More on Music and Culture during Late July of 2020.

They made up one of the most influential groups in hip hop. They were based in Staten Island, New York with a global reach. They are the Wu Tang Clan. They were unique in having a lot of members with great lyrical talent and diverse content. They were birthed during the Golden Era of hip hop, and some call them the greatest hip hop group of all time. Famous members in the group are RZA, GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Raekwon, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Cappadonna, and Masta Killa. The group have 4 gold and platinum studio albums. Roots of the group go back in the 1980's. The All in Together Now Crew existed. People like GZA made albums in 1991. The group merged Eastern philosophy, kung fu movies, and Five Percent Nation teachings in their group. By late 1992, Wu Tan Clan was born. RZA was the producer and one of the leaders of the groups. Many members are cousins. Their single Protect Ya Neck was recorded in 1992, and it was released on November 1993. Their debut album was Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). It was critically acclaimed. It caused a resurgence of East Coast Renaissance of hip hop after West Coast hip hop dominated the charts for years. It paved the pay for other East Coast artists to increase their popularity like Nas, The Notorious B.I.G., Mobb Deep, and Jay Z. The Wu Tang Clan album was underground. Its themes combined martial arts themes, street life, and had jazz influenced styles. Wu Tang Clan invented many large section of modern NYC hip hop. RZA and other members made separate albums throughout the 1990's too. Raekwon's debut album was Only Built 4 Cuban Linx on August 1995. This album revived the mafioso rap subgenre. By 1997 at June, Wu-Tang Forever was released. Its lead single, Triumph, was one of the most lyrical songs of all time. From that time onward, Wu Tang would continue in their hip hop journey of setting fashion trends and being part of overall hip hop culture.


Hip hop culture in the West Coast starts and ends with diversity. The West Coast is made up of many states like California, Oregon, California, Arizona, Utah, Washington state, etc. From old school sounds to the rise of G-funk, its music is never dull. Its music always used electronic sounds, funk, soul, and dance-hall. The Golden Era of Hip hop saw West Coast music filled with women, labels like Death Row Records, Ice Cube's Lench Mob records, and the sounds of Eazy E. Eazy E was 100% West Coast in his voice and style. He was the one man that made N.W.A. what it is. Today, we see hyphy and mobb music. Cities like Los Angeles, Compton, Long Beach, Oakland, San Francisco, Vallejo, Sacramento, Portland, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Seattle, San Diego, and other places have legends of hip hop. Back in the day in 1967, Bud Schulberg made a creative space called the Watts Writers Workshop that allowed people of Watts to express their talents. The spoken word group of the Watts Prophets existed out of his movement. During the late 1970's, a young disc jockey from Compton was Alonzo Williams. He promoted hip hop music back in the West Coast. He worked with another DJ named Rodger Clayton from LA to form a promotion company called Unique Dreams that would hire Williams to DJ at local events. Williams made a group of World Class Wreckin' Cru. They hosted parties in the area. West Coast hip hop in Southern California back then was more fastpaced and were influenced by electronic devices. Los Angeles had breakdancing, popping, and locking. Mellow Man Ace, Eazy E, Ice T, Kid Frost, and Too Short were early West Coast artists. Disco Daddy and Captain Rapp made music in 1981. By the mid 1980's, what we call gangsta rap grew. The Batterram was a song in 1985 made by Toddy Tee and others. Dr. Dre and DJ Yella formed music. KDAY shown records all day. Eazy E with Jerry Heller worked with Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, Ice Cube, and MC Ren to form N.W.A. Women were in hip hop in the West Coast like J.J. Fad and Yo-Yo. N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton was released in 1988. Back in those days, it was controversial to show explicit language on music. The controversy caused N.W.A. ironically to gain a huge amount of success and popularity. The album was produce by Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, and Arabian Prince. Ice Cube and MC Ren were great writers on the lyrics of the album. The D.O.C. from Texas helped the group hugely on the music side too. Four songs that show what this group is about are Straight Outta Compton, Gangsta Gangsta, Express Yourself, and F___ the Police. The group N.W.A. caused gangsta rap to be more hardcore. The group had a contradicting dualism of being right to expose police brutality and promoting free expression while being wrong for glamorizing overt misogyny and violence for the sake of violence. Ice Cube left N.W.A. because of financial issues. He made his albums of AmeriKKKa' Most Wanted in 1990 and Death Certificate in 1991 that touched on race, culture, music, etc. Ice Cube has acted in some of the most well known movies of the 1990's like Boyz N the Hood, Higher Learning, Friday, etc. Tupac Shakur's 1991 album of 2Pacalypse Now talked about police brutality, social injustice, poverty, and the Black Panther philosophy.

