PANTHER POWER PANTHER POWER
“NOW, I HAVE SOME EDIBLES AROUND THE HOUSE FOR HIJINKS EVERY NOW AND THEN, BUT NOTHING SERIOUS.”
Paris was born and raised in San Francisco, California, the Bay Area’s big sister city to Oakland, home of the Black Panther Party (BPP). Founded by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in 1966, the BPP closely monitored the behavior of the Oakland Police Department and fought against police brutality. Paris organically stumbled upon the teachings of the Nation of Islam and the BPP, informing his music and ultimately placing his voice among Public Enemy and other revolutionary hip-hop groups at the time.
“I never got into this to be an activist,” he explained. “I just wanted to make music that banged and wasn’t silly; the conscious angle happened organically. I came up on Gil-Scott Heron, Curtis Mayfield, Parliament-Funkadelic, The Isley Brothers and Stevie Wonder—artists who
