MUSIC
唀倀䌀伀䴀䤀一䜀 䔀嘀䔀一吀匀 䄀吀 䘀䤀刀䔀䰀䄀䬀䔀 䄀刀䔀一䄀 Jabee’s Black Future album cover
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periences, and they still are. In Black Future track “Flashes,” Jabee recalls an instance when someone he considered a friend called him an Uncle Tom because he perceived the artist’s fan following as largely white. “How can I be an Uncle Tom when I was a kid who was homeless and never had anything?” Jabee said in a recent interview with Oklahoma Gazette. “I’m still from the eastside. I’m still the same person.” Black Future is not solely about black issues or any one group, despite its title. Jabee said it’s about humanity — in the city and across the globe — at a crossroads. Which path will people chose in a world that feels increasingly chaotic? “We can have a bright future or a dark future,” Jabee explained. “That’s across the board for blacks, whites, whoever. We all want a bright future. We all want to see tomorrow.” Black Future was inspired by a poem of the same name written by his friend NajahAmatullah Hylton. The narrated prose, broken into three tracks, creates the framework for the album. “In the Black Future,” she says in the album intro, “there’s a place so dangerously absurd that words reemerge as our tools and our friends rather than by the means The Man condemns us to ignorance.”
㐀 㔀ⴀ㈀㜀㌀ⴀ㘀㌀㜀 ∠ 䘀䤀刀䔀䰀䄀䬀䔀䄀刀䔀一䄀⸀䌀伀䴀 㠀㐀㔀 伀䰀䐀 刀䄀一䜀䔀䰀䤀一䔀 刀䐀 ∠ 匀䠀䄀圀一䔀䔀Ⰰ 伀䬀 䘀䤀刀䔀䰀䄀䬀䔀⸀䄀刀䔀一䄀 䘀䤀刀䔀䰀䄀䬀䔀䄀刀䔀一䄀 36
a u g u s t 3 , 2 0 1 6 | O kg a z e t t e . c o m
Arresting development
Hylton was set to perform her work alongside Jabee for the first time at a 2015 gig. But the rapper never showed up. Earlier that day, Jabee visited Penn Square Mall for a haircut before the show. He’s not sure why, but he felt like pulling up his sweatshirt hood as he walked through the shopping center. Security guards soon stopped him and said they already warned him about wearing his hood up inside the mall. Jabee told them he arrived just a few minutes before and had not spoken to anyone. He said they must have him confused with someone else. “They were like, ‘No. We saw you with your video camera,’” Jabee recalled. “I’m like, ‘Video camera? Who has a video camera? It’s 2015. Why would I have a video camera?’” A crowd gathered as the debate continued. Not wanting to cause a scene, Jabee decided it would be best to leave the mall. He stepped onto an escalator, and a police officer grabbed him as soon as he got to the bottom. “He goes, ‘Oh, you don’t want to leave? You’re going to jail,’” Jabee said. “I’m like, ‘You’re kidding.’ I promise I thought he was joking.” He was not. Jabee was handcuffed and taken to jail for trespassing. As he was escorted out of the shopping center, a white woman wearing a jacket with the hood up walked past him as she pushed a
We all want a bright future. We all want to see tomorrow. Jabee