American Revolutionaries in the Age of Obama: Stic.man of Dead Prez

While Barack Obama is surely an admirable person, his task as President is not enviable. Hunkered down in the Oval Office, he is now calculating with advisers as to how big a shovel he has to use to clean up all of the shit left around by his predecessor. And not only that, but how he will pay for the shovel? And, of course, which shit gets shoveled away first? And, after all, will these shovels even work?

Aside from those practical issues, Obama also has the burden of handling the emotions of the millions of Americans who embraced him wholeheartedly during his campaign, with their wallets and their hearts. The expectations are monumental on a national and international scale. Some expect a messiah, some a magician, and others, just a tax cut.

Even now, in these long-time pro-Obama circles, there are hints of disappointment floating – a near inevitability for the President, considering the volume of support he received from so many who were ready and willing to frame him as the way out of an eight-year coma. Some light public grumbling has already made its way through certain leftist venues over Obama's reluctance to comment on the situation in Gaza, while others were perhaps displeased at the proliferation of his cabinet by ex-Clintonites – Obama's former rival, after all, who was derided for her insider habits.

Now, as he is officially holding the reigns of power, legions of Obama supporters will come face-to-face with the reality that political compromise is going to be necessary, and much of their favored policy decisions will have to be delayed, if not killed off.

The unavoidable criticism of Obama from some of his former supporters for his inability – and surely, lack of desire - to be a leftist cure-all will likely be portrayed by most media outlets as a novel phenomenon, ripe for the picking by Republican spin artists. By necessity, however, this portrayal will discount the fact that there have always been those who are unrelated to Republican political gamesmanship that have always been unconvinced of Obama and his role in the political system.

“I think he is a charismatic brother and he even comes off as level-minded and fair, until you take into consideration a black power agenda. You have to say he is not really representing the black masses in terms of his agenda.” rapper and political activist Stic.Man told the New Madrid. “Maybe in his skin tone he is. But, shit, Obama and Bin Laden both have the same skin tone, for that matter.”


Best known for his time as one half of the rap group dead prez, Stic.man never exactly bought into the Obama hype that wooed large swaths of the entertainment industry. Given the history of his music, this is not exactly surprising.

Since breaking out in 2000, dead prez – comprise of stic.man and his associate, M1 - has released two full length albums while also collaborating with The Coup, Erykah Badu, and The Outlawz. On his own, stic.man has put out a solo album entitled “Man Hood,” authored a book on emceeing, and produced tracks for rap legend Nas.

Throughout, the group has retained a distinct identity, infusing their music with a stridently pro-black identity informed by both the tenets of the Black Panther Party and the work of “African internationalists” in the Uhuru Movement. Stic.man and M1 took that message and customized it, preaching healthy living and exercise as a path to self-determination amid their lyrical criticism of the American political and social systems.

For all intents and purposes, however, dead prez first emerged onto the national music scene with the blistering single “Hip-Hop” - an anthem for political change set to a rattling war call of a beat. With a chorus chanting that “it's bigger than hip-hop,” dead prez called for a full scale assault on the music industry and the political establishment – a haymaker from the rap world that came while the industry was swirling with songs lauding the spoils of the “system” dead.prez came to confront.

who shot biggie smalls?
If we dont get them, they gonna get us all
Im down for runnin up on them crackers in they city hall

These record labels slang our tapes like dope
You can be next in line, and signed, and still be writing rhymes and broke
You would rather have a lexus, some justice, a dream or some substance?
A beamer, a necklace or freedom? - Stic.man, “Hip Hop”

“Them crackers in they city hall.” On the radio and video versions of the song, the “c-word” was removed or obscured from broadcast, similar to its infamous “n-word” cousin. Instead, the sound of a record stopping filled the space so a listener without the unedited version – only available on the album - would hear the line “them [screech] in they city hall.”

Thus, the teeth of the lyrical assault were largely ripped out by some censor somewhere. The line was altered into the same boring general antipathy towards politicians that can be found in a John Mellancamp song - a pointless, throwaway sentiment without the guts of the unedited verse.

While the intentions of the word's removal are debatable, (is it a racial slur?) the result is telling. The censorship allows calls for criticism of a looming government sitting on a hill, but not if the face of that government is defined in color.

By now, we have all learned the mantra that Obama's election is a “historical” one, not just because of the massive voter excitement that propelled him into office, but also because that official face of government is black for the first time – the opposite color than that assumed by dead prez just a few years back.

The symbolism of the event is undeniably awesome, as a black man takes the Oval Office just a few decades after law books in this country insisted African-Americans were marginalized. As Obama begins to work in Washington, though, the structure of government is more or less the same, and - black face or white - the pressures of political compromise and expediency mean Obama must navigate the established realms of power, rather than entirely construct his own.

