Black culture beyond hip-hop
- Thread starter J:M
- Start date
This has been pretty interesting alot of good points
1. Sydal has a nice message with a good ring to it, but it sounds hella naive to me bruh, a white dude in poverty has a better chance than a minoirty to be succesful and by succesful i mean by american media standards almost every time. The whole rise on up and fly first class is fuckn bullshit I aint feelin that at all, the maturity your expecting out of young ass kids is totally unreasonable, whether your blue or purple in your teen years you will never have the insight of your older years. To expect this generation to just clean break away from the way things are now is not happening
2. It will always be easy and natural for white people to play the caddy for minorities, especially rich smart ones, cuz your on their "homefield" they know the ropes, n like a caddy they tell minorties their problems how to play their situation. The truth is you can only do the best for yourself by your decesions n most of these white dudes has driven past the hood on the freeway a couple times. Heart is in the right place but there is a disconnect.
3. There is Rich versus Poor no doubt, but you have to ask your self my most blue collar jobs in america today are takin by mostly hispanics, some asians, and low to middle class whites????? Todays youth black, white, brown, yellow, is obessed with material gain because it is dangled in front of them on TV every day of their lives. A lot of black youth make more money in a couple months than working class latinos, asians, and white do in a year slangin drugs which is spent on more drugs and cars or whatever. Y the fuck would u go to school? or want to be apart of the yale clubs dude was talkn about, or have to put on a suit and tie and work in a office? Who created that work enviornment??? RICH PEOPLE WITH HELLA SUITS AND TIES not poor folk. Poor is poor and different "races" have found different ways to adapt to it to survive based on their enviornments. And clearly based on enviornments and structure of culture some have and contine to do better than others
I could go on but im save some ammunition
1. Sydal has a nice message with a good ring to it, but it sounds hella naive to me bruh, a white dude in poverty has a better chance than a minoirty to be succesful and by succesful i mean by american media standards almost every time. The whole rise on up and fly first class is fuckn bullshit I aint feelin that at all, the maturity your expecting out of young ass kids is totally unreasonable, whether your blue or purple in your teen years you will never have the insight of your older years. To expect this generation to just clean break away from the way things are now is not happening
2. It will always be easy and natural for white people to play the caddy for minorities, especially rich smart ones, cuz your on their "homefield" they know the ropes, n like a caddy they tell minorties their problems how to play their situation. The truth is you can only do the best for yourself by your decesions n most of these white dudes has driven past the hood on the freeway a couple times. Heart is in the right place but there is a disconnect.
3. There is Rich versus Poor no doubt, but you have to ask your self my most blue collar jobs in america today are takin by mostly hispanics, some asians, and low to middle class whites????? Todays youth black, white, brown, yellow, is obessed with material gain because it is dangled in front of them on TV every day of their lives. A lot of black youth make more money in a couple months than working class latinos, asians, and white do in a year slangin drugs which is spent on more drugs and cars or whatever. Y the fuck would u go to school? or want to be apart of the yale clubs dude was talkn about, or have to put on a suit and tie and work in a office? Who created that work enviornment??? RICH PEOPLE WITH HELLA SUITS AND TIES not poor folk. Poor is poor and different "races" have found different ways to adapt to it to survive based on their enviornments. And clearly based on enviornments and structure of culture some have and contine to do better than others
I could go on but im save some ammunition
I know you might mean well but you're way too naive. No matter how hard you try you will never understand what it means to be black. You can take all the college classes on earth and have black friends etc etc but you still white, you still go home to your white family. You're not a part of the black community. You can't just sit around and try to tell people what they should do when you're not even a member of the community or group. Its condescending and arrogant for you to think you can try to tell people of color about their problems and what they need to do to solve them when you ain't even walked a day in our shoes.
it's delusional, not "dillusional"...
wrong,the slave trade european whites took part in had nothing to do with a "caste system" (that's a belief followed in hinduism, not islam) the slave trade that was taking place in certain parts of africa was the "islamic slave trade" in which europeans paid muslims for black slaves to be brought to america...
