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CASE STUDY: How to Refocus an Organization on it's Core Principles: Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation

Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation is, in essence, a process that is played out on a personal scale among millions of individual of varying religious traditions and beliefs. The basic argument centers around the ability of man to speak directly to God and to understand the word of the prophets directly from the the accumulated or canonized text, VERSUS relying on the clergy/brahmin/religious leaders to interpret convey and serve as the sole arbitrar of God's word, on Earth...

Luther believed the former over the latter, and this belief was the essence that lead to The Protestant Reformation. The impetus for Luther stating his views, was the sale of indulgences, which promised God's grace whereas following God's will, was an iffy strategy for those seeking to go heavenward.

The points of the 95 Thesis are important, because in all religions, there is an underlying process of coming to know God, follow his will, and gain entry into a place of sanctity and truth, be it in an afterworld, or in a present all-knowingness. Throughout the world, regardless of Religion or practice, the ability of individual humans to understand and know God, has been a used, abused and misused power that has, ironically, served as a major impetus for many of the world's greatest conflicts, as well as destruction of peoples, cultures, societies and histories. Luther aim was to refocus the Church on the business of instructing humans in God's will.

And now I present to you, my simplified understanding of The Protestant Reformation in 500 words or less.
Jesus was a Jew and a prophet
He preached the word of God
He had 12 apostles
He preached that by faith and following him and eating of his flesh and blood, one could come to know the Word of God, be cleansed of sin and God would forgive our sins and the believers would ascend to Heaven
Jesus was crucified for his beliefs and his word was spread by the apostles

The organized religion of Christianity and Church of Christ was founded by Peter, the first "Pope", who was one of Christ's 12 apostles

Corruption was most likely evident from the very beginning (as with any organization)
By the 10th century, the Papacy had reached his high point in corruption that continued up until the Protestant Reformation
By the 1400's it was well known that the Papacy was for sale to the highest bidder
Several families, including the Borgia's, the Medici's were in political control of the Vatican

It was not uncommon for the Pope, Cardinals, Bishops and Priests to have mistresses and children, and to indulge in sexual, financial and all manner of worldly excess
Key to Martin Luther, Indulgences were for sale
King's paid the Pope for the right to govern and rule
Bribes were paid to the Pope and the Vatican to bless any number of adventures
The Pope was in effect, the head of Europe

Martin Luther was born in Eisleben, Germany
He was supposed to become a lawyer
At age 21 he became an Augustinian monk
Although he did penance he felt that he always fell short of God's despite confessing obsessively
A conflict arose in him due to his striving to fulfill his obligation for penance and the open sale of "indulgences"
Luther searched and studied the bible to attempt to remedy these discrepancies
He found that there was no justification
What he did find in his bible study, was that it was man's faith in God and doing his word, as in the bible, which constituted true penance and also served as the basis of salvation
Luther continued to study the bible "religiously" and found a number of contradictions

On October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 thesis to a church door
He wished to spark a debate within the Church that would lead to a closer alignment between the bible and the Church
He also desired that the Church work to make the word of God understandable to all men
This effort lead to The Protestant Reformation
Europe entered a period of religious upheavel

The effects of the reformation were a decentralization of religious power from Rome and a decrease in the flow of money to Rome, as well as an increase in autonomy to local churches
Church services began to be delivered in the native tongue of the populace, rather than in Latin


My favorite 10 of the 95 points in the Disputation of Doctor Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences [Oct. 31, 1517]
1. Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said Poenitentiam agite, willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance.
4. The penalty [of sin], therefore, continues so long as hatred of self continues; for this is the true inward repentance, and continues until our entrance into the kingdom of heaven.
36. Every truly repentant Christian has a right to full remission of penalty and guilt, even without letters of pardon.
37. Every true Christian, whether living or dead, has part in all the blessings of Christ and the Church; and this is granted him by God, even without letters of pardon.
43. Christians are to be taught that he who gives to the poor or lends to the needy does a better work than buying pardons;
45. Christians are to be taught that he who sees a man in need, and passes him by, and gives [his money] for pardons, purchases not the indulgences of the pope, but the indignation of God.
62. The true treasure of the Church is the Most Holy Gospel of the glory and the grace of God.
75. To think the papal pardons so great that they could absolve a man even if he had committed an impossible sin and violated the Mother of God -- this is madness.
82. To wit: "Why does not the pope empty purgatory, for the sake of holy love and of the dire need of the souls that are there, if he redeems an infinite number of souls for the sake of miserable money with which to build a Church? The former reasons would be most just; the latter is most trivial."
94. Christians are to be exhorted that they be diligent in following Christ, their Head, through penalties, deaths, and hell.

