Wise Intelliegnt Responds to Jason Whitlock About Imus

As of late there's been a lot of talk about a column written by Kansas City Star reporter Jason Whitlock where he goes off and claims that Don Imus wasn't really the bad guy. He's received a lot of attention including an apperance on the Today Show because he puts Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson on blast. There are many who agreed with his assessment of Sharpton's role and hence Whitlock was applauded, but then he goes on to do the bidding of the mainstream outlets by accusing the Rutgers Baskebetball team of playing victim. He also brings up the tired line about rappers being the scourge of all our problems.

Whitlock for all his talk does exactly what Sharpton and Jesse did-neglect naming identifying the the real power brokers which are the very corporations they work for or seek favor with. He accuses Sharpton of avoiding going after the rappers because thats where the real danger and no money to be found. But Whitlock avoids going after the Jimmy Iovines, Clive Davis, Lowry Mays, Sumner Redstone, Jeff Smulyan, Kathy Hughes and other label, radio and TV station owners. You see the real danger for a guy like Whitlock is he won't be showing up on the Today Show if he starts putting those guys on blast. So a beat down from Snoop is not his concern. A firing or or being black balled in this insular industry is what he has to fear.

Wise Intelligent of the group legendary group Poor Righteous Teachers lays some of that misinformation Whitlock puts out there to rest.. Here goes Wise Intelligent's response to Mr. Jason Whitlock's article...Below is Whitlock's column followed by Wise Intelligent's breakdown

Davey D

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Don Imus is Not the Bad Guy

Instead of wasting time on irrelevant shock jock, black leaders need to be fighting a growing gangster culture.

By JASON WHITLOCK - Columnist

Thank you, Don Imus. You've given us (black people) an excuse to avoid our real problem.

You've given Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson another opportunity to pretend that the old fight, which is now the safe and lucrative fight, is still the most important fight in our push for true economic and social equality.

You've given Vivian Stringer and Rutgers the chance to hold a nationally televised recruiting celebration expertly disguised as a news conference to respond to your poor attempt at humor.

Thank you, Don Imus. You extended Black History Month to April, and we can once again wallow in victimhood, protest like it's 1965 and delude ourselves into believing that fixing your hatred is more necessary than eradicating our self-hatred.

The bigots win again.

While we're fixated on a bad joke cracked by an irrelevant, bad shock jock, I'm sure at least one of the marvelous young women on the Rutgers basketball team is somewhere snapping her fingers to the beat of 50 Cent's or Snoop Dogg's or Young Jeezy's latest ode glorifying nappy-headed pimps and hos.

I ain't saying Jesse, Al and Vivian are gold-diggas, but they don't have the heart to mount a legitimate campaign against the real black-folk killas.

It is us. At this time, we are our own worst enemies. We have allowed our youths to buy into a culture (hip hop) that has been perverted, corrupted and overtaken by prison culture. The music, attitude and behavior expressed in this culture is anti-black, anti-education, demeaning, self-destructive, pro-drug dealing and violent.

Rather than confront this heinous enemy from within, we sit back and wait for someone like Imus to have a slip of the tongue and make the mistake of repeating the things we say about ourselves.

It's embarrassing. Dave Chappelle was offered $50 million to make racially insensitive jokes about black and white people on TV. He was hailed as a genius. Black comedians routinely crack jokes about white and black people, and we all laugh out loud.

I'm no Don Imus apologist. He and his tiny companion Mike Lupica blasted me after I fell out with ESPN. Imus is a hack.

But, in my view, he didn't do anything outside the norm for shock jocks and comedians. He also offered an apology. That should've been the end of this whole affair. Instead, it's only the beginning. It's an opportunity for Stringer, Jackson and Sharpton to step on victim platforms and elevate themselves and their agenda$.

I watched the Rutgers news conference and was ashamed.

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke for eight minutes in 1963 at the March on Washington. At the time, black people could be lynched and denied fundamental rights with little thought. With the comments of a talk-show host most of her players had never heard of before last week serving as her excuse, Vivian Stringer rambled on for 30 minutes about the amazing season her team had.

