Commandment I: Thou must dis' black women.  You are allowed to
distinguish between bitches, hoes and "real sisters" only during
interviews when asked to clarify your statements.  You must talk about
beating a woman up at least once on your CD or demo.  On at least four
(4) but no more than five (5) singles/demos you must talk about having
rough and unprotected sex with a woman.  You must also refer to your
girlfriend or wife as a "bitch" in an endearing way.  All music videos
must reflect the aforementioned notions.  You can talk about doing
things to other people's mothers as acts of creative expression.  You
may also refer endearingly to an unplanned child as a "bastard,"
"shorty," "lil nigga," or "lil G."  By honoring this commandment you
vow to never rally behind black females or support a strong family
bond.  You see her only as an object for sex and to reap the
repercussions of your rage.  You also believe she is only out to get
you.

(Supplement for females) Thou must dis' black men.  Female rappers are
allowed to distinguish against niggas, bustas, scrubs and punk.  You
must lyrically emasculate them in every way possible.  On at least one
(1) CD or demo you must destroy his character by either calling him a
homosexual or talking about his lack of money.  You are allowed to
refer to your boyfriend or husband as your "nigga" in an endearing
way.  All music videos must reflect aforementioned notions.  By
honoring this Commandment you vow to never identify with the black
male's struggle against white supremacy.  You vow to never support a
strong family bond.  You also uphold the tenements that all of his
problems are of his own doing.  You see him as only an object for sex
and money.  You believe he is only out to get you.

Commandment II: Thou must kill.  You must "lyrically" take the life of
at least one other black person in order to secure a hit CD.  This law
does not promote the physical killing of another person.  However, it
is not against the law to assassinate another person on record.  You
must only talk about killing your own kind, however, or other cultures
may sue you for inciting racial violence.  You must express pleasure
in the kill.  The kill must be graphic and extensive in detail.  The
consumer must always be left with the feeling that taking a person's
life (lyrically) was justified.  Most of the lyrical murders must be
done by guns, however creativity allows for poisoning, stabbings,
beatings, stompings, and suffocating.  You do not distinguish between
male or female kills.  By keeping this Commandment you vow to never
claim acts of genocide publicly even when you are a victim of violent
repression yourself.  You also agree to "lyrical" acts of
black-on-black violence, as well as prolific incidents of brutality.

Commandment III: Thou must covet.  Thou must talk about lusting after
things that do not belong to you.  You must have an unusual craving
for things that do not belong to you.  Your desire must be so strong
that you unwittingly uphold the second commandment.  This law does not
advocate you physically go after the material possessions of someone
in your community.  By keeping this commandment you vow to never
promote a strong work ethic in your music or to speak against greed,
lust and impulsive behavior.  In fact, you now believe greed is
healthy.

Commandment IV: Thou must have a lot of sex.  You must have no fewer
than three (3) songs on your CD or demo that promote sexual
intercourse with one or a group of individuals.  You cannot express a
deep sense of love or marriage.  Thou shalt not talk about commitment,
bonding, and intimacy.  You can only talk about sex in its purest and
rawest terms.  Do not use "make love," or "provide pleasure," or
"pro-create."  You must never mention a sexually transmitted disease
in the context of these records.  You can however discuss the use of
contraceptives, but only if you're referring to sexual intercourse
with a hoe.  (See first Commandment).  If you are under age 16, you
may substitute sex with the "flirting," and "fantasies about being
intimate with your teacher, neighbor's child, or another rapper."  You
must be creative in your graphic detail of sexual intercourse so to
leave nothing to the imagination.  The details can be slightly
skewered in order to circumvent radio censors.  However, this does not
excuse radio edits from removing references to sex.  Therefore stay
ahead of the game by using clever phrases with dual and triple
meanings.  By keeping this Commandment, you vow to never promote
unconditional or agape love in your community; promote the black
family in a positive light; or uplift male/female relationships.