Lady Cab Driver: Prince's Ode To God & Mary

Great Artistic expression should be capable of being interpreted in multiple ways, and be translatable to different contexts.
Themes, although intending to be specific, should also be metaphorical. Drama, as life, contains elements of birth, death,renewal, temptation, wrath and salvation. The final few essential elements that constitute great art are the medium, the environment and a implicit or implied pedagogy and dialectic.

Prince's "Lady Cab Driver" contains all of the necessary components for great art. It is specific, yet metaphorically thematic enough to be interpreted on a multiple levels.

The "Lady" of Lady Cab Driver is clearly a muse and higher power. A facilitator, a confessor, a protector, a temptress, even Mephistopheles, but mostly a higher power, and as a woman, a mother (The Virgin Mary) and courtesan, that serves as a facilitator of sexual pleasure. As the song wends it's way through the young man's journey, Prince calls for help, confesses his sins, his fears, his temptations, and ultimately finds euphoric fulfillment and salvation.

First, from the din of pandemonium, in the midst of urban confusion and temptation, the unsaved soul calls to God, and beseeches for salvation and the interdiction of a higher power.

Taxi! Taxi!

The Vehicle of life, The Taxi, arrives, with a Lady Cab Driver as God's Angel, The Savior, The Virgin Mary and also the Seductress, Mary Magdelene to take Prince on his journey of Salvation.

Lady cab driver -- Can U take me 4 a ride?
Don't know where I'm goin' 'cuz I don't know where I've been
So just put your foot on the gas -- let's drive

Prince, lost in confusion, sexual, personal, in his direction
places his life in the hands of God and begins to confess his sins within the safe space afforded by The Cab.

Lady -- don't ask questions
Promise I'll tell U no lies
Trouble winds r blowin', I'm growin' cold
Get me outta here -- I feel I'm gonna die

Prince asks for forgiveness and protection.
He will confess, but he does not wish to lie.
He only asks for Her to listen
It is not important what he has done up until entering The Cab
for he is now in God's grace, all has been forgiven due to Prince's recognition that he must change.
The same happened to Gautama Buddha who was also a Prince.

Lady cab driver, roll up your window fast
Lately trouble winds r blowin' hard, and I don't know if I can last

Without the Lord and Shepard,
and God's protection, there can be no "safety" from life
or from sin, or from eternal damnation

Lady -- I'm so lonely
I know that's not the way 2 be
Don't want isolation, but the air it makes me cold
Drive it, baby, drive it, drive this demon out of me

Prince, having tried to satisfy himself through the chasing of desire
has only resulted in loneliness and impermanence
Prince wishes to purge himself of this directionless chasing of desire
In effect, he wants the "demon" to be cast from him so that he may follow "the way"

Take me 2 your mansion
Honey, let's go everywhere
Help me girl I'm drownin', mass confusion in my head
Will U accept my tears 2 pay the fare?

He asks to be taken to the house of the Lord
He asks for entry to Heaven
He understands that his soul is imperiled

Lady cab driver, roll up your window fast,
Lately trouble winds r blowin' hard, and I don't know if I can last
Lady cab driver-- can you take me for a ride?

He asks the Lord to join with him, protect him, guide him and be with him "everywhere"
His bitter tears serve as his payment of penance and confession.

This is 4 the cab U have 2 drive 4 no money at all
Penance, Poverty
This is 4 why I wasn't born like my brother, handsome and tall
Envy
This is 4 politicians who r bored and believe in war
Anger, Wrath
This -- Yeah, that's 4 me, that's who that 1's 4
Selfishness
This is 4 discrimination and egotists who think supreme
Pride
And this is 4 whoever taught U how 2 kiss in designer jeans
Lust
That 1's 4-- That 1's 4-- where U have 2 live
Poverty, inequity, destitution
This 1's 4 the rich, not all of 'em, just the greedy
Greed
The ones that don't know how 2 give
Gluttony
This 1's 4 Yosemite Sam and the tourists at Disneyland
Sloth

Through the spiritual union of man and woman, what was passion, turns to a religious experience, and once again, Prince is brought to God where he finds thanks for all aspects of creation and life.

And this 1-- ooh! Yeah -- That's the 1.
That's 4-- that's 4 the-- the creator of man
To God and subsuming oneself to his will.
This is 4 the sun, the moon, the stars, the tourists at Disneyland
Creation, in all it's aspects
This is 4 the ocean, the sea, the shore
The Earth
This is 4-- and that's 4 U, and that's who that 1's 4
Charity, Fidelity, Family, Love
This is 4 the women, so beautifully complex
Marriage, Mother, the Earthly Creator and the power to create life.
This 1's 4 love without sex
Spiritual love, Fraternity, Brotherhood.
This is 4 the wind that blows no matter how fast or slow
Not knowing where I'm going
Fate, Possibility, the Unknown, and Un-promised.
This galaxy's better than not having a place 2 go
And now I know (I know)
Acceptance, Longing, Wisdom & Salvation...
Then, the dynamic play of life continues, with spiritual experience, the holy ghost and the heavenly muse.

Lady cab driver
Lady cab driver
Lady cab driver
Lady cab driver
Lady cab driver
Lady cab driver

Black Men V. White Women II

Frederick Douglass (top left) Susan B. Anthony (top middle) & Elizabeth Stanton (bottom middle)

The recent battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has suddenly taken on another historical dimension. As is well known, there has never been a female, nor (admittedly) African-American as President (if you don't count Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Warren Harding & Calvin Coolidge). But, the rancor and disappointment now being expressed by the female supporters, namely, the white female supporters of Hillary Clinton, reminds me of the rancor caused by the then, long-standing abolitionist movement and the budding movement for women's suffrage and women's rights.

While not talked about, one of the disappointing moments in American politics was when the white, female base of abolitionist, turned against Blacks as they become politically aware of their own struggle. As Blacks benefitted from a succession of amendments and to gain political clout, female abolitionist began to make the realization that Blacks had progressed to the point that Black men, on the surface had more rights than they did.

And here is where the understandable, but no less sharp knife of division was thrust into the backs of African-Americans. The White Female leadership in the abolitionist movement, in effect turned against Blacks and stated that they would not advocate for more Black rights until they had gained their own rights, such as voting, political representation, etc. It was sad day in history when the strategy employed by the white suffragist included taking an active role in the stoppage of all Black rights.

The reality was that the struggle for Black rights had just begun. As Wendell Phillips stated in his speech, "This is the Negro's Hour". This statement became the battle cry for Negro suffrage over Women's suffrage.

The political climate in Washington D.C. in 1866:
Those that felt that Women and Negro suffrage were "both just and logical", also felt that the nation would not accept two reforms at one time; therefore the question of suffrage must be divided and the first chance be given to the Negro. “This is the Negro's hour” became the universal response to the woman's appeal. Opponents of both woman and Negro suffrage, chiefly Democrats, played at friendliness and contended that white women were far better qualified to vote than Negro men. They held that if the suffrage must be extended at this time the ballot given to educated white women would offset the illiteracy of the black man, and therefore women should be given the first chance.

Republicans charged Democrats with insincerity and a desire to embarrass the party in power. Democrats in turn charged the Republican leaders with insincerity, since they seemed determined to put aside the woman suffrage cause which they had long advocated and to substitute this newer proposition of Negro suffrage. Time proved that the diagnoses of motives made by the rival parties against each other were both correct. While in the middle, Blacks and White women cared less about the sincerity or insincerity of the politics that was being played out, as their goal was to obtain suffrage first.

