My new post went up over the weekend at Spot-on and it’s all about how the turmoil over Don Imus has spread to hip-hop. I could see that coming very quickly over the course of the week. Partly, it’s a racially-driven phenomenon. There are plenty of white folks who don’t understand how a brotha gets to drop the N-bomb with impunity while they can’t. The answer is that tribe members get to use the language and you don’t. Gay men can call themselves “queers” with pride; you don’t get to.
But the other part of the equation is that lots of people, black and white, feel that hip-hop — particularly, rap lyrics — are poisonous. Given how harshly Imus was treated, it was only a matter of moments before the target shifted.
AP story: After Imus storm, rap at the fore
Pointing out that the rapper Mims uses “ho” and worse epithets in his chart-topping song “This Is Why I’m Hot,” columnist Michelle Malkin asked: “What kind of relief do we get from this deadening, coarsening, dehumanizing barrage?”
The Rev. Al Sharpton, among the loudest critics calling for Imus’ termination, indicated that entertainment is the next battleground. “We will not stop until we make it clear that no one should denigrate women,” he said after Imus’ firing. “We must deal with the fact that ho and the b-word are words that are wrong from anybody’s lips.
“It would be wrong if we stopped here and acted like Imus was the only problem. There are others that need to get this same message.”
William F. Buckley’s op-ed: Imus Dead
The world of hip-hop, one learns, is untouchable. The language there is heavily coarse, profane and perverted. It is ironic that although hip-hop is disproportionately black, it was an anti-black crack that finally undid Don Imus.
(I love the use of that word “disproportionately”)
I’ve addressed my concerns about the gangsta element previously on this blog, such as in the context of alternatives acts like Tanya Morgan or whether hip-hop can be big enough for both Jay-Z and Kanye West.
But, I wrote the piece to offer an alternative viewpoint. Before we rush off into a new media frenzy, let’s take a moment to breathe.
Thanks to Model Minority, I read this transcript of Roland Martin’s remarks on CNN. Even though he is heavily critical of rap lyrics, he said:
If we want to go after hip-hop, I am 100 percent behind it and we also should go after sexism. When you watch a boxing match, you see the ring girl walk around with the card, round three, round four. That’s also how you have sexism in America. Let’s go after hip-hop, but let’s also be honest about the reality of sexism. Hip-hop is 30 years old. It didn’t just begin.
Rap music is a commercial-driven artistic expression of attitudes of both black males and our larger society. In my Spot-on piece I try to make clear that the economics behind this are important. If you demand Snoop Dog cleans up his act and don’t do anything about the people who buy his records (who are not primarily African American), then what will be solved?
I’ve already seen some language in stories and op-ed pieces that suggest that problems are widespread in hip-hop. How much light is going to be shed on positive rappers with conscious lyrics? Or even the funny and intelligent rappers who don’t feel the need to denigrate others? Will there be support for the alternative?
2 Responses
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M.dot. Says:
Peace fam.
Thanks for the link.
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The Pop View Says: