Lonnie Rashid Lynn's A Letter To The Law

Lonnie Rashid Lynn, whose stage name is Common, dramatizes a call for peace in his "A Letter to the Law." The letter turns out to be, at least, an open letter, because not only does his speaker address the law, but he also addresses his fellow travelers, his revolutionary compatriots.

Because this piece is spoken/sung in dialect, this analysis does not comment on fractured grammar.

First Movement: "Dem boy wanna talk like dem wanna gon come"

Speaking in dialect, the speaker of this piece begins by noting that some boys talk big but do not have the power to accomplish much. He asks, "what you gone do when you got one gun?"- implying that they need much more firepower to be effective in their struggle for revolution.

The speaker/singer then

The listener/reader will be well aware that there are innumerable fine African American sports figures, actors, musicians, and other entertainers who have not been the target of a lawsuit.

This unfortunate movement undermines the speakers credibility that he so richly deserves in other movements, especially the second, which contains important universals truths.

Fourth Movement: "Black gem in the rough, you rugged enough"

This movement returns to a well-reasoned, sensible advice the might have been offered by a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., or a Mahatma Gandhi. He tells his fellows to use "your mind and non power." The speaker says those fellows who are not using their heads just brag about gunning down the law, while he thinks remaining alert to injustice is the answer.

Fifth Movement: "They watching me, Im watching them"

The speaker explains the useless dichotomy of us vs. them: while detectives, the law, are filled with testosterone, his buddies, my people, "got a lotta Pac in them." The thug life-style portrayed by the late Tupac Shakur, whose run-ins with the law elevated the rapper to legendary status in some circles, has not done his compatriots who try to emulate him, any