"CJ": A Hip-Hop Ode to Clarence Jones

By Antar “Juda” Davidson

As October begins, we carry forward the sweetness of Rosh Hashanah. In Jewish tradition,

dipping apples in honey reminds us that our words and actions can sweeten the year ahead.

For me, that sweetness also lives in a song — one that carried the legacy of Dr. Clarence B.

Jones, Dr. King’s speechwriter, into the language of hip-hop.

My journey with Detroit artist Fat Ray began one night at the release of the J Dilla King of the Beat hat collection with Grassroots, where he was the headliner. In a moment of boldness, I asked to spit a verse during his set. I had just arrived from Jerusalem, where I’d been rapping across Israel and working alongside Shyne. Ray could have brushed me off, but instead he welcomed a conversation.

A few days later, we made it to Southfield’s Chop House Recording Studio. Fat Ray brought the Detroit fire, and I brought the Jerusalem spirit — but what made the night remarkable was that Dr. Shari Rogers came with us. Coming from a neighborhood very different than where these rappers lived and where the studio was located, she stood out. Yet her presence made a huge impact. The fact that she was there — listening, supporting, and bridging worlds — was itself a testament to what Spill the Honey is all about: building bridges where they don’t normally exist.

That night’s conversation set things in motion. With my creativity and vision, and Dr. Rogers’

tenacity and ambition, the bridge was built. What began in that studio culminated in the J Dilla Day event at the Fillmore Theatre, where Dr. Clarence B. Jones delivered a historic address to a sea of young people united by hip-hop.

Dr. Jones later reflected on the night in the Huffington Post, writing:

“The audience of white and African-American people, men and women, principally

those who perform and listen to rap music, filled the Fillmore Theatre to capacity.

When I was introduced to speak… my remarks were greeted with attentive

enthusiasm and applause. The applause was even greater when I spoke about the

legacy of Martin Luther King's commitment to non-violence and the pursuit of

excellence to be the very best that we can be. … The black and white mosaic of

young people in the audience, if a representative segment or mirror of urban youth

today, we have reason to be hopeful.”

Those words affirmed exactly what Spill the Honey stands for — that music can build bridges

where society has been divided, and that the Black–Jewish alliance can find new life through

hip-hop.

The Song That Sparked a Movement

From that studio session came “CJ,” our ode to Clarence Jones. Its chorus became a mantra:

“Worldwide, exclusive… access granted, unlimited contribution to the movement, through the music, do it for the milk and honey… heaven on earth.”

The verses told a story both local and global. Fat Ray rapped about Detroit’s struggles and

resilience: fathers providing, communities striving for nonviolence, the tension between peace signs and drive-bys. My verse wove in the Jewish thread — faith, revolution, and the courage to name injustice, including the kidnapping of young girls that shook Detroit in 2011–2012.

And the bridge said it all: “We educating our people, we resonating that hope, and we elevating our people tryna find a way, make a way.”

Those words set the blueprint for what would grow into Bars & Bridges.

From Song to Model

“CJ” was more than music — it was a spark. It embodied the sweetness of Spill the Honey:

crossing boundaries, building bridges, and carrying forward unfinished legacies. That spark

became the vision for Bars & Bridges, our initiative to bring hip-hop into classrooms as

mentorship, civic engagement, and creative incubator.

We are still in the process of launching Bars & Bridges, but we already have proof of concept. At Cass Tech, Fat Ray and I partnered with Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence to engage students through performance, storytelling, and collaborative songwriting. That event became our model, showing that hip-hop can be more than art — it can be civic empowerment, solidarity, and education in action.

What Makes Spill the Honey Distinct

Many initiatives remember the Black–Jewish alliance of the civil rights movement. Spill the

Honey does something different: we activate it. Bars & Bridges takes the cultural power of hip-hop and channels it into mentorship, entrepreneurship, and civic dialogue. It transforms music into curriculum, performance into purpose, and history into a living bridge for the next generation.

As we recall the sweetness of Rosh Hashanah and carry it into October, let us remember: the

bridges we build through music, memory, and movement are what will carry us into the future. And we invite you — our readers, partners, and community — to help us carry this vision forward, bringing Bars & Bridges to more schools and more young people who are ready to make their voices heard.

Click here to listen to "CJ" with Antar Davidson and Fat Ray

Click here to read the lyrics to "CJ" Ode to Clarence Jones