Time and Culture.

 

The legacy of President John F. Kennedy should be known. The only way to understand his total legacy is to evaluate his life from the start in a chronological fashion. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in New England at Brookline, Massachusetts among the wealthy Kennedy family. The Kennedys had a lot of political and economic power in American society. So, John F. Kennedy was born in wealth, and he later saw the complex economic dislocation found in the United States as time went onward in his life. As a young child to his passing, he experienced many health issues. He was in and out of hospitals throughout his life. By September 1927, the Kennedy family moved into Riverdale, New York. The stock market crash triggered the Great Depression in October of 1929. By the Fall of 1931, he enrolled in Choate. As a child, he played football plenty of times too. He graduated from Choate, ranked 64th in a class of 112 in June 1935. He attended Princeton in the fall of 1935, but he left the university to deal with an illness. He attended Harvard University form 1936-1940. By 1937, his father, Joseph Kennedy Sr. was the ambassador to Great Britain. John F. Kennedy toured Europe with his father from the Winter of 1938 to the Summer of 1939. World War II started in Europe by September 1939, and it lasted until 1945. By 1940, John F. Kennedy wrote his senior thesis, on English foreign policy before American overt military involvement in World War II. We know of his thesis being published in the title of "Why England Slept" which came out in July 1940. John F. Kennedy was in the military in the United States during World War II. America became officially involved in WWII (after giving the UK military aid in the Lend Lease program) after Pearl Harbor was bombed by Japanese military forces on December 7, 1941. President Kennedy served and commanded the Motor Torpedo Boat or the PT Boat in the South Pacific. By August 2, 1943, President Kennedy's boat was rammed by a Japanese destroyer. Under his leadership, most of the crew was eventually rescued. JFK received the Purple Heart for his heroics. President Kennedy came to Boston's Chelsea Naval Hospital with a lower back condition in the Spring of 1944. His older brother Joseph Kennedy Jr. was inspired to fight in Europe during WWII after JFK earned the Purple Heart. By August 12, 1944, Joseph Kennedy Jr. was killed while flying a mission over Europe. JFK was discharged by the Navy on March 1, 1945. Then, the journey continues. John F. Kennedy's father wanted JFK to be President, and John F. Kennedy himself wanted to be President of the United States. In American politics, you have to gain some experience first for the most part. So, John F. Kennedy knew that he had to run for office first before achieving the ultimate goal. 

On June 17, 1946, John F. Kennedy won the Democratic primary for the Massachusetts' Eleventh Congressional District. Then, he was elected to the House of Representatives on November of 1946. By the Fall of 1948, JFK is elected to a second term in the House. While on a trip to England, he was diagnosed with Addison's Disease. His condition is kept secret from the public. The Korean war existed form 1950-1953. The evil era of McCarthyism started by February 1950 when Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy claimed to have a list of Communists employed in the State Department. McCarthyism goes against the freedom of speech, due process of law, and the freedom of association among American citizens. People have the freedom of conscience to believe in Communism or not.  By November 1950, JFK was elected to a third term in the House. By November 1952, John F. Kennedy defeated Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. to win election to the United States Senate. In the presidential election, Dwight Eisenhower and his running mate, Richard Nixon, defeat Adlai Stevenson. John F. Kennedy had a reputation of being with multiple women. Later, he married Jacqueline Bouvier on September 12, 1953. On December 2, 1954, Joseph McCarthy was censured by the U.S. Senate, and Senate Kennedy abstained from voting on the resolutions. JFK released the book Profiles in Courage, a history of heroic American senators. The book was largely written by his speechwriter Theodore Sorensen (one of the greatest speechwriters in American history). By the Summer of 1956, at the Democratic National Convention, Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver edges JFK out to become Adlai Stevenson's running mate. After that, we know that Eisenhower defeated Stevenson and won re-election on November of 1956. The Profiles in Courage book was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1957. John F. Kennedy and Caroline Bouvier Kennedy had their first born daughter on November 27, 1957. By November 1958, Kennedy won re-election in the Senate. By this time, John F. Kennedy spoke out against French imperialism in Vietnam. By 1960, John F. Kennedy decided to run for the Presidency. The Democratic candidate had a strong field of candidates from Johnson to McCarthy. John F. Kennedy promoted a liberal vision of America and explicitly said that he believes in the separation of church and state. He told Baptist leaders that his Catholic faith won't influence public policy which caused applause among the Baptist religious audience in Texas. 

