Warriors and Sons of Warriors and Sons

Well, I would say that I grew up inherently nationalistic. I truly believe that any group of people—black, Irish, Russian—you have to work out the problems in your own family. And you can’t appreciate somebody else’s culture unless you have a full appreciation of your own culture. Hip-Hop is the first thing I’ve seen in my lifetime that is truly multi-cultural. So I come from a nationalist ideology but I participate in this multi-cultural thing. It conflicts sometimes. There are white people that have been down with Hip-Hop from the beginning; white people now who are artists, producers, and business people in Hip-Hop who truly have the love for the culture and for the music. I would never say that, because Hip-Hop was started by Blacks and Latinos in the Bronx, it’s just for us. But at the same time when you’re dealing with the real issue of racism, that same white kid that grew up in Massachusetts, and who took the Metro North down to go to clubs…he’s probably, you know, president of some label or some big A&R making hundreds of thousands of dollars. Whereas, his good friend is trying to make a demo tape or something. So the racism is real whether someone has a love for the culture or not. And that’s just the reality of racism in this country. I know people who, when I started my business, they were doing the same thing as me and they are making way more money than I am.

—Talib Kweli: Appropriate or Appreciate? | JLove Calderon (via adailyriot)

(via guerrillamamamedicine)

Posted 4 months ago — 115 notes