Somehow, we're supposed to believe that the comments of a man with virtually no connection to the sports world ruined Rutgers' wonderful season. Had a broadcaster with credibility and a platform in the sports world uttered the words Imus did, I could understand a level of outrage.

But an hourlong press conference over a man who has already apologized, already been suspended and is already insignificant is just plain intellectually dishonest. This is opportunism. This is a distraction.

In the grand scheme, Don Imus is no threat to us in general and no threat to black women in particular. If his words are so powerful and so destructive and must be rebuked so forcefully, then what should we do about the idiot rappers on BET, MTV and every black-owned radio station in the country who use words much more powerful and much more destructive?

I don't listen or watch Imus' show regularly. Has he at any point glorified selling crack cocaine to black women? Has he celebrated black men shooting each other randomly? Has he suggested in any way that it's cool to be a baby-daddy rather than a husband and a parent? Does he tell his listeners that they're suckers for pursuing education and that they're selling out their race if they do?

When Imus does any of that, call me and I'll get upset. Until then, he is what he is — a washed-up shock jock who is very easy to ignore when you're not looking to be made a victim.

No. We all know where the real battleground is. We know that the gangsta rappers and their followers in the athletic world have far bigger platforms to negatively define us than some old white man with a bad radio show. There's no money and lots of danger in that battle, so Jesse and Al are going to sit it out.

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Wise Intelligent Responds to Jason Whitlock Column

"Imus isn't the real bad guy"

Wise put his comments right after Mr. Whitlock's in bold..

J.W. Imus isn't the real bad guy

Wise Intelligent...First off, I agree, Imus is NOT the bad guy! But I would venture to say that he damn sure ain't one of the good guys either!

J.W. Instead of wasting time on irrelevant shock jock, black leaders need to be fighting a growing gangster culture.

Wise Intelligent...This is true only when we understand what has caused this gangster culture to grow, so that we can attack or "fight" it at its root!

J.W. Thank you, Don Imus. You've given us (black people) an excuse to avoid our real problem.

J.W. You've given Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson another opportunity to pretend that the old fight, which is now the safe and lucrative fight, is still the most important fight in our push for true economic and social equality.

Wise Intelligent...True indeed!

J.W. You've given Vivian Stringer and Rutgers the chance to hold a nationally televised recruiting celebration expertly disguised as a news conference to respond to your poor attempt at humor.

J.W. Thank you, Don Imus. You extended Black History Month to April, and we can once again wallow in victimhood, protest like it's 1965 and delude ourselves into believing that fixing your hatred is more necessary than eradicating our self-hatred.

Wise Intelligent...The eradication of "our self-hatred" must begin with an aggressive, if not violent assault on a system that has since our arrival in this country, disseminated into the American psyche that the blackman was a natural born slave, nigger, savage, and 3/5 human. A system that today, controls every negative epithet spewed from the mouth of mainstream rappers.

J.W. The bigots win again.

Wise Intelligent...The bigots win again (read major record labels).

J.W. While we're fixated on a bad joke cracked by an irrelevant, bad shock jock, I'm sure at least one of the marvelous young women on the Rutgers basketball team is somewhere snapping her fingers to the beat of 50 Cent's or Snoop Dogg's or Young Jeezy's latest ode glorifying nappy-headed pimps and hos.

Wise Intelligent...Yes indeed, but it is a well known fact that major record companies will not sign, market or promote black rappers with uplifting messages that motivate youth toward positive attitudes and lifestyles. Young Buck tells us in an interview with Hot 97's Angie Martinez that the Interscope "lyrics committee" stopped a song addressing police brutality from making his new album? But Interscopes "lyrics committee" agreed to let the other 10-15 tracks with black on black violence remain on the album? The three rappers mentioned above and the other seven that were not mentioned are just 10 rappers who do not represent the views of the "Hip-Hop" community!

