It's too gory for them televised fables on cable dead prez – I’m a African
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Roots is a famed TV miniseries based on Alex Haley’s novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family. The series aired in early 1977 and was one of the most-watched television events of all time. The central character in both versions is Kunta Kinte, an eighteenth-century West African who is taken captive by slavers and sent to America. Upon arrival, he tries to escape repeatedly
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Dreadlocks are the natural hairstyle for most people of African descent – that is, if hair is not brushed or cut, it will eventually form into dreads. Dreadlocks are especially popular amongst adherents of the Jamaica-based Rastafari movement
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This powerful ode to Pan-Africanism is the first full song on the group’s debut album Let’s Get Free. The tune provides a primer on the group’s political philosophy, heroes, and worldview
I bet this is exactly what Dead Prez had in mind when they created the song:
http://youtu.be/I96--PeT-kk?t=3m10s
And I did not end up here from bad karma
Or for b-ball, selling mad crack, or rapping dead prez – I’m a African
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The emphasis here is that African Americans, and other members of the African diaspora, should think of themselves first as Africans, rather than as citizens of whatever country they may be in. They should remember that they are in a new country (and likely an unfair political/economic situation) not due to any fault of their own, but because of the trans-Atlantic slave trade
Big nose and lips, big hips and butts dancing, what! dead prez – I’m a African
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dp lays out their outlook here in just a few words. They are both Afrocentric black nationalists – thus the wearing of African dashikis and the listening to political rappers Public Enemy. However, to get their way, they will get gangster with it – thus the militaristic camo fatigues and the soundtrack of proto-gangsta-rappers N.W.A. This philosophy is summed up in the group’s catchphrase and later album title RBG: Revolutionary But Gangsta
Let's stick together and come up or it won't be long
Until we end our own race, and that's by selling our soul
Killing our brothers and sisters just to have control Suga-T – Billy Bad Ass
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He was full of liquor and his senses hella lagged Suga-T – Billy Bad Ass
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“Hella” is such a notable piece of Northern California slang that it even has its own Wikipedia page
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This image ties in to the Roots reference above, with its central character of a runaway slave. M1 compares his modern predicament to that of his enslaved ancestors
The use of the phrase “ the North Star” is a double play: It refers to travelers in the underground railroad navigating in the dead of night using the actual North star. And “the North Star” was the abolitionist newspaper published by Frederick Douglass, who himself was a runaway slave.
995
Runaway American slaves sought asylum in the northern states and Canada. They used the North Star to guide them at night.
97
‘gun on my palm’ -> ‘gun in my palm’