Logo
  • img_2114In this episode Kwasi brings back Dutty Bookman to discuss the movement he has helped dub as the Reggae Revival after a panel at SXSW 2027. He also speaks to Koro Fyah of the Bevel Rock camp about his ABC’s at SXSW as well. Bomani interviews the founder of the Uganda’s Bavubuka Foundation, Babaluku, and their chief archivist Gilbert Daniels about Hip-Hop in Uganda and the Lugaflow movement. Bomani and Kwasi also discuss spirituality in independent music, and how the community discusses things like sin. A must listen!

    https://www.mixnmasterradio.com

  • ariannaCheck out this great interview with story seller and director of Story Tapestries Arianna Ross. For two decades Arianna has brought the art of story telling to children throughout the country, and has become even more influential in arts education through her wonderful organizations that employs several artist to bring their artforms into the classrooms. Find out more about Arianna Ross here http://www.storytapestries.com/main.html

  • BARS-Instagram-wordpressHello fellow educators!  For well over 15 years I have been using hip-hop, poetry and multi-media disciplines to teach fun and informative workshops with all ages from kindergarteners to graduate students. As you know, the art of MC’ing is reliant on the ability to rearrange complex ideas into concise rhymes. If they done correctly, MC’s can make memorable rhymes that stick with the listener and inform them about the world around them. It is commonly believed that the art of hip-hop rhyming is an innate talent, but by using my program B.A.R.S. to apply the principles of the writing process, any student can be taught to rhyme on topic.

    B.A.R.S. workshops, residencies and teaching materials show students how a well- written essay resembles a well-written song, with the Main Idea being the thesis paragraph in an essay and a chorus/refrain/hook in a song, while the Supporting Details in an essay are just like the verses. Using my innovative B.A.R.S. techniques, students learn how to summarize any topic with a well organized paragraphs and rhymes.

    … Continue Reading

  • Meet Bomani
  • Baba Got B.A.R.S.
  • Urban Intalek Studios
  • MIXnMASTERradio

Preview & Pre-order the “Watermelon Man” Album

Watermelon Day

Watermelon DayAugust 3rd, 2019
It's Watermelon Day!

Recent Posts

  • A Story of How I Protected a Black Woman
  • Bomani Performs at the Worker’s Poetry Fest
  • The Writing Process at Wilson Baker
  • Armahs 2 Afrika iPad Raffle!
  • Cosby Defenders Sound Trumpian

6 A Story of How I Protected a Black Woman

  • January 6, 2019
  • by notarapper
  • · Uncategorized

This is a story of how I protected a Black woman. To be clear, I didn’t save this woman, she would’ve been okay if I was there or not. It was still my job to be there when she needed me. I’m not sharing this story to make myself a hero. I do think I’m a hero, but that is a fantasy I play for myself to stroke my own ego. The protection of Black women isn’t above and beyond the call of duty. This is an evolutionary responsibility of men to women. It’s how we have survived as a species. I just want people to know what it can look like. Next week I will share a story where I didn’t protect a black woman when I should’ve.

First of all, I love angry black women. People say they don’t like angry Black women, but that’s not true. People don’t want black women angry at THEM. When a black woman is angry at the same thing you’re angry at, she’s a natural resource. Give me one Harriet, one Ida B and Ella Baker over the whole Black Panther Party (which was mostly fueled by the work of Black Women anyway). Black women probably have more to be angry about than anyone else in our society.

Second of all, Black women aren’t “crazy” as a group. It’s actually a miracle that they aren’t considering what they have gone through and continue to go through. They battle historic racism, and try to navigate around stereotypes and glass ceilings on a continuous basis. This can be absolutely maddening. So let me get to the story…

I was in line at my bank with my BabaGotBARS T and my watermelon hat. A bank I’m not going to identify but it’s one of those banks that discriminates in its lending practices to Black people (I hope that narrowed it down). I had about five people in front of me including a black woman around my age directly in front of me in line. She was on the phone complaining loudly. I only made out the fact that something didn’t happen right at the bank a few minutes ago and she was here to rectify it.

I’ve worked as a teller. My first jobs ever were working at credit unions. I’ve given members the wrong amount, or entered the wrong information into an account more than a few times, so I empathize with tellers. I’ve also had irate customers who weren’t easy to deal with, who ended up being loud and wrong. The women who taught me the job made sure I learned how to be courteous and professional at all times. They reminded me that I am dealing with people’s livelihoods, so people will sometimes get emotional or irrational. That would not be my excuse to do the same as the teller.

Behind the bulletproof glass were two men, a Black man and a Latino man. Both seemed a little younger than me. Average teller age, if that makes sense. The lady in front and I got called up at the same time. She began explaining her situation to the teller on the right, the young Latino. I’m minding my own business, but it is obvious to everyone in the bank she is upset. She isn’t irate. She isn’t irrational. It’s just the 5th of the month and a check deposit she just made wasn’t done correctly. I’m in the bank on the 5th of the month and immediately empathize. I’m there to handle my rent check a few days late myself. Evidently, what ever transaction was messed up was done by my teller, the Black man, so the Latino man who was helping the sister who was upset asked if we could switch tellers so the teller who she worked with on her first trip to the bank could help rectify the situation.

