3 Reasons 80's Babies Do It Betta!

The '80s and '90s were a critical era for us, culturally. If you were old enough in the late '70s or early '80s, then you probably were huddling around a bulky desktop computer waiting your turn to play Oregon Trail at school. Or you were getting off the school bus and seeing your uncle standing against the side of the neighborhood liquor store with the “dope fiend lean," barely conscious enough for his body to keep him from falling over. I look at traditions like Black Friday today and realize the ignorant shit that happens at those sales events isn’t anything new. My momma went knuckle-on-knuckle in Toys “R” Us making sure her kids had the best of what the 80’s had to offer, a Sega Genesis for her sons and Cabbage Patch Kids for her daughters. The 80’s were rough, a crack cocaine epidemic took over the cities where we lived, they called it the urban disease, addicts tripled their use of crack and the homicide rate was at an all-time high as we approached the 90’s.

The '90s were some reckless years of parenting. But it was the best time to be a kid in America, we could run wild and free, in a time that less riddled with unease, you knew everyone in the neighborhood, and they looked out for you and your kids. In school, we had jungle gyms, monkey bars and real playgrounds where shit popped off sometimes, but we were just kids mimicking the adults around us. Somebody was always outside barefoot in the streets, and if you stepped on some glass or something you had to walk it off; go back in the house and put on sneakers, grab a freeze pop and head back out in the streets. There was free reign on the neighborhood; we terrorized the elder neighbors who lived on the block for years. We would cut through their yards, wearing out their fences from climbing over them to shortcut through the hood, and trying to kick it with the girls at somebody’s crib while they grandma was at work, and of course playing our favorite game, Nigga Knock. My momma wasn’t worried about where I was half the time; she was glad I was out of her house not eating all the food and sucking up all the air condition.

When I was in the house, we kept ourselves entertained by the gifts that kept on giving in the 90’s. 1991 brought the birth of Super Nintendo; Martin gave us his TV show Martin, Bill Cosby blessed those of us who didn’t know their fathers or live with their fathers with an idea of what having a father in the house could be like on his show, The Cosby Show. Will Smith and Quincy Jones gave us, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Keenan Ivory Wayans dominated the airways with In Living Color. I can’t forget how Russel Simmons gave my generation the gift of laughter and comedy with Def Comedy Jam on HBO in 1992. That same year my back to school wardrobe was flooded with Phat Farm, Karl-Kani, and Cross-Colours, creations from black fashion designers with a vision to make clothing for us by us without prejudices to celebrate black youth.

No decade can compete with the way sports dominated in the 90's. The NBA gave us Michael Jordan and the Bulls dynasty. The NFL gave us Emmett, Aikman, Irving, and Deon Sanders, who all contributed to the Dallas Cowboys dynasty and rebranding them “Americas Team,” again. Even though Sports in the 90s were made up of the pure talent from our dynasties. One of the biggest events that connected black folks and sports entertainment are when O.J. Simpson, the only player to ever rush for more than 2,000 yards in a 14-game season, was identified as the lead suspect in the murder of his wife and her friend. I remember watching the news for two hours as the LAPD chased OJ “The Juice” and AC in a white Bronco all over LA. OJ’s trial was televised and became one of the greatest trash novels that aired on TV for over eight months out of the year between 1994 and 1995. OJ was acquitted of two counts of murder; the media says black folks dominated the jury and were salty about the racist treatment the LAPD had displayed during and after the Rodney King beating. In 1992, a jury acquitted three white police officers, caught on tape beating a black man, Rodney King, for no reason. The blatant disregard, from the justice system, triggered the Rodney King Riots that lasted three days in LA; people were killed, injured and arrested. There was a Chris Rock joke about the OJ trial where he said, “It's not that black folk didn't think he was guilty. It was that for once, it was a rich black guy who got away with murder and not a rich white guy.” I remember my teacher wanted to watch the verdict on the TV in our classroom, and when OJ was announced not guilty, teachers were running up and down the halls cheering and happy, and all the students joined in the celebration. I had no clue what we were happy about, but now I understand why. Our elders had transferred their feelings and beliefs about being cheated, victims and scapegoats of the justice system down to us. We were desperate to feel the victory of a black man getting over on a system that had beaten us down for years. I am not saying this justifies anything OJ may have done, murder is wrong in every sense of the context, but it does shed light on just how deep the resentment flows in my community to this day.