slavery had pretty much everything to do with either race, or religious beliefs so you're wrong about racism not being around since the beginning of time...the greeks were notorious for being racist and took part in enslaving blacks along with the persians, africa is the messed up country we see today, because of racism brought on in the past from various european groups....
wrong,the slave trade european whites took part in had nothing to do with a "caste system" (that's a belief followed in hinduism, not islam) the slave trade that was taking place in certain parts of africa was the "islamic slave trade" in which europeans paid muslims for black slaves to be brought to america...
slavery had pretty much everything to do with either race, or religious beliefs so you're wrong about racism not being around since the beginning of time...the greeks were notorious for being racist and took part in enslaving blacks along with the persians, africa is the messed up country we see today, because of racism brought on in the past from various european groups....
You're welcome.
But back to the point, racism is an old practice. Unless you've been on the receiving end of racism (especially consistent reminders), it's hard to understand and be in that shoe, white folks will never experience that. The only thing I can take from a "naive white boy" is the unbiased opinion which I respect fully. It's already been said on this board that naivety is prevalent with the modern white folks who aren't racist. We can easily say to a fat person, stop eating and move around more so you won't die of cardiac arrest when you're 42. We can say to an underachieving person, stop messing around and go to school so you can get a good job in the future instead of wasting your life on the corner of E14th & 33rd Ave selling fake Bapes. It's trying to understand why it's not happening when it's clear what the answer is.
But back to the point, racism is an old practice. Unless you've been on the receiving end of racism (especially consistent reminders), it's hard to understand and be in that shoe, white folks will never experience that. The only thing I can take from a "naive white boy" is the unbiased opinion which I respect fully. It's already been said on this board that naivety is prevalent with the modern white folks who aren't racist. We can easily say to a fat person, stop eating and move around more so you won't die of cardiac arrest when you're 42. We can say to an underachieving person, stop messing around and go to school so you can get a good job in the future instead of wasting your life on the corner of E14th & 33rd Ave selling fake Bapes. It's trying to understand why it's not happening when it's clear what the answer is.
If the kids see grown-ups doing something positive, they are guaranteed to follow, but all they see is grown-ups on that bull shit. And selling drugs is the easy way out. easy to obtain, easy to distribute. And everybody already know the gains of selling drugs. And cats that sell drugs are not making more money then working cats. Thats a myth! there maybe a handful of niggaz thats really eating.
Ok, you guys are attacking one side of me, but are completely and utterly fuckin' blind to my point. Everybody has been on the minority tip, and the whole point of my saying something in this thread was to say that we need to change the way the YOUTH are coming up. I'm not talking about just BLACK...and for YOU to think THAT is just ARROGANT!
I'm not interested in helping just ONE RACE! I'm interested in showing a better way to these kids of ALL RACES! TURNING SHIT AROUND! I'm talkin' about the kid that sells crack, the kid that hits his parents, the little girls that turn into sluts because they don't feel loved. The kids that lose their friends, turn around and kill somebody, and end up in prison serving a life sentence. THAT isn't just black shit, that's everybody shit. You think these problems only plague the black community? You don't think Methamphetamine is a national problem? You don't think prostitution and all that other shit is color blind?
C'mon, the biggest problem here is people like all of you saying, "We're black, we don't have the same advantages and we never will". Well shit, why don't you tell your kids they better not try because even if they do, the white man will keep them from climbing ladders to success. Tell your kids they can never end up like Johnny Cochran, MLK, Malcolm...or be like Quincy Jones and Barry Gordy...Michael Jordan or Dr. J. Be a teacher, an activist, a journalist, a novelist. Oh, wait, that's right, Dennis Richmond isn't black...he talks like a damn cracker.
I'm in no way NAIVE! I've lived in a HOOD...among Latinos and Black folks...so even though I'm WHITE, I've still seen it. No, I don't know what it's like to be black...but I do know that black people have become successful, which makes that whole, "We have less hope" shit invalid. If they can do it, so can anybody else.