J.W. I ain't saying Jesse, Al and Vivian are gold-diggas, but they don't have the heart to mount a legitimate campaign against the real black-folk killas.

Wise Intelligent...Who are the real black folk killers? Rappers? Or those who are paying rappers to record this shit! Its like blaming the black kid on the corner with five grams of crack in his pocket for the 250 tons of cocaine that comes into America annually, and launching a billion dollar "war on drugs" designed to ruin his life? The illegal drug game is a $350 billion a year business, do you think white man is going to let black folk from my hood run that shit? Absolutely NOT! The rap game, like the drug game, is a multibillion dollar enterprise, do you think white man is going to let black folk from my hood run this shit? Absolutely NOT! If this was not so, rappers like Dead Prez, Immortal Technique, Wise Intelligent, Chuck D, Brother J, Saigon, etc. would not be regulated to panel discussions and lecture tours!

J.W. It is us. At this time, we are our own worst enemies. We have allowed our youths to buy into a culture (hip hop) that has been perverted, corrupted and overtaken by prison culture. The music, attitude and behavior expressed in this culture is anti-black, anti-education, demeaning, self-destructive, pro-drug dealing and violent.

Wise Intelligent...First and foremost Hip-Hop culture has not been "perverted" or "corrupted" Americas pop culture has been perverted and corrupted! There are only about ten rappers on mainstream radio, and for each one of these there are at least 10, with messages that oppose this "prison culture", who are signed to the same labels but get no marketing and promotion. Many of these artists have been attempting to get releases from these labels who have been holding them at bay for years. Hip Hop is INTELLIGENTMUZIK.COM, Davey D, Shaman Work, etc.

J.W. Rather than confront this heinous enemy from within, we sit back and wait for someone like Imus to have a slip of the tongue and make the mistake of repeating the things we say about ourselves.

Wise Intelligent...The things we "say about ourselves" is learned behavior, taught by a culture (American culture) that is steeped in the defamation, degradation, emasculation and stereotyping of the black race! All of Americas life-sustaining institutions (public and private), i.e., Colleges and Universities, the military, commerce/banking, Music Industry, Hollywood, etc. ad infinite, have at their root a legacy of racism towards black people. The current state of blacks in America can be directly linked to this MACHINE! The revisiting of the "Doll Study" by Kiya shows us that the self-hatred of today is NO different from that displayed by blacks in 1950! The rappers we see on television and hear on radio represent those black children who continue to choose the white-doll over the black one. Hip-Hop is not the reason for our self hatred, RACISM IS!

J.W. It's embarrassing. Dave Chappelle was offered $50 million to make racially insensitive jokes about black and white people on TV. He was hailed as a genius. Black comedians routinely crack jokes about white and black people, and we all laugh out loud.

Wise Intelligent...Proof again that the images of blacks being disseminated through mainstream media is controlled by others. The last time I checked, Dave Chappelle was a comedian, not a rapper. As well as Chris Rock, Bernie Mack, Katt Williams, Eddie Murphy, etc. You see how many kids from your hood do you really think will turn down that $50 million dollars? Dave Chappelle turned it down after years of getting paid already, he was not leaking! Had it been his first opportunity to make money, he would have taken it! Just like many rappers from my hood.

J.W. I'm no Don Imus apologist. He and his tiny companion Mike Lupica blasted me after I fell out with ESPN. Imus is a hack.

But, in my view, he didn' t do anything outside the norm for shock jocks and comedians. He also offered an apology. That should've been the end of this whole affair. Instead, it's only the beginning. It's an opportunity for Stringer, Jackson and Sharpton to step on victim platforms and elevate themselves and their agendas.

Wise Intelligent...Maybe? But our hope is that black people use this as the first step towards getting to the root of our problems, beyond shock jocks and rappers!
J.W. I watched the Rutgers news conference and was ashamed.

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke for eight minutes in 1963 at the March on Washington. At the time, black people could be lynched and denied fundamental rights with little thought. With the comments of a talk-show host most of her players had never heard of before last week serving as her excuse, Vivian Stringer rambled on for 30 minutes about the amazing season her team had.

