Over the last year, I have reconciled myself to the idea that in order to move forward we must continuously look back to the past as our guide. We must constantly discover where we went wrong, and where we went right. I think its also important to celebrate the victories of the past so we won’t forget about the work that brought us to today. It may come as a shock to some, especially those who have been conditioned to always want something new, that the past is much more influential than the future. Not only is the past where we all come from, but it is all we will ever know. The future never comes and the present barely exists. After that, it’s all the past. All the important stuff in life, to us at least, already happened, if not yesterday then sometime before that. Even though all the best things that have happened to you in life so far, are in the past, some still hope eagerly for tomorrow as if it will ever come. We should build monuments today that honor the past to show respect to how far we’ve come. Of course we should move forward, but only to a better place than where we already were. If we don’t know where we’re coming from, how are we going to know where we’re going or at least why we’re headed in that direction?
Back in the day, I used to call the collection of video clips I assembled, Shades of Hip Hop. It was the first nationally distributed video mixtape series of its kind, and we even had a theme song. The three verse song was created in 1999, but only recorded as a live set once and still used on volumes starting with Da Goodness vol.#6. The verses were written by Kareem-Akbar, Mal-God, and Trash from Plainfield, NJ and recorded live at Tat’s aka (DMC Champion) DJ Mysterio’s house near Crescent Ave on a warm summer evening.
Shades of Hip Hop Anthem verse 2-3 (Mal-God and Trash for Kurt Nice, 1999)
- Many different Hip Hop Shades to crave, flava to the grave, over tracks that we blaze. (repeat)
No lights, just camera, action, women and smoke. Signed artists freestyle, plus them niggas that’s broke. Best of both worlds, underground to the top, interviews with crews and honeys by the flock, we blazed the thick blocks for Shades of Hip Hop. To them niggas that bit, keep your eyes off our dick, and catch the milk spit, and watch the guilt trip. While you’re stressin, I’m layin in some silk shit. Via satellite global raps attack. Visual tracks (be) putting Shades on the map. Static for ’99, Mal-God fade to black. Fade to black. Fade to black.
- Many different Hip Hop Shades to crave, flava to the grave, over tracks that we blaze. (repeat)
My shit, will drop like rain with every Shade of Hip Hop. Spit ya love if it’s hot and fuck it, if it’s not. I make niggas see pictures, how you can’t figure me. I’ll tell my future through my history, vividly, breathe divinity lyrically. Scholars in the game consider me, a star falling on this industry. Y’all gon’ remember me. My law is prepare for war and be sure how I walk, surround niggas like the walls of a morgue. And you gon’ see half the picture, after I chew fat with ya. I grab pistols like pens dealing with rap issues. My words is like caps if they hit you. If niggas want to take it there, y’all keep the idea. I make it physical. The game got my brain fucked up from all the changes. I used to want big wheels, now its Benzies and Ranges. Fans camcorded my life, to blow up and frame it. Shades of Hip Hop can make a nigga famous.
- Many different Hip Hop Shades to crave, flava to the grave, over tracks that we blaze. (repeat)
Kurt Nice
Kurt Nice aka Kurtiss Jackson is a behind the scenes pioneer in the Hip Hop Kulture, creating the first nationally distributed video mix tape series, Shades of Hip Hop, in the late 1990s. Since touring the country with the Stop the Violence Movement and the Temple of Hip Hop as KRS-ONE’s National Marketing Director, Kurt Nice has been a constant commentator on conscious Hip Hop and its relevance to the new rap music of today, through radio and cable appearances. contact Kurt at info@hiphoplives.net
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Kurt Nice aka Kurtiss Jackson is a behind the scenes pioneer in the Hip Hop Kulture, creating the first nationally distributed video mix tape series, Shades of Hip Hop, in the late 1990s. Since touring the country with the Stop the Violence Movement and the Temple of Hip Hop as KRS-ONE's National Marketing Director, Kurt Nice has been a constant commentator on conscious Hip Hop and its relevance to the new rap music of today, through radio and cable appearances. contact Kurt at info@hiphoplives.net
