Indigenous Inferior (Punching Down, Way Down)
Here is the Native-American diss track (YouTube link below). Remember, it is rapped from the perspective of a character I call "John Smith." John Smith is NOT me. Read my contextualizing message below
Message to listeners
Brace yourself for Ether/Hit Em Up 2.0!
This Native-American diss track is spoken from the perspective of a villainous character I call "John Smith"—yes, like the 17th century explorer famous for saying that a young native girl named “Pocahontas” rescued him after he was captured by the Powhatan. John Smith does not represent my views, which should be obvious. I mean: who rails against Native Americans? Ahahaha.
This track is an exercise in playful and provocative artistic expression, yet it serves several purposeful objectives. Here are five that stand out to my mind.
(1) My crewmate C-Ride, just a few weeks ago (on Thanksgiving), released an instrumental album in celebration of indigenous peoples across the Americas: No Way Off. I originally envisioned my diss track as a way to give that album negative publicity. Think of those "heel" wrestlers in the WWF back in the day: characters like Iron Sheik (the anti-American foil to pro-American wrestlers like Sgt. Slaughter and Hulk Hogan). I intend for John Smith to play this heel role for the “face” act: my crewmate C-Ride (who, as with Hulk Hogan, everyone is going to stand behind). You can find links to C-Ride’s material here:
youtube.com/channel/UCIRZfdHm9LV-9LsBdMpOfww
(2) I want to draw attention to the disproportionate exploitation of indigenous women as well as to the true-crime youtubers (like @KendallRae) who have dedicated significant efforts to bringing these injustices to light.
(3) The track also serves as a commentary on the genre of diss tracks in rap music. Obviously, I have no problem with offensive art. However, a lot of us who consume rap music uncritically embrace diss tracks (as well as just a lot of the regular hypersexual and hyperviolent tracks), singing along with them even as they stoop to what people today would call "problematic" extremes. What especially pisses me off is when these same ones who chant the most vile of rap lyrics get apoplectic when they read some of my unsettling poetry or when they go into college classrooms and confront unpalatable topics and statistics (or simply Mark Twain using certain words). The hypocrisy is ridiculous and it alerts us to the fact that so much of the claims of outrage amount merely to performative opportunism.
(4) I want to make sure the circumference of what we can say in art stays wide. This heinous track is meant as a sort of F-you to the cancellers, who have so far done more damage to our culture (and especially to institutions of higher learning) than the McCarthyists have done during the entire Red Scare. Free speech is crucial for learning, for figuring things out. Let me give one poignant example. In the song John Smith present a social-Darwinist line of attack: whites are superior, in effect, since they are the ones who kicked ass. A lot of the people in the rap community might be especially impacted by this. In gangster rap especially, “survival of the fittest” (as in the Mobb Deep song of that same name) is a cherished concept. Hopefully the John Smith song will force them to question their Social Darwinist presumptions. I mean they can’t maintain both views at once: the ones who are tougher and survive are the best, on the one hand, and that whites are scum compared to the Native Americans, on the other hand. Perhaps they will realize, among other things, that what survives—what is fittest in a certain milieu—is often, as Nietzsche likes to point out, the mediocre. Look at the “fittest” (as in most popular) music today: it is pop crap. Just because it has conquered and virtually wiped out Mozart does not mean it is superior.
(5) My mission has long been to highlight the importance of diversity—real diversity (especially viewpoint diversity), rather than the superficial diversity widely touted today (and which serve an anti-diversity agenda). The track does fights for diversity in several ways. I already explained that it serves the purpose of pushing back against the narrowing of what we are allowed to say. But since it does contain a lot of potentially unnerving truths (like that natives did not have glass or beads or iron), it pushes us to face what special things they do bring to the table. They might not have had the level of technology or the advanced mathematics of whites, but surely they filled in important gaps not so prominent in Enlightenment European culture such as prioritization of community over individuality, or emphasis on sustainable living (one thinks of crop rotation, especially), or advanced ability to track animals down for the kill, or so on).