By July 1960, JFK won the Democratic nomination for president and picks Lyndon Johnson as his running mate. Robert Kennedy opposed the decision to get LBJ on the ticket, but JFK knew that he had to do it in order to get the Southern states (especially Texas with a lot of electoral votes) to win the 1960 Presidency. The 1960 Presidential campaign was fierce and important. John F. Kennedy debated Richard Nixon on television.  People saw both men discuss about foreign and domestic policy on television, and some heard the debate on the radio. On the radio, most people thought it was even, and most people who saw the debate on television believed that Kennedy won the debate. It was so close that John F. Kennedy won the election very closely. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the first Roman Catholic to win the Presidency in 1960. He was inaugurated as President on January of 1961 talking about hope and being cautious about the Cold War in dealing with the Soviet Union. He spoke the famous words of "ask not what you country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." That means that we (who are American citizens) should be about the work to use our power to be engaged in building up American society in reaching its highest plateau of democracy, excellence, community, tolerance, and human justice for all in a sincere, motviated fashion. Immediately, his Presidency saw challenges. President Kennedy annoucned the Peace Corps in its existence by March 1961. The Peace Corps was about sending young men and young women to help people across the world in especially poorer nations of color (in Africa, Asia, Latin America, etc.) in promoting democratic values and compassion (in competition to the Soviet Union influence). President Kennedy didn't give air support to the Bay of Pigs invasion backers. This caused the invasion of Cuba to fail by April 1961. Many far right Cubans and members of the military industrial complex hated Kennedy for this action, but President Kennedy knew full well that if he sent the military to fight in Cuba, the Soviet Union would retailate in Europe and potentially cause WWIII (with millions of people dying in a nuclear exchange). The military industrial complex would hate JFK for years to come. President Kennedy met with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev hold a summit in Vienna. The meeting was unsuccessful as Khruschev thought Kennedy was young and inexeperienced. Their relationship would improve by 1963. By May 4, 1961, an  integrated group of students organized by the Congress of Racial Equality leave Washington DC on a “Freedom Ride” through the deep South. Despite Court orders, segregation was being enforced in some bus stations serving interstate bus lines. JFK celebrated the first American in space (who was Alan Sheppard Jr.) on May 5, 1961. The Freedom Riders are beaten up and their bus was firebombed by racist terrorists in Anniston, Alabama. This was in May 14, 1961. The riders were attacked and beaten in Birmingham again. President Kennedy fought for civil rights in the realm of the courts or the legal system. Many civil rights leaders, even Dr. King, at times criticize the Kennedy administration as not going fast enough on civil rights. We know that Malcolm X criticized JFK as using tricks to strife black revolutionary thinking in the black community.  Also, Kennedy wanted humans to go to the Moon before the decade of the 1960's was finished. On June 30, 1961, President Kennedy gave remarks Upon Signing the Housing Act. “This bill is the most important and far-reaching Federal legislation in the field of housing since the enactment of the Housing Act of 1949.”

By August 1961, JFK promoted the Alliance for Progress to harbor better relationships in Latin America. President Kennedy signed the Executive Order 10980. That establishes the President’s Commission on the Status of Women to promote equal wages and equality for women. In Bailey v. Patterson the Supreme Court holds firmly that legal segregation in interstate or intrastate transportation facilities is unconstitutional and “settled beyond question.” This was on February 26, 1962. 