Suge Knight's Death Row Records was formed in 1991. He received money from Harry O to get things running. The 1992 album of Dr. Dre's The Chronic came into America like a storm. His album had Snoop on it on many records. It has sounds inspired by George Clinton, other funk records, and g-funk. Nuthin' But a G Thang was its popular song. Later, Snoop released his debut album in 1993, The Dogg Pound's Dogg Food in 1995, and the Doggfather in 1996. Groups like The Pharcyde, Cypress Hill, and other people made their music for a diversity of folks. Yo-Yo is an American West Coast hip hop artist who made people respect her. Her songs deal with women empowerment, flows, life, and the honor to black women. She was born in Compton, California. Ice Cube supported her. Her 1991 first album was Make Way for the Motherlode. Also, her 2nd album of Black Peral in 1992 praised black women. In 1996, she made Total Control. To this day, she is a mother, an activist, and a businesswoman. She has been in the struggle for our freedom. Yo-Yo dated Tupac Shakur in he 1990's before marrying DeAndrew Windom at 2013 at the Cayman Islands. J.J. Fad was a woman group from Rialto, California. Their members are Juana Burns (MC J.B.), Dania Birks (Baby D), Michelle Franklin-Ferrens  (Sassy C.), Anna Cash (Lady Ann), Fatima Shaheed (O.G. Rocker), and Juana Lee (Crazy J). They signed to Eazy E's Ruthless' Records in 1987. They were created in 1985 as a quintet. They made the song Supersonic. 



Some have called this album one of the greatest, if not the greatest album in history. It certainly made future artists to have a hip hop career. It was product of years, producers, and one artist. This artist is Nas, and the album is Illmatic. This album was Nas' debut album on April 19, 1994. It was about the explanation of the experiences of black people in New York City's ghettos, especially in Queensbridge. It was a declaration of the joy, pain, and other emotions of the oppressed. Focused on lyricism like Rakim and with a jazz flow, Nas worked hard on this album. An all star cast of producers were involved in the project like DJ Premier, Large Professor, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, LE.S., and Nas. This group of people was like the Dream Team of producers back then. By 1996, the album was gold. It was a landmark album of hip hop music showing imagery and lyricism that expanded the genre. Nas was the son of a jazz musician. Since he was a teenager, he wanted a hip hop career. He dedicates his music to his late friend and DJ Willy "Ill Will" Graham. When he was 15, he worked with Queens producer Large Professor. In 1991, he has an cameo on the song Live at the Barbeque from the Main Source's Breaking Atoms album. His debut single was Halftime in 1992. This was for the soundtrack of Zebrahead. Also, people compared Nas to Rakim. Rakim was the teacher and the artist Nas was the student. After Ill Will was murdered and his brother shot on May 23, 1992, Nas was more focused on his career. He was on the song Back to the Grill for MC Serch (in Serch's 1992 solo debut album Return of the Product). Premier, Pete Rock, and Nas' further completed the album. The album Illmatic had internal half rhymes, assonance, multisyllabic  rhymes, and enjambment. Nas was building on the work of legends like Kool G Rap, Kane, Rakim, and others. Songs like NY State of Mind, It Ain't Hard to Tell, One Love, One Time 4 Your Mind, etc. outline what hip hop is. Hip hop is a combination or a merging of joy, pain, competition, survival, and living life. The album of Illmatic expanded people's minds, and it further extended the depth of hip hop music.



