A Higher Level
Finding your true voice in the midst of pseudo tribalism.
In the early days of hip-hop KRS-ONE emerged as a hip-hop’s conscious golden boy. His first three albums reached gold status, but then his career in the spotlight began to wain. His “Sex and Violence” album in 1992 was the last he would record with his crew, Boogie Down Productions, and it initially had dismal sales.
Commenting on the rise of gangsta culture in hip-hop, KRS called out emcees and record executives alike. Giving rise to the mounting conflict — an extreme change in culture among the rap community and in the music industry — KRS even kicked fellow rap duo P.M. Dawn off the stage at a concert.
What followed in 1993 was the album, “Return of the Boom Bap.” Among many other things, this was Krishna Parker’s response on the record to the rise of gangsta rap, and the mishandling of hip-hop as a culture that could uplift the people. The album included the classic “Sound of Da Police”, written as a caustic commentary on the L.A. riots.
The album also includes one of the most revolutionary and evergreen tracks to date. The track is titled, “Higher Level”.
Detached from the beats and KRS’s warm but violent delivery, the lyrics flow with a Homeric flourish:
I pray to God because the people have lost hope
You either vote for the mumps or the measles
Whether you vote for the lesser of two evils, you vote for evil
Politics and God are not equal
In the context of 2020, the words are chillingly prophetic.
…the mumps or the measles
The majority of Americans are caught between a rock and a hard place as the old saying goes. The mainstream media (much like the mainstream music industry KRS-ONE was addressing in 1993) presents us with a false dichotomy: Democrat v. Republican. Add the layer of the COVID-19 Pandemic increasing the isolation of most Americans, we have a near-perfect storm.
While the history of this debate is multilayered and nuanced, (I highly encourage you to go do your own research), what is inarguable is that mass-media constantly exploits our increasing social isolation, which then triggers our more primitive tribal natures.
When perceived conflict arises, humans will self-organize into “tribes” in order to protect themselves. It is hardwired into our DNA. The media knows this. So do political parties, so do marketing experts, etc. But there is a stark contrast between a true tribal society and the tribal behavior we see manifesting before our eyes in the current social landscape.
Sebastian Junger comments on this in his book, Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging:
The earliest and most basic definition of community — of tribe — would be the group of people that you would both help feed and help defend. A society that doesn’t offer its members the chance to act selflessly in these ways isn’t a society in any tribal sense of the word; it’s just a political entity that, lacking enemies, will probably fall apart on it’s own.
So, if you follow the news, what you see is that one side pits the other as the boogeyman. Having economic troubles? Democrats are to blame. The mumps. Think society is morally bankrupt? Republicans are to blame. The measles. Et cetera, ad infinitum…
In order for this pseudo tribalism to operate, an enemy must be created. Democrats are enemies of Republicans. Police are the enemies of antiracists. Protestors are the enemies of business owners. See the trend? It’s known as the “common enemy fallacy” and is a type of cognitive distortion.
Some of us would rather have mumps. Some of us would rather have measles. Both are a type of illness. Both are symptoms of a much bigger problem.
The God that Represents Us?
If you actually go and talk to your neighbor and get involved in your community, you’ll find that most people, from all walks of life, want and desire the same things. And on the ground level people can disagree politically and still have each other’s back.
The media does not present reality this way — that people can disagree and still get along, that people can look out for one another without government involvement, that people can see each other as people.
Many Americans are staring at their potential ballot this coming November with dread. “If I vote for Trump, I’m a racist. If I vote for Biden I may be supporting a child trafficking network. If I vote third party, it’s throwing my vote away.”
The reality is, your vote for president doesn’t make much difference in the grand scheme of things. The electoral college is going to vote according to what their parties want them to do, whether it aligns with its constituency or not.
Go rock the vote. Vote according to your conscience. Vote according to your heart. Or you can always opt-out. Just whatever your choice, please do not offer up your personal agency to the expectation that one political figure or political party is going to solve all your problems or anyone else’s.
Do not bow down to that false idol. Whatever your choice, keep your personal agency intact and go get involved in your community. You’ll see that the world is much different than it is presented in the media. You’ll see that whether you have the mumps or the measles, everyone is in search of a cure.
A Higher Level
At the end of the first verse of the song, KRS leaves the listeners with a rhetorical question and an invitation. Have we reached the point as a nation where our representatives don’t represent us? If this is the case, who are we voting for? What are we voting for?
Are we replacing the groundwork we could lay on the street-level for the ease of a symbolic replacement?
Let me tell you the truth. Joe Biden doesn’t care about you. Donald Trump doesn’t care about you. What is the cure for the mumps and the measles? There is another way. There is another level. And there are people all over the world tapped into it.
Open your mind and your heart and you’ll begin to find it.
Where is our God, the God that represents us?
The God that looks like me, the God that I can trust?
A God of peace and love, not mass hysteria
I don’t want a God that blesses America
I could never really vote for the devil
Let me take you to a higher level — KRS ONE, “Higher Level”