By March of 1962, President Kennedy forced the steel industry to stop a price increase, which angered some in Wall Street banking interests. On May 19, 1962, Marilyn Monroe sings Happy Birthday to the President at a celebration event in Madison Square Garden. (His actual birthday was 10 days later). On June 15, 1962, the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) adopt what is known as the “Port Huron Statement.” The SDS becomes a leader in anti-war, anti-capitalist protest. “. . . we seek the establishment of a democracy of individual participation governed by two central aims:  that the individual share in those social decisions determining the quality and direction of his life; that society be organized to encourage independence in men and provide the media for their common participation.” This document pretty much was the manifesto of the New Left movement. President Kennedy celebrated the independence of Algeria, Burundi, and Rwanada. Following considerable litigation, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Meredith v. Fair held that Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett was in contempt of court for blocking the registration of an African-American student, James Meredith at the University of Mississippi. By Proclamation, President Kennedy directs Mississippi officials to comply with court orders. By Executive Order directs the Secretary of Defense to take all appropriate steps to enforce the court order. And in a televised address to the nation, explains his actions. He states, “Neither Mississippi nor any other southern State deserves to be charged with all the accumulated wrongs of the last 100 years of race relations.”

In October 16, 1962, there was the Bay of Pigs crisis. America obtained photos of Soviet missile emplacements in Cuba, bringing about the Cuban Missile Crisis. Some members of the military industrial complex wanted JFK to invade Cuba, but President Kennedy refused. General LeMay wanted the invasion, and President Kennedy told him that we are in this together. So, President Kennedy did the wise thing and promoted a naval quarantine of Cuba on October 22, 1962. The move was successful as the Kennedy administration and Soviet leaders had secret back channel meetings (that many in the military industrial complex didn't know) to end the Cuban Missile Crisis. By October 28, 1962, the Soviet Union agreed to remove its missiles from Cuba, and America agreed to remove its missiles from Italy and Turkey. The far right in America and Soviet hardliners hated the compromise, but world peace is better than extremism. Fifty years after the crisis, Graham Allison wrote:

"Fifty years ago, the Cuban missile crisis brought the world to the brink of nuclear disaster. During the standoff, US President John F. Kennedy thought the chance of escalation to war was "between 1 in 3 and even", and what we have learned in later decades has done nothing to lengthen those odds. We now know, for example, that in addition to nuclear-armed ballistic missiles, the Soviet Union had deployed 100 tactical nuclear weapons to Cuba, and the local Soviet commander there could have launched these weapons without additional codes or commands from Moscow. The US air strike and invasion that were scheduled for the third week of the confrontation would likely have triggered a nuclear response against American ships and troops, and perhaps even Miami. The resulting war might have led to the deaths of over 100 million Americans and over 100 million Russians." 

So, President Kennedy and many Soviet negotiators saved humanity literally. Afterwards, there was the hot line between the Soviet Union and the United States. 

  

