When Conscious Rappers Get Ignorant

It’s not easy being “conscious.” Any rapper who tries to add any balance of positivity to the game is automatically expected to be some kind of saint. But even a smart, balanced brother like Mos Def can sometimes get infected by d’evils'the Las Vegas police just issued a warrant for his arrest after he allegedly smashed an innocent photographer’s equipment at the MAGIC Trade Show.

But before you judge Mos, perhaps it’s time for a little history lesson. At times, even the most thoughtful MCs lose their cool, black the fuck out and get ignorant. Check out some classic examples below…

ARTIST: Q-Tip
IGNORANT BEHAVIOR: Punching Aspiring Rappers

In 2000, the Tribe Called Quest frontman was confronted in a Virgin Megastore by Kenrick Miranda, an aspiring rapper in a group called Slanid. Apparently, the previous summer, Tip had called security guards on Miranda while he was trying to hand out demo tapes in front of the Hit Factory studio. But when Miranda stepped to Tip and asked him about why he called the security guards, the Abstract Poet allegedly punched him so hard in the face that he required extensive surgery to correct his busted jaw.

ARTIST: Brand Nubian
IGNORANT BEHAVIOR: Endorsing Gun Violence

Many artists have flipped from positive to negative throughout their career (2Pac, anyone), but no transition was as glaring as the change Brand Nubian showed on their sophomore album. After urging young black men not to resort to violence on tracks with tracks like “Concerto In X Minor” from their 1991 debut, they apparently had a change of heart. By 1993, a Puba-less crew had strapped up for war on tracks like “Pass The Gat,” where they flipped their 5 Percenter philosophy on its head: “You don’t want be the learner that my burner makes toast/Cause today’s mathematics is Uzi Does It”

ARTIST: Common
IGNORANT BEHAVIOR: Homophobia

By he year 2000, Common Sense had fully evolved into a sensitive, crochet hat-wearing, incense-burning bohemian who couldn’t have been further from hip-hop’s hyper-masculine machismo. That is, except for one lingering fear: homos! Even after years of expanding his mind while hanging around coffee shop chicks and white dudes, Com still couldn’t swallow the gays. On Like Water For Chocolate, he continued spewing the “f” word: “Niggas hate you, they ain’t paying you no attention/In a circle of faggots, your name is mentioned.” It wasn’t until 2007 that Com finally saw the error in his ways and promised to stop.

ARTIST: De La Soul
IGNORANT BEHAVIOR: Violent Hippie Self-Defense

After ushering in the “Daisy Age” with their debut 3 Feet High And Rising, the press labeled this Long Island trio “hippies.” And of course, when they started touring nightclubs and stadiums across the country, every tough guy from Brooklyn to the Bay wanted to test them to see how soft they really were. Soon, they got a new rep for brawling'it’s even rumored that they got kicked off of LL Cool J’s tour for violent behavior. They chronicled this trend in their 1991 joint “Pease Porridge,” where Trugoy reminded everyone, “We bring the peace of course/But pack a nine inside, inside my De La drawers.”

ARTIST: Flavor Flav
IGNORANT BEHAVIOR: Smoking Crack

On one hand, Flav was Chuck D’s right hand man in Public Enemy, the original conscious rap group who put out such cautionary anti-drug tales like “Night Of The Living Baseheads.” But after P.E.’s “comeback” attempt Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age flopped, Flav was back on the block. In 1995, while riding through the Bronx in a cab, he was arrested with three vials of crack and a .380 handgun. For further crack-related Flav ignorance, see every VH1 reality show involving black people looking for love.

ARTIST: Kanye West
IGNORANT BEHAVIOR: Robbing Paparazzi

He’s always quick to complain, but until this incident, 'Ye had never let things turn physical. In September, when a photographer started snapping pics of him in an LAX terminal, Mr. West snapped and smashed the camera (watch the incident here) before his bodyguard also smashed the equipment of the TMZ cameraman who was taping the whole thing. We’re expecting a sensitive auto-tune ballad called “Smashed (My Heart Is A Camera)” any day now.

ARTIST: KRS-One
IGNORANT BEHAVIOR: Starting The Violence

Even KRS couldn’t “Stop The Violence” in 1992, after PM Dawn member Prince Be questioned his “teacher” status in an interview with Details. The day after the article’s release, Kris showed up at a PM Dawn show at the Sound Factory and proceeded to physically throw Prince Be off stage, grabbing his mic and performing his own BDP concert. Criminal minded, indeed.