OH, and DOC TRUTH...yes, I'm still white. BUT, how do you know I don't go home to a black family, or a mexican family? How do you figure my fiance is white?
I'm not trying to change the BLACK COMMUNITY, or tell them what to do. I'm trying to change the way everybody thinks, because it's fuckin' up a lot of shit. Negativity gets us nowhere, but the world is flooded with it. You thinking I'm talkin' about just black folks just goes to show how people aren't paying attention to what the fuck is REALLY goin' on. I'm speakin' on folks that are broke, and you sit there and discredit anybody who isn't black because they "have it easier".
I'm not interested in helping just ONE RACE! I'm interested in showing a better way to these kids of ALL RACES! TURNING SHIT AROUND! I'm talkin' about the kid that sells crack, the kid that hits his parents, the little girls that turn into sluts because they don't feel loved. The kids that lose their friends, turn around and kill somebody, and end up in prison serving a life sentence. THAT isn't just black shit, that's everybody shit. You think these problems only plague the black community? You don't think Methamphetamine is a national problem? You don't think prostitution and all that other shit is color blind?
C'mon, the biggest problem here is people like all of you saying, "We're black, we don't have the same advantages and we never will". Well shit, why don't you tell your kids they better not try because even if they do, the white man will keep them from climbing ladders to success. Tell your kids they can never end up like Johnny Cochran, MLK, Malcolm...or be like Quincy Jones and Barry Gordy...Michael Jordan or Dr. J. Be a teacher, an activist, a journalist, a novelist. Oh, wait, that's right, Dennis Richmond isn't black...he talks like a damn cracker.
I'm in no way NAIVE! I've lived in a HOOD...among Latinos and Black folks...so even though I'm WHITE, I've still seen it. No, I don't know what it's like to be black...but I do know that black people have become successful, which makes that whole, "We have less hope" shit invalid. If they can do it, so can anybody else.
OH, and DOC TRUTH...yes, I'm still white. BUT, how do you know I don't go home to a black family, or a mexican family? How do you figure my fiance is white?
I'm not trying to change the BLACK COMMUNITY, or tell them what to do. I'm trying to change the way everybody thinks, because it's fuckin' up a lot of shit. Negativity gets us nowhere, but the world is flooded with it. You thinking I'm talkin' about just black folks just goes to show how people aren't paying attention to what the fuck is REALLY goin' on. I'm speakin' on folks that are broke, and you sit there and discredit anybody who isn't black because they "have it easier".
True. There's a lot of these cats out here that sell shit, make money, sell shit, make money...end up in jail and come home broke as fuck. Kids are sold fuckin' dreams that end in death or prison.
I like how I can't speak up and try to change the way the world works, because I'm white.
I got it, I'll keep doin' what I do...and those kids (black, white, indian, asian, etc.) who want to listen, will listen. Those who don't, well, I feel fuckin' sorry for them and I wish they had ADULTS tellin' them what's right.
I like how I can't speak up and try to change the way the world works, because I'm white.
I got it, I'll keep doin' what I do...and those kids (black, white, indian, asian, etc.) who want to listen, will listen. Those who don't, well, I feel fuckin' sorry for them and I wish they had ADULTS tellin' them what's right.
I don't think they realize there are more grants for minorites . How could you be oppressed if the black and Latin community flooded the market place with mba's and phd's ? How could the "white man" stop that? How could they stop you when you have your own lawyor who'd eventually turn to judges... Its a overall change of cycle to put you at a even playing field
How many of you is doing college and getting actually degree not communication or PE teacher or criminal justice ?
Don't try to correct my spelling like you're some intelligent person when you say dumb shit like..
"africa is the messed up country we see today, because of racism brought on in the past from various european groups...."
Africa is a Continent with over 40 individual countries. What the hell you talking about?
