(AllHipHop News) The Last Poets are considered one of the forefathers of Hip Hop. The 1970’s spoken word collective’s politically conscious poems over beats laid the foundation to what would eventually become rap music. Dahveed Nelson (formerly David Nelson), one of the founding members of The Last Poets, is now expressing his contempt at what Hip Hop has become in his eyes.
“This whole Hip Hop generation, it’s the devil. It’s Satan. It’s hedonism. It’s the pursuit of pleasure. There’s no soul. They’ve captured our medium,” Nelson told Fox Sports’ Jason Whitlock.
Nelson contacted Whitlock after the sports columnist wrote a critical article about Jay-Z becoming a sports agent. Whitlock received a lot of negative feedback about the piece, but Nelson wanted to reinforce Whitlock’s assertion that Hip Hop is currently a negative influence on society and called out Jay-Z in particular.
“[Jay-Z] is one of the most wealthy people in America, certainly one of the wealthiest blacks and most influential, for being a n***er, for putting on blackface and cooning. That’s what he’s getting paid for,” said Nelson.
The 74-year-old, who now lives in Ghana, also agreed with Whitlock that Hip Hop is to blame for George Zimmerman’s profiling of Trayvon Martin as a “thug” by reinforcing those images to the public.
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“You can put the blame squarely on Hip Hop,” said Nelson. “The enemy has its responsibilities, but you’ve got the collaborators. That’s what the whole Hip Hop culture is.”
Nelson goes on to call Jay-Z and Russell Simmons “pimps and prostitutes” and says Hip Hop’s global reach is now affecting children around the world including those in Africa. He states that he is not angry with the “righteous seeds gone astray” and believes they can change their lives.
“I hope they repent, pray for the Creator’s pardon and turn to a righteous path.”
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