Commandment V: Thou must celebrate the drug culture.  Thou must
condone and identify with the proliferation of drugs in the black
community.  You should create endearing lyrical expressions to
identify various narcotics and mind-altering substances.  Though you
are not to personally distribute or purchase illegal substances, you
may allude to it lyrically.  (To protect industry investment, we
discourage musical confessions to crimes where the statue of
limitations have not run out.) You may allude to a war on drugs, but
only as justification to carry out the second commandment.  You must
continually suggest that selling drugs or "slangin'" produces the only
legitimate income for impoverished black people.  All music videos
must either glamorize this lifestyle by showing the "success" of the
narcotic trade, or glamorize prison living.  You should refer to drug
addicted citizens in comical terms that illicit disgust, laughter,
fear, pity or retribution.  You are never to question U.S.  drug
policy.  You can never promote healthy living and thinking.  Nor can
you advocate moderation in tobacco and liquor consumption.  By keeping
this commandment, you vow to never discuss the impact of drug
addiction among people of color; its impact on the community's overall
health; its impact on the prison industrial complex; or, its impact on
the black family.

Commandment VI: Thou must rarely talk about God and spirituality.  You
must lyrically condone atheism and a false belief system that negates
the existences of a higher being.  You must routinely question the
existence of a god by lyrically challenging him/her/it to take your
life or to grant you three wishes.  You are to refer to yourself as a
god who gives and takes life.  You may lyrically create your own
religion (see tenth commandment) based on a ghetto belief system.
Thou shalt not talk about life and death as it relates to spirituality
or a sense of purpose.  You should never speak of scripture or
religious texts.  You are prohibited from acknowledging any spiritual
beliefs that may have been instilled you by family.  However, you may
identify with a Jesus by wearing a large, diamond encrusted piece
whereby you may brag about its costs.  Under no circumstance are you
to promote prayer, reflection, meditation, atonement, redemption,
sacrifice, mercy or grace.  The consumer fan base must identify with
your lack of spiritual grounding by believing that the only gods are
sex and money.  By keeping this commandment you vow to limit your
personal spiritual growth and development.  You also vow to never been
seen publicly in a church, synagogue, mosque, temple or other house of
worship and reflection.

Commandment VII: Thou must promote capitalism.  On no fewer than four
(4) singles or demo records you must talk about money as if it were a
living, breathing thing.  You must talk about making it, taking it and
the love of it.  Your lyrics must always place money over love, over
women, over religion (see sixth commandment).  You must never talking
about savings and investing.  Thou can, however, say the words
"currency exchange," "welfare check," "first of the month," and "food
stamps."  You must never talk about pooling of resources.  Thou can
never equate capitalism with poverty.  You must never mention the IMF,
WTO or Federal Reserve.  In fact never mention banking or the stock
market at all.  Do not mention technology.  Do not discuss taxing.  Do
not discuss the federal budget.  (See Commandment V).  You must
promote individual wealth over community wealth.  You should talk
about all of your purchases, specifically naming makers/distributors
of expensive jewelry, cars, clothing and liquor.  Once you become a
successful entertainer you should purchase a very big house and no
fewer than three (3) expensive cars.  Publicly, you should live within
a lavish lifestyle in order to please your consumer fan base that now
lives vicariously through your music.  Your lifestyle should include,
but not be limited to: living in exclusive communities, catering to
huge entourages, routinely eating at expensive restaurants, flying to
Europe for fashion shows, purchasing designer clothing only, ordering
platinum and diamond encrusted jewelry for your body and teeth,
purchasing expensive weapons and devices, frequent partying and
purchasing big quantities of expensive liquor and tobacco/cigars.
Thou should consistently ridicule those who cannot afford the
aforementioned items.  By keeping this commandment you vow to always
promote a consumer culture v.  a producer culture.

