"Message" lyrics
[Kabe Hiawatha Kamene:]
I have nothing but respect for our young people and what they're doing. My thing is, we as adults did not stand strong and on our square to bring our young people through this process. I know, I was the young person that had to fend for himself in the streets of New York. I know what happened, with our young people, I say, "Look I ain't mad at you", know no matter what I hear, I know that you are moving through a process because they are attempting to destroy the community so they're using you. They are buying you out. But we as adults, got to buy them back. I'm ready to compete with anybody for our young people's minds. And what we have to is change the paradigm of how we're interacting with them, deal with them from a heartfelt place where they can understand. You see because whether you realize it or not, it's you they're shooting in the streets. You, young brothers, they're the ones that are being shot. So with this entertainment or with this music, maybe I don't like what I hear, maybe that I don't like some of the words I hear, maybe that I don't like the direction, but I think they're doing a pretty good job considering that we, as men, the adult men, did not cover that when we should've covered that. And protected them when we should've protected them. And brought them up that so when we see an artist acting in a most inappropriate way, "Where is the father in this?", "Where is that male mentor that can be there?", We, as black men, must take on the responsibility as the honorable Elijah Muhammad told Malcolm is that a nation is only as strong as its weakest family. And we have got to create nations. We have to create relationships between the African man and the African woman that creates a viable nation.
I have nothing but respect for our young people and what they're doing. My thing is, we as adults did not stand strong and on our square to bring our young people through this process. I know, I was the young person that had to fend for himself in the streets of New York. I know what happened, with our young people, I say, "Look I ain't mad at you", know no matter what I hear, I know that you are moving through a process because they are attempting to destroy the community so they're using you. They are buying you out. But we as adults, got to buy them back. I'm ready to compete with anybody for our young people's minds. And what we have to is change the paradigm of how we're interacting with them, deal with them from a heartfelt place where they can understand. You see because whether you realize it or not, it's you they're shooting in the streets. You, young brothers, they're the ones that are being shot. So with this entertainment or with this music, maybe I don't like what I hear, maybe that I don't like some of the words I hear, maybe that I don't like the direction, but I think they're doing a pretty good job considering that we, as men, the adult men, did not cover that when we should've covered that. And protected them when we should've protected them. And brought them up that so when we see an artist acting in a most inappropriate way, "Where is the father in this?", "Where is that male mentor that can be there?", We, as black men, must take on the responsibility as the honorable Elijah Muhammad told Malcolm is that a nation is only as strong as its weakest family. And we have got to create nations. We have to create relationships between the African man and the African woman that creates a viable nation.