I don’t remember what exactly was said, I want to say it was something about her giving him cash or a cashiers check and there being a hold put on it when it should’ve been available immediately. The reason she had come into the bank in the first place was to make a deposit she had planned on withdrawing from with an online check or debit card immediately. They went back and forth in louder than normal teller tones, but not full on argument. Then she raised her voice. Not in black woman battle tone. In, you’re messing with my money and I’m trying to keep it together, tone. A tone a teller should be able to ignore or de-escalate, if with nothing else than apology or a promise to solve the problem. “Why is there a hold?!” she inquired fervently. This man stared at her. Stared at her the way you stare at someone you’re squaring off with. Like she just said something about his mother and she had a few seconds to take it back or there would be repercussions. “Watch your attitude,” is what he said to her after the awkward silence a father gives his child who has come in past curfew. The teller in front of me snickered. This is when I knew I had to do something.

This sister wasn’t in physical danger. There was bulletproof glass and career opportunities between her and this man. This woman was not at a loss for words to defend herself. As she later explained in full Black woman force (the way they always have to in order to defend their existence in the world) she had two degrees and was working on a third. She was going to call a manager. Her neck was going to roll and her enemies heads were going to roll shortly there after. But these two men, sitting behind the counter, no matter how this scenario resolved, were going to call her a crazy-angry-loud-black-bitch when they debriefed each other later. It was obvious. They were going to walk away with their two-man consensus on this incident, and put her in a pile of other angry black women they’ve dismissed. I realized I needed to let them know that’s not what was going on here.

“Hey, you don’t talk to customers like that.”

“Excuse me?”

“You can’t talk to her like that. Like you’re her father. She’s your client. She has an issue. Be respectful.”

He stares at me. “Mind your business sir”.

“I’m making this my business. I don’t like how you’re talking to her. She has a legitimate concern about her money. Be respectful. Resolve her issue respectfully.”

“THANK YOU!”, yells the woman. “It took a damn man to check you. I want to speak to the manager!”. She continues to rant about how they’ve inconvenienced her and tells us who she is and she can’t be fucked with. I don’t mind that at all, because they were certainly trying to fuck with her. The teller then stares at me. Same father to rebuked child, scornful, “I’m about to smack the taste out of your mouth” stare. But mind you, he’s doing all this through bulletproof glass. He didn’t intimidate me by any means regardless, but it was even more of a joke getting this look from him when there isn’t the possibility for him to back up any of that silent barking with actual bite. “WE CAN STARE!” I yell at him after 10 seconds of awkward silence. The whole rest of the bank snickers at him, recognizing the ridiculousness of his posturing. He cowers quickly. Changes his whole energy. Goes back and gets a manager. The sister is now really heated, huffing and puffing, pacing in front of the teller window.

“You aight?”

“Yeah. Thank you.”

“No Worries. Breath.”

The manager comes out. She starts talking to him. My teller finishes my transaction so professionally they could’ve filmed the transaction for the next training video. I thank him. He doesn’t look me in the eye. I tell the manager, as he’s talking to the woman, that I witnessed the whole incident and his employee was completely out of line. I walk out. End scene.

I didn’t save her. I just let the world know she wasn’t crazy at the moment. That’s all she needed from me. She took care of the rest herself.

0 Bomani Performs at the Worker’s Poetry Fest

  • December 4, 2018
  • by notarapper
  • · Uncategorized

I had a great time performiing in Takoma Park for the Worker’s Poetry Fest!  I’m on first, but stick around for all the passionate performers were on point.

Work. It’s just a four-letter word for some people or a life’s calling for others. Work raises fundamental questions about workers’ rights, income inequality, and the pitfalls of capitalism. Please join us to hear local poets and labor activists read poems about work, including Bomani Armah, Sarah Browning, Yolanda Gee, Angelique Palmer, Brenardo Taylor, and Raymond Nat Turner.  Work. It’s just a four-letter word for some people or a life’s calling for others. Work raises fundamental questions about workers’ rights, income inequality, and the pitfalls of capitalism. Please join us to hear local poets and labor activists read poems about work, including Bomani Armah, Sarah Browning, Yolanda Gee, Angelique Palmer, Brenardo Taylor, and Raymond Nat Turner.

0 The Writing Process at Wilson Baker

  • November 29, 2018
  • by notarapper
  • · Uncategorized

One of the greatest joys in my life is working with thee wonderful students on Mondays this semester. We’re going to shoot a proper video for this track soon. Support the music and the movement!

BabaGotBARS.com

I’m

CHORUS

When I want to write something and my thoughts are all a mess

I put it all together with the writing process

I’ve got thoughts I must express or issues I must address

The way to do it best is the writing process

Pre-writing, Drafting, Revising, Editing, Publishing

Pre-writing, Drafting, Revising, Editing, Publishing

Pre-writing, Drafting, Revising, Editing, Publishing

Pre-writing, Drafting, Revising, Editing, Publishing

VERSE 1

When I’m pre-writing I’m brainstorming what’s going to happen

So before I start rapping I begin with mind mapping

Start by writing down on paper everything feel I like telling

No worries about grammar, punctuation, handwriting or spelling

Now my idea is in pieces this is the genesis

I’m turning my research into a working thesis

When I’ve gather ideas then I make an outline

This works for a letters, essays, books, speeches, or rhymes

The audience and the purpose sets me on the right path

Who am I writing for and what argument do I have

With those questions asked, I make my first draft

There’s no exact answer, this ain’t science or math

To perfect the tone and style I must revise it so I read it

I see what else is needed and what needs to be deleted

Like a garden when you water it and weed it, then I repeat it,

No reason to feel defeated, you’ll know when it is completed…

0 Armahs 2 Afrika iPad Raffle!

  • November 29, 2018
  • by notarapper
  • · Uncategorized

Screen Shot 2018-11-25 at 2.38.57 PMOlu and DeLa have been playing the drums since they learned to stand simply by pulling themselves up on the djembes they received as first birthday gifts.

