6/8/2023 0 Comments Soundbyte in rap songs heySome places we were just very unhappy in and didn't want to stay and were sent to other places. They were poor, so we were constantly shifted from place to place so that others could help share the responsibility. I think some people found two additional children to their own families a bit of a burden. GROSS: Why didn't you stay in one place for a long time?īELAFONTE: I think it was a matter of economics. Both extended family, as well as some strangers. GROSS: Were the families that you stayed with part of your extended family, or were they strangers?īELAFONTE: Both. We just went from place to place and never really established a sense of community and never stayed long enough with one family to have ourselves in some centered place. And plus, the fact that we never stayed in one place very long. And once again, there we were, thrust into the midst of strangers and people whom we didn't know and having to make it on our own, so to speak. What really bothered me was the fact that my mother had to leave us there. GROSS: What did you think of the idea of going to Jamaica?īELAFONTE: Well, I didn't mind the idea of going to Jamaica. And she felt that I would perhaps be safer in the mountains of Jamaica than I would be in the streets of New York and sent my brother and myself there. And that sent a horror through my mother. And was unconscious for a couple of days at - in Harlem Hospital. And at a very early age, I was hit by an automobile.īELAFONTE. Her children were left to the whims of the neighborhood and to the streets of New York. She was a domestic worker, a woman who was struggling to get over as an immigrant in this country. She was, for all intents and purposes, a single parent. He told me why when we spoke in 1993.īELAFONTE: Well, my mother was - my father was constantly away. When he was 5, his mother sent him to Jamaica. He was born in New York to a Jamaican mother and a father from Martinique. And in the '60s, Belafonte shifted his attention to the Civil Rights Movement while continuing to act and to appear on TV. GROSS: In the 1950s, Belafonte started his film career starring in such movies as "Carmen Jones" and "Odds Against Tomorrow." But there were few roles for Black actors then. Lift six-foot, seven-foot, eight-foot bunch. HARRY BELAFONTE: (Singing) Day, is a day, is a day, is a day, is a day, is a day-o. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DAY-O (THE BANANA BOAT SONG)") as a singer with his 1956 hits "Jamaica Farewell" and "The Banana Boat Song." He popularized calypso in America. Harry Belafonte first became known in the U.S. King gave his famous "I Have A Dream" speech. Belafonte helped organize the 1963 March on Washington, at which Dr. King didn't believe he could afford it," unquote. with Coretta Scott King as the beneficiary because Dr. He maintained a life insurance policy on the Reverend Dr. He helped underwrite the Civil Rights Movement, paying for freedom rides. In an appreciation in the Times, Wesley Morris described Belafonte as a folk hero, quote, "he understood how to dedicate his fame to a politics of accountability more tenaciously than any star of the civil rights era or in its wake. Belafonte's ascent to the upper echelon of show business was historic," unquote. His obituary in The New York Times said, quote, "at a time when segregation was still widespread and Black faces were still a rarity on screens large and small, Mr. We're going to listen back to the interview I recorded with him in 1993. Harry Belafonte, the famous singer, actor, producer and civil rights activist, died Tuesday of congestive heart failure. But by the time hip-hop crept into the 1990s, violent overtones were the norm in rap songs, drawing the ire of political pundits and activists who were appalled by the content featured in the culture's songs.(SOUNDBITE OF NAOMI MOON SIEGEL'S "IT'S NOT SAFE") began to popularize gangsta rap - was lighthearted jams for the party or based around cautionary tales and social commentary. While there were more than a few fearsome figures in rap, much of the music made prior to 1988 - when acts like N.W.A. Going back as early as pioneers like Melle Mel, who was one of the first street-certified MCs in rap, hip-hop had its fair share of imposing figures during the 1980s, including Just-Ice, Eric B., Big Daddy Kane and other legendary rap luminaries. Street cred can be attained through various means, but striking fear in others is one of the more prevalent - and effective - ways to go about being respected in the streets, as well as in the realm of hip-hop. The game has always placed a premium on street cred, which is a testament to one's reputation throughout the areas they frequent and beyond. Toughness has been an admirable trait in the world of hip-hop for quite some time.
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