Night of the Living Baseheads
Welcome Back! Well if this is your first read. Stop right here(I’m assuming you’re still reading) and go back to read last week’s story. When you’ve done that then come back and read that “Welcome Back” again. We have structure and flow around these parts! OK so this week we’ll be taking it back to 1988 followed by a quick trip to 2018.
It’s a nice crisp Thursday afternoon in October. My favorite teacher of all times(yes with an s) Ms. Bonfied tells the “walkers” they can leave. I meet my 8th grade walking buddy outside and we begin to walk to my house. Once we arrive my buddy leaves me with my grandmother on the steps as she proceeds on to her house. I instantly went inside because my grandmother was not coming in anytime soon, and she and the neighbors are having conversations that a 2nd grader doesn’t care about. Somewhere in any of those conversations I guarantee my grandmother uttered what seemed like her favorite phrase “They on that DOPE.”
I settle down on the wooden and styrofoam sofa that is definitely on its last legs to watch Ducktales. Welp I’ve seen this one before, it ends with Scrooge McDuck swimming in his vault of coins. “Hey I know I’ll change to this new channel on cable. Wow I can’t believe they have 32 channels, that’s a lot!” Channel 18 was BET(Black Entertainment Television) so for the next 30 minutes I heard..“I was a fiend before I became a teen...I melted microphones instead of cones of ice cream.” Followed by “MC am I people call me Millk...When I'm bustin' up a party I feel no guilt” And then they threw in a little “Maybe she'll take me back(Hey girl he's begging)I made a big mistake(Won't you forgive him, girl)Now I can feel it(He's never felt before)I really love her(You love her, what?!).”Along with a few otheer hits, and misses. And then it happened, and it was “Louder Than A Bomb.” Carlton D Ridenhour screams at me through the television “Here it is BAM! And you say Gotd*mn! This is a DOPE Jam! But let’s define the term called DOPE”…..I’ll take it from here Chuck D.
In 1988 DOPE was everywhere. If I turned on the television “Yo this song is DOPE!” “Mc Lyte? Yea she’s DOPE!” “He has a “Swatch Watch?” That’s DOPE.” If I looked out of my window I saw “DOPE-heads”, DOPE-fiends, and of course the “DOPE-man.” The crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980’s was something serious. I was constantly being told “Stay off that DOPE!” And now here is Public Enemy writing a song and creating a video about DOPE, and not in a good way! This was some complex sh*t for a 7-year-old to try to explain to adults. “See there’s good DOPE, and there’s bad DOPE!”, and what was the response I got? “Uh huh sure is..did you finish your homework?” “You understand right?” “Uh huh..now go take out the trash.”
In 2018 as a 37-year-old explaining DOPE to adults was still some complex sh*t! “I think that is a terrible name DOPE, makes me think of drugs!” “I’m not sure how much legal business you’ll get with the name DOPE!” “DOPE? What exactly are you growing?” Oh and I can’t forget being pulled over on the highway because they “assumed” I was transporting DOPE. Followed by having my car searched because the K-9 Unit “apparently” smelled DOPE. And then being asked about my notebook that had DOPE written on the cover, to which I replied it’s my planting schedule. Which made sense seeing as how they were searching my car and saw the many packets of seeds I had. Finally being let go because they didn’t find the DOPE that they “assumed” I had and the DOPE that the dog “supposedly” smelled didn’t exist either. “Here’s a warning sir, watch your speed.”
As you can see there were more low's than high's when it came to the word DOPE. So once day I decided to take Chuck D's advice “But let’s define the term called DOPE." I created Depend On Planet Earth...D.O.P.E. I went from DOPE to D.O.P.E. overnight. My mission is simply to increase the knowledge of where your food comes from, as well as instructing you how to grow your own food and medicine. Along with that I’ve met some D.O.P.E. people and done some D.O.P.E. things. I’ve taught D.O.P.E. lessons. I’ve created D.O.P.E. products. I’ve provided D.O.P.E. food for kids who might not have had access before. And to quote Mr. West..”My life is D.O.P.E., and I do D.O.P.E. sh*t!” And I'm trying my best redefine what DOPE/D.O.P.E. means to the world.…..This story was D.O.P.E.
(This story was written as “It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back” by Public Enemy served as the background soundtrack. Released June 28th, 1988)