They’ve been learning Malinke rhythms for the last four years from founder/artistic director, and Djembefola (Djembe Master) of Farafina Kan, Mahiri Fadjimba Keita.

Farafina Kan is booked to perform in Accra, Ghana a year from now, the week of February 24th 2019, to commemorate 400 years since the beginning of the transatlantic slave trade. As part of the Back 2 Africa Festival, sponsored by Adinkra Studios in Maryland USA and the Ghanaian tourism authority, they along with their brothers and sisters will be a part of a celebratory concert!

ipad-wifi-select-spacegray-201803_GEO_US

This is a great educational experience for Olu and DeLa as they conti

nue to learn about the Pan-African world they are growing into. So, we are asking our comm

unity to help get them there. Our friend, Yoach, has graciously donated a brand new iPad to be raffled off for as a fund raiser. We will do the raffle Friday night, on Facebook Live. Thanks so much for the support. Buy as many tickets as you can. Here’s a link to specs on the iPad.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/armahs-2-afrika-ipad-raffle-tickets-52993940302

3 Cosby Defenders Sound Trumpian

  • April 28, 2018
  • by notarapper
  • · Uncategorized

Cosby defenders sound like Trump defenders. Just like in much of Trump’s legal problems, all the most damning evidence against Cosby (both about drugging women and his attitudes towards drugging women) is from his own mouth. Whether him joking about Spanish fly on his stand up album or his Larry King interview, or him having a scene about spiking his barbecue sauce so his children get all excited with their spouses on the Cosby show, or his SWORN DEPOSITION when he discusses how he uses quaaludes, he is a man who thinks it’s humorous to drug a person unknowingly before having sex with them and has confessed to doing so. To be clear: even if a person comes to your room with the intention of having sex with you, it is illegal to drug that person without their knowledge or consent. This situation has now become a rape. Bill Cosby is a rapist. Let’s defend black men against a legal setup against them, but let’s not even appear to be suggesting that Cosby should get away with his crimes as some kind of racial reparation. Let’s get reparations. Let’s get rapist out of our society. He would’ve been convicted in Wakanda.

0 #NaPoMo 3/30 “Soft Language”

  • April 3, 2018
  • by notarapper
  • · Uncategorized

This is Bomani Armah, aka the Watermelon Man aka Baba Bomani. Happy National Poetry Month! Make sure to check out my songs about creative writing and get your “Writers Don’t Make Mistakes…” t-shirt! Click on the links below and also check out notarapper.com babagotbars.com

This is my 3/30 and it’s 16 bars on a topic I’ve been meaning to write about for a while.

SOFT LANGUAGE

“Slave owner” is to soft a use of language/

Doesn’t accurately describe the pain and the anguish/

The depravity and suffering in which we had to languish/

How slave owners made a banquet from our enslavement/

Your ancestor knocked on the door to get in this arrangement/

Mine woke up beaten, brainwashed and shackled in the basement/

They tell me to get over it, that those days are ancient/

But my pockets full of green photos of men who ain’t shit/

Held up as examples of morality and sincerity/

While practicing the worlds worst kinds of barbarity/

You can’t imagine the violence meted out with regularity/

All for the purpose of their own prosperity/

We never deal with the truth of their slave owning severity/

Why is the Declaration of Independence a parody?

Why must we respond to state sanctioned murder of black people with solidarity/

The founders were murderers, torturers and rapist of black people let’s say that for the clarity/

https://babagotbars.bandcamp.com/album/baba-got-bars-vol-i

0 Disillusioned White Man’s Spite and White Supremacy

  • March 22, 2018
  • by notarapper
  • · Uncategorized

Let me help the news with their headline. “Disillusioned white man blows up successful Black and Latino people for no apparent reason other than spite and white supremacy.”

After the sadistic murders of Anthony Stephan House and Draylen Mason, and injuries to a third Latina victim, the news reported that all the victims of the Austin bomber were Black or Latino. The bomber then detonated a different styled bomb (a trip wire) in a white neighborhood with no casualties. As someone who lived through the DC sniper hysteria (including a job that involved driving around in a white van) I remember something about how serial murderers operate. Back then, when the news reported that children weren’t targeted by the DC sniper, he went and shot a child at a school.

It is still the beginning of the investigation into why this young man was such a malicious killer, but I am going to keep a close eye on how the news portrays his story. I’m cynically expecting him to be a “lone wolf”, despite having obvious connections to the historical and current white supremacist movement through his internet browsing and book collection. I’m expecting news anchors to be surprised that a white man would bomb his black neighbors for no reason. But don’t let anyone tell you that it’s ridiculous that a 24 year old white man, upset at his lot in life, decided to take his frustration out on the successful black people around him. This is prototypical white supremacy behavior, and has been carried out for years. We live under a president who rose to political prominence simply from challenging the legitimacy of the first black president without any evidence to back his claim. We are just at the beginning of typical, Epic, white supremacy backlash in America. We would well as a country to familiarize ourselves with this behavior by reading the deep dark history of American domestic terrorism. Hug your family tight, and make sure you’re always doing something you love or for the people you love. We will not be terrorized. Peace.

0 New Rituals

  • February 7, 2018
  • by notarapper
  • · Uncategorized

ritual – n. a religious or solemn ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order.