On December 14 (1866), the Congress conferred the suffrage upon the Negroes of the District of Columbia. President Johnson vetoed the bill, January 5, 1867, upon the ground that the voters of the District had rejected Negro suffrage at the polls by an almost unanimous vote.[1]* On January 7 the Senate, and, on January 8, the House passed the bill over the veto.

The Congress followed this act by another, equally revelatory of Republican intentions toward Negro suffrage. On January 25, 1867, it passed a bill providing that “in the territories thereafter organized, the right to vote shall not be denied on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude.” Thus the Congress had extended Negro suffrage wherever it had jurisdiction so to do. This bill became law without the President's signature. Under its provisions Nebraska was admitted to statehood after agreeing that the franchise should be allowed to Negroes. It promptly ratified the Fourteenth Amendment and thereby became an historic bone of contention, the Republicans being immediately charged by the Democrats, and by members of their own party, with “gross irregularity” in their haste to secure another Legislature to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment, then pending. Whether the charge was true or false, the amendment was ratified by Nebraska, June 15, 1867.

Lost in the stuggle for suffrage, was the reality that soon after reconstruction, due to poll taxes, poll tests and threats of death and intimidation, Blacks would soon lose any hope of suffrage in almost all southern states. It was not until 1964 that Blacks in many areas of the nation were able to excercise their right to vote.

Frederick Douglass, the famous ex-slave, public speaker, politician, publisher, writer, and abolitionist,(who was the first notable Black figure to take a white wife) was dismayed by this calamitous turn of events, when White allies suddenly became enemies. He came to denounce one of the leaders of the White suffragist/Anti-Black leaders, Elizabeth Cady Stanton as being blatantly racist. Stanton was at the time, incensed about the 15th Amendment granting Blacks the right to vote over women, which in her mind placed white women on a level "classed with idiots, lunatics, and Negroes." Although she was not a "racist" per se, her choice of words reflected the impassioned push for female inclusion which pitted Blacks and Whites against one another.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was in fact, at one time, one of the leaders of the abolitionist movement. Born in Johnstown, New York in 1815, she was the daughter of a New York Supreme Court Judge, who schooled her in the study of law. She was also a relative of Gerrit Smith, an abolitionist from New York. It was in Smith's home that Stanton met a large number of escaped slaves. Through understanding of their plight, her understanding of the law, and the philosophy of Smith, Stanton rose to become a leading abolitionist, however, once she turned her focus to women's rights she made the statement,
"shall white men so amend their constitutions as to make their wives and mothers the political inferiors of unlettered and unwashed ditch-diggers, bootblacks, butchers and barbers, fresh from the slave plantations of the South?"

Frederick Douglass' response to this was,
"When women, because they are women, are hunted down through the cities of New York and New Orleans; when they are dragged from their houses and hung from lampposts; when their children are torn from their arms and their brains dashed out upon the pavement; when they are objects of insult and rage at every turn; when they are in danger of having their homes burnt down... then they will have an urgency to obtain the ballot equal to our own.

Soon Frederick Douglass came to grips with the budding women's rights and suffrage movement. For once Blacks were freed, many whites were ready to move on to other topics, forcing Douglass to become adepth in speaking on suffrage issue, as a way to gain entree to a powerful block of historical Black allies (White Women).

Susan B. Anthony, who had her image on the $1 coin for a hot minute, was also a friend of Stanton and perhaps the best known face of the abolitionist and then women's suffrage movement. Anthony also tossed a copper coin onto the frayed connection between Blacks and White women by actively making public the strategy of proposing a full-scale stoppage in the acquisition of new Black rights, until White Women were brought to the level of the Negro. Following the ratification of the fifteenth amendment, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA).

To be fair, to this day, as any sober being looks upon the situation, it can not be said that there is any group on this planet that has been more abused, exploited, diminished, dismissed, looked over, passed over, beaten, shoved aside, and taken fro granted, as women. Women, be they of any race, of any culture, religion, creed, or whatever other measure or class, has always been treated as below the station of any man, of that same race and class.

