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Omali Yeshitela (born Joseph Waller, October 9, 1941, St. Petersburg, Florida) the founder of the Uhuru Movement, a left wing, African Internationalist organization based in St. Petersburg, Florida.
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James Truslow Adams coined the term “American Dream” in his 1931 book The Epic of America.
His American Dream is “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.”
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The line contains the contradiction between the idealistic hopes of the American dream and its often shallow reality, keeping it ideal versus simply “chasing paper.”
MLK represents that idealistic side–equality, opportunity, peace, unity–while DK stands for the blinged out version of fancy cars and big houses. It’s all about the Benjamins:
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This line nicely combines the pacifist protest song of the civil rights movement, “We Shall Overcome”…
“The Lord will see us through, The Lord will see us through,
The Lord will see us through someday;
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,
We shall overcome someday.”
With the more radical and militant statement of Malcolm X that blacks will fight for their civil rights…
“We declare our right on this earth to be a man, to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary.”
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Cause I'm pro whatever prevents me from feeling poverty Killer Mike – American Dream
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Critiquing rap for “celebrat[ing] the dope dealer” and other criminals has been around since at least the Gangsta Rap Era. It’s a record whose grooves are worn thin and should be turned into a bowl.
Killer Mike self-consciously addresses those critics and offers an explanation:
Celebrating drug dealers in a sense keeps the American dream alive. These guys are often hard-working, rags-to-riches stories. They can give hope to those that are still at the bottom working their bottoms off to make it to the top. As Mike says, “I’m for pro for whatever prevents me from feeling poverty.”
Just think of how many young kids in American cities have a Scarface poster on their walls, not to mention all the rappers who’ve borrowed his name.
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A quick jab at anti-immigration proponents: you say you are defending American jobs amd borders with your walls and deportations, but what’s more American than migrant labor from south of the border? Little. It’s been around since the beginning of the century and has helped build the nation to what it is today.
Work is another name for drugs, he wants to get cheaper drugs from his Mexican connects.