We have rituals year round, but the winter is ritual central. Intentionally. The cold of European winters are the impetus for the festival that eventually became Christmas. The church moved the celebration of the birth of Christ to the winter to piggy-back off of an already existing and necessary ritual. The ritual, for many, is the key to breaking the winter blues. Ritual is a mood booster. It’s crucial in a cold cruel world. The world is never colder or crueler than in winter.

In the United States, where church and state are separate but our money says in “God We Trust”, we take our corporate rituals to heart. Some of our biggest rituals, Christmas, The Super Bowl, Valentines Day, are now inextricably tied into our national passion for consumerism. These days help us mark time and American business set sales projections. We openly talk about part of the ritual being able to view the new corporate art meant to sell us stuff. I’ve got products I want to sell, art I use to sell it with, and I would love for you to ritually give your money and attention to me. I realize I would be asking to much if I thought we can separate ourselves from these corporate rituals, but we have to make sure our rituals aren’t only the corporate ones.

Even the ritual of football itself is understandable. For many boys it’s their path into manhood, their lessons on teamwork and perseverance. Football is the chance for young men to use and push their bodies, something every growing person needs. There are generations of American boys who grow nostalgic around the all the sights smells and emotions that go with football.

The tart sweet smell of fresh cut grass.

The funk of the inside of your helmet.

The laps chanting and panting with your teammates.

The huddles.

The orange slices.

The screaming parents.

The mud caked into your cleats.

The pregame and halftime speeches.

The run through the tunnel and breaking through the banner to screaming fans.

The coin toss.

The kick off.

As fans of it we have our rituals. We know when to cheer, we know what food to expect. We know what friends and family we will see for the first time in a long time when our team is having it’s big game or the Super Bowl. We know who has what seats on the sofa and the big comfy chair

If we were anywhere else in the world our passion would be football (what we call soccer), or another time period it could’ve been lacrosse, or wrestling, or jousting. The culture around the sport pervades our language and our memories. Its highlight moments are frozen in time for us.

It is almost impossible to expect us to break from such an ingrained aspect of our society the way some people (including myself) think we should. But if it’s too much to break this time honored tradition, let’s at least make sure we are celebrating the non-corporate and pro-community rituals that we have always celebrated and are now creating.

My man Diallo Sumbry, and the family at Adinkra Cultural Art Studios , are starting what I hope will be a new ritual with their festival in Accra Ghana this month with the Backyard Band. Combining the ritual of African drumming, with the ritual of DC go-go music, and this new ritual of visiting where we came from. I’m starting to raise funds now to take my family on the same trip next February and make it an annual thing.

Ericka Bridgeford and the whole Baltimore Cease Fire movement, who take the time to make a city numb from drugs and violence aware of it’s self every time they memorialize a loss soul to violence with a Sacred Space or have one of their inspiring cease fire weekends. Congratulations to Baltimore for no murders this weekend (The second stretch at least this long this year). We are not going to be numb. We are going to keep education, healing and loving each other.

We’re about to partake in another revived ritual, the black movie. I remember how we came out for Spike Lee movies, Eddie Murphy movies, Denzel and Wesley Snipes movies, even the Morgan Freeman movies in the 80’s and 90’s. Our desire to break through the cold cruel representation of us in corporate media had us coming out in droves. I don’t want to end that ritual, I’m panning my Black Panther outfit and got my whole family tickets to a private screening, but I want to make sure I’m also putting as much energy into my communities 50th anniversary Kwanzaa celebration or my friends and former students albums and short-films. We need to create the same sense of urgency, and ritual, around those.

Last year’s Super Bowl was the last one I’ll probably ever watch on purpose. I fell asleep at halftime of the greatest Super Bowl comeback in history. To this day I haven’t felt a moment of regret. I’m avoiding explaining my politics around the NFL in this piece, because that is not the point I’m trying to make. That Super Bowl night was the first time in a long time I was with my two closest friends, basically my brothers, since the 5th and 10th grade respectively. We all have more children and responsibilities then we have time, but we made the time to try to observe this American ritual. It was great seeing them, it broke me out of the winter funk I was in at the time. Evidently it gave me a chance to get some much-needed rest. Getting together with my brothers is the human part of this corporate ritual I want to keep, and expand on, and make it a ritual of it’s own.

 

0 Don’t-Want-to-Think-too-Hard Piece on Justin Timberlakes Halftime Show

  • February 7, 2018
  • by notarapper
  • · Uncategorized

I got to get my Justin Timberlake thoughts out of my head or they are going to grow into an unbearable and unnecessary full-length think piece.

So here it is real quick:

1. Justin is Michael Jackson’s nightmare. I don’t blame Justin for being white and being addicted to performing the world’s most captivating music, but seeing him dance and sing on stage reminds me of the horrible dreams young Michael must’ve had since he was 8 or 9, waiting for the white man to replace him. Michael was a student of pop history. He knew it was a matter of time. I’m convinced he altered his appearance trying to be the white version of himself he knew America wanted.

2. Justin should’ve refused to do the Super Bowl without Janet. It is patently unfair that Janet Jackson was turned into the whore of Super Bowls past when Justin is the one who did the actual ripping away of the clothes to expose her breast. I think I can summarize the problem here simply with a bible story. You know that famous one where Jesus said “he who is without sin cast the first stone”? Well, before he said that to the mob trying to stone a women for fornicating he said (and I’m loosely translating) “Where the hell is the man? If she was fornicating there were two of them, right? WTF is wrong with y’all?”. That is what the world did to Janet, and Justin could’ve made up for being to cowardly to stand up for her by bringing her back out for this Super Bowl.

