What if the 1996 single from It Was Written, “If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)” featuring Lauren Hill, was an actual model for a new utopian restructuring?
Title I. “Imagine going to court with no trial. Imagine law with no undercovers. Your people holding dough, no parole. / I’d open every cell in Attica, send ‘em to Africa.”
Details: Part A. Omerta defines this more aptly. In mobster crime era Italy, the state police had less power than private security enterprises. These sentences propose a similar structure. Each district would have the necessary private power to passively provide protective services only. To elaborate: no proactive interrogations or patrolling based on suspicion. In fact, patrolling would be disbanded all together for its aggressive nature. Part B. Describes the intention to release all prisoners and, metaphorically, send them to Africa – in other words, to educate them in a way in which they can live peacefully within normal society.
Title II. “Imagine smoking weed in the streets without cops harassing. If coke was cooked without the garbage we’d all have the top dollars. / Open they eyes to the lies history’s told foul. Political prisoner set free, stress free. No work release, purple M3′s, and jet skis.”
Detail: Part A. The state would have an open and legal drug system, broken down by county-controlled distributors who collect and deal for and through the city. These “spots” would be taxed, ultimately, by state jurisdiction, and therein the final profits would benefit the overall communities (similar to present-day state lottery). Each district/county would have different drugs as well as drug-classifications that would be distinct to that community. (For instance, a district with 85% geriatrics would require more palliative care prescriptions, while middle-aged suburbs would desire more marijuana and cocaine.) Because the state would control local distribution, top quality and cleanliness of narcotics would be insured. This weeds out independent distributors with illegal status and questionable goods, leading to a healthier – monetarily and physically – community. Part B. Though mixed with suggestions of riches for all, this statement actually proposes a change in foreign relations. The first part reiterates Title I Part B, but the latter suggests open foreign trade without levies or bulky taxation. This allows local markets competing with larger international ones a chance to thrive in a fair, yet chaotic and unpredictable, environment. (Referencing “M3″ – as in the BMW series – could also suggest, more elaborately, the removal of exclusivity contracts in place between auto import sales and parts manufacturing.)
Title III. “No welfare supporters more conscious of the way we raise our daughters. Days are shorter, nights are colder. / Designer clothes, lacing your click up with diamond vogues [rolls?]. Imagine everybody flashing, fashion.”
Detail: Part A. Quite simply, we can infer that (at the time of the writing of lyrics, at least) child alimony regulations were too tight for Nas. So, as a “solution”, the regulations for paid child alimony would be lightened and/or released. (This is also a wink to the previous post on the PIMP v. HOE class case. This can be a touchy subject, as some hoes employ children as cash machines tied to men-as-atms.) “Days are shorter” can refer to less work hours required to posit one as full-time;– for instance, lowering full-time hours from 8.5 to 3.5; and lunch breaks from .5 hour every 8 hours to 2 hours every 1 hour of work. As an abstract interpretation of the following “nights are colder”, this could suggest that the lack of working would ultimately result in depressed home atmospheres. Part B. This line is the Triborough Ice Tea alcoholic drink of verses, promising communist dispersal of luxury goods to all citizens. (Imagine a line in the dead of winter for collecting your all black Denalis, XL trim, set on 22s.)
Title IV. “Lost Tribe of Shabazz, free at last. / No rubbers, going raw”
Detail: Part A. This is less of a proposal, again, though a prophetic gist towards funding priorities. Nas may unwittingly be suggesting that science be at the forefront of GDP spending. According to muslim mythology, “The Tribe of Shabazz” refers to a group of people from 66 trillion years ago. Shabazz was a rogue scientist that blew up a lab, severing the moon from the Earth, and then led a bunch of black folks to the jungle to live a hardened life. Thus, why Africans are so buff and coarse-haired[?] (according to Malcom X). There is a part of this story that is nearly impossible to get any muslim to talk about. Most notably, that of Shabazz’s specific scientific concept(s) that caused him to be exiled from the other 13 tribes he was part of. If anyone knows the answer to this, I’d love to hear it. Part B. Why amalgamate these two lines? Because the second part of this title is a specification for scientific research. The introduction of higher government subsidies for the education and research of sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS, as well as the increase in subsidized birth control and abortion.
Title V. “I make Coretta Scott King mayor the cities and reverse fiends to willies”
Detail: Coretta Scott King was an amazing representative for the civil rights movement. Unfortunately, Mrs. King died in January 2006, almost ten years after the song was released. Therefore, Cornel West could be a replacement for the Head of Race & Gender Relations, though, without feminine command. From there, a positive image can be consumed by those in doubt of themselves, to bring themselves up from depression.
In conclusion, the idea that acquiring “all the chips, be[ing] poor or rich” invites others to not “want a nigga hav[e] shit” rings true even today. Proof to the case can be found, undoubtedly, within every rap/hip-hop single on the charts: “hater” (or some variation thereof). Of course, some of these references to haters are merely replies to comment hungry bloggers who don’t actually listen to music. So, despite having a socialist society steeped in utopian concepts of equilateral luxury riches, jealousy would still be a capital issue. And, it is my notion, that with Nas’ corrections in place, haters would be the “axis of evil” in that time.