Who said anything about Indians? Do you know what a Caste system is? Do you really think only Indians participate in that system? it's a broad term that describes hierarchy's in a society. You don't know what you're talking about if you think "Racism" a modernized term was something that the Greeks took apart in. Besides Greek and Roman Civilization was not "The beginning of time" so you're telling me Cavemen were racist too? The Egyptians had slaves long before any of them and their slavery ALSO had nothing to do with Race. They enslaved their own poor people. Rome same thing. Race is a modern term. There is actually no such thing as race.
"africa is the messed up country we see today, because of racism brought on in the past from various european groups...."
Africa is a Continent with over 40 individual countries. What the hell you talking about?
Who said anything about Indians? Do you know what a Caste system is? Do you really think only Indians participate in that system? it's a broad term that describes hierarchy's in a society. You don't know what you're talking about if you think "Racism" a modernized term was something that the Greeks took apart in. Besides Greek and Roman Civilization was not "The beginning of time" so you're telling me Cavemen were racist too? The Egyptians had slaves long before any of them and their slavery ALSO had nothing to do with Race. They enslaved their own poor people. Rome same thing. Race is a modern term. There is actually no such thing as race.
no, don't try to sound intelligent but miss spell a simple word like delusional...
yeah and? you want a cookie? lol...I'm talking about many things all over africa like the genocides that took place in the congo and rwanda,they had alot to do with europeans being in that country many years before.
lol i didn't say ANYTHING about "indians" either, smart guy, i said "the caste system was a belief followed in hinduism" and yes, it is a "system" but mainly from a religious perspective,and which had almost nothing to do with the "islam slave trade"..
oh i clearly know what i'm talking about...
just becuase they dont have a "term" to describe racism doesn't mean it didn't exist...can you name me black leaders and/or blacks who held power in ancient rome or greece? no,but is it a fact they had blacks as slaves?yes...so what are you trying to say? that most of the "poor" just happend to be black? lol c'mon now, "modern" europeans involved in the slave trade didn't learn "white superiority" over blacks from themselves,think about it..i wont even comment on the "cavemen", geezus...the point is as i said "racism" has been around for a hell of alot longer than what you stated,it may not have been called "racism" but that's exactly what it was...
yeah and? you want a cookie? lol...I'm talking about many things all over africa like the genocides that took place in the congo and rwanda,they had alot to do with europeans being in that country many years before.
lol i didn't say ANYTHING about "indians" either, smart guy, i said "the caste system was a belief followed in hinduism" and yes, it is a "system" but mainly from a religious perspective,and which had almost nothing to do with the "islam slave trade"..
oh i clearly know what i'm talking about...
just becuase they dont have a "term" to describe racism doesn't mean it didn't exist...can you name me black leaders and/or blacks who held power in ancient rome or greece? no,but is it a fact they had blacks as slaves?yes...so what are you trying to say? that most of the "poor" just happend to be black? lol c'mon now, "modern" europeans involved in the slave trade didn't learn "white superiority" over blacks from themselves,think about it..i wont even comment on the "cavemen", geezus...the point is as i said "racism" has been around for a hell of alot longer than what you stated,it may not have been called "racism" but that's exactly what it was...
Africas messed up the way it is because the europeans came and colonized. Before the europeans came and carved boundary lines, the continent was full of small independent-states like the greek culture where loyalty is the state. So the the loyalty of an individual was to the tribe, but it gets complicated, the major loyalty was to the leaders of the tribe in your section so even if some members of the same tribe lived a short distance away u had no obligation to the leaders of that area. so anyone that is an outsider is really an outsider.
If you read "Macheveli the Prince", he talks about how it is pretty easy to conquor an independent state because of no one main loyalty, if their is any animosity between tribes, it is easy for a foreign nation to come and conquor or gather slaves because, the would be allowed in by anothere tribe.