3. That Prince duet is still precisely what Prince demanded no one ever did with him. Okay, it wasn’t a hologram, but it was a tacky digital duet with a man who claimed a spiritual connection with his music and a hate for these kinds of displays. Justin valued a cheap gimmick to promote his album over respecting the wishes of one of our greatest icons.

Justin has now tarnished two of our greatest black musical icons in two Super Bowl performances. But knowing how America works, he probably has another 7 or 8 halftime shows left in him.

1 How Men Talk Publicly About Relationships.

  • January 24, 2018
  • by notarapper
  • · Uncategorized

I wanted to talk this morning about how men talk about our romantic relationships in the public sphere. Especially popular music and social media since the two are my profession and obsession respectively. I’m not going to really give relationship advice. I’m always wary of that, since relationships are so distinct to each couple having them, and because most people just rework cliché’s and or give advice that might be good for their specific experience. I can say I notice a trend about how men speak about our relationships in art and social media. I‘ve got notes on how the women do as well, but I’ll let them have that conversation amongst themselves.

First:

No more complaining about gold diggers if you’re flashing gold.

You can’t brag about buying out the bar while simultaneously complaining about thots all on you because of what you’ve got. This is obviously directed at the flashy rappers and the Instagram flossers. You can’t literally have gold around your neck, in clubs all the baller alert list all the time, and get mad that women are attracted to it. Your bank account is the gold mine and her stilettos are the pick axe. If you’re going to play the game, just be fair. Everyone at the club is taking part in an ancient mating ritual and financial transaction we all know the rules to. To be real, the entire game is set up unfairly. Our entire economy is setup to pay women less than what they are worth and make them rely on the money their husband makes. I personally have never had a problem finding the non-gold-digger crowd. Even those women want to make feel you have the potential to take care of yourself and a family before they invest in you. That should be expected. But if you’ve got it, and truly believe it ain’t tricking if you got it, then she’s not tricking either. You’ve both got what the other wants. Shake hands, or however you guys greet each other, and play fair.

I’m sure the women you’ve dated had tremendous problems, we all do, but the second thing we have got to start realizing is:

You are the common denominator in all of your failed relationships.

This is a rule for all genders and all relationships, and the hardest idea for me to come to grips with personally. I’ve been done wrong, numerous times. I can’t say that I deserved it. But when the same thing happens to me twice, I’ve got to start analyzing how I’m putting myself in that situation. This is true of all types of relationships (personal, business, romantic, etc.) and must be kept in mind when you’re being publically critical of all the bad women you’ve seemed to come across. There is some signal given, weakness exposed, or choice that you’ve made consistently that puts you in this predicament. Any public analysis of your dating problems should recognize that, if you’re honest. I’ve been the bad guy a few times in relationships as well. Never intentionally, so I try to never question the intentions of the women I’ve dated, just realize that we’re all trying to figure it out. Next:

Don’t talk bad publically about the mother of your children.

At no point does the person you had a child with stop being some type of reflection of you. She is at least a reflection of you at some point in your life. At some point you had sex with a woman you thought was worthy, or that the risk of the consequences of that sex was worth it. There is no way your problems with the mother of your child aren’t, on some basic level, a reflection of your decision-making skills (if not countless other skills). So, just in an attempt to make you look better, you should try not to let everyone know all your custody problems. I know some people need to know what’s going on in your life for safety and financial reasons etc., but not the general public. I’m not a lawyer, but I’m pretty sure that many men are running the risk of giving themselves legal problems by creating a hostile environment for the mother of their children in their public and social media discussions about them. Besides, you want to keep the possibility of having a cordial, if not constructive, relationship with your child’s mother open. Publically bashing her, even if seemingly justified, would never be helpful. Most importantly, keep that child’s business out of everyone else’s mouth. You’re creating a permanent record that other people will look up, find, and use in incredibly mean ways if they want to against your child. You might be okay with everyone knowing your business; there is no reason to tell everyone your child’s business. Lastly:

Women having their reformation, or revolution, are not the cause of your dating problems.

We cannot create a better black community, and better society as a whole, without women completely involved from the leadership to the grassroots, and we won’t create a better society in the black community if our idea of a better society is just a black version of the society that already exists. I am not interested in the dating and marriage rules of the 1850’s or the 1950’s. Both are antithetical for progress in our society. It is in our best interest that women’s ideas and talents are honed and used to the best service of our communities, and not just relegated to what we think they should be. Men, since the black power movement and before, have felt that women should stand behind us or out of the way as we freed ourselves and then came back to get them. That’s never going to happen that way, and we shouldn’t want it. When it comes down to it, the average woman has the interest of the men of her community at heart. When given greater opportunity and access, they will want to make the lives of their fathers, brothers, husbands and sons better. Even misogynist brag about this when they talk about what lengths their unwitting women will go to for them, or when they boast about all the mountains their mother has moved for them. We know that our women are an incredible asset, and I want them to be even more of one, for their sakes and ours. Them being paid equally will ultimately benefit us. Women being able to move about freely without the fear of rape or harassment will benefit us. Them using their resourcefulness and decision making that we laud them for, for the greater society through politics and not just in our homes, will benefit us.

That’s it. When you find the keys to peace and happiness in your relationship please feel free to share them. But let’s be careful about how we talk about each other. We’re on the same team.