President John F. Kennedy came to Dallas by late November 1963 to promote his 1964 Presidential campaign. JFK was most likely able to win the Presidential campaign if he was alive (absent major scandal), because he was much more eloquent than Barry Goldwater. Also, John F. Kennedy has the argument of economic prosperity, reducing tensions in the Cold War, and other positions that would galvanize the public to vote for him. Barry Goldwater was the godfather of the modern libertarian/conservative movement, and he was very far right on foreign policy and on civil rights back in the 1960's. President Kennedy wanted to go to Dallas Texas to also smooth over frictions in the state's Democratic Party between liberal U.S. Senator Ralph Yarborough and conservative governor John Connally. The visit was first agreed upon by Kennedy, Johnson, and Connally during a meeting in El Paso in June. The motorcade route was finalized on November 18 and announced soon Later, press secretary Mac Kilduff shows the Kennedys a negative advertisement published in The Dallas Morning News with the headline "Welcome Mr. Kennedy to Dallas." Kennedy tells his wife: "We're heading into nut country today." As early as November 4, 1963, Secret Service agents surveyed Dallas's buildings in order to find the proper route that the President's motorcade can travel in the city of Dallas. Connally debated with Secret Service Special Agent in Charge (SAIC) Gerald Behn on where the route will take place. Connally wants the Trade Mart and Sorrells wants the Women's Building. The Secret Service ultimately decides to travel on the Trade Mart. By November 16, 1963, Kennedy confides to his good friend senator George Smathers of Florida that Vice President Johnson wants First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy to ride in the car with him during the upcoming tour of Texas. The exact motorcade route is finalized.  On Friday, November 22, 1963, at 8:45 a.m., the president speaks before breakfast in a square across Eighth Street, accompanied by Congressman Jim Wright, Senator Yarborough, Governor Connally and Vice President Johnson. Kennedy praises Fort Worth's aviation industry. The attendees, members of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, are largely conservative Republicans. At 9:10 a.m., Kennedy takes his place in the hotel's grand ballroom for the scheduled speech, and the First Lady arrives amid loud applause 15 minutes later.

After the speech, presidential adviser Kenny O'Donnell informed Roy Kellerman, the Secret Service agent in charge of the trip, that the presidential limousine should not be equipped with its bubbletop if the weather is clear in Dallas. On Friday, November 22, 1963, at 11:38 a.m. CST, Kennedy, his wife Jacqueline and the rest of the presidential entourage arrive at Love Field in northwest Dallas aboard Air Force One after a very short flight from nearby Carswell Air Force Base, west of Fort Worth. President Kennedy wanted to give a speech at the Trade Mart in Dallas, Texas. 

James Earl Ray has been classified by the FBI as the sole gunman in assassinating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He lived from March 10, 1928 to April 23, 1998. There is debate on who this man was. He was born in Alton, Illinois. He had Irish, Scottish, and Welsh ancestry. His family lived in Ewing, Missouri, James Earl Ray joined the U.S. Army and was discharged for ineptitude and lack of adaptability in 1948. What we all agree is that James Earl Ray was a criminal. He committed tons of crimes before 1968. Ray's first conviction for criminal activity, a burglary in California, came in 1949. In 1952, he served two years for the armed robbery of a taxi driver in Illinois. In 1955, he was convicted of mail fraud after stealing money orders in Hannibal, Missouri. For this, he was imprisoned for four years in the federal United States Penitentiary Leavenworth. In 1959, he was caught stealing $120 in an armed robbery of a Kroger store in St. Louis. He was sentenced to twenty years in prison for repeated offenses. He escaped from the Missouri State Penitentiary in 1967 by hiding in a truck transporting bread from the prison bakery. He escaped from prison multiple times. He moved into Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, and Birmingham, Alabama too. James Earl Ray was a racist who supported the 1968 George Wallace Presidential campaign in 1968. He agreed with Wallace's segregationist platform. He considered going into the support the racist government of Rhodesia (now, it's Zimbabwe). On March 5, 1968, Ray underwent a rhinoplasty, performed by physician Russell Hadley. On March 18, 1968, Ray left Los Angeles and began a cross-country drive to Atlanta, Georgia.

Arriving in Atlanta on March 24, 1968, Ray checked into a rooming house. He bought a map of the city. FBI agents later found this map when they searched the room in which he was staying. On the map, the locations of the church and residence of Martin Luther King Jr. were circled. Ray was soon on the road again and drove his Mustang to Birmingham, Alabama. There, on March 30, 1968, he bought a Remington Model 760 Gamemaster .30-06-caliber rifle and a box of 20 cartridges from the Aeromarine Supply Company. He also bought a Redfield 2x-7x scope, which he had mounted to the rifle. He told the store owners that he was going on a hunting trip with his brother. Ray had continued using the Galt alias after his stint in Mexico, but when he made this purchase, he gave his name as Harvey Lowmeyer.

