X-Clan Returns: Sissies Beware!

X-Clan revolutionized hip-hop when they debuted in 1990 with To the East,Blackwards|. They pioneered hip-hop with a cause due to Professor X'sinvolvement in the Blackwatch Movement, an activist organization in thegroup's hometown of Brooklyn. Since then, the negative elements of theculture have almost taken over the artform. Group members Grand VerbalizerBrother J, Professor X the Overseer (son of activist and author SonnyCarson) and Paradise the Architect have observed more disturbing elements ofthe art/craft/game/genre, most notably the deaths of Notorious B.I.G., Tupacand their own Rhythm Provider Sugar Shaft. They now seek to finish the yearsof the nines the way the decade began, by bringing the message of theBlackwatch Movement back to the streets.

"Personally, I don't think B.I.G. and 'Pac were who they appeared to be, andit just went too far," says Paradise, X-Clan producer and the manresponsible for some of the rawest uses of Parliament-Funkadelic samples.Ever. "They needed to find better ways to end their disputes." X-Clan neededbetter ways to end their disputes as well. Following a bitter breakup due tofinancial neglect and the group's overemphasis on the Movement, each wenttheir separate ways, Brother J, arguably one of hip-hop's best MCs,returned in 1997 with the Dark Sun Riders, but had no contact with theothers until Paradise took the initiative.

"I reached out to X...just went over and knocked on his door," says theArchitect. At the time, Paradise lived in Pittsburgh and Professor X inBrooklyn, yet an effort had to be made. The reunion coincides with thegrowing influence of other socio-conscious groups like Black Star and GoodieMob, suggesting the idea that the Movement began by X-Clan, Boogie DownProductions, Public Enemy and the Native Tongues has finally come fullcircle.

"Those cats (Black Star) are from Brooklyn...they're children of X-Clan,"Paradise affirms. "We all have stories to tell, we just had a different wayof telling it. We wanted to relate to the brothers on the street andthe brothers in the temples."

No plans have been made for production, but X-Clan hopes to have their newLP, X-Clan 2000, released near the end of 1999. Their new message isclear: "You shouldn't have to sell your soul to sell soul music." Hip-hophas become a lucrative business in the past ten years. Unfortunately,success does not often ensure security, and Paradise does not find itacceptable for artists to prosper while their own people starve.

"Being black doesn't mean being broke, being poor, being economicallystrangled. People have not learned how to use our economic power yet. Ourpeople are falling behind in technology...the world is wide open to us, butin order to take advantage, we have to take advantage of communication andthe means to it."

X-Clan has returned for the millennium. Sissies beware. - Ronnie Reese