What is your legacy? I started thinking this after a series of tweets—of all things—from Blue Scholar/the Bar MC Prometheus Brown. Last week was the 10th anniversary of the original edition of the Scholars' first album, he said. Its release party, he noted, was at a Filipino restaurant in Chinatown, and Gabriel Teodros, Ka.Lil (then still called Khalil Crisis, I think), some guy named Macklemore, and even I (as part of Cancer Rising) all played that show.

"Ten years!" [Jeremy Piven, Grosse Pointe Blank voice]. I just have to print his finisher: "And, for 10 years I kept quiet and never said this out loud to anyone who ever doubted us but: fuck you we still here and you aren't." Chuch.

I'm not at all advocating for a state of only Scholars-type "positive" content here, as most so-called conscious rappers are as formulaic and backward as the radio rap their fans demonize. Scarface's words bled. 2Pac bled (and we never bounced back). Freddie Gibbs's shit bleeds. I'm not some mid-2000's Pitchfork type, saying only "negative" street content is valid, either.

Anyway: legacy. It's not always about the things you say you're about. It's about your actions, the things that actually leave a mark on the world, the people around you. Think of a parent telling their child to "do as I say, not as I do." The Blue Scholars have a huge legacy based on their moves in the music scene alone, which were unprecedentedly large in this city (for anybody not named Anthony Ray)—plus their activism, advocacy, just the voice they lent to the things they saw fit to. You're temporary—if you're only about yourself, your works will be disposable. What do you believe in?

Ask yourself: Does your art have a message, purpose, ideological thrust of any kind besides your own greatness or the possibility of you not having to work for a living? Does it speak to or for those unspoken to or for? Does it shake up forms, does it cry, or even bleed? Does your rap have a heart and a brain, or just an undiscriminating hand and dick out? Do you feel like you're owed, or do you feel like you owe? One of those paths has a legacy, and one just has a sad trajectory I've seen over and over and over again.

A-fucking-hem. All that said: Pro Brown is doing some of his best work ever right now as part of the Bar with LA's Bambu. Their most recent album, Barkada ("bar-cotta" for the haoles), is every bit as sun-toughened and fun as the islands that inspired slapping album opener "Live from Hawaii." It's a thoughtful addition to the catalog of two proudly Fil-Am rap veterans, raising a righteous ruckus, an antiracist middle finger, or just a fuckin' beer—whatever the occasion calls for. It's brimming with love for Manny (and Bruce), for their people, for fuckin' rap. Throw on that breakbeat-raw "Mits" with La and Kixxie Siete for proof. recommended