Conspiracy theorist hip hop

I was just listening to Cell Therapy by Goodie Mob and was struck by how many different conspiracy theories it contains - black helicopters, concentration camps, secret scientific experiments, New World Order, etc. I'm trying to work out when and why conspiracy theories really took hold in hip hop. My theory is that it was part of the general early 90s uptick following the publication of Behold a Pale Horse and the Waco siege, mixed with the ideas of the Nation of Islam and specifically the Nation of Gods and Earths. Now it's rampant, even among people who should know better - KRS-One is full of crazy talk.

Can anybody think of other examples where political consciousness shades into blatant conspiracy theory territory?

Some I've already thought of - Black Helicopters by Non Phixion, Crack Music by Kanye. And I don't mean conspiracy theories about hip hop itself (eg Jay-Z being a Mason, assorted Biggie and Tupac theories)

One of the craziest that I've come across is in Pharoahe Monch's remake of "Welcome to the Terrordome":

Poison your ventilation, cut your education
Secret information, world domination
Take over reservations
Trigger the energies in the oceans for tsunamis to control the population

I love Pharoahe and all, but does he seriously think the conspiracists can actually move the tectonic plates?! On the same album he also says he believes "Washington" has laced "condoms that they sell us" with the HIV virus... Now, the conspiracy theory that HIV was created in the lab to destroy black people is nothing new sure, but I'm not sure if he can explain how these HIV condoms would be sold to African-Americans only - unless he thinks Washington wants to kill everyone?

I don't think it's a coincidence that you guys started this thread under cover of the American night

"Trigger the energies in the oceans for tsunamis to control the population"

i heard this from a coworker recently. it was apparently to distract global attention from libya.

it occurs to me that when i'm talking about him in any, any other context at all i call that guy a friend but when i'm reporting batshit things i call him a 'coworker'

prodigy went nuts for this stuff

i suspect prodigy's obsession with the illuminati stems more from paranoia than political consciousness though

i got an email from an acquaintance telling me i need to leave japan because the US caused the earthquake and are planning to sink honshu and people are asleep and i need to wake up w/ like loads of batshit youtube videos showing liquefaction as proof that japan is being sunk by the US (or maybe Russia). so yeah people do actually believe this shit

Professor Griff ftw

Yeah, those late 80s Professor Griff interviews - Jew/jewellery etc - make me wonder about the link between codes and puns or rhymes and how the rapper's tendency to look for verbal connections can lead him down weird faux-etymological paths.

Ice Cube did a fair amount of this, claiming for instance (on "When Will They Shoot") that black assassins who shot black leaders were directed by whites.

I think Immortal Technique is quite guilty of this.

Definitely. Bin Laden is all over the place. I like his disclaimer though: "This ain't no alien conspiracy theory, this shit is real"

Semi-related question: There have been a lot of metal bands lately (High On Fire, Scar Symmetry, Embryonic Devourment) who are obsessed with one particular conspiracy theory - the idea, popularized by David Icke, that we're being secretly ruled by "reptoid" lizard men. Has this theory made much headway in hip-hop circles?

This is what happens when people won't crack a book unless there's a pyramid or a UFO on the cover.

I was so disappointed when the NME asked Big Boi to recommend a book recently and he said Behold a Pale Horse.

monch is pretty excellent for crazy conspiracies. rappers in general love to look for this kind of thing though. the late 90s was a great period for this. not sure how busta felt when 2000 came and there werent only 'two years left' anymore and everything was still standing. anyone remember the uk hip hop magazine fatboss? they even had david icke writing a column!

these lizards are mad cloaked

I don't know what to believe anymore.

Professor Griff ftw

― cloaca flocka flame (NickB), Thursday, June 23, 2011 5:14 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark

The little I recall of the first Professor Griff and the Last Asiatic Disciples album was him talking over a loop of The Revolution Will not Be Televised about how the government has developed the UPC code as a form of mind control.

Also Brand Nubian - The Gods Must Be Crazy

maybe my memory is bad but weren't jedi mind tricks into this shit too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZSSeK7LJk8

Oh man, Griff.

Paris, especially some of the tracks on Sonic Jihad. Here's an example from 'What Would You Do':

See you could witness the illuminati bodycount
Don't be surprised these is devils that I'm talkin' bout
You think a couple thousand lives mean shit to killers?
Nigga I swear to God we the ones - ain't no villains

Or any other word they think to demonize a country
Ain't no terror threat unless approval ratings slumpin'
So I'ma say it for the record we the ones that planned it
Ain't no other country took a part or had they hand in

David Banner - Seein Thangs, the best song off The Outsider.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zwhn6bVaWI

In a Chevy, I'm wondering if the Feds broke the levy
Are they in with the devil to control the weather?
Hurricanes and typhoons every other week
While po' folks are drowning in the middle of the street

what is it about Behold a Pale Horse that has some enthralled the hip hop community? I know Nas worships it too. I mean I understand culturally where the 'not trusting authority' comes from in the rap community, but William Cooper seems incongruous with a lot of the other conspiracy theories (i.e., drugs being placed into the ghetto by government, AIDS, et al)...

-so enthralled

bit of a tangent but i was listening to Stakes Is High and there's a line about "a meteor got more rights than my people"..... anyone know what that's refering to?

I always interpreted it as something like "any random inanimate object has more rights than we do." But maybe there's more to it.

it's a pun on meteorite: a meteor falls to earth, it gets a "rite", my people have no rights.

^^^these fucking guys

enta the stage

shit. zvookster i think that's it. de la getting deep again......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn--u1VFxp4