This is Part II of a three part pancocojams series that focuses on the English language vernacular saying "stay woke".
This post showcases a YouTube video from Spike Lee's 1988 movie School Daze. I believe this "Wake Up!!!!" scene influenced the later vernacular meaning of "Stay woke!" This post also showcases Erykah Badu's song "Master Teacher" (Part 2) which is an early example of music's use of the vernacular meaning of "Stay woke".
Selected comments from those YouTube examples' discussion threads are also included in this post.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/05/what-stay-woke-really-means-definitions.html for Part I of this series. Part I presents definitions for the saying "stay woke" and some documentation of that saying's use off-line and online in the United States.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/05/childish-gambino-redbone-african.html for Part III of this series. Part III showcases a video performance of Childish Gambino's singing his award winning R&B song "Redbone". The chorus of that song repeats the African American vernacular saying "stay woke".
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The content of this post is presented for linguistic, socio-cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Spike Lee and Erykah Badu for their creative legacy. Thanks to all those who quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of theses YouTube examples
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VERNACULAR DEFINITION OF "BEING WOKE"
Here's my definition of "being woke" and "stay woke":
"Being woke" means to be conscious of and vigilant about social justice issues, particularly as they refer to Black people.
"Stay woke" is a command that "woke" people maintain the state of being conscious of and vigilant about social justice issues, particularly as they refer to Black people.
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SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Example #1: School Daze - WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!
6FT1BRUH, Published on Jul 6, 2008
PLEASE........WAKE UP.
Dap's point in this movie was "to encourage the student body to wake up and take notice to what was going on around them. Things was getting out of control and it needed to stop.
The calm and conclusive "WAKE UP" to the audience means "wake up from all the bullsh&t* we bring on ourselves and that we perpetuate in our community and neighborhoods and in, most of all, society."
But that sh&t* was crazy the way he just woke up everybody out their sleep.
-snip-
*These words are fully spelled out in this video summary.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-black-consciousness-movement-spike.html for a pancocojams post entitled The Black Consciousness Movement, Spike Lee's Movie "School Daze", & The Vernacular Word "Woke"
Here's an excerpt from the Wikipedia page for Spike Lee's School Daze movie:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_Daze
"School Daze is a 1988 American musical comedy drama film, written and directed by Spike Lee, and starring Larry Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, and Tisha Campbell-Martin. Based in part on Spike Lee's experiences at Atlanta's Morehouse College, Spelman College, Morris Brown College and Clark Atlanta University, it is a story about fraternity and sorority members clashing with other students at a historically black college during homecoming weekend. It also touches upon issues of colorism and hair texture bias within the African-American community. The second feature film by Spike Lee, School Daze was released on February 12, 1988 by Columbia Pictures.
Vaughn "Dap" Dunlap (Fishburne) is a politically conscious black American student at Mission College, a leading historically black college in Atlanta, Georgia whose motto is "Uplift the Race."[2] The college administration is portrayed as inept.
Dunlap leads anti-apartheid demonstrations encouraging students and school administrators to divest from South Africa. When his buddies go into town, they find the local boys are not impressed with their activities, but think of them as privileged college boys. Open conflict breaks out between the groups."...
-snip-
Selected comments from this video's discussion thread, with numbers assigned for referencing purposes only
1.Nina Stephens, 2009
"people really need to "check that alarm clock and wake up",To whats really going on in america."
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2. BlkandBold, 2011
"I love my people but "We" still are sleep walking!!!!
Create, motivate ,and last but not least stop judging!
Unite"
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3. Ramon LeBlanc Harts, 2013
"WAKE - UP from self-hatred, greed, racism, etc.! Can I get a thumbs up?"
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4. Kalifornias Gold, 2013
"It's about being conscious."
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5. Nasty NiqueBeats, 2013
"Instead of Shooting Fighting Arguing With our Brothers and Sisters....... WAKE UP And come TOGETHER.......Right Now.....Please...."
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6. RoGoH308, 2014
"This message has never been more prevalent till now WAKE UP PEOPLE."
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7. India Black, 2014
"Wake up world"
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8. Stacy Seecharan, 2014
"too true, as Malcolm X said 'the greatest mistake of the movement has been trying to organize a sleeping people around specific goals. You have to WAKE THE PEOPLE up first, then you'll get action' . This goes for all folks, in british show about northerners catching hell 'Boys from the blackstuff', the working class liverpudlians refuse to wake up and booze is the sleeping pill"
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9. Maddygurl12304996, 2015
"The music ties in so well with the scene, I'm crying. The world needs to wake up and realize that we as people need to do better to make the world better"
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10. BlkandBold, 2015
"Wake UP!"
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11. Lawless66007, 2015
"It means wake up to the fact that you are being conditioned to believe you are one way or another. BE YOU. The whole movie was about people thinking that they are one way or the other ie: Jiggaboos and Wannabees/ Gama Phi Gama and The Brahs. Wake up to the fact that you have your own mind to think who you wanna be."
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12. topnetworkersgroup, 2016
"several years later; this message is more relevant than ever"
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REPLY
13. Todd Phillips, 2017
"so what does the ending mean?"
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REPLY
14. Neo-Xgray87, 2018
"Todd Phillips if you had actually paid attempt to be movie, Dap's point of view was to encourage the student body to wake up and take notice pf what is actually going on around them because everything was going out of control and it needed to be stop. The part where Dap said, "Please....wake up!" In a calm and conclusive tone was him looking at the audience telling them that they need to wake up from all the lies and all the bullsh&t that we as individuals, and members of the human have brought upon ourselves, our communities, our neighborhoods and to society."
-snip-
"Paid attempt to be movie" is probably "paid attention to the movie"
*This word is fully spelled out in that comment.
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15. Andre Patterson, 2016
"One of Spike Lee's best scenes in any of his movies! I was 8yrs old when I saw this at the movies. I didn't fully understand the message, "Wake Up" then, but man do I have an appreciation for it now. I miss black movies and black TV shows with this type of message......."
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REPLY
16. Alexis Golden, 2016
"what are they waking up from?"
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REPLY
17. Joe L, 2016
"+Alexis Golden From their stupidity and ignorance."
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18. Todd Phillips, 2017
"so what does the ending mean?"
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REPLY
19. topnetworkersgroup, 2017
"Black people were divided so others could conquer us. we need to wake up, and unite."
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20. Trina King, 2017
"Now I know what this means. I been woke!"
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21. Black Girls Allowed, 2017
"and Stay Woke!"
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Example #2: Erykah Badu's Master Teacher Pt.2
GratiotJones, Published on Jul 25, 2008
The 2nd part of the song Master Teacher from the album New Amerykah
-snip-
Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJZq9rMzO2c for a YouTube sound file of Part I of Erykah Badu's song "Master Teacher".
-snip-
Here's an excerpt from the Wikipedia page about this song: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Amerykah_Part_One_(4th_World_War)#Songs
"New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) is the 2008 fourth studio album by American neo soul singer and songwriter Erykah Badu. After a hiatus from recording music due to writer's block, Badu communicated with several hip hop producers over the Internet and worked on new music using the GarageBand software program on her laptop. Once the songs were composed, she went on to record most of the album at Electric Lady Studios in New York City.
New Amerykah Part One is an esoteric concept album titled as a pun on Badu's first name and a reflection of the record's political leanings. It features social commentary and themes related to the plight of the African-American community, including poverty, urban violence, complacency, and cultural identity. The record's densely produced music incorporates funk, R&B, hip hop, soul, jazz, and electronica styles.
New Amerykah Part One was released by Universal Motown on February 26, 2008, receiving widespread critical acclaim and debuting at number two on the Billboard 200 albums chart. At the end of the year, it was named by many critics as one of 2008's best records, and by December 2009, it had sold 359,000 copies in the United States. Badu promoted the album with a supporting tour, The Vortex World Tour, during May to July 2008.
[...]
Songs
[...]
"Master Teacher" was conceived by Georgia Anne Muldrow on her Rhodes piano at Sa-Ra's Cosmic Dust Studio with Badu present and was originally intended for one of their albums.[17] Its idyllic music blends mellow soul and glitchy hip hop, featuring a chopped sample of Curtis Mayfield's 1972 song "Freddie's Dead".[10] The song's lyrics envision a higher degree of African-American identity.[23] Its vocalists ask in refrain, "What if there was no ni&&as*, only master teachers?",[32] and answering "I stay woke", with Badu responding "I'm in the search of something new / Search inside me, searching inside you".[23] Midway through the song, Poyser's keyboards lower the music's tempo,[17] with a fluid, jazzy sound. "That Hump" concerns the topic of drug dependency.[5] The closing track "Telephone" is a tribute to J Dilla, who died in 2006 from complications with blood disorder,[11] and has themes of sorrow and hope.[23] It serves as a departure from the preceding songs' edgier musical direction, featuring soft melodies and an acoustic feel similar to Badu's live sound.[12] The song opens with the sound of ominous sirens, referencing J Dilla's 2006 album Donuts.[10] The song's lyrics are based on a story told to Badu by J Dilla's mother on the day of his death. Poyser explained in an interview, "Dilla's mom told Erykah about one day when he was telling her about this dream he had where Ol'Dirty was telling him to get on a different color bus and giving him directions home".[12] According to Poyser, the song's music was inspired by Dilla's passing:
"We were in the studio right after Dilla's funeral ... the focus there was more emotional than sonic. It was just feeling Dilla. It was something that wasn’t thought out, it just naturally took place. We were sitting there and we just started jamming and the song just happened instantly."[12]-snip-
LYRICS: MASTER TEACHER
[performed by Eyrkah Badu)
(dreams, dreams, dreams)
I am known to stay awake
(a beautiful world im trying to find)
A beautiful world im trying to find
(a beautiful world, im trying to find)
Ive been in search of myself
(a beautiful world) a beautiful world
Its just too hard for me to find
(dreams, dreams)
Said its just too hard for me to find
(dreams, dreams)
I am in the search of something new
(a beautiful world im trying to find)
Searchin' me
Searching inside of you
And thats fo' real
What if it were no ni&&as*
Only master teachers?
I stay woke (dreams dreams)
What if there was no ni&&as*
Only master teachers?
I stay woke (dreams dreams)
What if it was no ni&&as* only master teachers now?
I stay woke (dreams dreams)
(what if there was no ni&&as* only master teachers now?)
I stay woke (dreams dreams)
-snip-
Source: https://genius.com/Erykah-badu-master-teacher-lyrics
*This word is fully spelled out in these lyrics.
-snip-
Here are some selected comments from this sound file's discussion thread, with numbers assigned for referencing purposes only:
1. Latasha Turner, 2011
"I say these things b/c I love u... stay woke~"
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2. Carlton Hassell, 2011
"Do it E. keep your eyes and ears open! Stay woke. Peace!"
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3. Swole Osbourne, 2012
"3 people dont want yall woke.. the devil is a lie aha im woke"
-snip-
This comment refers to the number of people at that time who clicked that they disliked this song.
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4. 10TH Dimension, 2015
"I STAY WOKE!"
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This concludes Part II of this pancocojams series.
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