After purchasing the rifle and accessories, Ray drove back to Atlanta. An avid newspaper reader, Ray passed his time reading The Atlanta Constitution. The paper reported King's planned return trip to Memphis, Tennessee, which was scheduled for 1st April, 1968. On 2nd April, 1968, Ray packed a bag and drove to Memphis. The FBI said that Ray killed Dr. King near the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Many scholars agreed with this conclusion. Other scholars believe that Dr. King was assassinated as a product of a conspiracy. James Ray Earl fled to Atlanta, then Toronto, and he was in London. He went to Lisbon, Porgutal and return to London. 

Ray was then arrested at London Heathrow Airport attempting to leave the United Kingdom for Brussels. He was trying to depart the United Kingdom for Angola, Rhodesia, or apartheid South Africa using the falsified Canadian passport. At check-in, the ticket agent noticed the name on his passport, Sneyd, was on a Royal Canadian Mounted Police watchlist.  Airport officials noticed that Ray carried another passport under a second name. The UK quickly extradited Ray to Tennessee, where he was charged with King's murder. He confessed to the crime on March 10, 1969, his 41st birthday, and after pleading guilty he was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Three days later, Ray recanted his confession. He had entered a guilty plea on the advice of his attorney, Percy Foreman, to avoid the sentence of death by electrocution, which would have been a possible outcome of a jury trial. Unbeknownst to Ray, however, a death sentence would have been commuted as unconstitutional under the de facto moratorium in place since 1967 and following Furman v. Georgia. " Ray began claiming that a man he had met in Montreal back in 1967, who used the alias "Raoul", had been involved in the assassination, and he asserted that he did not "personally shoot Dr. King" but may have been "partially responsible without knowing it", hinting at a conspiracy. Ray told this version of the assassination and his flight during the following two months to journalist William Bradford Huie. Huie investigated this story and discovered that Ray lied about some details. Ray told Huie that he purposely left the rifle with his fingerprints on it in plain sight at the crime scene because he wanted to become a famous criminal. He was convinced that he would escape capture because of his intelligence and cunning, and he also believed that Governor of Alabama George Wallace would soon be elected to the presidency, so that Ray would only be confined in prison for a short time, pending a presidential pardon by Wallace. However, Ray spent the remainder of his life unsuccessfully attempting to withdraw his guilty plea and secure a jury trial. Ray escaped prison again on June 10, 1977, along with six other convicts from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee. They were recaptured on June 13. A year was added to Ray's previous sentence, increasing it to a full century. Gerald Posner believed that Dr. King was murdered by James Earl Ray. Many in Dr. Martin Luther King's family disagree with that view and believe that a government conspiracy ultimately ended Dr. King's life.

 

In 1979, the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) concluded that there was a likelihood of conspiracy in the assassination of King and that Ray was a scapegoat. One author who believes that the assassination was a conspiracy is William F. Pepper, who has been a friend of Dr. King. He would spend his later life trying to get Ray released from prison. The SCLC praised Pepper for his work. In June 1997, Pepper appeared on ABC's Turning Point. He discussed the theory from his book Orders to Kill: The Truth Behind the Murder of Martin Luther King Jr. This theory held that a hit team from the 20th Special Forces Group was to kill King if a police sharpshooter failed. This group was supposedly led by a man named Billy Eidson, whom Pepper claimed had since been killed in a cover up. Eidson was then brought on camera and refused to shake Pepper's hand. Eidson brought a $15 million lawsuit against Pepper's publisher which was later settled for an undisclosed amount. Mark Lane has been famous for believing that JFK, RFK, and Dr. King were killed in a conspiracy too. He is an author of Murder in Memphis with Dick Gregory. The book promoted this view. The book was right that the Central Intelligence Agency used a code named for Dr. King named Zorro. The FBI's original tests on the bullet that killed King and the .30-06 hunting rifle were inconclusive. In 1997, tests were run comparing 12 test bullets from the alleged murder rifle, and the bullet that killed MLK. Ballistics expert Robert Hathaway testified that the killing bullet lacked reference points found on the fired test bullets. The unique barrel markings could not be found on the killing bullet. To this very day, the FBI believes that James Earl Ray did the assassination alone. 

