a likkle breakbeat, plueez

 

 

    this is not the place nor the time
    to remind you of yourself
    caught in stories wrapped around dollars
    bucks in a blanket
    what is there to keep real
    hip hop was a phrase not a place
    and yet here we are, in residence
    charging rent for those who want to come peep
    through our windows

    this is not the time nor the place
    many pages have been written
    to explicate validate enunciate and truncate
    this thing called hip hop
    just words and beats ain’t nothing to do with moves
    but when the bass drops
    anyan comes to take all of us with a pulse
    wreakin’ havoc on our joints
    daring us to try and stand still
    it's real then
    hip hop does dance, is perhaps
    only that started in a club after all
    move your hip
    then you hop

    this is not the time nor the place
    to think about race
    club scene was an art scene
    art scene was a we seen
    all y’all there, not just any ol’ body
    not any particular body
    we felt your heat, wiped your sweat off our face
    after you did that dope ass spin
    first your hip break, then we hopped
    Latino, Puertorican, Black, White, all of the above
    twist that hip make that ribcage hop and pop
    it was solo freestyle party over here
    naw, party over there
    naw party now on MTV so what you gon’ do now?

    this is not the time our place
    but when you see my black face, my backside, my hip
    you seen all my sisters and brothers too
    we roll like that, feel real bad when one get dissed
    want to be the originators
    not the perpetrators
    even if that means taking television on as a mentor
    learning moves far from their home
    giving names without knowing that they already had one
    and don’t try and call us no slave drivers

    this is not the time nor the place
    to admit that hip hop dance don’t really exist
    outside of a soundstage
    but we said it did 20 years ago
    at least we thought we did
    we’ve given it to our kids
    and now we dare you to take it back

    this is not the time nor the place
    to talk about authenticity, but when you’se an originator
    not a perpetrator
    its hard not to
    and it’s so hard to cut up the past into photo ops
    making a collage that resembles what must’ve happened
    to get us to this place, even if it didn’t
    nope, not the time, not the place
    so we lined up and now we do it in unison
    cause we think about framing

                                                         the audience

 

 

(c) Anna Beatrice Scott 2000

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