A new way to look at 5 MCs: Rick Ross, Styles P. Jasiri X., Jay Electronica, and 40 Glocc

I am quoted extensively today in a new MSNBC article on a subject that reveals much about the nature of American politics - the magnetic appeal and at times resistance to business leaders seeking public office.

Yes, it is rap’s equivalent of the hot tub time machine.

Where else could one find 1) a star rapper who while at the top of his game is also earning his Master’s in Energy Studies 2) a rare talent who once lived in California but is now thousands of miles away - giving new meaning to Wu-Tang Clan’s concept of a ‘Slang Doc’ – popularizing new phrases by combining English with native tongues and last but certainly not least, 3) a gifted female MC, poised to continue a global renaissance by balancing tradition with innovation?

50 years from October 1, 1960, the most iconic symbols of the most populous nation in Africa (150,000,000 strong) beyond political figures and influential kinship group leaders [Nigeria has 500 indigenous languages, two major religions (Christianity and Islam), and over 250 ethnic groups: Hausa, Fulani, Yoruba, Igbo (Ibo), Ijaw, Kanuri, Ibibio and Tiv among the most influential and populous] – are being produced by an emerging entertainment sector that has caught the attention of the world.

For understanding reality, I’ll take an entrepreneur motivated by self-preservation over an intellectual weighed down by book knowledge and a bunch of memorized quotes and phrases, any day of the week.

Managers and artists do still need each other, but a lot more growth is required from both, if things are to work and money is to be made.

For the last month two ‘non-albums’ have struck me as marking two eras in Hip-Hop: the Freddie Gibbs Str8 Killa EP on one hand, and the There Is No Competition: 2: The Grieving Music Mixtape 2 from Fabolous.

I have never encountered a Black American who in private discussion did not lament our disunited and divided economic condition when compared to the numerous ethnic immigrant populations who surround us and whom we interact with in America. I have also never had an honest discussion with anyone from another ethnic community – whether Arab, Jewish, African, ‘Korean, West Indian,’ or Indian who also did not acknowledge that they sometimes wonder why Black people in America do not do for ourselves, through trade and exchange.

I continue to miss Jude and wonder what he would be writing to the masses or advising world leaders to do in a world like this, at such a critical time as this.