Indigenous Inferior (Punching Down, Way Down)
Verse 1
I’m (b)done with seeing you scum, drunk bums (b)greyhound bus slumped. Ughk. (b)Throats of the “first Na(b)tions” ^should’ve been wrung in^stead of lifted out of the dung. (b)Teaching your young something (b)less dumb than that (b)ah wah wah wah tongue. ^Instructin em, ^as if an injun could ^handle mathe(b)matical sums? <swing> Native flame snuffed (b)would’ve being just. Ex(b)termination (b)would’ve been fun. (b)redskins totem strung, roped up in (b)Seahawk sun punched the fuck up. (b)Bodies flung, glutted graves ^sunk in (b)rain-dance mud. Out(b)done by the European number ones. Reser(b)vations?! You (b)lucky fucks! You should be (b)paying us for ^showing up with (b)Jesus love. Vermin, bugs—^should’ve killed (b)all your sons playing (b)infant punt, daughters plucked ^for a little (b)sumpin sump. Burning^ huts (b)on the hunt for Wampa(b)noag runts who can’t help but suck, <swing> [emphasize each word before em dahs] corn-husk dolls clutched—like they (b)teasing us. Poca-^hyne sluts ^too much in a rush for white nut. They ^jump to spread them ^buns. Yuck-(b)y jung^le musk, (b)monkey funk—straight (b)sprung. ^Liking it rough as ^one can tell just by the grunts. (B)lust for that white (b)spunk ^stuffed all (b)up in them ^guts (b)crushed like ^porn hub. Trust: after (b)white erupts there be (b)knife thrusts—no front. ^Spit in disgust. ^Who the fuck would want some ^mongrel mutt? <(swallow) staccato> (b)Christian cum, Ho(b)pi blood, ^in the (b)pueblo dust. (b)Never enough Yakama chunks in the (b)salmon run. (b)Blanket crust, small pox(b) puss—straight (b)punked. That’s (b)why I love true-crime stuff. Sky (b)Foot and Dan^cing Drum, Bear ^Claw and Ro(b)lling Plum, Snake (b)Dance and Chicken Cluck—tribal ^bitches (b)all on drugs great (b)to abduct. (b)Hushed and touched. (b)Pussies munched. Cam(b)corder smut. (b)<syncopation> Cut in hunks,^ stu(b)ffed in trunks bagged (b)up and dumped. It’s a (b)must to hose out the (b)bed of the truck. <staccato> (b)Fire-pit clothes com(b)bust. Tur^quoise rings (b)in a rut. Watching (b)Kendall Rae, ^yup, (b)puffin a blunt I be like “What!? Yo, (b)that what’s up!” <staccato> (b)Kill them in-di-gen-ous (b)cunts!
Chorus
East to west, the best conquering the rest.
Let’s face it: indigenous inferior.
Pests undressed: guess we’ll take this next
Let’s face it: indigenous inferior.
Look what’s left: wrecked drunks depressed
Let’s face it: indigenous inferior.
White man’s quest: blessed fate manifest
Let’s face it: indigenous inferior.