Commandment VIII: Thou cannot have a sense of history.  Never ever
refer to any historical event that may cause the consumer to think
about his/her relation to history.  Your role is to entertain, not
educate.  Thou art prohibited from speaking of the following:
Trans-Atlantic slave trade; African holocaust: Reconstruction: the
civil rights movement; the Black Power Movement; the "real" Harlem
Renaissance, and so forth.  You can never mention the following
people: Martin Luther King Jr., Hannibal, Mansa Musa, Harriet Tubman,
Sojourner Truth, David Walker, Nat Turner, George Jackson, El-hajj
Malik Shabazz (Malcolm X), Jesse Jackson, Patrice Lumumba, Nelson
Mandela, Winnie Mandela, Steve Biko, Louis Farrakhan, Booker T.
Washington, W.E.B.  DuBois, Huey Newton, Fred Hampton, Bobby Seale,
Kwame Ture, Ida B.  Wells, Assata Shakur....unless you are making fun
of their names, causes or crusaders.  (I.e., Rah Digga's Harriet
Thugman).  Do not mention Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean or Asia,
unless to disparage.  By keeping this commandment you vow to never
promote a sense of awareness, a knowledge of self or the consumer's
global relationship to kindred spirits.

Commandment IX: Thou must not advocate.  Thou art prohibited from
advocacy of anything of social redeeming value.  Your lyrics must
reflect a detachment from the social, political and economic reality
of your community.  Your lyrics can occasionally ridicule people who
march, protest and advocate social causes.  The consumer should never
assume that thou reads newspapers, magazines or books.  In other words
it must appear that nothing that happens in the "real"
non-entertainment world, has any personal affect on your thinking.
Nor should the consumer of your CD or demo walk away with the belief
that you care about anything other than the Commandments IV and VII.
Never talk about the "industry."  By keeping this commandment
understand you must never appear at a non-entertainment-related event,
unless of course you are entertaining.  You must never donate money,
resources or materials to needy organizations, families or causes.
When questioned about this you must defend your position by claiming
you are an entertainer and that's all.  You can never participate in
interviews discussing relevant social issues.  Thou art not
responsible for the behavior encouraged by your music because thou art
not responsible for marketing and sales to minor, unstable
individuals, or mentally ill citizens.  You understand that you cannot
attend rallies, sermons, marches, and picnics, festivals or workshops
that have nothing to do with entertainment or the recording industry.

Commandment X: Thou must promote all things ghetto.  You may never
define the word ghetto or discuss its creation.  You must uphold its
principals and create new creeds.  You must lyrically create a
fictional account of ghetto living that inspires comradeship and a
sense of pride among its residents.  Your lyrics must create a ghetto
dweller that is proud to live in the ghetto and takes offense at
others moving into it.  You must celebrate ghetto life by reminiscing
about days in poverty and your mothers on welfare and about your
fathers who were not there.  Additionally, your lyrics must offer the
mainstream a rare glimpse inside a "socio-economic matrix" while
allowing them psychologically off the hook for the ghetto's creation.
You must celebrate ghetto language, ghetto living, ghetto housing,
ghetto clothing, ghetto hairstyles, ghetto sexual habits, ghetto
education, and ghetto economics and ghetto self-hatred.  You must
romanticize poverty with tales of sex, drugs, money, creed and fear.
The ghetto must become a magical place.  By keeping this commandment
you vow to create and then instill pride in a false culture of
poverty, crime, drugs, illegitimacy, ignorance and apathy.  You also
vow to attribute the ghetto only to Black people.  You also vow to
never leave the ghetto matrix psychologically, even when your economic
status changes (see seventh commandment) In other words you will
remember to "keep it real.."

By keeping the aforementioned commandments we, "the industry,"
guarantee the following:

1. Unlimited marketing success and cross-over appeal.
2.  A guaranteed income
3. Fame beyond your wildest dreams
4. Unlimited (but recoupable) industry resources
5. Several music awards, citations and honors
6. Protection from community repercussions

This sacred scroll must be handed to every potential and current Black
hip hop artist in the nation.  While some sign, many others I am sure
have refused, as there is circumstantial evidence that supports
that. Ocassionally, a break-through performer will offer lyrics that
make us think, act and believe as if we have purpose and are loved in
this life.  Yet the majority of our youth must be forced to sign,
recite and then internalize these commandments in order to guarantee
their market success.  I imagine if they do not sign the doctrine,
they are relegated to doing poetry readings at open mics, working
menial jobs, fading into relative obscurity and living in the "ghetto matrix."
This must be the answer, because the truth is surely a lot more painful.

stephanie mwandisi gadlin is a chicago-based writer who focuses on
cultural and socio-political issue.  in a past life she served as
national press secretary to the reverend jesse Jackson.