Also, to be fair, although it may be the case that women, as a group have suffered more than any other group, the reality is that White Women were absolutely not villified to the extent that Blacks in their state of bondage, servitude and 2nd class citizenship were. White women were able to move about freely, doors were opened, men doffed their hats, they lead philanthropic agencies, they had their own colleges, clubs, bathrooms, and a whole host of advantages that came along with their whiteness that Blacks in the 1800's dared not even dream about. the bottom line is that although white women were essentially held in servitude to white men, they were still several stations above Black men, not to mention that it was the rare occasion, if ever, that a white woman was raped nightly by a white man in the light of day, let alone the offspring of such unions sold off to the highest bidder.

Still, to pull back to a clear headed historical perspective, women absolutely can not be faulted for taking up their own reigns and fighting for their own rights, to the diminishement of all other issues, even that of Black rights. That is not to say that I excuse all of the harsh blows delivered back and forth in the struggle for Black and Women's rights. It is only to say that the mission, the purpose, the passion and the heartiness of the battle, can certainly be understood.

Below is a letter drafted by Elizabeth Stanton in response to a speech by the great Wendell Phillips in which he declared (in late winter, 1865) "this is the Negro's hour." and argued that suffragist, and women's rights activist, should back out of the discussion and allow the Negro to have his hour, rather than to halt all progress, to toss in their own issues. In the except below, racist language is in bold.

Elizabeth Stanton:The representative women of the nation have done their uttermost for the last thirty years to secure freedom for the negro, and so long as he was lowest in the scale of being we were willing to press his claims; but now, as the celestial gate to civil rights is slowly moving on its hinges, it becomes a serious question whether we had better stand aside and see “Sambo” walk into the kingdom first.

As self-preservation is the first law of nature, would it not be wiser to keep our lamps trimmed and burning, and when the Constitutional door is open, avail ourselves of the strong arm and blue uniform of the black soldier to walk in by his side, and thus make the gap so wide that no privileged class could ever again close it against the humblest citizen of the Republic? “This is the negro’s hour.” Are we sure that he, once entrenched in all his inalienable rights, may not be an added power to hold us at bay? Have not “black male citizens” been heard to say they doubted the wisdom of extending the right of Suffrage to women? Why should the African prove more just and generous than his Saxon compeers?

If the two millions of Southern black women are not to be secured in their rights of person, property,wages, and children, their emancipation is but another form of slavery. In fact, it is better to be the slave of an educated white man, than of a degraded, ignorant black one. We who know what absolute power the statute laws of most of the States give man, in all his civil, political, and social relations, do demand that in changing the status of the four millions of Africans, the women as well as the men should be secured in all the rights, privileges, and immunities of citizens. It is all very well for the privileged order to look down complacently and tell us, “this is the negro's hour; do not clog his way; do not embarrass the Republican party with any new issue; be generous and magnanimous; the negro once safe, the woman comes next.”

Now, if our prayer involved a new set of measures, or a new train of thought, it would be cruel to tax “white male citizens” with even two simple questions at a time; but the disenfranchised all make the same demand, and the same logic and justice that secures Suffrage to one class gives it to all. The struggle of the last thirty years has not been merely on the black man as such, but on the broader ground of his humanity.

In the end, although Black men were given the right to vote "first" the reality is that they were behind White Women by 98 years in securing the right to vote.

Rap Music: Vilified Poetic Dispatches from the 'Hood.

The essential argument, or proposition for discussion is, is art something to be judged? or villified? or is art something to be experienced, and so, moved and enriched? And, is art the only thing we can learn from? or can we learn from the experience of indivdual's who's lives and situations differ vastly from our own?

