poet jasmine mans strikes gold with multimedia project ‘black boy gold’

Jasmine Mans set the interwebs alight a few years back when a recording of her poem “The Mis-Education of Barbie” went viral. The poem challenged the perceptions of the overtly sexualized Young Money rapper and other females in hip hop who follow a similar formula. And yes, I use the word formula because it was a conscious decision Nicki Minaj made in order to achieve the levels of success she currently has. If you go back to the beginnings of her career, the “Beez In The Trap” rapper was much less 3D in her makeup and way more tomboyish in her demeanor. Many others have fallen in to the trap. I love when women are able to see past the facade and recognize the heinous misrepresentation of our gender. Jasmine’s eagle eyed, candid approach to storytelling has seen her featured on Def Poetry Jam, BET and Brave New Voices (HBO) and her work brings the promise of much greater things to come in the future.
Black Boy Gold is Jasmine Mans’ newest multimedia project. It includes poetry, visuals and sounds tackling homophobia, police brutality, black on black crime, and hate growing within the black community.

By Ayara Pommells, AFROPUNK Contributor *

Stream/Free Download:

“Tupac’s Back” is a poignant piece where Jasmine plays out a conversation with Tupac Shakur’s mother. She questions Afeni Shakur about the evolution of the so-called gangster. Our generation of young black men in the streets who perpetuate the much glorified ‘Thug Life’ embrace all of the perceived violence supposedly inhabits with zero of the honor. Many of our youths know of gangs and even belong to them but have no idea of its humble origins. They know not of the rules, the boundaries they would follow to ensure that their communities, their families were being protected.

Track “2Chainz” weighs in on the worship of the obligatory gold chains along with the frequently disrespectful categorizing of women these mainstream rappers whilst “Who Killed LittleBoy” is a stark piece featuring a sample of 70’s movie, The Education Of Sonny Carson and tackles the ever growing number of murders of young black boys in the streets. This is a running theme throughout the project (as the title would suggest).

Black Boy Gold highlights many of the real and often overlooked issues facing our young, black men. Police brutality. Peer pressure. Violence. Stonewalling within our community and the continuance cycle of ignorance. Ladies need not breathe a sigh of relief. We get it too. The bottom line is that we can all be doing better. We all need to if we want our beautiful black boys and girls to stand a chance in a world that has no desire to uplift them.

All these jewels have been handed to you free of charge via Jasmine Mans’ Bandcamp player above. Please download and share the link with a friend. Poems, and more images are available at blackboygold.com.

* Ayara Pommells is Owner of UK website Rawroots.com and a music writer for Soultrain.com, SOHH.com & AFROPUNK.com as well as an entertainment writer for Kontrol Magazine. Follow @YahYahNah.