Plus the continent id real messed up because all the europeams did was carve boundaries in areas and said"you are a nation now" not knowing the boundaries they drew contained plenty of different ethinic groups, and tribes with no loyalty to each other, so tribes that could have been warring for decades are now part of the same nation. BOGUS AZZ shit
If you read "Macheveli the Prince", he talks about how it is pretty easy to conquor an independent state because of no one main loyalty, if their is any animosity between tribes, it is easy for a foreign nation to come and conquor or gather slaves because, the would be allowed in by anothere tribe.
Plus the continent id real messed up because all the europeams did was carve boundaries in areas and said"you are a nation now" not knowing the boundaries they drew contained plenty of different ethinic groups, and tribes with no loyalty to each other, so tribes that could have been warring for decades are now part of the same nation. BOGUS AZZ shit
Ehh....fuck it , here you go :
Are You A Hip-Hop Apologist?
By Paris, www.guerrillafunk.com
April 18, 2007
Since the Imus controversy erupted there has been a lot of finger-pointing and blame-placing as to what the root of the problem really is. Of course, we all know that racism and sexism existed before hip-hop -- that's a given. But it's completely beside the point when our (black) culture is dictated to us by white corporations. Follow me...
For the record, most folks in our communities didn't even know Don Imus before he made headlines with his slurs (and many still don't). For the most part, we remain oblivious to the tirades of him, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and others who constantly malign us and foster a climate of intolerance simply because these talking heads don't speak to US. For Imus to blame black culture as being the reason for his ignorance is both sad and backwards. He's a racist and a sexist, pure and simple, and he can't blame an art form or a culture that I'm certain he has little knowledge of for his actions. The fact that he named hip-hop "culture" as a culprit is telling, however.
If you haven't noticed by now, life imitates art -- it's not the other way around. There is no stronger cultural influence on people now than popular media, and hip-hop is at the forefront. Ask almost any child about the lyrics to a popular song or a scene from a video or movie and more often then not they will know the details better than they know their school lessons. Entertainers and the culture of celebrity that we find ourselves living in often hold more weight with kids then parents, educators, preachers politicians or even sports heroes. Can we blame some rappers for selling completely out? Of course. Be we have to look at the entire picture.
The argument is often made by Russell Simmons and others that rappers are poets who simply report on what they feel and their surroundings, and that they shouldn't be censored. As an emcee, on that point we partially agree -- we shouldn't be censored. But balance between the negative and positive needs to be provided, and it currently isn't. Most artistic integrity is questionable at best. My understanding is that artists are supposed to express what they believe in at all costs (if not, there's work at the post office). But most don't, and they mold their approaches to making music based on what they perceive major labels wanting. If Def Jam or Interscope or any of these other large culture-defining companies issued a blanket decree that they would only support material and artists with positive messages then 99% of those making music now would switch up to accommodate. That's real talk. I'm not saying these labels should (or would), but if they did, gangstas would stop being gangstas and misogynists would stop being misogynists at the drop of a DIME. Many artists are like children, and most will say and do what is expected of them in order to benefit financially. And although there is definite self-examination that needs to take place within the artist community, the lion's share of the blame falls on the enablers who only empower voices of negativity. Record labels and commercial radio often use the excuse that they are "responding to the streets" and that they are "giving the people what they want." BULLSHIT. They dictate the taste of the streets, and people can't miss what they never knew. The fact is that there are conscious decisions made by the big business and entertainment elite daily about what to present to the masses -- and it is from those choices that we are allowed to decide what we do and do not like. Who presents the music that callers are invited to "make or break" on the radio? That callers are invited to "vote on" on T.V.? Who decides on what makes it to the store shelves or the airwaves at all? Like I said, life imitates art, and pseudo-black culture is determined by those other than us every day. Walk into any rap label or urban radio station and you can count the number of black employees on one hand.
