If I Ruled the World

“ Political Prisoner set free, stress free,

No work release, purple M3s and jet skis,

Feel the wind breeze in West Indies

I make Coretta Scott-King mayor the cities,

And reverse fiends to Willies”

-Nas, “If I Ruled the World”

The whole idea of imperialism is an interesting concept that I have not been able to completely grasp. In school, when we were taught about the concept of a country owning another, I was always perplexed. It didn’t seem right and what I did I end up finding out, that it wasn’t right.

Many things that have taken place in history are quite disturbing and just inhumane, but this is history and these were our forerunners who were taken place in the unimaginable events. I use the word “our” loosely, because historically people of color outside of the Spanish were not the ones who were colonizing, but were rather the ones being compromised.

I was listening to Nas’ 'If I Ruled the World' earlier and the whole concept of owning the world or a piece of it came across my mind. It feels so good to own something, and to be aware that it’s yours. In the song, Nas speaks about all the positive things that he would do and how he would help those who were disadvantaged. The lyrics began to resonate with me.

I thought about what I would do if I ruled the world, and who I would I help. I thought longer and realized that I wouldn’t want to rule the world, because there would be many things that I couldn’t change. Nas was dreaming and spoke about a different imperialism, that involved prison abolition, curing the disease of poverty, and equity. People don’t do those things when they get power, it seems like they do the complete opposite and I wonder what that says about the human condition.