We praise Kanye and Pharrell and all their clones for making it ok to be a black nerd. We ought to praise Jay z for making it ok to be a black, American (notice the comma). Jay z spends most of his lyric capital on telling the world that he is a n from the block and every experience that he had made him and he wouldn't trade them for any world.
Be proud to be black, be proud to be from the hood (not in the hood forever). When we make it we don't have to hide the fact that we did whatever it took to get to the top, we snatched that American dream from the clutches of a society that never accepted us, we are making history everyday, we are shaping the future and our culture as much as Cab Calloway and random ****** from the 30's were. Be proud of you, be proud of black, all of it.
Blackness didn't die when the Fist held crack rocks to reach the mountain. Kennedy became President because his irish father knew liquor, that was in his blood, hustle, whatever it took, whatever was around; his family was going to come out of the darkness. Vito Corleone wished for Micheal to be the Governor, in order to get there a few laws would have to be broken, a few risks would have to be taken. We are taking our risks in the hopes our family can have a better life, so we can have a better life.
You lock us out of jobs, keep us poor and uneducated and turn the more successful of us away from each other . What else are we suppose to do? How else can a tree grow in Brooklyn? The concrete must be broken, the structure of society doesn't agree with the seed, the weight of the world rests on even the smallest of seedlings. Either that tree prays that the world will crack and allow him access to the light, or he can fight through the pavement and take what was granted to him by God, but obstructed by man.
Jay z says 'I am the tree that grew in Brooklyn and through the weight of history I will grow to be a mighty oak, and I will never forget what it was like on the cold hard grown with the pressure of history on my shoulders."
Jay has allowed us to wear a Yankee fitted next to the Mayor of the worlds most important city. Some would say when you make it, throw away your street clothes, Jay allows us to don them with every bit of pride an Irish- American wears his kilt, a German- American drinks his beer, a Mexican American wears his Sombraro. My culture wears Du Rags and white tees, and I'll make you love it.