The United States House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) was established in 1976 to investigate the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1963 and 1968, respectively. In 1979, their final report concluded that "After examining Ray's behaviour, his character and his racial attitudes... The committee found it could not concur with any of the accepted explanations for Ray as a lone assassin," the “predominant motive lay in an expectation of monetary gain” and that "The committee concluded that there was a likelihood of conspiracy in the assassination of Dr King." They asserted that it was most likely a conspiracy by southern white supremacist groups, and that Ray was only acting due to a bounty on King's head. They also noted that “No federal, state or local government agency was involved in the assassination of Dr King.”

In 1999, a mixed-race jury at a Memphis civil suit reached a unanimous verdict that King was assassinated as a result of a conspiracy involving the U.S. government, a person named Raoul, among others. After the verdict, Coretta King said: "There is abundant evidence of a major, high-level conspiracy in the assassination of my husband." The jury found the mafia and various local, state, and federal government agencies were "deeply involved in the assassination. ... Mr. Ray was set up to take the blame." What we do know is that the federal government is guilty of illegally monitoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his allies throughout the 1960's in programs like Operation COINTELPRO and other actions. King had long found enemies among the nation's top body of law enforcement, the FBI. J. Edgar Hoover, the Director of the FBI, pronounced him, "the most notorious liar in the country."  King had been under FBI surveillance since the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1956. They began wiretapping his phones in 1963. King expressed his anger towards the FBI in 1964, declaring that it was "completely ineffectual in resolving the continued mayhem and brutality inflicted upon the Negro in the deep South."  On November 1, 1971, former head of FBI Intelligence Operations William C. Sullivan testified before the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities. He stated that in the "war" against King "no holds were barred". An internal FBI document expressed concern that this might raise the suspicion of FBI involvement in the assassination. 

The FBI made the old slander that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Communist or Communist sympathizer. In 1962, Hoover told then Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy that King was "a secret member of the Communist Party", which led Kennedy to approve wiretaps. The truth is that Dr. King publicly and privately disagreed with Communism because of what he called its ethical materialism and politically totalitarianism. Dr. King did express sympathy with democratic socialism. We know that the MPD (the Memphis Police Department) spied on Dr. King and his civil rights leaders, and they infiltrated the Invaders group. The FBI infiltrated the Memphis Police Department with five paid informants. It is important for you (the viewers) to look at all the evidence and make up your own mind. One thing is true. The federal government is complicit in illegally harassing, slandering, and spying on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (including other black civil rights leaders), and that toxic atmosphere heavily contributed to the assassination of Dr. King on April 4, 1968. 

 

By July to late 2024 in the Presidential race has shown massive developments. We know about Cornel West running for President in the Green Party. We know that Maimi Mayor Francis Suarez is running for President, and he is a Republicans. By early July of 2023, many Republicans are struggling to compete against Trump to get the Republican nomination. If nothing changed, Trump is expected to win the Republican nomination for President in 2024. DeSantis is going about to try to be more right wing than Trump.  The upcoming Iowa GOP Primary on January 15, 2024, will be very early. Ironically, it is on the date of the Dr. King federal holiday (which many of the GOP candidates explicitly are against what Dr. King stood for like reparations, being against imperialism, and desiring a radical redistribution of political and economic power). 2024 is months away, and things can change. Yet, if nothing happens, Trump can easily run away with the Republican nomination. 