Now, the hope embodied by Obama is that “change” will come by wielding the system as a weapon against political obstacles, rather than instilling change by attacking the system with rhetorical guns blazing. Tactically, Obama tipped his hand in that regard when he stocked his arsenal with weapons like Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, John Podesta, and Rahm Emanuel. These are the game-players - those who know Washington politics - and not outsiders who seek to overhaul the institutions of power.

It is for these reasons that self-proclaimed black revolutionaries like stic.man are not lined up behind Obama. The system he heads is the same that they questioned before November 4 and the same they will question throughout Obama's time in office.

“I think so far he is helping a failing white power system have a last chance at being revived,” said stic.man in an e-mail interview. “And, if things are gonna be how they have been been under 43 prior white presidents, then my expectations are not high at all.”


“In fact, I'm gonna be preparing for the okee doke,” he added. “I encourage people to stay vigilant in their local and international organizing so that we can hold this administration accountable to the real needs of the people. I say that with humility and with all due respect to the historical nature of this time.”

The historicity is unavoidable, for good reason, but for stic.man, it takes a back seat to action on the issues he sees as relevant.

“I haven't really heard Obama speak out as to what his administration plans to do as it relates to the crisis of black males in this country. I haven't heard his stance on the recent or past police brutality issues at all, or the incarceration epidemic of our people. I did see where he was supposedly not in support of reparations,” said stic.man. “So I don't know what to expect but what we've been getting all along from the system.”

A still from the video for "Hip-Hop"
“Until i actually experience otherwise, my faith in these times is in what the people want to see happen not so much in what the 'President of U.S. Imperialism' is gonna do, ya dig?” he added. “What it it means for the country remains to be seen too.”

Obama's campaign touched largely on the same issues Democratic campaigns have in the past, while packaging them with skillful iterations of promises of “Hope” and “Change” in Washington, D.C.. By consequence, those issues often driving certain African-American activist circles often went under-acknowledged during the presidential race, like addressing significant incarceration rates for black males or calls for reparations for slavery.

Obama walked a fine line on those issues which often pigeonhole African-American politicians into inescapable policy conundrums, and the President sought to transcend racial issues and avoid controversial “race” topics at most times while taking the conservative route at others. When he spoke on the need for “responsible fatherhood” in African-American communities, he was infamously criticized by Rev. Jesse Jackson, who accused him of unnecessary pedantry.

The political negatives of this move were negligible, at least. Obama successfully mobilized African-American voters, who supported him in record numbers across the country. It is something akin to this mobilization that concerns stic.man most about the Obama administration, however. For him, the crisis created by the American system for the black community remains regardless of who is in charge – and buying in via Obama may further exacerbate the crisis, he argues.

“[My biggest concern is] that he will galvanize our people into believing in an American dream that denies our true right to freedom and self-determination,” said stic.man.

The slogan “Be Careful What you HOPE for” long adorned stic.man's e-mails and cyber-communiques throughout 2008 – a self-evident warning to Obama supporters.

It is undeniably clear stic.man has his reservations about an Obama administration, but what did he make of the administration's potential? Could it provide a self-proclaimed revolutionary with anything satisfactory?

When asked what his greatest wish for Obama was, he responded as follows:

“'Wish' as in miracles, right?” said Stic.man. “I wish Obama would be the spook who sat by the door and [that] he is gonna use the power of his office to expose the fundamental contradiction of the system as parasitic and imperialistic by nature.”

“[I wish] that he will free the political prisoners, give the indigenous brothers and sisters their land back, free the prisoners of war and those of conscious,” he continued. “That he will be a voice and proponent for the reparations movement. That he will have a revolutionary impact on the minds and lives of the people.”

“But thats big wishful thinking,” he added.

The idea of revolutionary impact is one that was subtly addressed throughout Obama's campaign, especially through its flirtations with popular culture. The iconic Shepherd Fairey-designed poster of Obama seems to channel socialist propaganda of the past, echoing Che Guevara gazing into the socialist future, while other campaign images appear to recall Soviet images of brighter days fuelled by sloganeering.

Stic.man remains doubtful that the Obama's goals of change are aligned with his. His own goals and message, for that matter, are not likely to be altered, even with the change in American leadership.

“It will be the same in principle,” he said of his work. “I will express what's on my heart...but, as i grow in understanding, so will the music. ”

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2009 will offer ample opportunities for that expression, as stic.man continues to work through his Atlanta-based BossUp production company. The forthcoming year will find stic.man working on a new book entitled “Rites of Passage for Black Boys” as well as a new dead prez album called “Information Age” and further collaboration with M1 on a “mini-album” project with DJ Green Lantern.

Fore more, visit BossUpBu.com

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