0 Baby Jesus Would’ve Needed TPS (Mathew 2:13-23)

  • January 16, 2018
  • by notarapper
  • · Uncategorized

Thinking about Dr. King and his activism has me thinking even more about faith and civil rights. I am not a Christian. I have, however, been raised, loved and cared for from the beginning until now by them. I know a lot of their stories. I know how noble they have been in fighting for equal rights. There has been a version of Jesus that informed William Wilberforce and John Wesley’s opinion of slavery. This Jesus is the Jesus Charles Sheldon was referring to when he asked “What Would Jesus Do?”. This was the Jesus of the Disinherited that Howard Thurman wrote about. This is the Jesus that Martin Luther King Jr. served. This is the Jesus men like Rev. Barber invoke when they what would Jesus have done for immigrants.

Let’s be clear. People who believe in Jesus have also always been on the wrong side of the history of slavery and civil rights. From the religious settlers who brought slaves to Jamestown Virginia, or this country’s founders who compromised on slavery in their founding documents while holding Christian church services in the Capitol. The Klu Klux Klan, in its charter, is a Christian organization. For every civil rights preacher on Sunday you could find a minister trying to keep the status quo and using the bible to do so. For them, the answer to “What would Jesus Do?” was a completely different one than for Sheldon or Dr. King.

Why do so many people hear Jesus’ voice so differently? A different question that I have not seen asked or answered is: What was Jesus’ lived experience? As a non-believer, it seems like a fortuitous coincidence that Jesus’ lived experience mirrors that of so many people who need Temporary Protected Status right now. For a believer, especially those who say their faith informs all their decisions, I wonder if knowing what Jesus went through in terms of immigration would help you recognize his voice.

Let’s talk about the holy family’s escape to Egypt. For some backstory, the shepherds and the wise men were not the only ones who read the sign in the stars of a saviors birth. The man who ruled Israel, Herod, had Magi (magicians) who ask read the stars and warned him of a Israelite savior, a direct political threat to him. If you turn in your bibles to Mathew 2:13-23 it says:

13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”[a]

16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,

weeping and great mourning,

Rachel weeping for her children

and refusing to be comforted,

because they are no more.”[b]

19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

In the biblical story of Mary, Joseph and Jesus fleeing Israel for Egypt, they left because of the mortal danger to all young boys in their country. My El Salvadorian friends speak of the same terror in their home countries. In the biblical story, the holy family comes back to Israel when they feel it is safe. No time sooner. There is no mention of them having a problem with Egyptians in Egypt. If you read the Old Testament, you’ll know the writers of the Bible would’ve told us how evil the Egyptians were if they could’ve. Again, they fled in a time of danger and returned to their home country when they thought it was safe.

Just like our brothers and sister fleeing from El Salvador, Syria, Iraq and many other places, their lives and the lives of their children are in mortal danger due to dramatically violent political climates in their home countries. The blood is doubly on every US taxpayers hands because they are usually fleeing climates our government, through military and intelligence actions, have helped create. From our unfair trade laws with Haiti, Cuba and even the American territory Puerto Rico and our protracted drug war and it’s affect on Mexico and other South American countries, or our work to destabilize democratically elected governments throughout Africa, this country is more like Herod than it is like Jesus. It is like not letting your neighbor into your house late at night after you accidently (or purposefully) set theirs on fire. Remember, Jesus is the one Christians credit with the golden rule (Mathew 7:12 do unto others as you would have them do unto you).

While it is a great question to ask “What would Jesus do?”, after answering “What was Jesus’ lives experience?”, I would like to hear a believer tell me they think that Jesus is the one whispering in their ear that you should send families escaping death and destruction back into the pit of it.

0 Watermelon Day 2018 Planning Meeting

  • January 13, 2018
  • by notarapper
  • · Uncategorized

Peace family. Happy 2018. Wanted to say hello to everyone and give a few updates on what is going on with notarappe.com. First things first. Watermelon day 2018 will be Saturday August 4th 12pm this year. Our first planning meeting will be January 27th at 2pm at Sankofa Video and Books. Some of you watching will be getting a text, call, email or FB messenger from me about this meeting. Even if you don’t and want to attend, come through. The goal is to make Watermelon Day even more family friendly and fun than last year, with even less effort. I’m positive we can make that happen.

For those who don’t know, Watermelon Day is a celebration of summer, summer’s favorite fruit and everything Red Black and Green. It is not our invention. It was started by the National Watermelon Association (the NWA) but we’ve put our own spin on it.

Watermelon Day has evolved in a few directions over the years. This year we are focusing on community gardens, art integrated teaching and, of course, black books. We’ve had the pleasure of hosting amazing teaching artists on our stage every year, this year we’re going to do two stages. One out front on the porch facing Georgia Ave as usual, then another in the newly renovated backyard deck. We are currently looking for volunteers to help bring it all together.

If you know anyone who works in a community garden or has a garden of their own and wants to plant watermelon for Watermelon Day (we will provide the seeds) please let me know. If you would like to be a part of the setup and breakdown team, let me know. If you want to vend let me know. If you want to donate money to the festival hit me up. The first watermelon day planning meeting will be January 27th at 2pm at Sankofa Video & Books 2714 Georgia Ave NW Washington DC 20011. Peace!

0 Bomani & Sankofa Homeschool Collective Featured in the Washington Post.

  • November 9, 2017
  • by notarapper
  • · Uncategorized

This fall I was featured in this article in the Washington Post.  Check out a few paragraphs and then click the link!

Why we’re considering home schooling our biracial son by Tracy Jan

The declaration came emphatically, out of nowhere — dropped between sudsing his hair and rinsing out the shampoo with a plastic yellow duck full of water. “I’m not black,” my then 4-year-old son announced, while playing with his superhero figurines in the tub.

I assured him that not only was he black, because his daddy is black, but that he was also Chinese, like me. He wrinkled his nose and shook his head at this reality check. I was just as confused — where was all this coming from?

