Rating:
  Review Date: May 28, 2007
  Website: brokeMC Website
  Label: I’m Broke Productions

brokeMC “Make It Better” Album Review
I saw brokeMC rock a show a week or so ago. The crowd was into it, the ladies were dancing, and all the heads were nodding. I could tell that it definitely made an impression on people, and I remember looking over at the merch table to see it crowded with visitors. “Those cats are gonna be selling some albums tonight,” I thought.  

However, I was surprised right after the show when brokeMC started walking around the crowd handing out his new album, “Make It Better,” for free. After spending a half hour sweating on stage in a manner that encouraged crowd members to purchase the album, he simply gave it away. And that was kinda strange to me.

I hate to be judgmental, but you don’t normally see that type of attitude in hip-hop these days. Instead, it’s all about the cheese. A lot of cats email me and ask me to review their albums, and then tell me where I can buy them. Like me writing a review isn’t worth a promo copy or something. Other cats try to act like they’re big time and deserve special props because Kool Herc is their friend on MySpace. And everybody tries to act like they’re some successful multi-platinum rapper.

brokeMC, however, was different. This cat was giving away free discs when many of those people probably would’ve paid for them. He led the audience in chants of his catchphrase “Broke is Okay,” and generally seemed all right with the fact that he is a broke local emcee on the grind. It was as if bring broke was the thing to be . as if there was some inherent coolness involved in our everyday monetary struggles.

Broke Is Okay
The experience made me think about something I read in a religious studies course a couple years back. It was about the religion of Islam and poverty, and it basically stated a Muslim belief that poverty almost always comes to those who follow truth and righteousness. Apparently, some Muslims believe that the path of truth conflicts with the established ways of a monetary-based society. Those who follow truth are punished, though not always intentionally, by society in the form of social and economic hardships. Therefore, some Muslims believe that it is impossible for a person to follow the path of truth and righteousness without being poor or, as we know it today, broke.

But even more so, some spiritual leaders actually urged their followers to take pride in being broke. To follow the example of the prophet Muhammad who was a merchant before spreading the word of Allah. If Muhammad were too concerned with making extra bills trading between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, he never would’ve been able to spread the word. Thus, many of his followers believe that once a person is willing to trade away his wealth and life for eternal bliss, he receives the courage to stand up against falsehood and injustice. Or as brokeMC might say, “It’s our world and we own what we stand through.” In that sense, perhaps being broke really is the thing to be.

I don’t know, man . everybody wants a little money, right? But I think the point here is that we need to realize the importance of not fearing poverty, at least not on the level that it would make us reject truth and righteousness. We cannot let a fear of being broke or hope of being rich allow us to lose sight of the goodness inherent in all of us. Or as brokeMC might say:

The winter makes me wonder why I wandered to the north
Searching for the lights to make my shadow more important
And I climb to the stories but the sky remains a torment
Silent and then I’ve lost sight of the fortune

Take a lesson from the brokeMC. Don’t lose “sight of the fortune.” And pick up a copy of his new album “Make It Better,” even if you gotta spend your last couple bucks on it. After all, broke is okay. Peace.