They proudly say that "Coney Island is buckwilding." Instead of condemning gang crimes, Guru describes his neighborhood as the place "where the warriors dwell." "Brooklyn is the illest [meanest], the realest," he says, "[his] peoples are here. . . . each one is a one-man gang with a crown for" his music. Without saying that violent behavior is wrong, a rapper says the following about himself: "I stay real 'cause we feel you ain't a gangsta; when I was a youngster . . . freedom had a pistol; it was just like that." The rappers describe themselves and their music as militant: "appearing in my camouflage"; "real troops walk around"; "born troopers"; "the galactic traveler, eternal explorer, like the invincible master Asia, a true warrior"; "busting cammy fatigues, fifty thousand leagues of black"; "flyest niggas in camouflage"; "now I let my crew shoot"; "in the mist with the fist"; and "rebel with no cause, down to die for cause."

      The rappers use violent imagery that acts as calls for violent actions. For example, on "Dog It," the following is said: "we got ammunition for the streets we dying on. . . . we prove it's groove food; it's going on; you wanna see knowledge born. . . . before we fall victim, we'll lick them; I ain't playing. . . . bless you with some joints, the mental hollow points." In each song the rappers say that they give true knowledge that will help blacks fight the system.

      They claim to have divine knowledge, and they make claims about their ability to influence listeners. For example, on the track called "Graffiti," which features Jeru the Damaja, the following is said: "go out into the fields and rap to those people. . . . to summarize a lick at the man with the stick. . . . scream in a whisper; blow the house right over; black people broke. . . . I got the buckwild style to make you get hyper; I got the knowledge of God; Seven is all in my cipher. . . . mine held down well, so you can't touch it; when I discharge, fools pray for peace. . . . it ain't no joke, so get your boys; listen up, fool, to what we doing; we make noise; noise; noise; noise; noise. . . . I got the power. . . . now I'm flying high through the seventh dimension. . . . brothers with blowouts, develop your envelopes; stamp it; amp it; raise your razor blade."

      The track "Black Ego" begins with a dialogue between a black and a law enforcement officer who is reading him the Miranda rights, and the black nonchalantly responds with an expression that exaggerates troubles in a black's experience in America: "oh, like I ever had rights, okay." Digable Planets' rappers make the following claims about their influence: "black ethic lack. . . . fire in the West; shit is shaking this far. . . . I got Harlem on my mind, devil on my back. . . . flock to the rhythm I bring; sing songs called survival, on the meanest revival. . . . black of spades deeper, see; my shit on natural high; the man can't put no thing on me; so get me when my mind stretch out; as I stroll black, time preaching into end." The track called "For Corners" is about rapping on the street, and the following is said: "kill the sham as I speak techniques. . . . to represent for the streets to city corners; leave them hot as a sauna; word is born 'cause soon the steps be on."

      There are references to Nation of Islam. A rapper says that he "has loot in [his] tins and army suits, parlaying where Malcolm stood." ("The Art of Easing.") One rapper greets listeners with "As-Salamu 'alai-kum." ("Dog It.") The rappers describe their raps as "solar," and Ladybug says that she is "93 million miles above these devils." ("9th Wonder--Blackitolism.") They use the term "85er" on the track, "Blowing Down," and they say the following on the track "For Corners": "unscared against the palest of 'em; 10 Percent is unheard since our beat stormed on." Indeed, within the CD pamphlets, Butterfly thanks Nation of Islam, and Doodlebug sends out "[u]niversal greetings to Allah's Nation of Gods and Earths, The Nation of Islam and the All African Peoples Revolutionary Party."

      Unlike many violently racist Mexican-American rappers, the majority of violently racist black rappers do not embrace communist symbolism. However, Digable Planets is an example of black rappers who do embrace communist ideology and communist revolutionaries. In the middle of talking about what it is like to live in Brooklyn and rap there, a Digable Planets rapper says the following: "when amid the boogie, I'm imported; I study Chairman Mao . . . in my Crooklyn, in my plasma now; I got the g.'s behind the tongue of my gold-night classics." ("Borough Check.") In a few phrases they refer to themselves as "comrades," and in another they say the following: "proletariat, Cadillac steering it." In their CD pamphlets, the word "comrade" is attached to names, such as "comrade Keith" and "comrade Dream Hamton's Top 10." Twice on the album, enemies in the system are called fascists, and one usage of the label is connected to other phrases as follows: "I am the funk; I raise everyday for the mass; tote my fist right up right against the fascists; descend to my borough; fix my diction." ("Dog It.") On a track in which calls are made for blacks to kill whites, Digable Planets informs listeners of the following: "when I'm creamy with my stiletto, got sixteen of the imperial fascists." On the same track they say the following also: "this is the season of our self-savior; like Che Guevarra, it's . . . guerillas [that] sparks the revolution, black tactics, whatever. . . . domino theory because they stole'd our flow." ("Dial 7.")