Somehow, we're supposed to believe that the comments of a man with virtually no connection to the sports world ruined Rutgers wonderful season. Had a broadcaster with credibility and a platform in the sports world uttered the words Imus did, I could understand a level of outrage.

But an hour long press conference over a man who has already apologized, already been suspended and is already insignificant is just plain intellectually dishonest. This is opportunism. This is a distraction.

In the grand scheme, Don Imus is no threat to us in general and no threat to black women in particular. If his words are so powerful and so destructive and must be rebuked so forcefully, then what should we do about the idiot rappers on BET, MTV and every black-owned radio station in the country who use words much more powerful and much more destructive?

Wise Intelligent...We should first understand that many of these rappers are just like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Don Imus for that matter, in that, they are afraid that they will lose the Record Companies financial support that pays for them to be on BET, MTV, Clear Channel or Radio One, if they deviated from what the record company is asking them to deliver! Yes, the record company decides what does or does not go on a rappers record! This is why so many rappers have chosen to go independent, they, like Dave Chappelle, refuse to compromise their art and their people for money! Proof again that the problem is NOT Hip Hop just a few rappers who chose the check!

J.W. I don' t listen or watch Imus' show regularly. Has he at any point glorified selling crack cocaine to black women? Has he celebrated black men shooting each other randomly? Has he suggested in any way that it's cool to be a baby-daddy rather than a husband and a parent? Does he tell his listeners that they're suckers for pursuing education and that they're selling out their race if they do?

Wise Intelligent...Again, major record companies will not sign an act that does not represent this type of self-destructive behavior! So, rappers who never spent a day in jail are making records about "doing a bid" for the check! Take the case of the "conscious" rap group Little Brother who BET said were "too intelligent" for their target market? They did none of the above and their album "The Minstrel Show" is incredible. Or take the case of Young Buck who wrote a record addressing police brutality only to have it dropped from the record by Interscope's "Lyrics Committee" who thought violence against police was not good. The same committee who will allow the other 13 or so tracks to portray violence against other young black males in our communities? To get the check the poor rapper complied!

J.W. When Imus does any of that, call me and I'll get upset. Until then, he is what he is a washed-up shock jock who is very easy to ignore when you're not looking to be made a victim.

No. We all know where the real battleground is. We know that the gangsta rappers and their followers in the athletic world have far bigger platforms to negatively define us than some old white man with a bad radio show. There's no money and lots of danger in that battle, so Jesse and Al are going to sit it out.

Wise Intelligent...I agree on Jesse and Sharpton, but, who is it that gives these "gangster" rappers this platform. Do we understand how much it costs to get records played on mainstream radio? One rap group has publicly stated in an interview that they paid $1 million to get ONE song played on mainstream stations. That's more than the rapper gets to record his entire album. Who is it that profits so handsomely off this "gangster" rap that they can pay $1 million dollars to get airplay? The Record Company! Many of these rappers are in standard 12 point recording contracts that yield a mere $.63 per ($15) CD? Just as the NBA, if the record companies say put on a suit, the rapper will put on a suit. Likewise, when told to "keep it gangsta" the rapper will keep it gangsta!

So, it is to the Major Recording, Radio and Video companies that this fight must be taken, if we are to see a change in what we hear!

WISE INTELLIGENT

Proper
Education
Always
Counters
Exploitation

IT'S NO LONGER SMART TO BE DUMB!

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Here goes a very very very small list of rappers and albums that they either totally refused to play or criminally marginalized on commercial radio.

