Schoolly D on being namechecked by the Oslo shooter/bomber

After the senseless tragedy of the Oslo slayings by Norwegian mass-murderer Anders Behring Breivik there came the manifesto. There???s always a manifesto. That it included rants railing against hip-hop and its gateway potential for drug use and violent behavior was odd but not shocking.

That Breivik???s racist texts which cribbed from American academic John H. McWhorter (a 2003 essay ???How Hip-Hop Holds Blacks Back???) happened to mention Philly???s own gangsta rap giant Schoolly D and his street anthem ???PSK What Does It Mean??? ??? now that was the odd part.

Odd enough to draw the attention of City Paper editor Pat Rapa before XXL, Ego Trip, Synthesis, Hip Hop Radar and Chuck D???s Rap Station dot com got the word. Schoolly???s written and performed some incendiary material in his time. But we know like Schoolly knows: the effect of art is individual in its response. Schoolly???s work has been as a witness to the violence he saw, reportage. Schoolly contacted me not long after he read the texts and the on-line follow ups and wanted to respond. Here???s some of what we said.

City Paper: Have you had an opportunity to, and I mean it is impossible because it is this lengthy diatribe, have you had an opportunity to look at any of what this guy wrote?

Schoolly D: I did. And I have been trying to think of something to say. I???m trying to avoid the attention being on me ??? it???s just not my style. But this is pretty weird.

CP: It???s a rant. And the violence before the rant was heinous.

SD: Obviously it???s really bad but also we have ALWAYS treated each other badly, we have ALWAYS found a reason to do that. I was watching a documentary about people who would put people inside of a bull and they would cook them. Then they put a whistle or a horn inside the mouth of the bull so while you were screaming and dying it would sound like the bull was coming back to life; and that???s the kind of shit we have been doing to each other. That???s what I???m thinking ??? this guy is like no different. His mind is warped. The only thing that is different now is we have the media and other things so when these things happen its like with bells and whistles on you know what I???m saying? So we actually know what we are doing to each other. It???s like ???Remember two weeks ago when those people got shot in Philadelphia????

CP: Well, we???ve got something better for you, something bloodier.

SD: Yeah. More people died.

CP: What you write, what you rap ??? that is your job. That???s the material that he seems to be focusing on ??? your role as an artist, to report what you saw.

SD: For rappers, it became an art form and a way to make money. Beyond that though, it was like a voice ??? it was a way. There wasn???t any singing in it and nobody knew what was going on. And to us it was like either sell crack, I mean, I was pretty smart I could have went to college, but rap was like a voice ??? we learned a voice. And that voice was a sign of the times. Now the art form has changed but I was raised to be an artist. I guess that doesn???t answer your question...

CP: You are so far past that lyrical context of your early days. I mean, it???s not like you are writing about stupid things or silly cultural stuff but you are not writing solely about what happened in the crack den next to where you live at this point. Still, thirty years on and you are still a target.

SD: I have been pointed at for 30 years. I remember when I made my first record in ???82 everyone was saying ???No one wants to hear that.??? I have been hearing ???No one wants to hear it, or its too real, or its too hardcore, we can???t deal with you?????? I have always been hearing stuff like this. I have had an album sliced for saying certain words ??? I???ve even gone to jail for saying certain words and putting together certain words at shows. Its??? been hitting me all this time ??? even before this ??? the violence is hitting me when I???m so fuckin??? exhausted. I???m not stoppin???! I???m an artist to the end, but I???m so fucking exhausted.

CP: Well, it???s a start. Let???s make something clear: You don???t apologize for something you???ve done in the past. I don???t even mean in the past. You do not apologize for what it is as an artist. You can???t apologize for what interpretation of your work someone has. Schoolly, this sounds corny- but tell me what???s the thing that you would say to anybody that takes your work and goes further with it, however further into violence, into any form of harm?

SD: People who use Schoolly???s music to justify their own actions are saying that I thought that I was telling them to be a gang banger or worse. That???s horrible, that they are taking MY lyrics ??? not really listening and not really enjoying it ??? and just being sick. And sick and weird as they are, they are, they not really brave. They are looking for a reason for somebody else to tell them it is okay to be that sick. That???s how I feel. The people out there who are not really listening to the lyrics??? in the song ???PSK??? the last thing I say is ???I put the pistol down because I got a educated mind??? nobody quotes that. When they hear that, the people actually listening, then they say ???oh now I get it.??? The people who gravitate toward one part of my lyrics or song aren???t really listening, they???re just listening and taking what they wanna take except they don???t wanna blame themselves. They don???t wanna say I have the hate myself, but rather someone else is making me. They???re cowards.