Letters From FreakLoud: The Eight Ball Chronicles

Okay so I was at Project Blowed last week, you know the Blowed, that king of all hip-hop open mics that I told you a bit about last week. Well, there’s a lot of rappin’ that goes on there. Not only is there an on-stage component, where emcees of varying skill levels rock the mic for the finicky audience, but there’s also the inevitable by-product of having all of these freestyle rappers in one place: The cipher.

For those unfamiliar with underground jargon, allow me to explain. In our world, the word “cipher” is a noun and a verb. In the former sense, it’s the name given to a grouping of emcees, usually in a circular formation, engaging in the act of freestyling, or rapping off the top of the head. This creation of rhymes in real time is also known as “ciphering”, assuming of course, that it isn’t just one rapper rapping.

(A Harlem Zen master once asked of a doe-eyed student, “What is the sound of one rap rapping?” The student, with great freedom, turned and jumped onto a subway track…)

Either way, I found myself in a cipher last Thursday night at the Blowed. The cipher is always a pleasant release for me, as the act of freestyling releases much of the pent up energy and stress that I usually hold on to. Since I ascribe to the cipher this special kind of significance, I take it personally if a rapper oversteps the unwritten rules of the circle. Those in the know call these rules “cipher etiquette”.

For the uninitiated, I offer this, my interpretation, of basic cipher rules:

For my own amusement, I’ll call these violations….

SHIT THAT WILL GET YOU SERVED

Rule Number One:

No Written Rhymes

The most important thing for a rap rookie to know is that this is not the place to debut the hot sixteen bars you just penned and memorized last night. And believe me, EVERYONE can tell if you’re not making it up as you go along. Just about any freestyler that has rhymed for longer than a year has a basic understanding of how quick the human brain can construct rhymes that make sense. So when you jump into the circle and spit a verse complete with punchlines and space for your boys to adlib, just know: You are not impressing anyone. Save that shit for the stage.

Rule Number Two:

No Cut-Offs

Technically, the cipher is all about rap. Aesthetically, however, it’s all about respect. Nothing makes a great cipher go bad faster than an over-zealous rapper jumping in before the current spitter has had sufficient time to get off. About eight bars, or half a verse, is the proper amount of time to give an emcee before you steal his or her shine. Even if you’ve got the sickest line in the world on deck, do not bust your nut too early. That is, unless you’re ready to battle right then and there.

Rule Number Three:

No Mic-Hogging

The reciprocal amount of respect applied when you rock. If you’ve had ample time to find your zone, don’t get all pissy if the next man jumps in. Unless of course, you think that he’s wack and has no business interrupting you. If that’s the case, then lace up the gloves, cause it’s about to be one…lyrically that is.

These are the hands-down, black and white rules that apply when participating in a cipher. And for the most part, all of these rules were abided by last Thursday. But something else happened. Something that caused the same type of negative reactions that any infraction of the above rules would have. Experienced emcees were irritated, angered, and moved toward action by this mysterious phenomenon. But there was no protocol to handle this sort of situation. There’s nothing in the manual that addresses it. So I thought it might be appropriate for me to resolve the situation here.

So with much toil and inner-conflict, I propose an addition to the aforementioned rules of etiquette.

Rule Number Four

No Pontificating

There, I said it. No pontificating.
No spouting off at the mouth of tenets that you feel others should live by. No condescending, back-handed rhetoric designed to inspire some imposed sense of guilt on those who do not believe as you believe. No statements reflecting judgment, especially spiritual judgment in those who have not asked your opinion in these matters.

And allow me to be quite plain:

Christian rappers…This Means You.

You see, my Thursday evening was almost ruined by a groups of Christian rappers at the Blowed. I should have known when I approached the circle that something might be wrong. The range of skill level was too wide. Usually Project Blowed ciphers are restricted to those that command the highest attention. It’s not that upstarts are discouraged from participating. Everyone is encouraged to participate as long as you can maintain the current energy of the cipher. Usually, less confident emcees take themselves out of the action soon enough, once they realize that they can no longer hang.

