2+2=Mos Def

The main focus here is the second verse.

Yo, it's one universal law but two sides to every story
Three strikes and you be in for life, manditory
Four MC's murdered in the last four years
I ain't tryin to be the fifth one, the millenium is here
Yo it's 6 Million Ways to Die, from the seven deadly thrills
Eight year olds gettin found with {{.9 mils}}
It's 10 P.M., where your seeds at? What's the deal
He on the hill puffin krill to keep they belly filled
Light in the ass with heavy steel, sights on the pretty shit in life
Young soldiers tryin to earn they next stripe
When the average minimum wage is $5.15
You best believe you gotta find a new grind to get cream
The white unemployment rate, is nearly more than triple for black
so frontliners got they gun in your back
Bubblin crack, jewel theft and robbery to combat poverty
and end up in the global jail economy
Stiffer stipulations attached to each sentence
Budget cutbacks but increased police presence
And even if you get out of prison still livin
join the other five million under state supervision
This is business, no faces -- just lines and statistics
from your phone, your zip code, to S-S-I digits
The system break man, child, and women into figures
Two columns for who is, and who ain't niggaz
Numbers is hard to feel and they never have feelings
but you push too hard, even numbers got limits
Why did one straw break the camel's back? Here's the secret:
the million other straws underneath it - it's all mathematics

This song is by Mos Def, a North American rapper who’s respect and acclaim is probably greater than any other current artist yet he remains primarily in the underground scene despite exposure through music, movies, and television. Mos Def is most known for his extremely strong views on race relations, politics, society, culture, and global issues.

In this song Mos Def addresses several racial issue but due to complexity of his brand of rap it can sometimes be subtle. In the first portion of this piece he speaks of the rappers who have been killed in the public eye and how he does not want to follow suit. “The new millennium is here” is his hope that his people will change and grow out of the live that is typically associated with it. Now this is relevant to class material because of the Ethics of Jim Crowe and several of the videos we watched about the desire African Americans have to change the perception of them in the public eye, such as the sambo, pickininy, and Uncle. His belief is that African Americans have not grown out of this light but only changed those things that they’re associated with such as guns and drugs but what he has also done is related the seven deadly thrills, sins of course, to the fact that blacks desire those things. This takes us back to the stereotype of the violent crazed blacks that can’t control themselves and act on impulse described in several of the videos.

Next he addresses the financial issue blacks face in America. That being that many resort to theft and other poorly looked upon activities that have become glorified by their culture. The mentioning of soldiers looking for a stripe because young blacks are sometimes called soldiers and look to these activities to somehow earn something shows this. This again harkens back to the violent stereotype but, for me, makes a stronger reference to the belief of the ignorance of blacks and that they would believe this is something to be desired.

I’ll quickly talk about what he says about how the system is set up against blacks in terms of sentence, jail, and police. He believes that they are severely set up against blacks but what is interesting is the line “The system break man, child, and women into figures
Two columns for who is, and who ain't niggaz.” It suggests that there is some one deciding who is white and who isn’t. Much like the men who applied to be considered white there is a system set up to, as he says, decide “who is and who ain’t niggaz”.

With his last line he professes his hope that one day all this will change because of the pressure applied and injustices done. Which is where I really connect with the song. He spends this time building up his case providing the listener with different points and then finishes off with said hope.