When Kanye West looked into the cameras and declared "George Bush doesn't care about black people," he created what will likely be remembered as one of 2005's most compelling and chilling moments. He said what many people were feeling re: the president's response to Hurricane Katrina, and Houston rap-duo K-OTIX decided to re-outfit Kanye's vaguely sexist "Goldigger" (replacing "I'm not sayin' she's a golddigger" with "George Bush don't like black people") as a way to underline the validity of this sentiment. Here are some of the lyrics:
Hurricane came through, fucked us up round here
Government actin like it's bad luck down here
All I know is that you better bring some trucks round here
Wonder why I got my middle finger up round here
People lives on the line, you declinin to help
Since you takin so much time we survivin ourself
Just me and my pets and my kids and my spouse
Trapped in my own house lookin for a way out
Five days in this muthafuckin attic
Can't use the cell phone, I keep gettin static
Dyin cause they lyin instead of tellin us the truth
Other day the helicopters got my neighbors off the roof?
Screwed cause they said they comin back for us too
That was three days ago, I don't see no rescue
See, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do
Since God made the path, then I'm tryin to walk through
Well, swam to the store tryin to look for food
Corner store's kinda flooded so I broke my way through
I got what I could but before I got through
The news said police shot a black man tryin to loot?
My favorite part is when they replace "18 years" with:
Five damn days, five long days
And at the end of the fifth you walkin in like, "Hey!"
Chillin on his vacation sittin patiently
Them black folks gotta hope, gotta wait and see
If FEMA really comes through in an emergency
But nobody seems to have a sense of urgency
Now the mayor's been reduced to cryin
I guess Bush said niggaz been used to dyin
He said, "I know it looks bad, just have to wait"
Forgettin folks who too broke to evacuate
Niggaz starvin and they dyin of thirst
I bet he had to go and check on them refineries first
Makin a killin off the price of gas
He woulda been up in Connecticut twice as fast
After all that we been through, nothing's changed
You can call Red Cross but the fact remains that . . .
I only wish this song had been played 1/3 as much as "Golddigger," which is up for a record of the year Grammy. Let's hope K-OTIX continue to get mad props, and let's hope that we get even more potent, political music on the airwaves in 2006.
visit the K-OTIX website here
listen to "George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People" here
and wactch a clip on K-OTIX from BET's Beats Rhymes and Life here
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