This cipher, however, had quite the polarization in terms of skill level. On end you’ve got Otherwize. Yes that Otherwize. The one that took out Eminem in a freestyle battle at the 1997 Rap Olympics

On the other side, you’ve got this turtle-headed dude that I’ve got into with before over this same issue. I forget this cat’s name because, for the most part, he’s forgettable. But the fellow is a Christian rapper, most of the time anyway. When he’s by himself, he’s just like any other wannabe fan-boy and he can be found swingin’ on the nut-sack of whatever cat may be shining at the moment. As a matter of fact, he was on stage earlier in the evening when a young talented emcee by the name of CP was performing his anthem entitled, “I’m A Cold Muh-Fucka”. CP had invited rappers from the crowd to join him on stage to hype the chorus. Curiously, unknown Christian guy was on stage rappin’ right along…

(Okay see, this is what makes this subject very difficult to write about. As you may be able to see by now, this is an area that elicits a serious emotional reaction from me. I have to be careful not to exhibit the same judgmental and condescending sentiment that is shown by those who I consider foul. Please be patient as I attempt to navigate this mine-field without blowing my own spot up…)

Alright so, we’re all circular and rappin’ and shit but MC unknown turtle-head has his crew with him. And they are takin’ Jesus-hop to the next level. They’ve got their lyrical bibles out and they’re boppin’ everybody in the head. Seriously, every lyric is Jesus this, redemption that, and y’all better change your lives before the Rapture. And it’s buggin’ the hell out of everyone but no one knows what to do.

It’s a very precarious position for me. My pops is an AME church pastor. And my mom is quite involved also. Hell, I used to be a freakin’ acolyte myself. But some time ago I decided to stop subscribing to that particular faith. I have issues with the dogma and the history of the Christian church, especially when it comes to black people. In my mind, it’s ridiculous to accept the religion given to us by the very people who enslaved us and attempted quite successfully to erase our cultural history. In an even more basic sense, I take issue with any wisdom tradition that seeks to impose a fear of anything. Whether it be a fear of Jehovah or a fear of Satan. Those with any kind of true spiritual wisdom know that the essence of the spirit is love, and fear and love CANNOT occupy the same space.

In my own disagreement with the dogma, I would have been content in silence if I were the only one who found this cipher preaching to be unsavory. On the contrary, every rapper outside of the four disciples was overtly frustrated by this hi-jacking of the cipher. Even the ever-calm Wize sought to engage in lyrical debate with the Christians, but even he gave up after a while. Who’d have thunk that the slayer of Eminem could be bested by four mediocre emcees made unbearable by blind faith.

All of this leads me to a very important question:

Is there a place in Hip-Hop for Spirituality?

The answer is an obvious yes. At the 4Real Hop Institute where I volunteer, one of our main goals is to get the teens that we teach to understand that there’s room in hip-hop for each person’s individual perspective. We don’t want their music to be limited by the myopic structure imposed by rap media. But then why is there such a visceral reaction to it when it’s presented inappropriately.

No one, including me, has a problem when Common, The Roots, or Jeru the Damaja wax poetic about conscious ways of living. Even Dead Prez or Talib Kweli’s often heavy-handed morality is reacted to with less fervor than most Christian rap. But what’s the difference?

I’d be interested to hear your opinions because I honestly don’t know the answer. But I will take a stab at it…

Just about any research done into spiritual matters will reveal certain truths that seem to permeate most wisdom traditions. One of these truths, and I do use that term loosely, is that spirituality is a journey.

One begins this journey with one understanding of themselves and the universe, and ends with a completely different one. There are many stops on this journey, and the earliest ones are the result of one blindly following what someone else has said without having done any research. In my opinion, blind faith is one of these early places.

I think that’s what gets my goat about bible-thumpers so much. Much of what they say can be contradicted by the most elementary research, or at the very least sensory experience. I can’t stand to be told by someone that there’s power in the name of Jesus when they don’t even know Jesus’ real name. And I’ve never met an evangelizing Christian that did know.

His name, by the way, was Yahoshua Ben Yosef. And there are many reasons why this and other information pertinent to world history is kept from most people. But I think I’ll tamper with that seal next week…

Links N Shit

Fernandez has baby, baby, baby spare ribs, hot links, hot sauce and more to give! And don’t worry about the chip on my shoulder, it’s just dandruff…

Aaron gives Meldrick Taylor the props that he damned well deserves!

Brother Shawn feels my pain. I propose that we collaborate on a drunken diatribe sometime.

Mathan breaks down “jiggy” for those on the outs. Me? I’m just glad he said “catch one”.


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