KRS-One

Thrasher Magazine, Jan, 2003 by Aki X

SEPTEMBER 11TH, THE TEMPLE OF HIP-HOP, BREAKDANCING BOULEVARD, HIP-HOP CITY, AZ--Blastmaster KRS ONE has always been ahead of most cats in the rap game. Back in '87 he was the first Emcee to pack a 9mm on an album cover. He was also the first Emcee to have his DJ shot and killed. Throughout the '90s he pioneered and lead the "Stop the Violence" movement. Now he is actively building the Temple of Hip-Hop as a global culture. This ministry along with the Zulu Nation is responsible for bringing cultural balance, education, and political awareness to hip-hop's biased, bling-bling, MTV culture. KRS ONE along with Kool DJ Herc, Kool Moe Dee, Afrika Bambaata, Xzibit and Grandmaster Flash all believe that gangsta rap is not hip-hop's problem, the problem is conscious rappers. Shelblack and I joined the hip-hop illuminati to discuss this, the responsibility to domestic terror, and KRS ONE building a one world nation called hip-hop. JMJ/R.I.P.

As it's 9.11, do you think more is going on here than what we the American people are being told?

Of course, but one thing is obvious and that is the apathy, the non-caring attitude that Americans have towards the political situation, has got to end.

Do you think that's because they are just told what to do 24-7--work, consume, die--and they don't have opinions of their own?

Most Americans don't have an opinion of their own. It's like everything is done fixed upon what someone else is doing. The other part of it is, we don't really know what's going on. It puts the American people in a bad position.

In Europe, 70 percent of people blame the 9.11 attacks on American foreign policy. Would you agree with that?

Yeah. They blame it on US foreign policy but as Dr Dionne Bennett said, no one really knows what US foreign policy is No one really knows what is going on; everyone is in the dark and all these decisions are being made by King George Bush. He is dictating what's going to happen, and if you are not down with the program you are not a good patriotic American.

Are you ever going to run for president of America?

I hope not. There is a new kind of leader coming up, like a leader in hip-hop culture with more power and authority than a president. There is no system, it's just people dealing with people, and if I can somehow gain the trust of the hip-hop nation then I can be blessed with the trust of the real people. They know KRS and will know I have real solutions for solving some of our problems. We have a hip-hop agenda we are putting forward that will be released soon. I find more power in that than running for president. I'd like to take over a small town to be honest with you.

You serious?

Yeah. Take over a small town and build a hip-hop city where the mayor is all hip-hop, the police, the doctors are all hip-hop. I think we could really show up other cities. They ain't doing the service-to the people. Look at Vegas. It took the Mafia and the Church of the Mormons to get together and build a city that's the most profitable city in the USA. That city is built on prostitution and gambling Hip-hop can take that model and say "We are a billion-dollar industry just on entertainment, let alone the turntables and the fashion. Why don't we grab a small town somewhere and blow it up an name it Hip-Hop City? You can come and enjoy hip-hop 24-hours a day. We'll have clubs-on every corner you can come get drunk, get high, have frivolous sex, and we will balance that out with some of the most profound ideas on spirituality, justice, law, and education. It can all be controlled so that people are not running around shooting and killing each other.

What town are we taking over?

I was looking at a small town names Kingman in Arizona just off I-40. I was so impressed with this town. It's like 20 blocks by 20 blocks. It started off as an old folks resort in the desert. Now the old folks' kids are living there and they don't have clubs, but they all listen to hip-hop. We'll take it over and have our own hip-hop city.

Why don't the hip-hap royalty like the Master Ps, The Diddys, invest their millions into real power like education and cities?

Because they don't have. it. The average rap artist is getting 50 cents a, record and that barely pays for the video: The cars are all rented and the houses are on credit. Any rapper can get credit to buy a house.

Do they give a fuck though about anything other than Benji's?

The Temple of Hip-Hop is young, but we're setting up a system where all hip-hop artists Will have to give a point of their album sales to address these issues. Right now there is not even an outlet for rappers to say, "I want to put my money here." Why aren't they up there flossing the new Dell computer instead of all that frivolous wealth and shit we don't even want?

How was KRS ONE going to the United Nations received by hip-hop?

When we went to the UN to claim hip-hop as an international culture, it wasn't like everyone was praising my efforts. People were criticizing me--how can KRS ONE lay down laws for hip-hop? What is the Temple of Hip-Hop? Is that a cult? They were comparing me to Jim Jones who gave them something to drink and killed them all. They were saying it's mind control. We are trying to establish hip-hop as a world culture because we've been doing it for 16 years. Why not send your kids to the Temple of Hip-Hop to hear the story of Tupac and Biggie, of DJ Scott La Rock and so on?