      Listeners are told that Digable Planets identify with blacks in prison, and examples follow: "my heroes died in prison, George Jackson"; (from the track "Jettin";) "won't rest until they free our brother-homie [Mumia] Abu [Jamal]; and "collecting pitch forks until they free Geronimo [Pratt];" (both from "Dial 7.") On the pages of their CD pamphlets, the rappers send out calls for the release of blacks who were in prison in 1994. There is a posting for a "RALLY TO FREE POLITICAL PRISONERS" which was to be held "AT FORT GREEN PARK [in] BROOKLYN NY SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 1994 8:00 P.M. ---UNTIL." On the page we see the following: "SEKOU MUST BE SET FREE."

      Another page is titled "Message from the Belly." In rap music, the words "belly" and "belly of the Beast" mean prison. There is a photograph of two inmates flexing their large muscles, and underneath the photo's caption gives their names as "BROTHERS KEVIN MADISON AND EDWARD X." The second name corresponds to that of a member of Nation of Islam who has removed his last name of European origin and replaced it with an X. Inmate Kevin Madison writes a message to the "BROTHERS AND SISTERS ON LOCK [down]," telling them that they are people who matter and that many of them "UNKNOWLINGLY HAVE BEEN FORCED TO SUCCUMB TO THE PITFALLS OF A SOCIAL ARRANGEMENT." Madison describes crimes by blacks as "ACTS OF SURVIVAL" in response to "OUR OPPRESSORS' ACTS OF SURVIVAL." At the end of his message, Madison recommends two books: George Jackson's Soledad Brother and Eldridge Cleaver's Soul on Ice.

      Below the "Message from the Belly," we see the following in large print: "THE PEOPLE CALL FOR THE RELEASE OF ELMER PRATT MUMIA ABU JAMAL, SEKOU ODINGA, LEONARD PELTIER, MUTULU SHAKUR AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS THE WORLD OVER! DO NOT STAND AND WATCH STAND AND FIGHT!!!" A photo to the right of the printed call-for-action shows blacks of "THE LEFT MOVEMENT COALITION" lounging on a sofa.

      On another page there is a picture of Geronimo Pratt with a description of him as a "POLITICAL PRISONER U.S.A." Paragraphs below his photo describe his case. The witness who gave evidence critical to the conviction is called "an ex-swine who infiltrated the Panthers." We are told that "[t]he railroading of Pratt, as with all political prisoners, involved an unfair trial, the discarding and covering up of evidence, in an atmosphere saturated with racism and conspiracy." A photo shows an older musical group, called Watts Prophets, legendary to hip-hop fans, uniting with the "community" at a park "to free Geronimo."

      On the album, Digable Planets puts in phrases about their perception that blacks are treated unfairly in the system, and examples follow: "no quitting or getting chumped by the system"; (from "Jettin";) "in a sense, we sue the land of all its contents, then kneel to the kick drum like flavor"; (from "Blowing Down";) "stole my mind back black"; and "might get a serious offer from a corrupt-ass copper"; (both from "Borough Check.") There are calls for violent actions against whites in society, and examples follow: "one love, gun love, come free the land with us"; (from "Jettin";) "a snake try to spin a score on my pride; I'm in my cammy; we must not bust . . . until we creamy-like; fuck that; we creamy spies; telling schemy lies; we let our creamy bullets fly"; (from "The May 4th Movement Starring Doodlebug";) and "creamy get your Smith & Wesson with a blessing"; (from "9th Wonder--Blackitolism.")

      On the track "The Art of Easing," listeners are given motives for killing which includes revenge for historical slavery: "ease the man as slick as I can. . . . I ride the sceno . . . until my army brimmo. . . . build with the fires, my click, then amplify. . . . imported under ships with irons around the fists, graduating to Afros, black cats, and fist picks. . . . when the devil gives stressence, blow [the "o" is pronounced like "ou" in the word ouch] to the essence. . . . ease the man as slick as I can." After the rapping is over on the track, an instructor describes a course in which students are "required to be 'plushed' in . . . gats [and] army suits." The instructor tells the students that the final exam will include a field trip in which they will "try to speak perfect slang" and in which to prepare for the final they should "train in" in images of "Black Caesar, Super Fly, [and] Golden."

      Most of the violent racism is contained on "Dial 7 (Axioms of Creamy Spies)," and in a stream of phrases that follow, a typical feature of rap is noticeable; in particular, the rappers let the second person pronoun interchangeably address friends or enemies: "we are the creamy spies; the cream always rises up. . . . the man's game is peaked; it's . . . nation time, ready to put in work; we got mad peoples; your double-dealing is spoke[ne]d; your tongue is forked, we know; we get so level; hey, we can make life better, together, not divided, universal, original, creamy; the man ain't shit. . . . one-time [the police] blind; I refined in overtime; I realize that creamy spy gots the clout; find a spot in this land of Uncle Sam; focus my thoughts and be that true black man that I am; I stand in the face of oppression with my sisters and my brothers, no slipping, no half-stepping; to the prophecy nation is my representation. . . . we might start busting [shooting firearms]; we'll spell it out for you; if you talk it, live it; let's get creamy, really creamy; I'm down with pleasure. . . . warfare for the projects I live, a series of niggas on top of target. . . . in an aerial form we closing, select territorial aim. . . . on an onslaught, we plague you. . . . we can take them, take them out; I die fighting; you subtract the devils that get smoked. . . . we're people, black people; steal your mind back, don't die in their wilderness; fuck that. . . . in LA, New York project hallways, let's point our heaters [handguns] the other way; creamy. . . . the guerilla fighter, super 'fro, bust it; the bitch may want a war in this summer; thus, I brought my camouflage. . . . brothers and sisters, we about to set it."