 

By 1993, music has changed massively. We saw hip hop, new jack swing, R&B, rock, and other forms of music dominating the charts. By January of 1993, we saw the growth of the Washington D.C. R&B vocal group Shai hit #2 US with their debut single "If I Ever Fall In Love." The song is from their debut album of the same name which goes Triple Platinum. The album contains two other US Top Ten singles "Baby I'm Yours" and "Comforter" both of which reach #10 US. The Harlem, New York City new jack swing group of Wreckx-N-Effect had their hit. Their music was produced by new jack swing innovator Teddy Riley, brother of group member Markell Riley. London post-punk veterans called "The The" had #2 UK hit with their fourth album Dusk. Founded by Matt Johnson guitars and vocals, the group's members change often with Johnson as the only constant member. The album's lead single "Dogs of Lust" hits #24 UK and #2 on the US Modern Rock chart. Rhode Island alternative band Belly released their debut album Star which charts at #59 US, #2 UK, selling over half a million copies in the US. The single "Feed The Tree" reaches #95 US and #1 US Modern Rock. Singer Tanya Donelly had previously been in Throwing Muses and The Breeders. By February of 1993, Radiohead had their debut album called Pablo Hony on EMI. The group were from the UK. By February of 1993, Tupac Shakur released his 2nd album called Strictly for My N______ on Interscope Records. The album was about his experiences, politics, the strets, and other issues. The album charts at #4 R&B/Hip Hop and #24 US Billboard 200 on it's way to going US Platinum. The singles "I Get Around" and "Keep Ya Head Up" hit #11 and #12 respectively in the US. This was a new era in Tupac Shakur's life after being beaten by the police, showing movies, and a growth of his popularity. Amherst, Massachusetts alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr. release their fifth album Where You Been and reach #50 US, #10 UK. The video for the album's lead single "Start Choppin'" does well on MTV and the song hits #3 on the US Modern Rock chart and #20 UK. There was the song "Informer" which was done by the artist Snow. When I was in the 4th grade of elementary school, I remember that song very well. It was popular in March of 1993. The artist's real name is Darrin O'Brien, and he is from Toronto, Canada. His album was platinum in America. 

1993 saw the album of The Chronic reached triple platinum in America (it was released in late 1992). By this time, former N.W.A. rapper Dr. Dre teams with Snoop Doggy Dogg and hits #2 US with "Nuthin' But A "G" Thing" UK #31, #1 US R&B/Hip Hop. The song is from Dre's debut album The Chronic which reaches #3 US, #43 UK. By 1993, there was a transition in hip hop when more hardcore hip hop and g-funk replaced more of the conscious hip hop of the 1980's and early 1990's. The music of hip hop became slightly less serious and more laid back. Rock groups like Depeche Mode and Suede were showing their music in 1993 too. American rocker Lenny Kravitz had the album of Are You Donna Go My Way. It was double platinum in America and platinum in the UK. Get A Grip is the eleventh studio album from Boston rock veterans Aerosmith and becomes the band's first #1 album in the US, #2 UK. The album includes three US Top Twenty singles including "Cryin'" #12 US, #17 UK and "Crazy" #17 US. The album sells over twenty million copies worldwide. Athens, Georgia rock band R.E.M. release their eighth album Automatic For The People and hit #2 US, #1 UK. The album contains two of the bands' best known songs "Everybody Hurts" and "Man On The Moon." The album goes 4X Platinum in the US and 7X Platinum in the UK. The group of Silk from Atlanta had the album of Lose Control going double platinum in America. The group had the single Freak Me, and the co-producer and co-writer of much of the album was new jack swing artist Keith Sweat. Rock groups like LA based Tool and Queens NYC band Anthrax had their albums released. Anthrax worked with Public Enemy before.  Janet Jackson's fifth album Janet. debuts at #1 and the album's lead single "That's The Way Love Goes" also hits #1 US, #2 UK. Jackson wrote all lyrics for this album, along with co-producing and cowriting all arrangements. The album goes 6X Platinum and generates six Top Ten singles in the US. By 1993, Janet Jackson was already a legend. With that album, it solidified her status as an icon of R&B music. This was in May of 1993.