Verse 2
(B)Boarding school graves they can’t behave, brains on the chase like apes (b)not on the page where Cray-ola flesh-tone is (b)peach-beige. (b)boys with braids like gays, heads^ shaved—(B)lice eggs. Not (b)Abel but Cain. A (b)race depraved unable face that ^Jesus reigns and its ^time to bathe. Trail of (b)Tears Yay! Rocks(b) aimed ^domepiece—(b)bang. You ^fucking stank. ^Hu-mil-i-at-ing spanks. (b)Tes-ti-cle ^yank, wangs (b)chopped on planks. (b)Wigwams and tepees ablaze. ^Celebrate decayed demons dis(b)placed. E(b)rased ^native paths paved ^as the flag waves: ^red white blue brave an ^amazing day and age of ^wifi cafes. But they (b)spit at what we gave! Plates, ^horses, sugar(b)cane, ^beads guns (b)planes ^laws to arbitrate ^land claims. ^Twig and clay living ^space replaced by brick nails,^ and glass(b)panes and ^paint art that doesn’t look ^made by someone eight. (b)jank-y half^-sank canoes on the bank under (b)ships of rank. (b)minds much more awake than those with mouths a(b)gape—^like automata what’s behind is (b)blank, which is why its (b)okay to bake them at the (b)stake. Chero(b)kee owned ^black slaves, then complain (b)“white man is to blame.” Oh (b)give me a break! They’re an (b)ethnic bane. (b)Raging mistakes until the real man came, re-(b)shap-ing the way: his crusade to save (maybe shaking these snakes from their (b)scalp trade). (swing>)(b)Ritual torture in (b)Mohawk caves. Ca(b)manche going out on (b)psycho raids. (b)Rival tribe women (b) Sioux would rape and yet (b)everyday they play the same (b)innocent game. Ana(b)sazi like to ^fake like they aint “engage” human remains, but (b)archeologists know (b)what they ate. (b)Cannibalism straight from the zoo ^cage. (b)Case after case conveys: eradi^cating such (b)cra-zies keeps us (b)safe. When they (b)cant hang ^Inuit (b)moms run a^way leaving (b)infants for days on (b)ice drifts a^fraid: their (b)gamey taste polar (b)bears crave. But at (b)least that’s ^an escape (b)for the pain. Skank (b)basket case. Sadistic in^sane. For (b)its sake ^they couldn’t drain its veins first, (B)something mo^re humane? Nah, them ^bitches leave it awake—the in(b)evitable delayed, (b)husbands now got a (b)milk bank. (b)Christ already paid for their sins, he forgave. So (b)pray they give ^thanks—other(b)wise a date inside a (b)forsaken ^fire lake. ^Yet what do they embrace? The (b)answer would be easy in cha(b)rades: ^cliche liquid chains. Space (b)Bag Caber^net. <staccato> No wonder so ^much liquor’s (b)named after ^these social (b)weights: ^Mohawk Vodka to ^Buffalo Trace.
Chorus
East to west, the best conquering the rest.
Let’s face it: indigenous inferior.
Pests undressed: guess we’ll take this next
Let’s face it: indigenous inferior.
Look what’s left: wrecked drunks depressed
Let’s face it: indigenous inferior.
White man’s quest: blessed fate manifest
Let’s face it: indigenous inferior.
Bridge
Mohican motherfuckers you deserve to die
Apache motherfuckers you deserve to die
Lakota motherfuckers you deserve to die
Survival of the fit only the strong survive
Shoshone motherfuckers you deserve to die
Lenape motherfuckers you deserve to die
Abenaki motherfuckers you deserve to die
Survival of the fit only the strong survive
Verse 3
