by Minister of Information JR
I was recently politickin’ in Atlanta with the radio broadcast legend Tenisio aka Dj 4th Wurld of WRFG, who specializes in playing rap music from the continent of Africa. With rap being saturated with the same stereotypical sounds, it is time for a new frontier to open up. African rappers from the continent are waiting in the shadows for their shot, and Dj 4th Wurld is working the door, giving only the dopest a seat on his radio show.
Besides being a native ATLien, Dj 4th Wurld has done radio in Nigeria, where he was living for a brief stint. It is important for me to share the info that I gather across the country and the world with people who may not get out of the Bay as much as I do, so we can be aware of interesting and intelligent people who are doing something on behalf of our people all over this little ass rock we call planet Earth. Welcome to the mind of Dj 4th Wurld, wit the Minister of Information JR as your guide …
M.O.I. JR: Can you tell us a little about your show on WRFG in Atlanta? What makes it different from the hundreds of other Black radio shows?
Dj 4th Wurld: My program, The Shrine, is an urban contemporary African Hip Hop culture expose. It reveals this culture both via music and forward thinking, solution inspired dialogue. The musical lineup is especially exceptional, for I air a sizable portion of Hip Hop cultural music from the African Diaspora, most notably the continent of Africa itself.
M.O.I. JR: Why is Black political talk radio important?
Dj 4th Wurld: To answer this question, I must first acknowledge that war is politics with violence and politics is war without violence. Therefore, politics and war are opposite sides of the same coin. Those individuals ignorant of this fact will cease to understand that hue-man beings are constantly fighting a war with those that wish to politically oppress or genetically annihilate them.
I’d be remiss if I also didn’t acknowledge that on a metaphysical level there is a war raging within hue-man beings themselves. The moment that one becomes victorious over self-annihilation, victory within the war on the physical plane is immediately imminent.
Considering these facts, it is important, to me to provide my listeners with a program that joins pan-African Hip Hop cultural expression together with progressive political dialogue to enable the war of the mind and Terra Firma to become transparent in a manner that is easily digestible to the naive and continuously inspiring to the seasoned. Once this unanimous level of consciousness is reached within the African Diaspora, freedom becomes reality versus a romanticized goal.
M.O.I. JR: What has been Atlanta’s response to your show? What is the biggest highlight of your career as a journalist?
Dj 4th Wurld: Atlanta is my home, and I am one of a few true “ATLiens.” Most “ATLiens” are really repatriates from other cities who moved here either shortly before or after the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games. I disclaim this to say I feel Atlanta hasn’t really grasped my program yet. Most people I recognize as natives of Atlanta don’t gravitate toward WRFG as much as I would like to see them do so. This poses a challenge to me because it reveals that I have a great amount of work remaining in regard to attracting the attention of true “ATLiens.”
Now those that do know about and enjoy my program cover a wide range of cultures, such as indigenous Africans, people of Caribbean descent, Afro-Latinos and Latinas, various religious and spiritual sects and fans of great melanin charged music. Also, the Internet provides a platform enabling The Shrine to be heard globally. For example, as a result of producing my program in Atlanta and being heard by those outside of the country, I’ve traveled outside of the U.S. and hosted programs elsewhere in countries like Nigeria. As a result, my program’s net is cast far enough to accumulate a loyal following that it would not have if an FM transmitter were my only broadcast medium.
M.O.I. JR: You were recently doing radio in Africa – where? What was that experience like? How does it differ from what you do on radio in the U.S.?
Dj 4th Wurld: Nigeria was the country I broadcast from. It was a wonderful experience. Highlights of my time spent there were my appointment as red carpet host of the first annual MTV African Music Awards.
In addition to this opportunity, I broadcast a program from Nigeria where I highlighted the artists who won awards. Another highlight was my arrival in the country the day before Barack Obama was elected president. After the election concluded, I interviewed locals regarding his appointment and broadcast that content to my Atlanta audience. Overall, the program differed with regard to these interviews and others, for rarely do Western audiences hear from Africans who are not overwhelmed by abject circumstances.
