On Goodie Mob + The 1994 Crime Bill

In 1994, President Bill Clinton signed the Violent Crime and Law Enforcement Act - written, in part, by 2020 Presidential Democratic front runner Joe Biden - who was then Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. This was the Clinton Administration’s signature in the so - called War on Drugs. The Crime Bill was meant to thwart violence caused by drug trafficking on international and national levels. Internationally, Central and South American governments were funded with millions of U.S. dollars to arm and militarize their forces. Militarized policing became a means to justify eradicating drug trafficking and production below America’s southern border - but also led to extreme human right infractions.

The militarization of government forces was mirrored in the United States. Domestically, more than 100,000 police officers were hired, $9 billion dollars given to the maintenance and construction of prisons, and the Three Strikes law was introduced. The 1994 Crime Bill came at a time when Black communities were being destroyed by the crack epidemic; and unlike the sympathy evoked today for white addicts - there was no federal effort to help Black citizens suffering from addiction. The penalty was the same for both addict and criminal and meant mass incarceration at staggering rates for - most especially - Black men across America.

In 1995, Black men and women in the state of Georgia accounted for 90 and 40 percent of cocaine related arrests (white men and women 9 and 20 percent). This is an alarmingly high number, given that percentages based on race were fairly even across the board for arrests for methamphetamines and marijuana. Within the Atlanta Police Department - was the Red Dog Anti Drug Task Force - or simply Red Dog. Founded in the 80’s as an answer to the War on Drugs - Red Dog was known for its extremely violent and questionable tactics, “Overseas, trained assassins do search and seize, ain’t knockin’ or asking”, Khujo Goodie, Cell Therapy). It is difficult to find information about them except for a few articles about their disbandment in 2011 and an article from the Christian Science Monitor - which in 1989 wrote that the Red Dog, “. . . make[s] 600 arrests [monthly] in Atlanta’s most unruly neighborhoods.” These “unruly neighborhoods” were undoubtedly the now demolished and predominately Black housing projects around the city; Antoine Graves, Bowen, Martel, and Techwood Homes, Bankhead and Hollywood Courts, to name a few. In 1994 - with funding from the Crime Bill - police offers across the country received military training in order to combat drug cartels - and brought with them oppressive and violent police states within Black communities around Atlanta.

It can be argued that it is the responsibility of the artist to be political. In hip hop - one who takes on such a responsibility is called a "conscious rapper”; a title that often brings about images of crocheted backpacks, incense, kufis, and veiled misogyny. In the 90’s, it was the sub - genre seemingly reserved for Eastern rappers who talked Black empowerment theory over boom bap beats - at times with an underlying air of pretense hidden under intellect and metaphor; a Northern sensibility, if you will. And then, in 1995, Andre 3000 prophesied to a room full of beefing East and West coast rappers that “the South had something to say.” For Goodie Mob, what they had to say came in their debut album Soul Food and this was the new consciousness. It was rough and soulful and country and hood and prophetic and spiritual. It was Atlanta in a very intimate way. It was Southern rap stories.

The album is a narrative of Black Atlanta during the Clinton era. On Dirty South - the song that coined the term - we hear references to Red Dog and “dirty Bill Clinton” - and we immediately understand how lyrically bold and politically aware they are. The first single from the album was Cell Therapy, a title that refers to the medical procedure of implanting live cells with foreign objects. Every verse in the single mentions the New World Order - the favorite chant of conspiracy theorists around the world. However, it is easy and lazy to brush off the observations of Cell Therapy as merely conspiracy - as who else could understand the concept of the government monitoring - than Black men living in Atlanta in 1995?

“Listen to me now, believe me later on.” writes Khujo Goodie and today, when the entire world has shifted because of a pandemic- there’s a lot of time to consider the fact that some of what is discussed on Soul Food has come to pass. It is the argument of dystopian literature of whether the author predicts the future. Is it the question of whether Goodie Mob predicted curfews and paying for food with scanners. Larger than prediction is the keen social and political observation of these writers and the ability to . That they were able to tell the story of the social and political impacts of the 1994 Crime Bill on Black Atlanta.

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Tilted Crown : A Visual Poem for Trinidad Jame$

Have you ever tried to love a man who thinks that death is chasing him? 

I wrote Tilted Crown almost five years ago - as a response to finding myself consistently falling in love with musicians and trying to reconcile the misogynoir of rap music and the very intimate, yet tough love that can happen between a Black woman and Black man. When you are both whore and healer from an artistic and interpersonal sense. That is a heavy balance to love men who walk with the grim reaper - and it often leads you as a woman to give space and ask for little.  (Until you find the right partner - but that’s another post)

Honored to work in collaboration with @trinidadjamesgg in anticipation of his upcoming release Black Owned.

In the theme of Black Owned - this poem has always been a reminder to always remain in control of who I am as a woman and to never compromise myself for any external source. Only to love myself enough to offer the overflow. 

And to never let anyone play you for a fool. 

Many thanks to the amazing people who helped bring this together.