1970's fashion and music go hand in hand. People wore Afros, hot-pants, and bell bottoms. Films showed black life in a super hero fashion along with other themes of expression. Shaft, Coffy, Foxy Brown, Cleopatra Jones, and other movies shown black men and black women representing many roles. These films were watched by me when I was a child during the 1990's. Miniskirts and disco culture dominated the time too. Fashion models back then include people like Iman, Beverly Johnson, Gia Carangi, Janice Dickinson, Lauren Hutton, etc. During the early 1970's, the hippie look did take shape until the mid to late 1970's when more diverse, defined clothing was very commonplace.


By the time of the rise of Lyndon Baines Johnson as President, we see the Cold War involved multiple blocs of power seeking control of the world's resources. Western Europe and Japan started to have massive economic growth. Their per capita GDP's were approaching those of the United States. The Eastern Bloc by the 1960's and beyond had stagnant economies. Capitalism was reaching its economic zenith for America. By the end of December 12, 1963, Kenya was independent from the UK. By January 23, 1964, the 24th Amendment was ratified to ban poll taxes. President Johnson would start his Presidency with a reactionary foreign policy. He support the military led coup d'etat against the progressive President Joao Goulart in Brazil. Goulart wanted land reform and a bigger control of the state in its economy. The CIA thought that was communist, when it is shame that extremists even demonize legitimate land reform. LBJ by April 20, 1964 said that he plans to cut back on the production of materials for making nuclear weapons. May 2, 1964 was when President Johnson gave his Great Society speech at the University of Michigan. This plan was created by the previous Kennedy administration. LBJ wanted to extend American prosperity to all citizens. By August of 1964, the Economic Opportunities Act was passed which started the Great Society programs officially. Decades later, the Great Society programs made great contributions to society, and it wasn't perfect. The problem wasn't that it went too far. It didn't go far enough, and many Great Society programs were cut by far right austerity programs. Jawaharal Nehru died on May 27, 1964. On July 4, 1964, The Rhodesian Bush War begins when African nationalist / Marxist insurgents rebel against colonial rule in Rhodesia (modern day Zimbabwe.) Malawi becomes independent from the UK. August 4, 1964 was when the US President Lyndon B. Johnson claimed that North Vietnamese naval vessels had fired on two American destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin. Although there was a first attack, it was later shown that American vessels had entered North Vietnamese territory first, and that the claim of second attack had been unfounded. The Gulf of Tonkin Incident leads to the open involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War, after the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. The expansion of the American involvement of the unjust Vietnam War had lasting consequences of the Cold War. By October 14, 1964, Leonid Brezhnev succeeds Khrushchev to become General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. 2 days later, China tests its first atomic bomb. The test makes China the world's fifth nuclear power. Zambia becomes independent from the UK. The nation of Gambia becomes independent from the UK on February 1965. By this time, President Lyndon Johnson won his election of 1964 against Barry Goldwater, who would inspire the libertarian and conservative movements. Goldwater would also inspire Reagan. On April 24, 1965, the Dominican Civil War existed causing forces loyal to former President Juan Bosch to overthrow current leader Donald Reid Cabral. July 30, 1965 was when the Medicare and Medicaid health care services were signed into law. To this day, these laws have saved millions of lives. August 1965 saw the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965.  Six Indonesian generals are killed by the September 30 Movement during an abortive coup d'état later blamed on the Communist Party of Indonesia. Mass killings of suspected communists begin shortly after on October 1, 1965. In 1966, Barbados and Guyana, plus Botswana gained independence. Luna 9 landed on the Moon. Surveyor 1 from America landed on an extraterrestrial body too. France left NATO on February 21, 1966, because of American involvement in Vietnam and other reasons. President Charles de Gauille announced the decision.


