It was all good just a week ago
(except that it wasn't)
I’m writing this coming home from a Ghostface Killah show in Rotterdam. There might’ve been a couple beers imbibed. Please forgive me. It was a lot of fun, full of energy and people determined to have a great night.
There was even an unexpected highlight when DJ Scram Jones lead in a rendition of CREAM with a short rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone, ecstatically received by the audience. But despite the show being good, its anticlimactic ending left a weird aftertaste (Why would you tease both Apollo Kids and Malcolm as an encore without doing either, brother Starks? Whyyyyy..?)
It’s also a week after a couple weeks after I left Valencia, Spain, one of my favorite cities in the world. I was there with my wife and daughter for a short vacation, enjoying the unique mix of small-village atmosphere that Valencia somehow manages to combine with all the perks of metropolitan city life. Life there truly is the best of both worlds.
As long as you’re not washed away by a flood, that is.
My heart goes out to all the people there. Stay strong, Valencia. Your plight does not go unnoticed. I wish there was more I could do for you. Clime change is real, folks.
I also wish I could do more for those in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon. Don’t shut your eyes for the atrocities perpetrated there, no matter how powerless it makes you feel.
But you’re not reading this to get my musings on depressing world news. You want to know what’s up with the RTJ book. I’m happy to report it’s finally out there in the world. I don’t have one myself yet, but Roy Cristopher has already received a copy. A small token of appreciation for giving me this wonderful pull quote:
As a genre that requires a specialized knowledge, hip-hop books have a special audience. They tend to be passionate, smart, curious, and open. 'Kill Your Masters'--enthusiastic and discerning--meets them right where they are. Telling a complex story such as the history of Run The Jewels is not an easy task, and Jap van der Doelen handles it with depth and breadth, interweaving digressions into the group’s politics and their historical context, the events that shape the music as it’s made.
If that doesn’t make you feel motivated to bump up preorders for the book, I don’t know what will. It’s good, I believe. It’s one of the best things I worked on so far. If you like my writing and Run The Jewels, what are you waiting for, really?
But let’s address the elephant in the room, or rather the tangerine fascist. The one that won the US elections November 5th. You might be inclined to quote Jigga and say ‘It was all good just a week ago’, but it wasn’t. Not really. Even before that maniac stomped another nail into democracy’s coffin, genocide was still happening, hate was still spreading, and way too little was done to oppose it.
It’s enough to make a person turn cynical. I hope you don’t, though. We need all the people with fire in their hearts to keep it lit in light of coming what’s coming. The morning after the US election news reached my neck of the woods, I posted the following to social media:
My condolences to all my American friends, family and colleagues. Please do not give in to cynicism. Stay vigilant. The wilder an autocratic regime gets, the sooner it is doomed to fall. In the meantime, let’s try and make sure the damage it does is minimized. Do not let the machine grind you down.
I still stand by that message. Will we see a swing to better moods in our lifetime? I honestly don’t know. But giving up hope and not endeavoring not to make it so, is simply not an option in the face of fascism. As Killer Mike would say, plot, plan, strategize, organize and mobilize.
KILL YOUR MASTERS will be out December 1. The perfect stocking stuffer for the OG rap enthusiast or young revolutionary willing to counter all the bullshit coming our way.
It feels weird to plug something given all that’s happening currently, but I worked hard on it and trying to record what we feel is valuable in this weird effervescent human experience still has value. So if this sounds like something you might be interested in, give it a read. I’d appreciate it.
Free Palestine, all day every day.