We Gotta Rock It, Don't Stop... Until We Die

[DISCLAIMER]

Because I don’t have many social media apps on my smartphone, regarding most sites such as Reddit, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and so forth, I often miss up-to-date news about celebrity deaths. This is as I prefer things to be in my life.

Still, earlier today, when searching for material online for daily practice of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) I discovered that one source reports, “Influential musical artist Afrika Bambaataa died in Pennsylvania on Thursday [4/9/2026] at the age of 67 after battling cancer.”

My practice of REBT began when reading the Daily Mail comment section. Per usual, the fallible human beings our species so obviously are, people dredged up disparaging remarks about the late rap innovator and legend. Virtue signaling and purity testing were in no short supply!

Favorably, REBT techniques were then put to use as I read. Herein, I’ll illustrate precisely how I kept from self-upsetting when reading the comments. First, allow me to briefly commemorate Bambaataa impact on my life.

The Planet Rock: The Album (1986) was an old school hip hop album by rappers Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force, released as a collection of previous singles. Personally, the most memorable track was “Planet Rock”, about which one source states:

The song quickly gained popularity, eventually earning a Gold record certification in the United States, the first for the group and label. The new musical style on the song later became known as electro. The song features simple lyrics discussing the power of music and having a fun time.

After its release, the song began to get airtime on the radio. The use of Kraftwerk’s music on the song was done without permission. The band approached the label and Tommy Boy’s manager, Tom Silverman, eventually agreed to give Kraftwerk one dollar for every record sold. He increased the price of the single to make a return on the record.

Attempts to get a full-length album for Bambaataa were not possible with Tommy Boy initially as Silverman’s contract with him was strictly for singles and re-negotiating it proved difficult. “Planet Rock” later was released on the album titled Planet Rock: The Album in 1986.

As an elementary school-aged boy, I used to clumsily engage in breakdancing to “Planet Rock”. I don’t recall anyone with whom I associated not appreciating the song. The track even traversed other musical genres, in that even the glam metal crowd appeared to have liked it.

One subjectively memorable line of the song is “we gotta rock it, don’t stop,” which is likely why some members of the rock and roll cohort enjoyed it. Apparently, Bambaataa wasn’t a popular figure with the Daily Mail crowd. Now, I’ll address how I navigated their comments.

REBT uses the ABC model to illustrate that when an undesirable Action occurs and you Believe an unhelpful narrative about the event, it’s your unfavorable assumption, not the occurrence itself, that causes an unpleasant Consequence. This is known as distress or disturbance.

In particular, there are four predominate irrational beliefs which people often use to upset themselves: global evaluations, low frustration tolerance, awfulizing, and demandingness. When contemplating these unproductive beliefs, think of the acronym GLAD.

Worth noting, the two forms of should, must, and ought demands with which people most often distress or disturb are associated with use of absolutistic and conditional beliefs. Generally speaking, these scripts serve as inflexible commands used toward oneself, others, and life.

An absolute must narrative is, “You absolutely must do as I say!” A conditional should narrative is, “Either you should do as I say, or you should be punished!” Noteworthy, in REBT literature, demandingness of this sort is said to function as a primary appraisal mechanism of self-upset.

Global evaluations (i.e., self-downing, other-downing, and life-downing), low frustration tolerance (also known as frustration intolerance), and awfulizing (e.g., terrible, horrible, etc.) function as secondary appraisal mechanisms. Together, GLAD will make you sad or mad, etc.

While still functioning as prescriptive rather than descriptive, flexible use of recommendatory, preferential, ideal, empirical, moral and ethical, and legal ought beliefs won’t inevitably cause disturbance, as they may align with distress. Rigidity versus flexibility makes a difference.

Additionally, from a psychological standpoint, people distress or disturb themselves using a Belief-Consequence (B-C) connection. Of course, this isn’t to suggest that in the context of the naturalistic or physical world there is no Action-Consequence (A-C) connection.

From an A-C view, Bambaataa reportedly had cancer (Action) which then resulted in his death (Consequence). Still, from a B-C perspective, I could’ve easily self-distressed (e.g., annoyance) or self-disturbed (e.g., enragement) when reading Daily Mail comments about Bambaataa.

For the sake of illustration, let’s pretend that I read comments about Bambaataa’s death (Action) and Believed, “These people are worthless [G], and I can’t stand them [L], because it’s appalling how they’re besmirching Bambaataa’s name [A], as they mustn’t to so [D]!”

In this strictly hypothetical scenario, my unaccommodating Belief would then cause the self-disturbed condition of enragement (Consequence). Had that actually happened, not only would a legendary rapper now remain deceased, I’d unnecessarily have caused my own self-upset!

Addressing how people upset themselves with unhelpful attitudes, the ABC model incorporates Disputation of unproductive philosophies of life in order to explore Effective new beliefs. Whereas rigid beliefs cause self-disturbance, flexible beliefs result in an un-disturbed condition.

As well, REBT uses unconditional acceptance (UA) to relieve self-induced suffering. This is accomplished through use of unconditional self-acceptance (USA), unconditional other-acceptance (UOA), and unconditional life-acceptance (ULA).

Whereas the ABC model is a scientific approach to wellness, UA serves as a philosophical method for un-disturbing yourself. I view the former as an abortive approach to disturbance and the latter as a preventative method. Of course, not all REBT practitioners use the same style as I.

With my approach to REBT, I incorporate author Stephen Covey’s concepts regarding the circles of control, influence, and concern, as well as an area of no concern. UA maps onto the circle of control (USA), circle of influence (UOA), and circle of concern and area of no concern (ULA).

The circle of control encompasses only oneself, the circle of influence encapsulates elements which may be subject to one’s sway, the circle of concern engrosses most matters one can imagine, and the area of no concern relates to all content which isn’t yet imagined.

Rather than actually self-upsetting with unaccommodating scripts about Daily Mail commenters who remarked on Bambaataa’s death, I practiced REBT. Specifically, I kept in mind that I have control of only my reaction to inconvenient statements made by other people (USA).

Additionally, I know that just as I’m an imperfect being with automatic thoughts and beliefs, other people are also fallible and use their own illogical and unreasonable mental scripts (UOA). Also, I realize that this impermanent and uncertain life will inevitably end (ULA).

Therefore, when using UA while reading Daily Mail comments, I remained indifferent—neither distressed nor disturbed. Noteworthy, the Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force line “we gotta rock it, don’t stop” uses a recommendatory demandingness derivative (i.e., “gotta”).

It’s as though members of the hip hop collective stated that people recommendatorily should rock it (i.e., keep moving), don’t stop… until we die, that is. This is apparently what Bambaataa did! Now, I invite you to do the same. Keep moving through life until you’ll inevitably die.

In closing, rest easy, Bambaataa. I’ll keep it moving until my inescapable death arises. One.

If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life—helping you to sharpen your critical thinking skills, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.

As a psychotherapist, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues ranging from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.

At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!

Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW

Photo credit, fair use

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