By 1964, debates raged in the White House about what to do about Vietnam. The administration didn't want an immediate withdrawal, but LBJ admitted privately that the war would be very difficult for America to win. The Soviet Union aided North Vietnam including China. The war hawks in the administration wanted Lyndon Johnson to expand American military involvement in the civil war. After the North Vietnam raid of the U.S. base in the city of Pieiku and at a nearby Helicopter base at Camp Holloway, LBJ ordered the bombing of North Vietnam in Operation Flaming Dart on February 1965. March of 1965 was the time of Operation Rolling Thunder. This was a 3 year bombing campaign of North Vietnam targets. Later, U.S. Marines landed on the beaches near Da Nang, South Vietnam. This was the first American marines used in Vietnam for combat purposes. Nothing would be the same after that. On June 1965, General Nguyen Van Thieu of the Army of South Vietnam was the President of South Vietnam. LBJ called for 50,000 more ground troops to be sent to Vietnam. He expanded the draft to 35,000 a month. This was in July of 1965. Back then, it was taboo to criticize the Vietnam War in America. The anti-war movement was in its infancy. August 1965 was when Operation Starlite took place. U.S.Marines in about 5,000 men fought a Viet Cong Regimes in the first major ground offensive by U.S. forces in Vietnam. November 1965 was when Norman Morrison (a 31 year old pacifist Quaker from Baltimore) set himself on fire on the Pentagon's ground to protest the war. The Battle of Ia Drang Valley was on November 1965 where almost 300 Americans were killed. Both sides declared victory. Battles in Vietnam involved guarding military bases, the usage of helicopters, and total mayhem. By 1966, U.S. troop numbers would increase to 40,000. American aircraft attack Hanoi and Haiphong in raids on June of 1967. About 500,000 troops would be in Vietnam on 1967. Bombings in North Vietnam by U.S. aircraft continue. Napalm was used against Vietnamese people. Both sides committed torture against each other. 1967 saw massive anti-Vietnam protests in Washington, D.C. , New York City, and San Francisco Nguyen Van Thieu won the election with a newly enacted South Vietnamese constitution in September 1967. On November 1967, the Battle of Dak had U.S. and South Vietnamese forces resisted an offensive made by communist forces in the Central Highlands. The U.S. had about 1,800 casualties. By late 1967, the Vietnam War was very horrible. Anti-war voices were abundant, and the White House was stubborn to continue onward. LBJ could have ended the war years ago with a negotiated settlement, but he refused because he had a sick paranoia about losing the war. It's a shame. Millions of people among both sides died, because of Western imperialistic arrogance and destruction.



From 1965 to 1967, the American Civil Rights Movement expanded. 1965 was the peak of the unity among the Civil Rights Movement during the Selma voting rights movement. It was a movement where working class people (heavily of black people) led to fight for the voting rights of African Americans. The Selma movement's  support included people of every color, every creed, and other human beings. SCLC, SNCC, and other groups were part of the organizing and demonstrations. There were costs made as a product of protests. Many black people were unjustly jailed by the police, some people were murdered by racists, and others were assaulted viciously. Yet, the cause of voting rights carried onward. On February 18, 1965, after a a peaceful protest march in Marion, Alabama, state troopers break it up and one shot Jimmie Lee Jackson. Jackson died on February 26. Though not prosecuted at the time, James Bonard Fowler is indicted for his murder in 2007. On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated in Manhattan, New York by many men. One man admitted his involvement, and he was a member of the NOI. Yet, we all know that the FBI and the NYPD had agents in the NOI and the OAAU. Malcolm X by 1965 was evolving rapidly intellectually to oppose imperialism, racism, misogyny, and other injustices. He was friends to revolutionaries, scholars, authors, and communists. Malcolm X opposed the Vietnam War and criticized capitalism in an interview on 1965 as well. The revolutionary Malcolm X inspired SNCC and us in our time of 2020. Involving the Selma movement, Bloody Sunday took place on March 7, 1965. This was when civil rights workers in  Selma, Alabama, begin the Selma to Montgomery march but are attacked and stopped by a massive Alabama State trooper and police blockade as they cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge into the county. Many marchers are injured and nearly killed by crooked cops. This march, initiated and organized by James Bevel, becomes the visual symbol of the Selma Voting Rights Movement. International outrage came about against this form of police brutality. By March 9th, joined by clergy from all over the country who responded to his urgent appeals for reinforcements in Selma, King leads a second attempt to cross the Pettus Bridge. Although amassed law enforcement personnel are ordered to draw back when the protesters near the foot of the bridge on the other side, King responds by telling the marchers to turn around, and they return to Brown Chapel nearby. He thereby obeys a just-minted federal order prohibiting the group from walking the highway to Montgomery. This turnabout caused some SNCC members to criticize Dr. King. On March 11, 1965, Rev. James Reeb, a white Unitarian minister who had heeded King’s call for clergy to come to Selma, is beaten by Klansmen. Reeb died of his injuries. Reeb’s murder shocked the nation. President Lyndon Johnson used the phrase "We Shall Overcome" in a speech before Congress to urge passage of the voting rights bill on March 15. Participants in the third and successful Selma to Montgomery march stepped off on a five-day 54-mile march to Montgomery, Alabama's capitol. This was on March 21. By March 25, 1965, after Dr. King has delivered his "How Long, Not Long" speech on the steps of the state capitol, a white volunteer, Viola Liuzzo, is shot and killed by KKK members in Alabama, one of whom was an FBI informant. Even a black deputy was murdered in Varnado, Louisiana on June 2. His name was Sheriff Oneal Moore. John Lewis was beaten for fighting for the Voting Rights Act to be passed.