The argument in response could be made in defense of labels that if they don't respond to the streets then the music will just go underground. Huh? WHAT underground? Do you know how much good material is marginalized because it doesn't fit white cooperate America's ideals of acceptability? Independents can't get radio or video play anymore, at least not through commercial outlets, and most listeners don't acknowledge material that they don't see or hear regularly on the radio or on T.V. Very few of us are willing to actually seek out material and messages to identify with. As with anything in our fast food culture, we want our entertainment choices fast and in our collective face. For most listeners, all the rest need not apply.
What I want to know is, when did the worst in us become normal and accepted? When did it become par for the corporate course that "black man as thug" and "black woman as slut" be business as usual? Major companies now line up to profit from the buffoonery of a few...at the expense of us all. MTV, Viacom, Clear Channel, Boost Mobile, Amp mobile, Chevy, all major record labels and most video games come readily to mind, but there are many others.
I'm not a hater...although I do hate the imbalance in the industry right now and the negativity it fosters. I'm not calling for censorship. You can't lump me in with the Jesse Lee Petersons and the Armstrong Williamses of the world...bourgeois self-hating black men who demean other black people and profit at our expense. And nobody can say that I'm unqualified to speak on it, since I've contributed to the sale of just under 4 million albums independently, still run my own successful counter-establishment label (www.guerrillafunk.com) and have been embracing messages of self-esteem and self-sufficiency for years.
Like I said, I'm not calling for censorship, but I am calling for balance. I'm calling for more representation of points of view other than gangsta rap and escapism. More revolutionary voices. More voices of women. Where is the diversity? Music can only be kept artificially young and artificially dumb for so long before an inevitable backlash ensues, and that's what we're seeing take place now. Overall album sales for the January 1-April 2 period are down 16.6% -- with a 20.5% decline in CD album sales since last year -- and an even greater decline in hip-hop. Since LAST YEAR (and it was already raggedy last year, believe me). We're seeing the industry implode before our eyes. I heard somebody say recently that in this current era of style over substance Stevie Wonder, Parliament/Funkadelic, Earth, Wind & Fire, Curtis Mayfield and others would never have been signed. Let that sink in for a second. They would never have been signed. Some of the very architects of black music as we know it would have been sidelined too, just as countless others are now, because they wouldn't have fit into white corporate America's cookie-cutter feel-good box of acceptable black behavior and appearance. Same goes for me, Public Enemy (they'll take the Flav, but not the Chuck), Kam, X-Clan, BDP, Wise Intelligent, dead prez, Zion-I, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, The Roots, Blackalicious, Immortal Technique, The Coup, T-K.A.S.H., Michael Franti and a host of others.
So how many half-naked women sipping Cris draped in blood diamonds poolside will it take before we collectively agree that shit is tired now? How many backward-ass coons with tats and plated grills and pimp cups etc. in the strip club before we all agree that enough is enough and that we need balance? When did the bar get set so low? When will we demand more? And as for Simmons' argument that "rappers are reporting what they see" etc, how are cocaine-kingpin rhymes or poolside pimp-nigga fantasies anyone's reality? Miss me with that bullshit argument. Yes, there should be room for all voices to be heard, but we have to be treated and presented equally. Now we have bitches and hos, players and pimps, gangstas and dealers -- but no kings and queens, no revolutionaries, no dissent, no political commentary and no anger -- how is that? In an era where EVERYTHING is political and people are more disgusted with the way things are more than ever? It's no mistake. Yes I can say that we have failed, that we have allowed black culture to once again be co-opted, diluted and prostituted. Commercial rap culture is now to hip-hop is what disco was to funk. No wonder Nas is saying it's dead.
And who's to blame? Definitely not artists like the ones mentioned above. Not most artists at all, actually, because we don't control whether or not we're seen and heard by the masses. No, the blame needs to squarely sit on the shoulders of those who run the labels, the commercial radio stations, the television studios and the large corporate sponsors who reward only the worst in us and seem hell-bent on pursuing (with little success) the most fleeting, fickle demographic of all -- 12-16 year old adolescent females. You know, the demo that's the most impressionable, with the least amount of loyalty or disposable income. Brilliant.
Know that it's okay to call shit like it is and quit being cowards worrying about who we'll offend. It's okay to blame Simmons, Lyor Cohen, Jimmy Iovine, Antonio "L.A." Reid, Kevin Liles, Bob Johnson, Debra Lee, Michael Martin and others of their ilk because the blood is on their hands. They are the gatekeepers of popular culture and they are the ones who determine what you see and hear. They can't say that their decisions are based on economics when they exclude voices of reason because there are literally hundreds of millions of people globally who feel the same way. What about that consumer base? I guess that money is no good, huh? Fuck outta here... Remember, part of the strategy of mind control is to fool the public into thinking that they have choice. We do, but the playing field is so skewed in the favor of mega-corps that the contributions of the alternatives are often viewed by most as insignificant.
So yes, there is a problem, but the fake "Kumbaya" moment on Oprah recently won't solve it. Are we really going to look to those individuals who have made a killing off of pushing poison to us to fix the problem? We shouldn't. Instead, we should vote with our dollars and continue the campaign of public shame until we see some concrete change. The music industry as we know it is on its death bed. People are now more tired than ever of 'music business as usual' and style over substance.
Imus was an insignificant part of a much greater problem. Sure, his incident opened up national discourse regarding issues of race and sex. And yes, it is now more apparent than ever that whites have a hard time acknowledging racist and sexist behavior in other whites as being solely their fault. Most black artists are not to blame, as we often can't been seen or heard without white help. But it's important to note that many of us can and should know better when saying and doing the things we say and do. It's easy to despise the indefensible, and media outlets like Fox News have made good money demonizing those with little real power.
But will we champion the good among us?
Are You A Hip-Hop Apologist?
By Paris, www.guerrillafunk.com
April 18, 2007
Since the Imus controversy erupted there has been a lot of finger-pointing and blame-placing as to what the root of the problem really is. Of course, we all know that racism and sexism existed before hip-hop -- that's a given. But it's completely beside the point when our (black) culture is dictated to us by white corporations. Follow me...
For the record, most folks in our communities didn't even know Don Imus before he made headlines with his slurs (and many still don't). For the most part, we remain oblivious to the tirades of him, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and others who constantly malign us and foster a climate of intolerance simply because these talking heads don't speak to US. For Imus to blame black culture as being the reason for his ignorance is both sad and backwards. He's a racist and a sexist, pure and simple, and he can't blame an art form or a culture that I'm certain he has little knowledge of for his actions. The fact that he named hip-hop "culture" as a culprit is telling, however.
If you haven't noticed by now, life imitates art -- it's not the other way around. There is no stronger cultural influence on people now than popular media, and hip-hop is at the forefront. Ask almost any child about the lyrics to a popular song or a scene from a video or movie and more often then not they will know the details better than they know their school lessons. Entertainers and the culture of celebrity that we find ourselves living in often hold more weight with kids then parents, educators, preachers politicians or even sports heroes. Can we blame some rappers for selling completely out? Of course. Be we have to look at the entire picture.
The argument is often made by Russell Simmons and others that rappers are poets who simply report on what they feel and their surroundings, and that they shouldn't be censored. As an emcee, on that point we partially agree -- we shouldn't be censored. But balance between the negative and positive needs to be provided, and it currently isn't. Most artistic integrity is questionable at best. My understanding is that artists are supposed to express what they believe in at all costs (if not, there's work at the post office). But most don't, and they mold their approaches to making music based on what they perceive major labels wanting. If Def Jam or Interscope or any of these other large culture-defining companies issued a blanket decree that they would only support material and artists with positive messages then 99% of those making music now would switch up to accommodate. That's real talk. I'm not saying these labels should (or would), but if they did, gangstas would stop being gangstas and misogynists would stop being misogynists at the drop of a DIME. Many artists are like children, and most will say and do what is expected of them in order to benefit financially. And although there is definite self-examination that needs to take place within the artist community, the lion's share of the blame falls on the enablers who only empower voices of negativity. Record labels and commercial radio often use the excuse that they are "responding to the streets" and that they are "giving the people what they want." BULLSHIT. They dictate the taste of the streets, and people can't miss what they never knew. The fact is that there are conscious decisions made by the big business and entertainment elite daily about what to present to the masses -- and it is from those choices that we are allowed to decide what we do and do not like. Who presents the music that callers are invited to "make or break" on the radio? That callers are invited to "vote on" on T.V.? Who decides on what makes it to the store shelves or the airwaves at all? Like I said, life imitates art, and pseudo-black culture is determined by those other than us every day. Walk into any rap label or urban radio station and you can count the number of black employees on one hand.
