THEME : FREEDOM
A community video project of youth relaying lyrics
to a rhyme regarding the current state of
Hip-Hop as a music and a culture.
Composition by Elizabeth Anne 2004
Funkybuttmonkeemusic, INC 2005
Were sitting on the corner at the end of The Street
In escape of their boredom they gathered to meet
Passing the time producing rhymes and beats
One day The Man simply happened upon them
Impressed with the flow of the style he saw on them
He knew if he could harness ability unique
He’d be able to control industry grown weak
So he devised a plan offering prospers sweet
To entice them all to pull them up from off of The Street
Of course they were excited, they finally had their chance
To show off all their talents, have a share in the dance
Of what life had to offer in wealth waiting to greet
Pleasures they never found hanging out in The Street
So they went off to the Industry to all make their mark
And it didn’t take long to initiate spark
But as time went by, impressions bore right through them
They realized the fallacy which so misconstrued them
Intuition was likened to ice cool in passion
Diamonds mined by young African babies
Expression was cloaked within threads of the fashions
Sewn by wage-labor Haitians considered lazy
Hip-Hop was taken in drunk with gangster commotion
From alcohol flowing out the bottles like crazy
While Repeat was offered the job of promotion
In products designed to make the truth appear hazy
On the radio, the television, hallways and stores
Suddenly their image represented them wh****
Intuit, Express, Hip-Hop, wanted free from these chains
But Repeat caught in AD Verse City couldn’t recognize the pains
Pimped and packaged so tight, like a cellophane matter
That soon everyone considered him as simply a rapper
Again and again the others tried to speak up
But the louder the sound opened doors - industry quickly shut
So Intuition, Expression and Hip-Hop feeling defeat
Finally picked up their talents and took them back to the street
The industry no longer had a soul to the sound
Having no one inspired to create new ground
With the other influences removed from deceit
What presence remains?
REPEAT
from Director
Elizabeth Anne
May 15th through the 21st
Film screening at the DMAC Short-Film-Slam on
May 22nd, 2005
Downtown Media Arts Center - 39 South Magnolia Ave. Orlando, FL www.dmacorlando.com
Were sitting on the corner at the end of The Street
In escape of their boredom they gathered to meet
Passing the time producing rhymes and beats
Just imagine if they were left to their own influences
And no outside force had ever gotten their senses
They might have continued the paths of true wisdom
To teach the young children the value that is One
What became known as poor, actually once was true wealth
Not relying on finances, but mad knowledge of self
By the Griots who passed on the stories they dealt
Healing in love, peace, sanity, respect and due health
But instead we have been twisted into images of hate
War and violence escalate, ‘pimp an ho’ image debase
Our Brotherly Love epitomized as that mob crew loyalty
To encompass all those facets as true life on The Streets?
You are not underground if your friends and your family
Can pinpoint your location on a map by far
You are not underground if independent eyes seeking
Can see through your image against who you really are
We must leave this mentality and go back to the start
If the other influences took themselves from the pop
Then what oppression remains that this knowledge can’t
STOP?
FUNKYBUTTMONKEEMUSIC, INC VIDEO PRODUCTIONS