“If you’re not black and you’re not Chinese, what are you?” I asked, hoping he would not say “white.”

“I’m just Langston,” he answered.

Just Langston. My husband, Gerald, and I were inspired to name our son in honor of Langston Hughes while having lunch at Busboys and Poets immediately after learning we were having a boy. The restaurant’s name honors Hughes, who had worked as a busboy in a Washington hotel before he became a famous poet and leader of the Harlem Renaissance.

We wanted our child to have a strong appreciation of his cultural roots, and a name that reflected his heritage and our hopes for him. To me, a reporter who now writes about race for The Washington Post, and Gerald, a former high school history teacher, the name Langston was perfect. That afternoon, we bought two anthologies of Langston Hughes’s poetry — one for adults, one for children — from the restaurant’s companion bookstore and grew giddy anticipating all we would teach him.  Continue read here

 

0 New Single “EDP (Engineering Design Process)”

  • July 11, 2017
  • by notarapper
  • · Uncategorized

https://babagotbars.bandcamp.com/album/baba-got-bars

ASK the right questions, IMAGINE how to solve them,/

PLAN out each and every move/

CREATE a solution to the problem/

See what works and then IMPROVE/
VERSE 1
The first step of EDP is to ASK

What are the key elements in this task?

What is the problem, what have other people tried

What devices are similar, what lessons can that provide

What are things you can do and the things you can’t

Also known as limitations or as the restraints

ASK is the first EDP step

It’s mental exercise so you got to get our reps
CHORUS
VERSE 2
Second step of EDP is IMAGINE

Brainstorm what kind of gadget you want to happen

You’ve asked the right questions, now think up solutions

It’s good to take notes to watch your ideas evolution

The job of imagination is never really done

But when you have a list

of ideas you can pick

take your time so you pick the best one

IMAGINE is the 2nd EDP step

It’s mental exercise so you got to get your reps
3rd step of EDP is to PLAN

Best way to do it is a diagram

It’s the “design” of the engineering process

Fail to plan or plan to fail,

pay attention to details,

it will help your progress

Make a list of all the materials that you will need

The better you plan the more likely it is you’ll succeed

PLAN is the 3rd EDP step

It’s mental exercise so you got to get your reps
4th step of EDP is CREATE

You want to get it right so you concentrate

Follow the plan in step 3 precisely

If you planned out right maybe it just might come together nicely

To make sure that it works without a doubt

You have to a test run that means try it out

CREATE is the 4th EDP step

It’s mental exercise you got to get your reps
5th step of EDP is IMPROVE

Now that you finished your creation what’s your next move

You’ve pressed all the buttons, pulled all the levers

What works and What doesn’t?

What’s smooth and What’s buggin’?

What’s perfect and what could work better?

No matter the outcome, you’ve learned so that means that you win

Now take what you learned and do E – D – P over again

IMPROVE is the 5th EDP step

It’s mental exercise; you’ve got to get your reps

0 Notanupdate 7/6/17 #watermelonday2017

  • July 6, 2017
  • by notarapper
  • · Uncategorized

https://www.facebook.com/events/2023030784587624/?active_tab=about

Whats up! it’s Thursday July 6th/
And like any day you’re blessed to see, it’s a gift/
If I seem a bit excited, and just a bit crazed/
It’s cuz in 30 nights it will be Watermelon Day/
If you didn’t know about it I’ll explain it this way/
It was founded years ago by NWA/
Not Easy E, Dr. Dre and O’Shea
the national watermelon association of the USA/
It is celebrated on August 3rd/
But that’s a Wednesday this year and a party then is absurd/
So we make it first Saturday in August/
We do it every year, rain or shine, break or bust/
Any day with watermelon is a good look/
But we do it at Sankofa video Books/
…Cafe, so come out that day/
An see the black pride all on display/

since the watermelon is red black and green/
We make the most RBG show you’ve ever seen/
With music and activities for babies to the tweens/
hiphop for the old heads and everyone in between/
We start the day off hosted by Droopy/
the brokeballer, host with the most in DC/
Then a blessing and story telling from Baba C/
As he’s joined from drummers from a youth company/
hear reggae from Dejazmatch Kwasi/
talking repatriation and Haile selassi/
when Princess Best Speaks we all feel free/
Formerly known as Princess of Controversy/
and Black Root Underground is on the marquee/
with the Kuumba Kids guarantee you’ll move your feet/
also get the watermelon man performance from me/
Leftist is the headliner that you need to see/

So I’ve broke down the music and the art/
But if I’m in it from the start education plays a part/
So we incorporate that all the way into the day/
Having fun opportunities for kids to learn and play/
We’re reading children’s books so we went and got buddies/
at HU’s center for African studies/
They gathered books on ghana, and even made a list/
Will read some of them that Saturday, you don’t want to miss/
and then check this out right in the same spot/
Then HABESHA Inc, will lead a workshop/
Turning trash into treasure biodegradable pots/
Learn to be industrious, using what we’ve got/
After we do that it will be right in time/
To take the lessons we’ve learned and turn them into a rhyme/
A chance for all my young rappers to be superstars/
As they make a songs with Baba got bars!/Copy of Copy of running insta.jpg

0 MIXnMASTERradio Episode 10

  • June 21, 2017
  • by notarapper
  • · Uncategorized

Episode 10 features Jamaica based “Reggae Revival” artist, Kelissa, Ghana based, head of special projects of the Musicians Union of Ghana, Daddy Bosco, and Atlanta based artist, manager and entertainment attorney, Stacy Epps. This episode also features discussions of promoter/artist dispute at Best of the Best and comedian Bill Maher use of the word nigger. Is it ever okay? Listen and find out.Copy of Mixnmaster insta (3).jpg