On August 6, 1965, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed by President Johnson. It provides for federal oversight and enforcement of voter registration in states and individual voting districts with a history of discriminatory tests and underrepresented populations. It prohibits discriminatory practices preventing African Americans and other minorities from registering and voting, and electoral systems diluting their vote. 1965 was the peak of the old school Civil Rights Movement. Many white Americans thought that the movement was over, which was incorrect. After Selma, the black freedom struggle saw more revolutionized thinking and power to demand freedom plus justice. Another event would capture the nature and remind people that the problem of oppression was more complex. From August 11-15, 1965, the Watts, Los Angeles rebellion took place. It happened because of the long history of police brutality, economic devastation, racism, discrimination, and lax opportunities in general. Over 34 were killed, 1,032 injured, 3,438 arrested, and there was the cost of over $40 million in property damage. Dr. King was booed when he gave his speech in Los Angeles, which was rare back then. Dr. King said that they booed, because the promises of civil rights didn't bear fruit, and that the complex economic problems of the North and the West Coast must be addressed in order for freedom to come for all. September 1965 saw Raylawni Branch and Gwendolyn Elaine Armstrong become the first African-American students to attend the University of Southern Mississippi. On September 24, 1965, President Johnson signed Executive Order 11246 requiring Equal Employment Opportunity by federal contractors. By the end of 1965, civil rights leaders debated on where to go from here. Some wanted to travel North, some wanted voter registration, some wanted economic programs, and the debates were endless. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. started to look to Chicago. Chicago was developed by industrial power and a diversity of people. Black Southerners via both Great Migrations came to the city for economic opportunities from Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, etc. Chicago still had problems of discrimination, police brutality, lax housing, deprivation of economic power, and other issues while banning legal Jim Crow apartheid. Dr. King wanted change, so at the beginning of 1966, he traveled into Chicago to address slums. Dr. King had a hard time, because Richard Daley supported the Vietnam War and had black bourgeoisie advocates to strife Dr. King's efforts. On January 10, 1966, NAACP local chapter president Vernon Dahmer was injured by a bomb in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He died the next day. On June 5, 1966, James Meredith began a solitary March Against Fear from Memphis, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi. Shortly after starting, he was shot with birdshot and injured. Civil rights leaders and organizations rally and continue the march leading to, on June 16, Kwame Ture first using the slogan Black power in a speech. Twenty-five thousand marchers entered the capital. Black Power is one of the most debated concepts in human history. There are progressive and conservative factions of the Black Power movement. What unified them were their advocacy of Blackness, their call for self-determination, their resistance to imperialism, and their love of black community development. Many reactionaries and moderate civil rights leaders accused the Black Power movement of advocating racism. That is not true. Bayard Rustin opposed Black Power, because he felt that black people should form a coalition with the Democratic Party plus labor rights groups in getting solutions. He accused the Black Power advocates of lacking a political or economic program. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. took a nuisance approach of praising Black Power's promoting black economic power and political power while rejecting separatism. The progressive faction of the Black Power movement included organizations like the Black Panther Party. The conservative, reformist faction of the Black Power movement was funded by Ford, Clairol, and other entities. The conservative faction (which would promote Black capitalism) included people like Roy Innis, Harold Cruse, and others. They believed in the myth that we must end militant mass struggle and just love the capitalist system for freedom. Still, black freedom fighters made real gains like the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, Black Studies programs, and the end of Jim Crow apartheid.

