Member-only story
In Honor of X
I can remember hearing X’s growl and being hooked by his voice the first time I heard “Get At Me Dog” in 1998. “What must I go through to show you sh*t is real/And I ain’t really never gave a f*ck how n*ggas feel” sat in my chest, almost foreshadowing the years in front of me that would leave me traumatized from amerikkka’s War against African and other Indigenous People. What makes X one of the most beloved artists of his era was Earl’s ability to stay gritty and true to the streets while sharing his spirituality. In the history of The Continent, music serves a spiritual role and I believe Earl bore his soul and allowed the spirits of the Ancestors to speak to all of us through his music. The raspy bite of his cadence couldn’t drown out the pain X knew. His lived experience and subsequently his voice was a direct result of amerikkka’s War against African and other Indigenous People, and that’s what drew me to him; he was vulnerable. I had that same vulnerability and had perceived it as a weakness at such a young age but X gave me peace of mind that a loving heart wasn’t anything that made you weak but it made you real. X has always been loved by the people because he has always been one of us.
What we seeing is:
The streets, the cops, the system, harassment (uh-huh)