These are very important questions, because if art is to be judged, then it is to move a level away from the intent of the artist. Surely, in schools, in practicums, internships, fellowships, apprenticeships, to "judge" is essential. To critique the artists work, is surely an indispensible process for the Teachers, or Critics of artistic endeavors, however, once we arrive at the final finished product, that expresses, that which the artist desires to express, in the unique manner or professional manifestation of their craft, "judgement" may no longer be the proper perspective from which to view, or experience the work.

My point is that African-Americans have been villified, condemned, judged and subject to all manner of harsh experiences throughout the diaspora. Perhaps no African-American story can stand higher, in terms of rawness and complete and total experience of transformation, as that of the African-American in America. Seeing as the European tradition of recording, writing, satirizing, editorializing, is so strong, the 500 year history of African-Americans, forms one of the richest and well documented trevails of any peoples in the world.

Which brings us to the artform of "Rap" music.

My contention, and theory is that Rap music, at its heart and soul, is the expression, the voice of the inner city, and effect of the experience of Africans in America that rivals all other forms. In "Rap" we have a complete and total voice, that if listened to and understood from 1. The heart & 2. A clinical, perspective as a dialectic of the "other" experience, it forms a full-voiced expression, of the horrors and net result, of the American tradition and experience of exclusion, disparity, racism, segregation and political impotence.

I grow tiresome of this whole condemnation of rap as anti-bitch and pro-profanity. There is no comparison between the disgusting, stomach turning, destructive, murderous result of the U.S. Constitution, which condoned and legalizing the slave trade, and the world's "worst" most profanity laden rap song. My point is this. If you have someone that has lived through a horrendous experience a the hands of a government and it's systemetized, unmitigated racist philosophy, then to describe the effects, the mentality, the psychology and the life that you live because of it... is that really something we should condemn? It's like slitting someone's throat and yelling at them for bleeding. To take it a step further, there is a long tradition of the arts as the social conscience of society. Rap music can be, and many times, is the contemporary artistic expression of the experience of African-Americans. If it isn't art, then nothing is.

Don't just take it from me, Leo Tolstoy, who died long before the creation of rap music, gives an unbiased and well-rounded definition of art, which can be changed but slightly to mirror and express my feelings about Rap as an art-form, and fully realized artistic expression.

In Chapter 15 of Leo Tolstoy's "What is Art?" which he wrote in 1896, he states:
"There is one indubitable indication distinguishing real art from its counterfeit, namely, the infectiousness of art. If a man, without exercising effort and without altering his standpoint on reading, hearing, or seeing another man's work, experiences a mental condition which unites him with that man and with other people who also partake of that work of art, then the object evoking that condition is a work of art."

And, "But most of all is the degree of infectiousness of art increased by the degree of sincerity in the artist.", " And the degree of the infectiousness of art depends on three conditions: 1. On the greater or lesser individuality of the feeling transmitted; on the greater or lesser clearness with which the feeling is transmitted; on the sincerity of the artist..."

Tolstoy goes on to say, "I have mentioned three conditions of contagiousness in art, but they may be all summed up into one, the last, sincerity, i.e., that the artist should be impelled by an inner need to express his feeling... Therefore this third condition - sincerity - is the most important of the three."


And so, let's look at the disdainful and rejected medium of "gansta rap" and look at the lyrics and what is being said and shared, to see if it meets the definition of "art".

"I Got Yo Back" by X-Raided, is a song about the rapper and his devotion to his fellow bretheren. He sings of his loyalty, to the death if necessary that he holds for his friends and close associates. If this type of death pact between those whose entire existence is live outside of the lines of legitimate society is confusion to some, then listening to these lyrics, along with lyrics of all rap, will surely help to bring such ignorance into the light of day.

The song starts out with his pledge of solidarity with his "nigga's"

(Chorus)
If you wanna get high, nigga I got a sack
If you wanna ride, my nigga I got a strap
Do or die for my true thug niggas, and that's a fact
You and I got that true love, nigga I got yo back

What X-Raided is saying to his partners, is if you want to get high, I'll get you high, if you want to do a drive by and kill someone, I got a gun. I'll die for you cause you're just like me, and I support you in whatever you do. Because you are the only one that cares about me, loves me, looks out for me, and are the one that I can trust, I have more loyalty and fidelity towards you than any law, rule or legal pronouncement in this land that don't give a fuck about us.

