Jolowmight: He think he own it/ till they clone it/ wrong it/ coopt it/ even though it was meant for right/ yet sight turns white to black/ red to green/ indigo to brown/ the best idea is no longer profound

Rob J: Acrobatic colors like ROYGBIV/ to VIBGYOR now my eyes getting sore/ different looks, viewpoints got me in a daze/ trapped in the center of this complicated maze

J: my mind’s ablaze at how quick the slave becomes the master/ that’s disaster/ and after while tragedy becomes comedic irony/ to living carefree/ as if the purpose of life is to be a Sucka MC

R: instead (of) agreeing that you all must learn/ even when the violence stops the ignorance returns/ concerned mindframes or made up medullas/ various solutions, dictators vs. rulers

J: (rulers) are you using to measure? Centimeters or inches? The distance/ an instance of paradox/ perspective/ subjective, objective/ a matter of increments/ makes sense?/ a good offense is an impregnable defense

R: some speak pretense, nonsense, chitter-chatter/ but y’all don’t listen anyway so what does it really matter?/ same source, different course, yeah that’s fine/ one goal in mind, that’s to cross the finish line

J: multiple paths, multiple tracks, multiple mountains, multiple fountains, multiple interpretations, multiple invasions, multiple evasions, multiple sensations, multiple cooptations, multiple annihilations

R: diverse equations, common frustrations/ whether you’re black, white, Mexican, or Asian/ the media is amazing, blazing exploitation/ dividing just to conquer, but they holler out “one nation”

J: Oh how they flip it/ gank “The Message” and turn it to capitalism’s “Celebration”/ like Kool and the Gang couldn’t feel Melle Mel’s vexation with the system’s edge/ and losing one’s head becomes head-getting/ how fitting

R: No bullshitting/ but Schlitz malt liquor got a “master cylinder”/ with no brakes/ though the 24 ounces killing ya/ no shoes, no pads/ metal to metal/ stop sign/ ain’t no such thing

J: can’t laugh at a joke so twisted/ liquor guzzlers missed it/ preachers dismissed it/ so I enlisted the help of the Spirit but was told I had a demon/ so we dealing with drunk ass, judge/mental, oblivious kinda semen

R: I’m dreamin’/ that’s sicker than Willie Beaman/ Any Given Sunday, football or Christian meaning/ leaning on the everlasting arms of the “bishop”/ 2Pac Juice or Magic Juan—is that official?

J: Naw…We superficial ‘cause our insides are so hollow/ so we follow the latest idol/ and recite and live madness/ but then again who’s sane?/ Batman, the Joker or the community that produced them?

R: Gotham city for the ghetto no R. Kelly/ Red or blue pill? Grape or apple jelly? Pit-bull or poodle? Tidbits or oodles? Don’t tell me it’s spaghetti and you feed me ramen noodles

J: tootles to “either/or”/ what about “both/and?”/ “neither/nor?”/ such a bore/ so focused on the score/ that we forgot the fundamentals/ the emotional, practical, spiritual, and mental

R: with no thoughts of consequential, only instrumental/ are necessary when we’re trying to reach a central/ state of mind/ mind-state gassed up like lactate/ let the Kaleidoscope infiltrate and cease with the debates

J: we try to escape a spectrum of possibilities/ a crayon box with one color/ no differentiation of mundane to spectacular emanations/ temporal and spatial/ flash and a pace that’s so glacial

R: from continent to country/ Istanbul, Montgomery/ one nation under a groove but can’t move with no money/ different diction, but still the same adversary/ patrician or plebian/ economics vary

J: and what’s scary is that they try to make us Tom, Dick, and Harry/ that ain’t her and my name/ this ain’t a game

R: so what set you claim?/ rearrange your mind-frame/ the more things change, they should never remain the same…

JoDavid: We see cooptation not just as a taking up or assimilation, but also neutralization. And what has been neutralized is, in the end, possibilities. Cooptation is part of the plan laid by those who seek to oppress and victimize. Cooptation can be found in the arguments for ontological givenness or necessity… You know like, when a person says, “it is what it is…” or “God wants it to be this way…” or “people are different ‘til death do us part based on skin color…” ‘cause there’s got to be the “other…” an enemy… it’s the only way to be… know what’m’sayin? ‘cause this “system” has shown that it will take and can take any definition to suit its own ends, and if it cannot, this thing will eradicate the opposition, in various ways. Naw sister. Naw brother… We do not argue for the givenness or necessity of any method, situation, or system. The system we critique is not necessary… it is precariously, deliberately, and haphazardly worked out through a series of individual, local, international, natural, and cosmic power players. This thing is a series of relationships. It can only be encountered in its concrete manifestations, but it is also oh so mysterious. It is both in and beyond the human sphere. But how do we combat such a thing, if it produces death on the molecular and the metaphysical level…? How can we be prophetic in this instance…? How can and where does God act? Can God be coopted…? Where’s my Kaleidoscope…? I think I been here before… I think I’ve been jacked before… I think they stole a few Messages before Melle Mel… I think we’ve been… I just been… Lord, seems like I am coopted… Ain’t no more kaleidoscopes…