M.O.I. JR: Who are some of the guests that you have talked to? And what are some of the topics that you have covered?
Dj 4th Wurld: I’ve spoken to many wonderful guests over the years. The list of notables is very comprehensive but it includes Sudanese child soldier turned rapper Emmanual Jal; Femi Kuti; George Clinton, who spoke about H.R. 848, the Performance Rights Act; Mobb Deep’s Prodigy, who discussed the Hip Hop Task Force a.k.a. the Hip Hop Cops; Afro-Cuban exile, biographer and author of “Fela: This Bitch of a Life” Dr. Carlos Moore; Dick Gregory; Ray Hagins; Anthony Browder; Tavis Smiley; Public Enemy’s Professor Griff; KRS-One; K’naan; Dr. Phil Valentine; Dr. Delber Blair; Queen Afua; Supanova Slom and many, many others.
M.O.I. JR: How do you look at the case of Oscar Grant being murdered by police in Oakland and compare it with the police execution of Kathryn Johnston in your area?
Dj 4th Wurld: I’ll refer back to my previous statement: War is politics with violence and politics is war without violence. Melanated people are behind enemy lines, so until hue-men and hue-womb-men wake up and realize this, these type of incidences will continue to shock them. Personally, I’m still defending the death of my ancestors who were both indigenous to this land, e.g. the Olmecs and other Native ethnicities and my African ancestors who all lost their lives at the ancestral and recent hand of our open enemy, the global system of racism white supremacy.
Oscar Grant, Kathryn Johnston and scores of others are all by-products of the continued plague of post-traumatic slavery syndrome that exists in all melanated people who don’t realize the war continues. The handful that does recognize a war is still being waged is currently the proverbial David versus Goliath so, though victory is imminent, the task is extremely daunting for them. Therefore, I encourage as many hue-mans as possible to free their mind so the rest will follow.
M.O.I. JR: I see you have a podcast, and you always run updates on the email and on Facebook. How do you use “new media”? Does today’s technology help you significantly in spreading info worldwide?
Dj 4th Wurld: I’m glad you’ve placed the phrase “new media” in quotes, for we’d be remiss if we didn’t recognize that all of today’s technology was created decades before it was approved for public distribution. With that said, I use today’s technology because the masses refer to it for receipt of their information.
Personally, I’m a very metaphysical individual, however, and though it may sound esoteric to the uninitiated, I am looking forward to the period when a sizable portion of hue-manity realeyes that the open enemy’s technology is infantile compared to the technologies we’ve been taught to forget, which are innately provided to us by our synchronized universal Akashic record. So, my use of new media via the Internet and social networking services is only temporary while the inevitable shift away from these sources completes itself over the next few Gregorian years.
I once heard someone say, “The greatest act of terrorism that can ever be committed in the modern era is the unplugging of the Internet.” Hue-manity should definitely recognize who has the power, control and potential will to actually enact such an occurrence. Also, hue-manity should recognize the process in which this goal is to potentially be achieved, for I don’t feel it would happen with some snap-of-the-finger random act. I suspect a gradual process of slowly discouraging and eventually removing hue-manity’s access to new media would complete this potential undertaking.
My question is must hue-manity oblige itself to such a threat when the acquisition of food, clothes and shelter doesn’t depend on new media’s existence? If a hyper-dimensional war is taking place, it’s only sensible to have a hyper-dimensional backup plan in place.
M.O.I. JR: When and how can people tune into your show? How can people stay in touch with you?
Dj 4th Wurld: My program airs every Thursday from 2 to 4 p.m. EST on WRFG 89.3 FM. The rebroadcast is available at www.theshrine.podomatic.com. My email address is tenisio@wrfg.org.
Email POCC Minister of Information JR, Bay View associate editor, at blockreportradio@gmail.com and visit www.blockreportradio.com.