does 'success' entail forgetting about injustice done to your people, and around the world? does 'success' have to require relinquishing spiritual and moral peace of mind?
it's clear williams chooses not to stand on the shoulders of other public figures who chose to speak openly about injustice, and represent the people (paul robeson, miriam makeba, eugene mcdaniels, harry belafonte, even michael... all of these artists paid a price for what they did too). there are plenty of 'successful' black people who took the road of community/activism.
in their defense of williams, people are saying that he is misinterpreted; that he's not saying that racism doesn't exist, or that he's not saying there is one way to be black.' that he was simply speaking about 'empowering yourself' and not playing the victim.
it's not that he denied racism exists; it's that he openly has chosen to ignore the INSTITUTIONS OF OPPRESSION in which racism thrives. it's not enough to 'pick yourself up by the bootstraps'; the institution does not cease because of that.
williams' sentiment reminds me of so many things obama states when it comes to us, the most disturbing of them being that afrikans in the continent should not blame colonialism for their problems... as if colonialism has ended. to me, williams' analysis (or lack thereof) WAS implying there should be one way of being black- the 'new' way. the individualistic way. the way that forgets all the work of his ancestors.
and yes, i know you had just ice, UTFO, busy bee, and so many others who were not using so-called 'conscious' lyrics all the time... the key though, was VARIETY and BALANCE. all the while rhyming about girls, guns or drinking, there was that verse about police injustice. to me though, NWA (as prompted by jerry heller and his ilk) paved the way for a lot of what we're hearing today. the socially conscious side of NWA was not being promoted- it was the nihilistic side. the 'scary black man' was the sentiment which sold to kids in 'middle america'. i saw the same thing with tupac. the man was murdered just as he was begining to be more open with a burgeoning 'pro-black' sentiment... amidst the success of snoop doggy dogg and puffy's crew.
