Opening up a conversation about race and racism is never an easy task, especially in the light of the most recent natural disaster. Still, in the spirit of progress somebody has to step forward. Today, that somebody is going to have to be me.
In recent NYC events, a benefit was held in Harlem in a conscious effort to raise money to provide aid to the Haiti relief fund. Hip Hop 4 Haiti drew a great response from many sponsors that genuinely wanted to help contribute to the cause in any possible way that they could. For this specific event, it was AllHipHop.com that offered to help pool talent and provide for some of the more well known performers for the concert. Being that this event was held in such a place of cultural importance and integrity, it had such a potential to stand out as a collective statement of positivity, unity, and hope. Unfortunately the host, a lesser known activist that goes by the name NYOIL, allowed his own loosely organized but powerfully militant agenda to ensue.
Ironic right? Usually when one thinks of something as being militant it would only make sense that there would be a strict presence of organization. Unfortunately that wasn’t so. Overly aggressive and unsettling in his stage presence I honestly believe that most only weathered the storm and let him carry on because, after-all, it was for a good cause- at least that’s what it said on the flyer.
I, however, was thoroughly confused primarily by the mixed messages of more than a few of the performers that he actually introduced. One in particular, I actually forgot his name, got on stage and started ranting quite militantly, “We need to stop letting these crackers kill our black babies! They’ve been doing this for years over in Africa!..” In his 10 minute “performance” it was very unclear to me whether I had attended a benefit for Haiti or if I had somehow been teleported back in time to attend a black power/civil rights rally. Thank god he brought his speech back to the current situation at hand because his statements were deeply offending to me not only as an educated historian in African American History but also as a regular human being that isn’t black working in Hip-Hop promoting a unified cause.
Living in the year 2010, yes I do acknowledge that there is still much work that needs to be done with respect to overcoming mentally institutionalized racism. However, to take a stage and deliver an outdated speech complete with blatantly racist remarks against an entire people not of your skin color makes you no different than those that did the same exact thing in the 1800’s. Completely disrespectful and unprofessional to say the least. It also discredits and attempts to negate everything monumental that Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. became historical icons for in the 1960’s.
NYOIL later came back on stage to completely disrespect every performer that came out to show their love and support for a good cause by ranting, “Just because you got a little buzz going on or a hot single on the radio doesn’t mean you’re better than anyone else here. I’m sure I can pass the mic to a number of people in this room and they can spit a hot 16 just like you can, maybe even better.” First of all, I’d like to know, what even warranted that statement? Someone really just sounded like a hater….
Completely irritated by his lack of respect for the hard work of just about every other person in that room that was not his homie, I had to do some research in an attempt to gain a better understanding of who this man is and why he is so angry… It came to my attention that the infamous NYOIL had a little rap career a few years back.. He even had a video put out for a single titled, “Ya’ll Should All Get Lynched.” The track (released around the same time that rapper Nas released Hip Hop is Dead) called for the lynching of a number of major label rappers. The video was banned from YouTube because of its graphic depictions of slavery, lynching, and minstrelsy coupled with pictures of rap stars including 50 Cent and Three Six Mafia. Ironically, according to his bio in Wikipedia, the acronym in his name NYOIL stands for “New York’s Original International Lover.”
Although I am in no way shape or form a spokesperson for AllHipHop.com or any of the other sponsors, speaking from a purely business and publicity point of view, I wouldn’t be surprised if I wasn’t the only person embarrassed for this host and his attention-seeking maneuvers on the stage that night. I’d really like to give a special shout out to all of the hosts across the country that held thoughtful and entertaining benefit concerts, most notably Chicago. I heard you were all awesome!! Shout out to all of the real activists out there! J
-Anabelly
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