When Denzel played Malcolm he had a segment in the film where he reminded the brother that he had said that “these were God’s words, not no hustle”. Or at least that’s me paraphrasing. And because we don’t read enough or show enough interest, here they come again with another one. Hustle, I mean.
Indeed, there is a new hustle in town, and it’s not coming from the streets—it’s coming from boardrooms and political war rooms. Elon Musk and Steve Bannon, two men whose records scream anti-Black bias, are tapping into a tactic straight from hip-hop’s playbook: ‘orchestrated beef’. This time, it’s not over bars, but over influence, and the target is Black men.
Hip-hop culture has long understood that controversy sells. Think Tupac vs. Biggie, Jay-Z vs. Nas—manufactured or not, these rivalries grabbed attention, fueled sales, and shaped narratives. Musk and Bannon are exploiting that same dynamic, crafting a fake feud to boost their respective agendas and deepen their influence among Black men. But don’t be fooled by the noise—neither man has ever shown genuine concern for the Black community.
Let’s start with the receipts. Steve Bannon, a self-proclaimed nationalist, has peddled the racist lie that African Americans are more “dependent” on government assistance. He’s also praised the Confederacy as a symbol of “heritage.” Then there’s Elon Musk, who once laughed at the idea of reparations and claimed that “wokeness” is a “mind virus” that disproportionately affects Black people. These men aren’t allies to Black advancement—they’re opportunists who see Black men as pawns in their larger cultural games.
The so-called beef between them isn’t about issues that matter to the Black community—it’s a distraction. It’s a bait-and-switch to make Black men believe they have a stake in agendas that ultimately work against their interests. We’ve seen this movie before. Fake alliances. Empty promises. And in the end, the community is left with nothing but the bill.
Here’s the takeaway: don’t fall for the theater. Musk and Bannon aren’t fighting for you—they’re fighting for power. Stay vigilant, stay informed, and remember: the real battle is for the liberation of our people, not their platforms.
If you understand your history, you’d see this for what it is. That’s why The Montague Collection exists—to tell the stories no one wants to hear, because when stories are buried, they’re usually the ones we need the most. Everything is hidden in the pages of books, often ignored but never erased.
History is full of bait-and-switch tactics like this. Think of the post-Reconstruction South, when white politicians pitted poor Black and white farmers against each other rather than addressing their shared economic struggles. Or consider J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI program COINTELPRO, which fabricated rivalries and infiltrated civil rights movements to discredit and destroy Black leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Even during the Civil Rights Movement, segregationists played up the threat of “outside agitators” to turn local Black communities against their own freedom fighters.
These strategies are always the same: create division, distract the oppressed, and keep power in the hands of the elite. The Montague Collection is here to help you connect these dots, because understanding the past is the first step in dismantling the systems that still trap us today. Let’s stop falling for the same tricks, and let’s start writing a new chapter in our history—one where we’re in control of the narrative.