Groups like New Order and Primus expressed their rock sound. One dance song What is Love was shown by Trinidadian singer Nestor Haddaway. That song was one of those songs that defined the 1990's as a great decade. By the summer of 1993, groups like Flaming Lips, H-Town, and Cypress Hill came about. Icelandic singer, songwriter Bjork releases her self titled debut album which works it's way to #3 UK and #61 US. The album has since gone Platinum in the US and Double Platinum in the UK. The singles "Play Dead", "Big Time Sensuality" and "Violently Happy" all chart in the UK Top Twenty. New York City R&B trio SWV (Sisters with Voices) had the hit song of Weak being number one in Americ. Their debut album was in July 1993 called It's About Time going triple platinum in America.  Severn, Maryland singer Toni Braxton's self titled debut album is released and goes on to hit #1 US, #4 UK, selling over 12 million copies world wide. Braxton is signed to LaFace Records by producers L.A. Reid and Babyface who write most of the songs. The album has three Top Ten singles including "Breathe Again" #3 US, #2 UK. Toni Braxon is a legend with sultry voice and a powerful legacy. Atlanta, Georgia hip hop duo Tag Team spend seven weeks at #2 US, #1 US R&B with their debut single "Whoomp! (There It Is)". The single goes on to sell over four million copies, making Tag Team one of the biggest catchy songs of the 90's. The song is still played at US sporting events to this day. Smashing Pumpkins form Chicago had their 2nd album of Siamese Dream. The Proclaimers and Cracker had albums released too. A more hardcore group of Onyx from Queens, NYC had the single Slam. 

The German eurodance group Culture Beat had the number hit in America with the song Mr. Vain. Dance/house music was very popular in 1993. I remember that song. There was the production by Vain". With production by Torsten Fenslau, lead vocals by Tania Evans and rapping by Jay Supreme the song is a worldwide hit, reaching #1 in fifteen countries. The single sells over eleven million copies worldwide. Rock groups of The Breeders and Soul Asylum enjoyed showing their songs in the world. American singer Mariah Carey has her seventh US #1 single with "Dreamlover" #9 UK. With lyrics by Carey, the song uses a sample from the 1972 song "Blind Alley" by The Emotions. It is the lead single from Carey's third album Music Box #1 US and UK, which sells over 28 million copies worldwide. This was in September of 1993. By September, Counting Crows had their debut album called August and Everything After and James had their alternative rock album called Laid. Xscape, an R&B vocal group from Atlanta, Georgia hit #2 US, #1 US R&B, #49 UK with their first single "Just Kickin' It". The song is from their first album Hummin' Comin' At 'Cha which charts at #17 and goes Platinum in the US. The group is discovered and produced by Jermaine Dupri. Xscape, an R&B vocal group from Atlanta, Georgia hit #2 US, #1 US R&B, #49 UK with their first single "Just Kickin' It". The song is from their first album Hummin' Comin' At 'Cha which charts at #17 and goes Platinum in the US. The group is discovered and produced by Jermaine Dupri. The members of Xscape back then were very young. They were teenagers and young adults back then. Pearl Jam made their second album of Vs. Grunge stars Nirvana play the Sony Music Studios in NYC for a recording of MTV Unplugged. Rather than covering their hits, the band plays lesser known cuts and covers from David Bowie, Leadbelly and The Meat Puppets among others. The concert is later released as both a DVD and a #1 album by November 1993. Wu Tang Clan had their debut album of Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). It caused an increase of East Coast hip hop music being triple platinum. West Coast rapper and Dr. Dre protégé Snoop Doggy Dogg releases his first album Doggystyle which debut's at #1 US and reaches #12 UK. The album's sound is influenced by the Parliament-Funkadelic funk sound. Two singles "What's My Name" and "Gin and Juice" hit #8 in the US. The album sells over 11 million worldwide. Ice Cube had his fourth album of Lethal Injection by December of 1993. Meatloaf had his comeback album in 1993 along with the song I'll Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That).

By Timothy