Hip Hop gave us the rap game, which became the genre of choice to music lovers in the 90’s. America tried to object the truth that the rap style of Hip-Hop brought to light. Mainstream media called it “glorification of violence and objectification of women.” Bullshit. Not only did songs from creators like NWA, Salt-n-Peppa, and KRS one change the rap game, but movies like Boyz n the Hood and Menace II Society, Directed by Jon Singleton, sent off messages that not only spoke directly to the hood but showed our point of view to a larger audience. It was triumphant, a stepping stone in the direction to broaden people's perspective of the darker truths that live in America. But then we were hit with more trials that set us back further; Tupac on the west coast, Biggie on the east. Tupac had revolutionary heritage, and his rap style was laced with poetic aspirations, and traditional skills that we would never see evolve. Biggie had street cred and hood flow; he pulled on his days of dealing crack in Brooklyn, his flow seemed effortless but packed weight and nimbleness not to mention the ability to tell a story like no other. The senseless acts of violence to both Biggie and Tupac shook the rap industry and damn near threatened its existence. My generation was left to process these irrational events with no answers or understanding of what really happened. We were forced to live with the fact that two heroes of mainstream Hip-Hop would be gone before they were given the chance to prove longevity; we learned to ignore the fact that no one has ever been prosecuted for either of the murders.

I might be biased, but Kids of the 1990s have a better perspective on all of the genius R&B music of our time because our experiences with the songs aren't clouded with nostalgia. Our personal associations from childhood are part of why we remember, and love or hate, certain songs from back then. 90’s musicians were damn good to us; gifts came from sound artists like Aaliyah, Timbaland, Missy, TLC, R. Kelly, all of Bad Boy’s artist, most of Def Row’s artists, Roc-A-Fella but not just Jay-Z and Dame. The ROC was Dipset, Young Gunz, and Freeway. I can’t forget Destiny’s Real Children. I think Beyonce is one of the best to do it today, but I can’t help but wonder what all those hits would have been like with the original group of beauties that caught our eye in 1998. The greatest gift of all came from the one and only Lauryn Hill, with her one album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill that set and broke records across the industry.

The 90s seemed to bring about a sense of more freedom and acceptance for black folks. Clinton became President, but this freedom had nothing to do with politics or Clinton because rich folks were getting richer and poor folks were getting nothing. Black communities continued to struggle, either in poverty or a notch above the poverty line in the all-black neighborhoods. The struggle of past generations is a huge factor in our history. Today we protest to kill off racism, but the older generations are still too confined to previous days of struggle, living stuck in their ways; ignoring and avoiding a major new way of thinking. I guess it’s true you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but it’s time we move past the old way of thinking and focus on equality.

The underlying problem among all of the issues in America (race, justice, victimization, etc…) is a lack of communication and understanding across all communities. There is too much ignorance that lives between how each community actually feels. There is, even more, ignorance that lives in folks understanding the value of articulating our feelings in a meaningful manner to reach a common ground. If we were able to understand one another on every economic level, we will likely reach solutions to problems faster and be able to empathize with one another better.

My generation has benefited from the gifts and the struggles that were overcome in 80’s and 90’s; it is now our responsibility to give back to generations after us. We have our own gifted set of values and ambitions that are sure to change the world like no other generation. The struggle built and prepared us to lead and charge this world around us. We represent an epic shift in the way we are involved with world events, spearheading causes like Black Lives Matter to hold America’s justice system accountable for their injustice acts that seem like an old re-run show from the 1990's. We are a transparent and collaborative generation. I could care less about hierarchy or silos; solutions are the answer, and the power is with the instant and interactive technologies available for us to institutionalize and navigate change with an achievable agenda; like the pioneers from the 90's who are still here today to help guide our path. We need to share our power and knowledge with a constant flow of learning to other generations. It is our duty to continue to push, transform and evolve ourselves, our communities, and the world.