“Soon we’ll find out who is the real revolutionaries . . . ’cause I don’t want my people to be tricked by mercenaries.” Bob Marley, Zimbabwe

Given that today is the day of recognition of Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday, I felt this to be the proper time to discuss a disturbing phenomenon that has become quite prevalent in hip-hop and r&b. That phenomenon is musical artists’ practice of making direct comparisons between themselves and Martin Luther King, Jr. (and often other late, great civil rights leaders). It’s happening more than a little bit, and if you haven’t noticed it, then you haven’t been listening…

Let’s take a look at Lil’ Wayne’s ‘Playing With Fire’ (from Tha Carter III). Wayne proclaims: “You know what they say, when you great it’s not murder it’s assassinate, so assassinate me bitch cuz I’m doing the same shit that Martin Luther King did checkin’ in the same hotel, in the same suite, bitch, same balcony like ‘Assassinate me, Bitch!’

For real, Wayne?? The SAME shit that MLK did? Word? Even if he is standing up to his enemies with unmitigated gall, it will never be the same thing that Martin Luther King did. Never! On the same album, in ‘Mr. Carter’, Jay-Z similarly sticks his chest out, saying: “Now my name’s being mentioned with the martyrs–the Biggies and the Pacs and the Marley’s and the Marcuses (Garveys)…” Okay, so there are a number of things wrong with this line, most of which spark debate appropriate for another time. However, I think it’s safe to say that Jay-Z is not on the level of Marcus Garvey (and by the way, who is this that he heard mentioning his name alongside Marcus Garvey’s??– I for one have never heard anyone say that). I mean, Marcus Garvey spawned the entire Black Nationalism movement. While Jay has done significant humanitarian work (see his Water for Life campaign), and his ‘Minority Report’ was a passionate, insightful response to the Hurricane Katrina debacle, this does not a Garvey make.

And these aren’t the only examples. Unfortunately, this inappropriate name-dropping practice now has years of history. I first took notice of it upon hearing ‘Upgrade You.’ At the beginning of the second verse, B attests: “I can do for you what Martin did for the people.” She then proceeds to explain her intention to switch a certain fellow from ordinary neck ties to Purple Labels, and to ‘Audemars Piguet’ him (that is, to have him rockin Swiss luxury watches). Ummm, when Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated he was in the process of organizing a Poor People’s March. I’m sure he wasn’t contemplating leading his people (that’s us) into the depths of the uber-materialism championed by this song. This is decidedly NOT what Martin did for the people. That is not to say that I don’t get the obvious surface-level comparison. . . that Martin upgraded the people, and she will also upgrade her love-interest. I get it. And IT’S STILL NOT OK because the two feats are not remotely comparable.

Shortly after that line, the radio treated us to another such reference. This time from Fabolous. On his ‘Make Me Better’ (featuring Ne-Yo), F.A.B.O. emphatically states: “I’mma need Coretta Scott if I’m gon be King.” Now, giving Fabolous the benefit of the doubt, this statement perhaps expresses the sentiment that if a man hopes to become great, he needs to have a great woman by his side. That’s all well and good. However, the statement is nevertheless tainted in that it’s laced with the absurd implication that anything Fabolous does can be compared to the contributions made by Martin Luther King, Jr. Negative, Fab-O. Negative. Now again, the surface-level comparison is there. Fab could just be saying that he’s going to be a king, not like Martin Luther THE King, but bringing Coretta Scott King into it channels Martin Luther King, Jr. on purpose– and that’s the problem.

But as much as we wish they were, these were not the first such references. On Lil Kim’s ‘Whoa’ she describes her stature as follows: “stand behind Martin Luther King but I’m more like Malcolm X, guerillas beatin’ on they chests, get it right, I’m Malcolm X.” Okay Kim, HOW, pray tell, are you Malcolm X??? (sorry but I needed three question marks for that one). You have GOT to be kidding me. The naked truth is that an arrest for perjury and serving one year and a day in prison does not make you Malcolm X incarnate, or make you even remotely Malcolm X-esque. Maybe a female version of Detroit Red… Maybe. But that’s about as much as I’ll give you. By the way, in case you don’t remember, the hook of this song is:

