Re: [rumori] Dre finally sued


From: Art McGee (amcgeeATfreeshell.org)
Date: Sat Nov 02 2002 - 10:16:42 PST


> Well, yes. I'd suggest that anytime someone in the First
> World samples something from the Third World, they would
> do well to ask themselves about their own motivations and
> the consequences of their actions (if they don't already
> do this anytime they sample anything. or anytime they do
> anything). How might their (admittedly perhaps small) act
> be part of the cycle of imperialist capitalist
> exploitation?

The missing part of the analysis so far is that Black people
in the West or First World, particularly the United States,
the people who popularized music sampling (note, we didn't
invent it, just made it more obvious) are also the victims
of the same Imperialist Capitalist exploitation, going back
almost 500 years, and continuing to this day. With their
very bodies they have been the commodity that lauched Global
Capitalism. Globalization didn't begin with NAFTA, GATT, the
WTO, the World Bank, the IMF, or any of this other crap, it
began with the Atlantic Slave Trade.

So, while we need to admonish someone like DJ Quik and
Dr. Dre for their irresponsible behavior, we must also be
cognizent of the fact that the reason sampling is such a
popular form of musical creation by Black people, especially
those in the United States, is the result of the destruction
and fragmentation of our histories, cultures, and identities
as a result of a 500 year genocidal assault by White Supremacy,
Capitalism, and Imperialism. Sampling is something we've had
to do in order to survive once stripped of all else. The
issue goes way beyond just music. We had to create something
from nothing. Music is just the way that non-Blacks tend to
see it most easily manifest itself.

This also gives us a unique opportunity to turn our
attention to another site of struggle and conflict between
Blacks and Indians: The African Continent. As a direct
result of Imperialist Colonialism and White Supremacy on
the African Continent, there has been a long history of
bitterness and tension between Continental Black Africans
and their Indian brothers and sisters who were imported into
Africa as indentured servants. In South Africa, Indians were
given a higher level of status under Apartheid than Blacks
and this led many of them to consider themselves set apart
from the interests of the Black masses. In Kenya, Uganda,
and other parts of East Africa, most of us know the stories
of cynical dictators, whose strings were being pulled by the
Western Imperialists and White Supremacists, pitting Blacks
and Indians against each other and taking advantage of the
obvious tensions that had arisen because of the byproducts
of White Supremacist favoritism of Indians over Blacks in
various economic spheres.

This my friends is what we should really be talking about.

We can use this insignificant blowup over a pop record to
delve into much deeper issues of exploitation on all sides,
and to point out who the real enemies are.

Art McGee
Communications & Technology Consultant
amcgeeATfreeshell.org
(510) 967-9381
Circuit Riders International
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Critical Issues in Pan-African Life and Culture
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<http://www.blackpeopleloveus.com>

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