As a side note, I was fortunate enough to have attended the 2009 Inauguration of President Barack Obama. I was T H E R E... Among a sea of white, black , brown, yellow and red faces. All moist with tears of relief & pride. Expressions of hope. Old & young. I have countless pieces of footage & photos of the address & crowd reactions [yes, even when Bush got booed lol]. I have a vivid memory of the fact that our country was about to have a large cultural shift in tolerance and visibility. Besides the obvious relief that we had just obtained a political leader that would coach and direct our country to financial stability, there was an obvious vibe of personal changes people were simultaneously yet silently swearing to in their minds. The faces & mixed emotions told a story that can never be summed up with words alone. The advent of minorities [cultural & gender based] in high office positions has finally brought hope to our parents & children as well as sparking a positive reevaluation of ourselves. Damn... I never thought I would be able to experience this. I thought it would be something that my children would be able to take part of, but lookie here, lil' ol' me is right smack dab in the middle of it... sigh. I'm finally proud to be an American.
[&& since my birthdate is July 4th, you already know I plan to get it IN this year lol]
And another thing, I'm pretty big on music... I go absolutely NOWHERE without my iPod. While I was in D.C., [AT THE INAUGURATION MIND YOU]
I had my iPod on repeat. The album? New Amerykah. The artist? Ms. Fat Belly Bella herself, Erykah Badu. It's like, she KNEW that this was going to be the outcome. There were so many tracks that accompanied the festivities that day that they should've been playing it over loudspeakers in the streets. Which brings me to my 
next point... Thru the monotanous drum of booty shakin' anthems and "nigga this, nigga that" some artist manage to create CONSCIOUS AND AWARE MUSIC in this day and age... GO FIGURE...
Maybe Hip-hop is NOT dead. Maybe the grass-root of it has been watered down to the point where it is now unrecognizable. It hasn't been totally lost, but turned into the melting pot that makes it what it needs to be in order for us to see that a revolution is necessary. Maybe it needs to be unrecognizable for us to be able to take it to the next respectable plateau of what it should be. Hip-hop is something that we have come to idealize as something that will never die. Consistancy is a nice concept but
the ONLY thing that ever remains constant is C H A N G E.
♥miizDOPE
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