“Today’s hip hop artists are potentially the most powerful leaders, because the youth are listening to rappers more than civic leaders or preachers. I admonish the preachers to “get out of the pulpit” and “stop preaching to the choir.” “Get out in the street and talk to our people.” “Don’t condemn them, teach them. Don’t condemn them, reform their thinking.” The sinister motives of the many record executives, who, as a result of their marketing domination and control over distribution determine musical content continually profiting from profanity, violence and degrading lyrics. “I suggest we start our own distribution companies and then place revolutionary ideas into the cultural mainstream of Black consciousness, which would then elevate the minds of our people.”
“Mao Tse Tung, one of the greatest revolutionaries of our time had a billion people to convert to his idea. What did he do? He saw the value of the cultural community. They took his ideas and put them in songs, put them in dance, put them in plays, put them in books and before you knew it, China became a great nation. We will never become a great nation without our artists. Our artists are the key not only to the liberation of Black people, but the liberation of humanity itself.” ---- The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s interview on BET’s “Meet The Faith program with host Jeff Johnson which aired on March 6, 2007 at the National House in Chicago, Illinois.