“My niggaz, pull triggers, stack figures whoa whoa whoa
Snitch niggaz, broke niggaz NOT my niggaz no no no
In the club we, sippin Don P, sittin lovely oh whoa whoa
Sexy ladies, goin crazy, cause the beat’s like whoa whoa whoa”

I’ll give you a hundred dollars if you can find the Malcolm/Martin influence in that. Obviously I see the meaning behind this line–that Kim adheres more to Malcolm’s original ‘by any means necessary’ philosophy, than Martin’s turn-the-other cheek approach. However, I would rather that the claim “I’m Malcolm X” had never been made by Lil Kim.

Which brings me to my next example (yeah, it don’t stop). On the opening track of his Graduation album, Kanye channels El-Hajj Malik-Shabazz, saying of himself: “I’m like a fly Malcolm X — buy any jeans necessary.” Admittedly a clever line (referencing Malcom’s “By Any Means Necessary”) — but still inappropriate. Now, Kanye is a tricky one. I mean, after all, he did expose W’s feelings about Black people on national television in a buck-the-system kind of way. And on Late Registration’s Crack Music he did suggest that we should look to Ronald Reagan for answers as to what actually suppressed the Black Panther Party. So on occasion Kanye is not your typical, say-nothing artist out there wasting bars. But that’s ALL he is. He’s never been in danger of being killed for his beliefs. He himself even declared that he’s not political (lest any of us get it twisted). So there’s no reason he should be out here calling himself any type of Malcolm X–not even a fly one. Not even if it was clever.

Now, I’ve spent many a daytime minute discussing this phenomenon, and many have called me silly, over-sensitive, and even crazy for taking issue with these lyrics. Many contend that lyrics–especially hip-hop lyrics, are simply clever for cleverness sake, and should not be taken seriously. One even said (and I quote): “yeah it’s kind of wrong, but people expect that kind of ignorance from hip-hop.” Hmmm, ok that may be true. And these opinions almost convinced me to let it go. Especially when I remembered the words that Malcolm X wrote to a friend while visiting Africa: “[t]he main thing is that we keep a United Front wherein our most valuable time and energy will not be wasted fighting each other.”

While Malcolm was definitely on to something with that statement, I still must contend that songs are important–perhaps even more important than we give them credit for. Songs reach and influence millions of people. Tha Carter III was the highest-selling hip-hop album of 2008, and is in contention for the Album of the Year Grammy award. Many of the kids I know can sing most of the lyrics to all of the aforementioned songs (when they need to go sit down somewhere and do their homework). Songs also have the potential to elevate or to debase, and it greatly cheapens the contributions of our dearest martyrs to have their names bandied about willy-nilly in radio fodder. Have we lost sight of what these leaders were all about and how significant they actually were? I mean, is nothing sacred anymore? How did we even get here? Perhaps where we went wrong was naming streets after Martin Luther King and Malcolm X throughout the U.S. and then regularly allowing acts of violence to be committed and drugs to be sold on them (see the ‘I’m so Hood’ Remix where Birdman kicks his verse off by saying “Martin Luther King” –apparently it’s one of the streets where he’s “gettin that money with a triple beam”).

Anyway, there are so many people to refer to in songs other than those leaders who sacrificed so much to help us move towards true freedom. If you’re so clever, think of other names to drop. And by the way, how are you, Mr./Ms. artist who loves to talk about how many bricks you’ve sold, the size of your rims, how fly you are, or how much money you have even able to refer to yourself in the same breath as the likes of Martin Luther King, Jr., or Malcolm X? They were arrested numerous times, and ultimately gave their lives in the struggle for their people. What have you sacrificed? Are you willing to die for any noble cause? Have you ever stood up to this system that continues to exploit minorities, most specifically Black people? If so, I would love to hear you make a song about it. Until then, as a birthday present, Martin Luther King, Jr. asked me to deliver the following message to you (and forgive my language because he said for me to say it just like this): “Keep my name outcho mutha-f*#kin mouth!!” I’m sure Malcolm X and Marcus Garvey co-sign that. Peace.