Show-No-Business: Lightnin' Rod's 'Hustlers Convention' is Hip-Hop's Rosetta Stone
by Buk, Esq.
Total Reading/Listening Time: 6 minutes
Lightnin' Rod aka Jalal Mansur Nuriddin, my first entertainment industry client, is a founding member of the legendary rap group, The Last Poets. Historically, The Last Poets, and Jalal in particular, served as the artistic bridge between "toasting," the oral tradition of the streets and precursor to rap, and the later broad commercialization of the hip-hop genre beginning with The Sugar Hill Gang's "Rappers Delight." In 1973, under the pen name Lightnin' Rod, Jalal recorded a true concept album called Hustlers Convention and later published a book by the same name. The album features Lightnin' Rod, rhyming non-stop and providing the voices for every character, telling the story of a literal Hustlers Convention in the style of an old radio show complete with sound effects and backed by absolutely perfect Kool and The Gang music. Gunshots interrupt phased out wah-funk jams mixed to the back as Lightnin' Rod tells the story of the arrival at the convention, the hustlers interaction, car chase, shootout and "the shit hitting the fan"...twice. The album would go on to reach legendary status and be sampled, illegally, by numerous noteworthy hip-hop artists and groups (who know who they are and should be on notice that litigation is pending). Having reached bard (read: Shakespeare) level with the art form of rhyming poetry, Lightnin' Rod will soon be re-publishing Hustlers Convention as part of an epic trilogy of books, albums and films that promises to evolve the genre of hip-hop into something altogether different from what it exists as today. What follows is the first chapter and track from Hustlers Convention, entitled "Sport," reproduced with the artists' permission. One last thing...I would be remissed if I didn't mention that Lightnin' Rod just so happens to be my dad.
Bukhari R. Nuriddin, Esq.
When not hard at work as owner of The Law Office of Bukhari Nuriddin, Buk, Esq. stumbles upon websites to keep his friends entertained while at work, is praying for a blessed union for Pat and Kirsten and Black and Dee Dee, and cannot wait until football season starts so that Tom Brady and the Patriots can prove all the haters wrong.
Total Reading/Listening Time: 6 minutes
Lightnin' Rod aka Jalal Mansur Nuriddin, my first entertainment industry client, is a founding member of the legendary rap group, The Last Poets. Historically, The Last Poets, and Jalal in particular, served as the artistic bridge between "toasting," the oral tradition of the streets and precursor to rap, and the later broad commercialization of the hip-hop genre beginning with The Sugar Hill Gang's "Rappers Delight." In 1973, under the pen name Lightnin' Rod, Jalal recorded a true concept album called Hustlers Convention and later published a book by the same name. The album features Lightnin' Rod, rhyming non-stop and providing the voices for every character, telling the story of a literal Hustlers Convention in the style of an old radio show complete with sound effects and backed by absolutely perfect Kool and The Gang music. Gunshots interrupt phased out wah-funk jams mixed to the back as Lightnin' Rod tells the story of the arrival at the convention, the hustlers interaction, car chase, shootout and "the shit hitting the fan"...twice. The album would go on to reach legendary status and be sampled, illegally, by numerous noteworthy hip-hop artists and groups (who know who they are and should be on notice that litigation is pending). Having reached bard (read: Shakespeare) level with the art form of rhyming poetry, Lightnin' Rod will soon be re-publishing Hustlers Convention as part of an epic trilogy of books, albums and films that promises to evolve the genre of hip-hop into something altogether different from what it exists as today. What follows is the first chapter and track from Hustlers Convention, entitled "Sport," reproduced with the artists' permission. One last thing...I would be remissed if I didn't mention that Lightnin' Rod just so happens to be my dad.
CHAPTER 1
SPORTIt was a full moon
in the middle of June,
in the summer of fifty-nine;
I was young and cool
and shot a bad game of pool,
and hustled all the chumps I could find.
Now they called me Sport,
'cause I pushed a boss short,
and loved all the women to death;
I partied hard
and packed a mean rod,
'n could knock you out with a right or a left.
I had learned to shoot pool
playing hookey from school
at the tender age of nine.
And by the time I was eleven,
I could pad-roll seven,
and down me a whole quart of wine.
I was makin' it a point
to smoke me a joint
at least once during the course of a day;
and I was snortin' scag
while other kids played tag
and my elders went to church to pray.
I've pitched pennies
and downed bennies
and played the horses at the track.
I've won at cards
against tremendous odds,
and my favorite game was Black Jack.
I've seldom lost,
'cause my game was so boss,
I mean I had my shit down pat,
and I was runnin' through bitches,
like rags to riches,
'cause that's where my heart was at.
Yes, I was a down studs dream
a hustler supreme,
there wasn't no game that I couldn't play,
and if I caught a dude cheatin'
I would give him a beatin'
and I might even blow 'em away!
__________________________
| Played: 71 | Download | Duration: 00:02:35
Bukhari R. Nuriddin, Esq.
When not hard at work as owner of The Law Office of Bukhari Nuriddin, Buk, Esq. stumbles upon websites to keep his friends entertained while at work, is praying for a blessed union for Pat and Kirsten and Black and Dee Dee, and cannot wait until football season starts so that Tom Brady and the Patriots can prove all the haters wrong.
Posted by bukesq at 8/11/2009 4:30 PM 
Categories: Entertainment Law
Tags: Music Industry Lightnin' Rod Hustlers Convention Trademarks Entertainment Law Original Rap Classic Hip-Hop Books The Buk Esq. Blog
Categories: Entertainment Law
Tags: Music Industry Lightnin' Rod Hustlers Convention Trademarks Entertainment Law Original Rap Classic Hip-Hop Books The Buk Esq. Blog
Comments