The question then becomes, how does one become so twisted that they think that to get someone high, to kill with them, is an appropriate way to show devotion? Aren't friends supposed to help one another to do right? How does someone get to this point that they're willing to die for another man's high and desire to kill? Listen, and the song will reveal these and more answers.

Don't nobody got your back, when you need ‘em most
I'm yellin' where the love at? But you don't hear me loc
Sometimes I think I'm goin' down, I need a life preserver
But you throw me bricks, tryna help me drown
But I survived, what other options do I have?
Can't blame it on my Mom, can't blame it on my Dad
I make my own decisions, I chose the path that I walk


What X-Raided is saying here is, "Who loves me? Who cares for me? Not society (loc), not anyone that has a real opportunity, or option, or way to excape the madness that I'm living in. All I get is ignored, Police, Jail, unemployment lines, and no, no, no, no, no. And because of that, often, I either feel that I'm drowning and dying, (while still alive), hopeless, despondent, no options, or I actually am, and at that point, I need some help. I need something to make me feel hope again, or that there is some point to this cold, heartless, optionless existence. (I need a life preserver), but instead, I'm blamed again, I'm either called, crazy, lazy, hazy (high), or that I brought the shit on myself, or that I don't qualify, or I need to go somewhere else, or I'm locked up in a mental ward, or in jail or prison, because that's the only help I can get (you throw me bricks). And I can't blame my mom or dad, they're just as fucked up as me, and they went through the same thing as me. They were no more able to help me, than I am to help my kids, or their parents were able to help them. The condition is societal, it's beyond the strength or ability of the average ghetto survivor, to escape these entrenched cycles of hopelessness (can't blame it on my mom, can't blame it on my dad). I'm the one that decided to not persevere and go to school. I'm the one that decided to get into the dope game. I'm the one that decided to join a gang. I'm the one that decided to not pay those parking tickets, or the child support, or to rob that store, or jump bail, or probation...

But me and my father never had that "man to man" talk
But there ain't no need for me to hate him
He did me a favour when he caught my mama ovulatin'
He brought me in the world, and the rest is up to me
So I'm a, do what I gotta and be all that I can be

X' is sayin' It's futile for him to hate his father, he lies blameless in the tide of forces beyond his control. Instead of hating him, he needs to thank him and his mother for bringing him into the world (aint that what humans are supposed to do?), all of the hurdles and stumbling blocks he faces, are for him to traverse, and overcome. His parents left him at the starting line, and now it's up to him to do the best he can do (which evidently, is pretty incredible, seeing as he's an incredibly talented artist, rapper, musician, and internationally known. it's truly remarkable).

Now I wanted to be a doctor, a lawyer, or a judge
But it wasn't meant to be so now I got a grudge
I was hit with resistence, and asked for persistence,
You kept me at a distance, so fuck all you bitches
I don't need none of y'all, I'm a do it on my own
And when I'm ballin', I'm a floss in front of all y'all non-believers
You thought I couldn't win
But to my homies, my lovers, and my friends
I got ya back

Here X' is sayin, he wanted to be more, he aspired to be more (a doctor or lawyer or judge), but those roads were blocked, and he does have a chip on his shoulder, because, quite honestly, he was doomed from the gate when it came to competing for those coveted educational opportunities with kids that had ALL the advantages, security, safety, encouragement and resources to get those coveted opportunities. He tried to stay in school, but the help and support wasn't there (resistence, persistence, kept at a distance), so to hell with this system that didn't want him to begin with (racist admissions, substandard schools, disparity). He decided to do it on his own, and when he makes it, he's going to flaunt it and wave it in your faces to show you up. society had him buried before he was born, but he made it, and so, to his "homies, lovers and friends" he'll get them high, he'll drive by for them, he'll go to the death, because THAT was his family, THAT was his support, THAT is what kept him going when he felt like he was drownin'. And so without them, there wouldn't be an X-Raided, so seeing as he owes them his life, he will go to the death for them. and heaven help him that he won't be killed, but.....