(b)Violence is real common among these ^goblins, (b)too damn long its been a (b)problem. (b)Crazy Horse, Red Cloud, make me vomit if I’m being ^honest. And yet ^to these sons of bitches we pay (b)homage. A ^Native week: Poughkeepsie Phil(b)harmonic! A Native (b)Month, I ^don’t want it. Sitting ^Bull Geronimo ^Metacomet tools ^of the most (b)rotten like ^Johnny Cochrin ^Satan, not (b) God sent. (b)“Hi-a-watha” “Poca(b)hantas,” ^never normal names like ^”Thomas.” (b)Black Hawk ^Mangas Colo(b)radas ^should be for(b)gotten if ^not then picking our ^cotton. Os^ceola (b)worse than Mo^hammad, dis(b)grace to his blood of (b)Scotland. ^Not worth the comment. Their ^knowledge, (b)tiny like hobbits, (b)seems bent on <staccato> ^steal-ing our (b)profits. (b)Wantin conflict Da(b)kota spotted peace-(b)treaty floppin night (b)robbin our ^products, which (b)led to stompin. the (b)most wanted Bin Laden(b)s left ^hung piss-(b)sodden, un^conscious. <staccato>(b)Thirty-eight Sioux broke their (b)promise like ^Cut Nose (b)Okinajin (known for kid fondlin), <breathe> a(b)nother Be^elzebub accom^plice like (b)Pontius. ^Rapist, dishonest, ^toxic human embr^yonic. <jazzy stacatto> (b)Tomahaw^kin con(b)vents on some ^mob tip; (b)choppin women in bon(b)nets pic^nicking in (b)pollen. But when the (b)white mans around they (b) wont pop shit. So (b)when I see infants of (b)almond ^I feel like poppin heads off like (b)swannecks. And yeah, (b)Buffy Sainte-Marie’s psy(b)chotic, ^lining her pockets a^doptin exotic optics (b)rockin torquois and (b)onyx. ^Monstrous lies like lochness to (b)fill her wallet. (b)Ancestry claims as solid as that ^Elizabeth (b)Warren’s a ^shaman. And while I’m ^on it, (b)fuck Pete Seeger for (b)corresponding with this pompous neu^rotic of (b)mere histrionic des(b)pondence—<jazzy>vi(b)brato epi^glottis, (b)unmelodic, (b)like her “Cree” people: (b)squalid. (b)Payback—casino lands (b)bomb it, ^something a(b)tomic. Where’s (b)God when we ^need a comet, another plague bu(b)bonic? Where’s our modern-day ^Stalin—John Wayne wilin—to (b)stop this? Let’s (b)pray some ^“Vut Iz Zis?” teu(b)tonic leader will drop in with ^concen-tration camp ^options like (b)gas closets or where (b)teepee creepers fry like (b)omelets, their (b)squaws getting ^flipped like (b)omelets like ^peace pipe (b)swappage ^WAP sopping from that ^cockin, (b)no tapping no (b)stoppage ^til we leave de(b)posits. (b)Bach in the pocket, (b)Shakespeare writing sonnets—mean^while split screen syn^chronic: the (b)godless ^out there be-ing de^monic, not (b)washin, drinking (b)mumbo-jumbo tonics, ^making up (b)nonsense: like how (b)humans sprouted from corn and other ^dumb concepts—^silly content don’t deserve re(b)sponses. (b)White man going super(b)sonic in rockets, (b)mastering ^aeronautics, ^making sound stereo^phonic in (b)cars carbonic, (b)understanding plate tec(b)tonics and ^astral sym(b)phonics. And yet (b)natives stay ^downtrodden barely helped by Hooked on Phonics—mne(b)monics like ^Please-Excuse-My-Dear-Aunt-^Sally not (b)even work-ing in (b)college. They (b)like to talk about proto Guate^malans: (b)pyramids^— Mayan (b)architect^tonics. (b)Stop it. ^That’s like how bees build hives: <stretch> blind (b) anima^tronics. Com^pared to skyscrapers any^ways they’re (b)comic. I get (b)foot rubs ^by those monosyll^abic Ba(b)hamans a^gainst which the (b)prophet—^Col-umbus—(b)plotted, ^watching them (b)fumble with ^white elec(b)tronics for ^Instagram hedonics: (b)dumbness in^carnate.
Chorus
East to west, the best conquering the rest.
Let’s face it: indigenous inferior.
Pests undressed: guess we’ll take this nest
Let’s face it: indigenous inferior.
Look what’s left: wrecked drunks depressed
Let’s face it: indigenous inferior.
White man’s quest: blessed fate manifest
Let’s face it: indigenous inferior.
Fuck Tecumseh and the whole Shawnee
Fuck Cochise and the whole Apache
Fuck Ten Bears and the whole Comanche
Fuck Sequoya and the whole Cherokee
Indigenous people suffer!
You are twisted