Lupe Fiasco "Food and Liquor" 2006

Rhymefest "Blue Collar" 2006

Wise Intelligent "Blessed be the Poor The UnMixtape" 2006

Wise Intelligent "is The Talented Timothy Taylor" 2007

Common "Like Water For Chocolate" 2000

Common "Electric Circus" 2004

Saul Williams "Amethyst Rock Star" 2001

Saul Williams "Saul Williams" 2005

Paris "Sonic Jihad" 2003

Arrested Development "Heroes of the Harvest" 2002

Arrested Development "Among the Trees" 2004

Arrested Development "Since the Last Time" 2006

Public Enemy "Rebirth of a Nation" 2006

Public Enemy "New Whirl Odor" 2005

Public Enemy "Revolverlution" 2002

Public Enemy "There's a Poison Going On" 1999-2000

Mr. Lif "Enter the Colossus" 2000

Mr. Lif "Emergency Rations" 2002

Mr. Lif "I Phantom" 2003

Mr. Lif "Mo' Mega" 2006

Zion I "Mind Over Matter" 2000

Zion I "Break a Dawn" 2006

Living Legends "Almost Famous" 2001

Living Legends "Creative Differences" 2004

Living Legends "Classic" 2005

Dead Prez "Let's Get Free" 2000

Dead Prez "Turn off the Radio: The Mixtape, Vol. 1" 2002

Dead Prez "Turn off the Radio: The Mixtape, Vol. 2: Get Free or Die Tryin'" 2003

Dead Prez "RBG: Revolutionary But Gansta" 2004

Dead Prez Presents M-1: Confidential 2006

Dead Prez/Outlaws "Can't Sell Dope Forever" 2006

John Robinson "The Leak Edition Vol. 1" 2005

John Robinson "The Leak Edition Vol. 2" 2006

Scienz of Life "Coming Forth By Day: The Book of the Dead" 2000

Scienz of Life "Project Overground: Scienz Experiment" 2002

Scienz of Life "Diggin In The Archives" 2004

Scienz of Life "The Blaxploitation Sessions" 2006

Oh No "The Disrupt" 2004

Oh No "Exodus into Unheard Rhythms" 2006

Black Star (Mos Def & Talib Kweli) "Black Star" 1998

Mos Def "Black on Both Sides" 1999

Mos Def "The New Danger" 2004

Mos Def "True Magic" 2006

Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek "Reflection Eternal/Train of Thought" 2002

Talib Kweli "Quality" 2003

Talib Kweli "The Beautiful Struggle" 2004

Talib Kweli "Right About Now" 2005

Talib Kweli/Madlib "Liberation" 2007

The Roots "Things Fall Apart" 1999-2000

The Roots "Phrenology" 2002

The Roots "The Tipping Point" 2004

The Roots "Game Theory" 2006

KRS ONE "The Sneak Attack" 2001

KRS ONE "Spiritual Minded" 2002

KRS ONE "Prophets Vs. Profits" 2003

KRS ONE "Kristyles" 2003

KRS ONE "Keep Right" 2004

KRS ONE "Life" 2006

K-Os "Exit" 2002

K-Os "Joyful Rebellion" 2006

K-Os "Atlantis: Hymns for Disco" 2006

Polyrhythm Addicts "Break Glass" 2007

Jurassic 5 "Quality Contral" 2000

Jurassic 5 "Power in Numbers" 2002

Jurassic 5 "Feedback" 2006

Blackalicious "Nia" 2000

Blackalicious "Blazing Arrow" 2002

Blackalicious "The Craft" 2005

Lyrics Born "Later That Day" 2003

Lyrics Born "Same !@#$ Different Day" 2005

Jean Grae "Attack of the Attacking Things" 2002

Jean Grae "The Bootleg Of The Bootleg" 2003

Jean Grae "This Week" 2004

Little Brother "The Listening" 2003

Little Brother "The Minstel Show" 2005

Murs "Murs 3:16: The 9th Edition" 2004

Murs "Murray's Revenge" 2006

J Dilla "Donuts" 2006

J Dilla "The Shining" 2006

The Last Emperor "Music, Magic, Myth"