0 Bill Maher’s Crash and Burn “House Nigga” Stunt

  • June 5, 2017
  • by notarapper
  • · Uncategorized

If a stuntman jumps the Grand Canyon on a bike, misses and breaks his body into a million pieces, it’s not anyones job to justify in retrospect why that jump was necessary or excuse the stunt mans culpability in his own death…

 

Louis C.K.’s “That nigger made the shit of this coffee” joke, is the best use of the word nigga by a white comedian in a joke I’ve heard. At no point can you consider it racist, unless you are truly one of the daft people who think a word has meaning outside it’s context. The joke is actually a humorous analysis of language, especially how black people use extreme negatives to express a positive (i.e. “that muthafucka Durant is unstoppable”). It’s amazing, because comedians are all itching to use the word. Every comedian is foaming at the mouth to use every word and concept that is taboo in America. It’s what makes innovative and interesting writing, finding ways to use words in a way that people never thought (especially if they think they are supposed to be offended by the word).

 

When my sister messaged me and asked me how I felt about Bill Maher calling himself a “house nigga“, I had to go look it up (since I’m not one of Pavlov’s dogs). In my head I was thinking/hoping he said something clever about working for the system to oppress his own, in a way that references Malcolm’s most famous use of that phrase. Instead, his quip immediately linked agricultural work to slavery. Instead of being insightful and clever, it denigrated everyone who has ever grown food, and made no reference to my hero (or his cause) who first made that term famous. He missed. Most importantly, he exposed his itchy “nigga” trigger finger. He’s been waiting for years for the moment to use that word and be able to yell afterwards “there’s no logical reason to be upset at that”, and he missed badly. There’s no reason to defend him, same reason there is no reason to feel bad for the stuntman who fails to jump his motorcycle across the Grand Canyon. He was well aware of the risk involved. He decided to ad-lib America’s most risky linguistic stunt (unlike Louis CK who must have worked on that bit for a while to perfect it).

 

I’ll admit I’m a fan of Bill Maher’s show. Not a fan of everything he says. On top of normal political disagreements with him, he talks way to much shit about Islam to never have a dissenting Islamic voice on his show, and he loves telling black people how much freedom we can reasonably expect. I am a fan of his undying commitment to making sure everyone says what they are thinking and we hash it out in public. There are millions who hate what Maher says (some of it rightly so), without recognizing that this is the theme and goal of his show.  I hope his show survives. It’s partly selfish. I want to get famous enough to get on it, and be the first black person to properly explain to Bill why asking blacks to support Hillary Clinton was stupid. That might not happen if he doesn’t recover from intentionally crashing his image of the end of a cliff.

 

0 Mix’n’Master Radio with Koro Fyah and Babaluku

  • April 29, 2017
  • by notarapper
  • · Bomani Albums · Uncategorized

img_2114In this episode Kwasi brings back Dutty Bookman to discuss the movement he has helped dub as the Reggae Revival after a panel at SXSW 2027. He also speaks to Koro Fyah of the Bevel Rock camp about his ABC’s at SXSW as well. Bomani interviews the founder of the Uganda’s Bavubuka Foundation, Babaluku, and their chief archivist Gilbert Daniels about Hip-Hop in Uganda and the Lugaflow movement. Bomani and Kwasi also discuss spirituality in independent music, and how the community discusses things like sin. A must listen!

https://www.mixnmasterradio.com

0 Baba Bomani show with Arianna Ross

  • February 3, 2017
  • by notarapper
  • · Bomani Albums · Uncategorized

ariannaCheck out this great interview with story seller and director of Story Tapestries Arianna Ross. For two decades Arianna has brought the art of story telling to children throughout the country, and has become even more influential in arts education through her wonderful organizations that employs several artist to bring their artforms into the classrooms. Find out more about Arianna Ross here http://www.storytapestries.com/main.html

0 Bomani launches MIXnMASTERradio

  • February 1, 2017
  • by notarapper
  • · Uncategorized

Mix N Master a platform to highlight independent music and the independent music contractor working throughout the African Diaspora. Mix N Master features music, interviews, information, artist exclusives and the ABCs of becoming an independent music professional.
… Continue Reading

0 Baba Bomani Show with Pat Cruz

  • January 26, 2017
  • by notarapper
  • · Uncategorized

Great interview with one of my favorite people Pat Cruz, the Innovation Director at Young Audiences of Maryland. If you have ever thought of turning your passion for the arts and for students into a career outside of the normal school system, this is the person you should meet and the interview you should listen to! We discuss her journey as a struggling immigrant ESL student to becoming at art teacher and now a key cog in one of the largest non-profit educational organizations in Maryland.

0 Baba Bomani Show sea 1 ep 7 with Mazi Mutafa

  • January 18, 2017
  • by notarapper
  • · Uncategorized

I apologize in advance for the poor sound quality. This was a great interview with Mazi, head of one of the foremost art and education non-profits in Washington D.C., Words Beats & Life. Listen as we discuss the genesis of his organization, and his educational experience as the “detention kid” in middle school, to his passion for speaking to the kid at the back of the room when he is in front of a school assembly. Learn more about the incredible work WBL is doing around the globe.

Page 1 of 6
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 6
Follow Bomani D. Armah on WordPress.com

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Amazon
  • iTunes
  • Bandcamp
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
Cancel