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OPINION: Black America, Do You Recognize This Man?

Written by RK Byers on July 9, 2009 12:09 pm

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I used to keep a tight look on my face whenever the intro to Public Enemy’s “Night Of The Living Baseheads” played because they start that song with audio from Louis Farrakhan who’s saying about Black people that we’ve “lost our religion, our culture, our God…”

Well, yeah, we lost all those things. We’re still losing things to this day. And I mean, not just misplacing them, we’re losing them like we never even had them.

Enter James Marshall Hendrix.  He’s gone too. So gone, that I was once listening to one of those moronic music video television channels that was not BET and they were saying something along of the lines of “Jimi embraced his white side…” I started screaming “What white side??? The (N-Word) had TWO Black Parents!”

But that’s part of the brilliance of American Racism, I guess. It pulls the old George Orwell trick on you of making you believe that the thing you had up until five minutes ago was never yours to begin with. So when we go to mixed college parties and we hear Bob Marley (also gone) and Jimi, we might recognize Bob as the guy that made good “high” music for white boys but we don’t know Jimi at all. And who’s fault is that?

Oh, but I haven’t even told you who Jimi Hendrix is yet, huh? Google him, for Christ’s (also gone) sake! Check out his Wikipedia page. The man was the greatest guitarist of all-time and he was Black and if you can name more than three of his songs you either grew up around white people or you have really, really eclectic taste.

I’ll give you a few videos here at the bottom to get you started, but you’re really gonna have to do the bulk of this assignment on your own, friends. It’s worth it. At this rate, somebody like Zac Efron is gonna star in “All Eyez on Me-The Story of Tupac Shakur” and nobody’s gonna think there’s anything wrong with that at all.

Tags: Bob Marley, Louis Farrakhan, Public Enemy
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  • http://www.blackplanet.com/Robert967/ Robert967

    Jimi Hendrix was the man on the guitar.

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/ikidas/ ikidas

    While I can only name Purple Haze and the Star Spangled Banner from Woodstock 69′(I think) I know Jimi when I hear him. Guitarists all have a unique sound… None of them sound alike… Yes I graduated HS with mostly white people but I knew who Jimi was as a kid growing up as my family was and is relatively big supporters of all things black…. History was more than what the books showed in class and I appreciate those parties my family use to throw that evolved my knowledge of certain unmentionables of the black community… Many guitarists today STILL consider him the Greatest to ever hold a pick…. I am inclined to agree…

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/solsa_7/ solsa_7

    You don’t have to be white to recognize who Jimi Hindrix was LOL!! The world and music industry know his contribution and his legacy.Unfortunately most black people don’t..”sigh” Hell some unborn will say the same thing about Michael Jackson years from now.. Black America Do you recognize this man?!You have to know the history of your own people and protect it! And Sadly it was OUR FAULT for letting him slip away and for white people steal him from us like they stole every other musical art form and took the credit for that which black people created. Like Country, Jazz, Rock n Roll,Rhythm and Blues which was jimi’s influence & the father of Rock n Roll.
    Jimi Hendrix was Young Gifted and Black.(For all those who think he was white) He played and won at the Apollo lived in Harlem played with the Great Isley Brothers Sam Cooke,Jackie Wilson, Carlos Santana and many more. Jimmi Hendrix another black king of music history. By the way,what was Eddie Griffin’s standup called?
    VOODOO CHILD!!!!

    ….NEXT

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/soldier200x/ soldier200x

    uhhh let me quess Jimi Hendrix… lol

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/amazonwarrior23/ amazonwarrior23

    What moron doesn’t recognize Jimi Hendrix. A blind person could recognize Jimi Hendrix.It is also unfortunate that the author of that article thinks that a person had to ‘grow up around white people or have really, really eclectic’, to know his music. That kind of think has keep blacks on the other side for so long. That kind of thinking divides us as a people.Stop the stupidity.

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/The-Chocolate-Man/ The-Chocolate-Man

    Hendrix id badddddddddddddddddd! No one can plays guitar like Hendrix.

    Buy the way have you-all the Reggae Buss-MJ tribuit video on youtube. A combination tribute to Jamaican artist/Micheal Jackson in one.

    http://www.youtube.com/bsharpp2

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/coalman77/ coalman77

    All of that talent, and died at 27. What a waste.

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/steviedelray/ steviedelray

    I understand and concur with everything that the author has said. While there are those of us who know and revere Jimi, the mere lack of posts lets me know that there are FAR more young people who have no CLUE who Hendrix was, and furthermore, don’t care. If young folks knew and respected who he was, there would be more instrumentalists. If folks knew who he was, there would be a greater Black presence in rock music. If folks knew who he was, the CRAP that passes for music today would be replaced by something truly melodic. Don’t get it ensnarled, I appreciate those who posted before me, but dig this: you couldn’t get three young Black folks to tell you what brand of guitar Hendrix played, and you know it…PEACE.

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/sir_lucky_luciano/ sir_lucky_luciano

    There is no such thing as acting whit or black. Jimi was an African American with an eclectic taste for life. He wasn’t into being placed into a racial mold or stereotype. He did and wore what made him happy. He said what he felt was right. But we as African Americans are so caught up on being racially oppressed that we don’t see that we are oppressing ourselves. Giving our own people away. Outcasting them in their own community. It’s a damn shame when a nigga can’t even express himself because other niggas are tripping. Wanna go to college or speak in an articulate manner, but are afraid that other African Americans are going to call him a sell-out. Better yet, Uncle Tom. F**k That! Be who you are. Or as Devin the Dude would say it…”Do What The F**k You Wanna Do”! And I’m Gone!

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/SoularFlarez/ SoularFlarez

    Jazz to Blues to Rock n Roll (which WAS ours) to Soul and Funk to hiphop and R&B….

    to all the artists, singers, rappers and people who listen to and BUY music…….. we gotta start being more responsible with the music and reconize the power of the music and start adding more uplifting CONTENT into the music….. make somethin that will be worth listening to when ya grandkids around….and stop being content with this microwave-music that aint talken bout nuthin but BULLSH!T !!!!

  • http://www.blackplanet.com/shindogg/ shindogg

    jimi put it down. its jus 2 bad he dint live on and keep makin mo hits. i donno all of jimi’s songs but da wunz ive herd i adore. he put hiz whole self n2 hiz muzik. lets c sumbody from now do dat. closest ya c ta hendrix deez dayz iz prince and john mayer.

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