Kwame Ture wanted Dr. King to align with Black Power, but Dr. King said to him that he wanted policy beyond a slogan. By this time, Kwame Ture ran SNCC. SNCC evolved to be more black nationalist by the year of 1966. John Lewis resigned. Kwame Ture allowed white people to leave SNCC, because he wanted white people to organize in their communities to fight racism. The irony is that many black nationalists claimed to be so more radical than Dr. King, but Dr. King became more radical than them by Dr. King opposing the Vietnam War, praising democratic socialism, believing in reparations, following nonviolent civil disobedience, and calling for a radical redistribution of economic plus political power. While CORE became more conservative by the end of the 1960's (i.e. the ruling class via foundation money funded CORE to act as a middle class buffer to try stop revolutionary class liberation) and even some members of other groups, Dr. King became more progressive. The Chicago Open Housing Movement was led by many people like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Al Raby, James Bevel, Jesse Jackson, etc. It had large rallies marches , and  demands to Mayor Richard J. Daley and the City of Chicago which are discussed in a movement-ending Summit Conference. The Chicago movement ended with little success, but it was a necessary experiment to witness how nonviolent resistance would work in the North and the Midwest. By October 1966, Black Panther Party founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, California. The Black Panther Party was a socialist organization that wanted power to the people, an end to police brutality, community control, an end to Western imperialism (as they were against the Vietnam War), and other progressive plans. The BPP had many women and men heroes. They openly carried guns being in favor of self defense. Some made mistakes like minimizing class struggle, some abused BPP members, etc. The Black Panther Party human beings were victims of infiltration by the FBI and outright police terrorism against their organization. This harassment by the FBI and local police forces along with future division contributed to end the Black Panther Party by the early 1980's.  Yet, the Black Panther Party (which advocated self-defense and the usage of gun to protect black American communities) was a progressive out growth of the black freedom struggle.  By January of 1967, Dr. King came out to overtly criticize the Vietnam War in hardcore terms. He knew that the colonialism in Vietnam was similar to the neo-colonialism of the ghettos of America by the super wealthy capitalist power structure. He knew that it was hypocritical for the U.S. government to lecture people to be nonviolent in America while using massive violence in the unjust war in Vietnam. On April 4, 1967, Dr. King delivered "Beyond Vietnam" speech, calling for defeat of "the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism."  Despite Dr. King being criticized by LBJ, the moderate civil rights establishment, far right anti-communists, and others, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. courageously continued to express opposition to the Vietnam War. In Loving v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prohibiting interracial marriage is unconstitutional on June 12, 1967. In the trial of accused killers in the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner, the jury convicts 7 of 18 accused men. Conspirator Edgar Ray Killen is later convicted in 2005. June - August 1967 was when over 150 communities had rebellions. The media called these events the Long, Hot Summer of 1967. The largest and deadliest riots of the summer take place in Newark, New Jersey and Detroit with 26 fatalities reported in Newark and 43 people losing their lives in the Motor City. The common denominators of these rebellions involve economic oppression, deindustrialization, racism, austerity, police brutality, and other socioeconomic problems that plague many places (and harm the lives of human beings). On October 2, 1965,  Thurgood Marshall is sworn in as the first African-American justice of the United States Supreme Court.


 By Timothy