Pharoahe Monch "Internal Affairs" 1999-2000

Immortal Technique "Revolutionary, Vol. 1" 2000

Immortal Technique "Revolutionary, Vol. 2" 2005

Brand Nubian "Fire in the Hole" 2004

Lord Jamar "The 5% Album" 2006

Sadat X "Experience & Education" 2005

Sadat X "Black October" 2006

I Self Divine "Self Destruction" 2005

The Boom Bap Project "Reprogram" 2005

MF DOOM "Operation: Doomsday" 2001

MF DOOM "Vaudeville Villian" 2003

MF DOOM "MM..FOOD" 2004

Madvillian "Madvilliany" 2004

Heiroglyphics "3rd Eye Vision" 2001

Heiroglyphics "Full Circle" 2003

De La Soul "Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump" 2000

De La Soul "AOI: Bionix" 2001

De La Soul "The Grind Date" 2004

Masta Ace "A Long Hot Summer" 2004

Wordsworth "Mirror Music" 2004

Dilated Peoples "The Platform" 2000

Dilated Peoples "Expansion Team" 2001

Dilated Peoples "Neighborhood Watch" 2004

Dilated Peoples "20/20" 2006

The Coup "Party Music" 2001

The Coup "Pick a Bigger Weapon" 2006

Blue Scholars "Blue Scholars" 2004

The Dope Poet Society "Prointelpro" 2007

Michael Franti "Stay Human" 2001

Michael Franti "Songs From the Front Porch: An Acoustic Collection" 2004

Michael Franti "Everyone Deserves Music" 2003

CL Smooth "American Me" 2006

Pigeon John "Is Clueless" 2002

Pigeon John "Is Dating Your Sister" 2003

Pigeon John "...And The Summertime Pool Party" 2006

The Procussions "...As Iron Sharpens Iron" 2003

The Procussions "5 Sparrows for 2 Cents" 2006

Strange Fruit Project "Soul Travellin'" 2004

Strange Fruit Project "The Healing" 2006

Kenn Starr "Starr Status" 2006

Kev Brown "I Do What I Do" 2006

Slum Village "Trinity (Past, Present, and Future)" 2002

Slum Village "Detroit Deli (A Taste of Detroit)" 2004

Slum Village "Slum Village" 2005

Akrobatik "Balance" 2003

Afu-Ra "Body of the Life Force" 2000

Afu-Ra "Life Force Radio" 2002

Afu-Ra "State of the Arts" 2005

The Perceptionists "Black Dialogue" 2005

Supernatural "The Lost Freestyle Files" 2003

Supernatural "S.P.I.T." 2005

Freestyle Fellowship "Temptations" 2001

Freestyle Fellowship "To Whom It May Concern" 2002

Aceyalone "Accepted Eclectic" 2001

Aceyalone "Love & Hate" 2003

Aceyalone "Magnificent City" 2006

Abstract Rude "P.A.I.N.T." 2001

Abstract Rude "Making Tracks" 2002

Abstract Rude "Making More Tracks" 2004

Haiku d'Etat "Coup de Theatre" 2003

Haiku d'Etat "Haiku d'Etat" 2004

X-Clan "Return From Mecca" 2007

Emanon "The Waiting Room" 2005

Aloe Blacc "Shine Through" 2006

People Under The Stairs "Question In The Form of an Answer" 2000

People Under The Stairs "O.S.T." 2002

People Under The Stairs "Stepfather" 2006

Gift of Gab "Fouth Dimensional Rocketships Going Up" 2004

J. Rawls "The Essence of J. Rawls" 2001

J. Rawls "Essence of Soul" 2006

J. Rawls "The Liquid Crystal Project" 2006

J. Rawls & Declaime "It's the Dank and Jammy Show" 2007

Lone Catalysts "Hip Hop" 2001

Lone Catalysts "Good Music" 2005

Asheru & Blue Black of The Unspoken Heard "Soon Come..." 2001

Asheru & Blue Black of The Unspoken Heard "48 Months" 2003

Gangstarr "The Ownerz" 2003

The Pharcyde "Plain Rap" 2000

The Pharcyde "Humboldt Beginnings" 2004