Juneteenth

Happy Juneteenth everyone.

Not really sure if that's the proper greeting, but I wasn't sure how else to speak (or type) celebration to the day that the last remaining slaves learned of the Emancipation Proclamation down in Galvestion, Texas.

It's important that remember our history. Hip hop wasn't born out of a vacuum; rather it is the product of our centuries of pain, hope, and joy that rose out of the Middle Passage.

By now it's pretty mainstream to acknowledge the griotic traditions and rhythms of West Africa that reside in hip hop today.

But it still is not mainstream for us as a people to truly reflect on our history and our place. Dr. King's "I Have a Dream Speech" is not the sum total of Black history in America. As painful as it may be, we need to be cognizant of our past or we will never have control over our future- that includes the future of hip hop.

Like Mos said in "Fear Not of Man," if you wanna know where hip hop is going, just look at yourself, and you'll get a clearer idea.