DOES JAY ELECTRONICA WANT TO DIE FOR FARRAKHAN?
Looking at Jay Elec's blatant anti-semitism and why people are now tired... (I want Natasha Lyonne to make a honest man out of me, so someone show her this).
Any Black person who reports on anti-semitism coming from inside of our house will inevitably have the fear of inviting unwelcomed criticism, or too much of it, to our house. If I dislike Old Man Farrakhan for his fraudulent and bigoted sentences, am I now being too much of an agreeable negro? If I denounce Kanye West too much for being a Nazi sympathizer, am I now giving him, a Black man who has been through unspeakable traumas, to the wolves? Despite the friendship between Black people and Jewish people, there is always going to be a minor distrust — a distrust that prevents full intersectionality. Jewish people want us to believe that the apartheid and state-sanctioned violence in Israel is complicated even though the Palestinian fight is our fight; we want them to understand why some of our others — it’s usually the men — think that their coalition is conspiring against us. To have an identity is to have an intuitive empathy for the specific race, gender, or orientation that you belong to. Even though intersectionality is the right mindset to always have, it also takes unbridled empathy to see through. That’s why it is so rarely publicly performed by people of a higher social class. I don’t particularly enjoy feeding the criticisms of black people to the public. The people in our house are people who have been systemically broken, even when they’re acting a fool. After considering subjugation, it makes me want to keep my condemnations to myself and put them on timeout.
But Jay Electronica, the gifted, 46-year-old rapper from New Orleans, is making it hard to defend him, even to ourselves. The emcee, who is a member of the Nation of Islam, is under fire again for anti-semitic statements made on his feature on ‘“balloons”, off of noname’s new record, Sundial. In that song, Mr. Electronica is typically irreverent: “I run with the mighty ‘Khan as we expose the liars”, he says early in the verse. Then, the kicker: “It’s all a hoax, quite simply, a joke like Zelensky.” (Ukrainian President Zelensky is Jewish. You get the picture).
Mr. Electronica is a wizard at rapping, a member of the underground for many years whose legend increased partly because we had no music to actually debate about. He became an open secret like a neighbor’s cancer diagnosis. Few rappers are better — flow to flow, bar to bar, simile to simile — at bending words to fit into a specific religious theme. When “Exhibit C” came out, it felt like you had truly combined all the greatest emcees in one breath. Few rappers have captivated our lyrical minds without any noteworthy music like Jay Electronica has. When he was with a Rothschild, a Jewish woman who he continues to fawn over (now this I understand), sometimes those fiery and cryptic lyrics, pushed by his leader’s bigotry, lead him to say things on wax that will raise even a botoxed eyebrow.
We’ve been here before with Mr. Electronica, who came under fire for saying “The Synagogues of Satan want to hang me by my collar” on his 2020 song, “Ghost of Soulja Slim.” His backers will say that it is impossible for him to be anti-semitic because he is the real Jew. While that is somewhat cheeky (I make this joke myself. It’s funny. Black and Jewish tension is fun to joke about), he is also using the word satan to describe a place of holy worship for Jewish people. That, without a doubt, is an anti-semitic statement, a way to treat Jewish people as less than human. When the blue-eyed Führer was trying to eradicate Jewish people in Europe, he would compare them to rats and termites that were inferior people; people who were also trying to conspire against the superior race. Mr. Electronica is not the Führer — he has no power and even he did, he and his co-workers at the NOI are more concerned with selling you bootleg copies of Belly on MLK Avenue than doing a holocaust — but to share any ideology with Hitler is to walk in the same bigoted lane as he was doing.
It isn’t that I find this repulsive. I know people who somewhat agree with the Minister’s teachings, even if they know that he is a false idol. The Minister helping to contribute to the environment that murdered Malcolm X doesn’t mean that other words he has said haven’t inspired people. He can be quite warm in the light, like when he spoke at DMX’s funeral because any crotchety old man is sometimes appropriately resonant. (Clint Eastwood’s character in Gran Torino does kind things once in a while too).
Jay Electronica is a rapper whose words are to be marveled at. Every guest feature is an event, especially when he isn’t trying to be Farrakhan’s sergeant at arms. I understand why people join things like the NOI or say that Jews are conspiring against us. It’s a way to sprinkle domino sugar onto real-life systemic issues. They are Jewish people who are in power, and who have influence, in New York politics and politics beyond. That power can negatively affect lives. But right now, the Mayor of New York is an old Black man who says “swagger”, and has neo-conservative politics, and a fetish for shutting down social services. I want to hold Israel accountable and free Palestinians from the shackles that they are in. Israel is a place full of fascist policy, and weak-willed liberals. I also want Jewish people to feel safe, and free from any rhetoric that pains them, and I know that they are pretty much already safe from that, especially in major cities. But what I want most, is something better than a fake ideology that has told its members to do Dianetics. (This is also pretty funny. The NOI and Scientology being cool with one another is kind of hilarious). Despite my adoration for some of the Minister’s speeches, I vehemently believe that we deserve more than his twisted rhetoric and behavior. All people do, especially Black people. That includes Mr. Electronica, who if Allah has anything to say about it, will one day realize his anti-semitic rhetoric serves literally nobody but his Minister.
SILENCERS, INFRAREDS, AND OFFICIAL SHIT
Really enjoyed the recent Lil Yachty songs.
In the hip-hop 50 celebration, the women were given their flowers and it was a welcome appreciation. I usually hate when men big up women rap like simps, but fuck it: Women are still killing it in rap.
My favorite song on the noname record, which I appreciate more than I love, but this is the one.
Earl Sweatshirt was right when he said that more men need to listen to UK rap to keep them being too dusty.
I have much faith in Mexican’s ability to be the next star from Texas — although it might be a bit too much like the other music from Texas that has blown up — but he ought to be proud of this record. “Hit List” with BigxthaPlug is great too. But I enjoyed this song with Paul Wall.
HOOD PHENOMENON
Have y’all noticed the trend of hot women eating hot dogs? Not only do I find this weirdly sexy, I also find it interesting. Is it the juxtaposition of women eating something phallic? Or, is it that women like to go to baseball games to relax? Plus, Mixo Sudo won the Hot Dog Eating Contest. Whatever it is, I see it on social media constantly. Jennifer Lawrence hasn’t gotten in on this, and it bugging me as to why she hasn’t. I can see it right now; her eating a nice hot dog, without a care in the world, with her resting sexy bitch face.
That was a wonderful explanation of why a person who professes to be anti Semitic is not necessarily a bad person but maybe a bit confused 😎