When everybody got they noses up in the air
I'll be there for you, lettin' you know your nigga cares
I ain't got much to offer but you welcome to what I have
Down to ride witcha, even when the homies mad
I be down witcha; winter, spring, summer, fall
I'm ready to ride every time that my homie calls
I never stall on ya dawg, through it all, thick or thin
We went from boys to men in the same hood
So it's all good, even when you actin' like you got this bitch made
It's still on, I'm a ride when you right or wrong
Standin' strong, no matter what the situation in
And if you die, will provide for your wife and kids
That way you live, forever

This one is simple, if you've read the others, in this X' is just continuing entreaties, pledges and promises to be there for the ones that were there for him, a pledge to never say no, to never delay, to not put them off, and to be behind his friends and their family forever.

However, a nigga's never gonna let ‘cha rest in peace till we back together
Fuck restin' in peace, I'm in an up roar
What other reason does a nigga have to live for?
If you ain't ready to ride for what we believe
Then get the fuck out the game, it's time for you to leave
Cuz only niggas is willin' to put it all on the line
And ride with us when it's killin' time
I got yo back loc


This is just continuing re-statement and passion about how dedicated he is to the ones that were there for him when no one else was. They may have been wrong, but they were there. They were the only ones that cared, and they all stood together to protect what little they had. And to be a part of this, you have to be ready to (put it all on the line), when it's "killin' time"
[Chorus] x2

X-Raided mad at the world, ready to go to war
So tell me what y'all mothafuckas waitin' for?
Put on your boots, and lace ‘em up
Dawg, tell me which tree you wanna chase ‘em up
It's an organized congregation, committee of the wicked
If you ain't ready to ride, then nigga you can't kick it
So get the fuck up out the set, you high powered coward
Before your bitch ass get devoured
At any given hour my soldiers is bound to loc up
The warriors gonna ride, and all you bitches gon' choke up
But that's the only way to separate the real from the fake
Don't ask me why, bitch a bitch ...(?)
That Northern Cali kill ‘em all mentality
It ain't my fault, blame it on the criminality
I'm out to make the paper stack
And when my homie calls, hell yeah it's a conspiracy
I got his back

Summary: Now, if you have no familiarity to with the experience of the African-American, or the inner-city, then yes, I can see your disdain, confusion and desire to discard the words of X-Raided and all of the other rappers that have made it out of pure nothing and situations where the odds were completely stacked against them, but if you are at least able to listen, you can learn how they feel, why their lives are the way they are, and most of all, their triumph and passion and incredible musicality.

Rap music is a relatively recent creation, but in the African-American, despite huge odds, they were able to create blues, gospel, rock, jazz, big-band, rap, r&b, and all manner of different art forms of dance, music, etc, etc, etc. Yes, the venacular can be confusion, but no less confusing than Shakespeare, to the uninitiated. At first, no one knows what the fuck is being said. Those that study Shakespeare, or even the bible are continually mining new truths, new meanings, new insights. The same can be done for Rap.

For me, it's not hard to listen to the pledges and love that flows from brother to brother, and to relate to that. Oftentimes, the love we have for the oppostite sex, is unsustainable, If it starts as lovers, many times it can not persist as friends. In the situations that start as friends, it's often hard to avoid becoming lovers, in essence, risking all. Such is the passionate drive of sexual attraction and reproduction. But your male friends, that you know love you without a care for you sexually, and that you have known, from when you had nothing and before you had direction, or purpose, or even knew yourself.... yeah, much of this rap is about signing the praises of that unquestioned love. One has to also factor in the high rate of single-parent households, and kids that, even if they did have a father, did not see them much. These groups of youths band together, without guidance, without supervision, desiring to be, what they see in their own 'hoods...

God Bless X-Raided and all of the brave souls and artists that have made it against all odds, kept, harbored and nurtured their dreams, and have been able to not only give us such beautiful music, but to make known the suffering and conditions of love that exist in the forgotten inner cities and ghettos of America.