      In their CD pamphlets Digable Planets writes on one page that they wrote and produced all of the tracks and that "the album is a must for the masses and [is] required listening for the movement's cadres." "Dial 7" is called "the masses new anthem." They end the page with the following: "In order for a revolution to take place we must recognize our true enemy and join our bros and sisters in the struggle against that enemy; we must redirect our very justified anger at that force which causes the conditions that breed that anger instead of directing it at the people that live in those same conditions with us. . . . ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE; SEIZE THE TIME."

      There are telling quotes on another page. One contributor commends the people of Watts for what she views as their adherence to a gang truce, and then she adds the following: "Despite the characteristic attempted divide and conquer tactics by the pigs the forward thinking revolutionaries have maintained a virtually gang violence free environment; we know and understand 'the man' would like to see a rejouvination of the mis-motivated killings but as a comrade from the frontline told me 'naw fool, its Watts up!!!' All over the country our people are realizing where the real fighting must take place. On the front lawn of our oppressor." Another contributor enters a dedication to "THE TAMPERED ARTIST WHO PLAYS THROUGH THE ATTACKS ON HER/HIS ARTISTIC FREEDOM BY THE BUSINESSEERS (FRIENEMIES) WHO COMMODIFY AND THUS EXPLOIT OUR CULTURE."

      Two of the individuals that Butterfly sends out thanks to have last names which indicate their membership in Nation of Islam, being that both last names are the symbol "4X." Some of the artists that Butterfly and Doodlebug give thanks to are as follows: Boogiemonsters, Blackmens, Guru, Gang Starr Foundations, Jeru the Demaja, Naughty by Nature, Flavor Unit, De La Soul, Black Moon, The Roots, Brand Nubian, The Perverted Monks, The Actual Facts, Craig-G, Masta Ace, Power, Lord Wise Sulaiman, Wu-Tang Clan, Arrested Development, Ultramagnetic MC's, Zulu Nation, A Tribe Called Quest, Lords of the Underground, Tha Alkaholiks, Soul Food Symphony, and Nice N' Smooth. Black extremist organizations given affiliation are The Nation of Islam, Allah's Nation of Gods and Earths, and All African Peoples Revolutionary Party. Inmates who are told to "stay strong" are Lord Makir Allah, Kalim Allah, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Geronimo Pratt, and Leonard Peltier. Companies gave approval for the sampling of songs by GRAMMY Award artists, Bob James' "Blue Lick" and Tavares "Bad Times."

References
Blowout Comb, Digable Planets, 1994, Pendulum Records, a subsidiary of Thorn EMI, now being called The EMI Group.

Black Caesar, produced and directed by Larry Cohen; 1973, Larco Productions, American International; 1988, Orion Home Video. The main character of the movie, Tommy, has his black gangsters kill off white gangsters at a Southern California mansion in order to take control of criminal activity in predominantly black or predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods of New York City. Tommy's syndicate helps out the ghetto, creating youth centers and providing heat to buildings, and it drops garbage off in white neighborhoods. A corrupt white police captain calls blacks "niggers," and Tommy says the following about whites: "no pale faces in my territory." Brutally killing the corrupt white police captain in the end, Tommy condemns him as follows: "you gonna die like a field nigger." After Tommy takes control of an apartment from a corrupt white lawyer, he tells his mother, who had been the maid there, that he will get "white" women to clean the apartment. After Tommy strips a white mob leader of his power, Tommy tells him that he will make him the "token white." A white, of whom there is apparently a contract out on his head, says that "niggers. . . . are born losers," and Tommy kills him. Tommy tells white mob leaders that they need him because it takes a black to control "Spics" and "niggers." After a white, who is dressed in a police-officer uniform, shoots Tommy, Tommy is dying at the end when black youths rob and beat him. The movie's original soundtrack was performed by James Brown on Polydor Records.

Super Fly, directed by Gordon Parks, Jr.; 1972, Warner Bros., Time Warner. A movie that portrays a black drug dealer as a "hero" who outwits corrupt white cops and who tells black nationalists, when they tell Super Fly to give them money for the cause, that he would help the nationalist effort by fighting in a race war if the race war were already under way, and so the black nationalists should convince blacks to get guns and to be on the streets starting a race war.

Posted at http://home.att.net/~phosphor on June 30, 1999.

Last editing was posted September 3, 1999.

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