P.S.A By Danny Hoch ©2002

This is a Public Service Announcement.

Okay… HIP-HOP IS NOT RAP…. motherfucker.

Hip-Hop is not Rap, Hip-Hop is not Rap, Hip-Hop is not Rap.

Hip-Hop is NOT what you see on TV, buy in a store or hear on the radio. You think Rap is Hip-Hop because you can buy it and take it home with you. But there is no culture in the world that you can buy off a shelf at Coconuts.

This is a Public Service Announcement

Hip-Hop does not wear diamond earrings. Diamond earrings that were mined by African children of war.

Hip-Hop does not wear clothes sewn by Haitian, Honduran, Asian and Dominican children of war.

You are not “Hip-Hop” if the clothes on your back cost more than the monthly salary of the people that MADE your clothes, motherfucker.

This is a Public Service Announcement

Hip-Hop does not jump up and down on the fucking stage at a concert, bouncing and yelling, and barking about drinking the cheapest French Cognac, that they don’t even DRINK- in fuckin’ France cause it’s so fuckin’ cheap.

This is a Public Service Announcement

Hip-Hop is the truth, as told by kidnapped Africans, with japanese technology, on stolen land, sent out to poor and rich youth all over the world, disguised as american products.

..and another thing, you’re not “underground” if your friends and family know where you live…

This is a Public Service Announcement

Hip-Hop does not send $25,000 checks to the Republican OR Democratic parties so you can act like the Conscious-Big-Willies that you THINK you are.

In Africa there’s young people with no money, no clean water, no food and their parents are dying from AIDS. But they’re trying their best to dress up in FAKE Fubu and FAKE Phat Pharm and FAKE Ecko so they can look nice to go to McDonalds and watch other people eat fake hamburgers, while you sending $25,000 checks to motherfuckers that don’t give a fuck about you. So don’t tell me you’re a fucking MC, cause you rap, motherfucker.

This is a Public Service Announcement

If Hip-Hop is American Cultural Imperialism all over the world, then WE-ARE-FUCKED, because Hip-Hop is resistance, Hip-Hop is revolution. Hip-Hop does not involve BUYING or OWNING anything.

Hip-Hop is not rap. There are (more than) seven elements of Hip-Hop and you cannot purchase them in the Source Fashion Catalog, and if you think I’m gonna say what they are on TV, you must be out of your fuckin’ mind.

Hip-Hop does not wear Sailing, Skiing or Camping apparel.

Okay let me start over…

This is a Public Service Announcement

..This is Whitey, and I am telling you: YES, it’s a conspiracy motherfucker!! You ain’t going sailing with me, you ain’t going camping with me and you ain’t going skiing with me, but you gonna buy my shit, and I’m smiling all the way to the bank motherfucker-

Excuse me.
This is a Public Service Announcement

Hip-Hop is not Rap. Hip-Hop does not make Kill Osama records. Hip-Hop does not wave American Flags when we get bombed. Hip-Hop does not OWN an American flag. Because the American flag used to own Africans, and still does. Hip-Hop does not join the Army, the Navy, the Air Force or the Marines, and Hip-Hop does not shoot poor people in other countries on behalf of some rich crackers at an oil company, ya brainwashed motherfuckers— ..okay, this is Whitey again… are you a person of color? Are you broke? How much can I pay you to shoot some other broke people of color in another country? I’ll pay you, so you can buy all the diamonds earrings, sailing apparel and cheap french cognac you want, but you still ain’t coming sailing with me and my family motherfucker!

excuse me.
This is a Public Service Announcement

Hip-Hop is locked up in prison and Hip-Hop is free. Hip-Hop is poor, and Hip-Hop is also rich. Hip-Hop is art. Rap costs money but Hip-Hop does not. Hip-Hop is education. Hip-Hop is law. Hip-Hop is health care. Hip-Hop is protest. Not just when some rappers show up at the protest to promote their new album. Hip-Hop is protest even when rappers don’t show up, and it’s just heads from the block, standing together in the rain and the cold.

This is a Public Service Announcement

There is a whole generation of Hip-Hop teachers, lawyers, doctors, social workers and people in jail. And they’re all MC’s.

Because the passing down of stories, love, healing and justice to the people- is a cermony. And they are masters. Masters of ceremony. MC’s.

The rest of us? Are just a bunch of rappers.

This is a Public Service Announcement