The argument in response could be made in defense of labels that if they don't respond to the streets then the music will just go underground. Huh? WHAT underground? Do you know how much good material is marginalized because it doesn't fit white cooperate America's ideals of acceptability? Independents can't get radio or video play anymore, at least not through commercial outlets, and most listeners don't acknowledge material that they don't see or hear regularly on the radio or on T.V. Very few of us are willing to actually seek out material and messages to identify with. As with anything in our fast food culture, we want our entertainment choices fast and in our collective face. For most listeners, all the rest need not apply.
What I want to know is, when did the worst in us become normal and accepted? When did it become par for the corporate course that "black man as thug" and "black woman as slut" be business as usual? Major companies now line up to profit from the buffoonery of a few...at the expense of us all. MTV, Viacom, Clear Channel, Boost Mobile, Amp mobile, Chevy, all major record labels and most video games come readily to mind, but there are many others.
I'm not a hater...although I do hate the imbalance in the industry right now and the negativity it fosters. I'm not calling for censorship. You can't lump me in with the Jesse Lee Petersons and the Armstrong Williamses of the world...bourgeois self-hating black men who demean other black people and profit at our expense. And nobody can say that I'm unqualified to speak on it, since I've contributed to the sale of just under 4 million albums independently, still run my own successful counter-establishment label (www.guerrillafunk.com) and have been embracing messages of self-esteem and self-sufficiency for years.
Like I said, I'm not calling for censorship, but I am calling for balance. I'm calling for more representation of points of view other than gangsta rap and escapism. More revolutionary voices. More voices of women. Where is the diversity? Music can only be kept artificially young and artificially dumb for so long before an inevitable backlash ensues, and that's what we're seeing take place now. Overall album sales for the January 1-April 2 period are down 16.6% -- with a 20.5% decline in CD album sales since last year -- and an even greater decline in hip-hop. Since LAST YEAR (and it was already raggedy last year, believe me). We're seeing the industry implode before our eyes. I heard somebody say recently that in this current era of style over substance Stevie Wonder, Parliament/Funkadelic, Earth, Wind & Fire, Curtis Mayfield and others would never have been signed. Let that sink in for a second. They would never have been signed. Some of the very architects of black music as we know it would have been sidelined too, just as countless others are now, because they wouldn't have fit into white corporate America's cookie-cutter feel-good box of acceptable black behavior and appearance. Same goes for me, Public Enemy (they'll take the Flav, but not the Chuck), Kam, X-Clan, BDP, Wise Intelligent, dead prez, Zion-I, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, The Roots, Blackalicious, Immortal Technique, The Coup, T-K.A.S.H., Michael Franti and a host of others.
So how many half-naked women sipping Cris draped in blood diamonds poolside will it take before we collectively agree that shit is tired now? How many backward-ass coons with tats and plated grills and pimp cups etc. in the strip club before we all agree that enough is enough and that we need balance? When did the bar get set so low? When will we demand more? And as for Simmons' argument that "rappers are reporting what they see" etc, how are cocaine-kingpin rhymes or poolside pimp-nigga fantasies anyone's reality? Miss me with that bullshit argument. Yes, there should be room for all voices to be heard, but we have to be treated and presented equally. Now we have bitches and hos, players and pimps, gangstas and dealers -- but no kings and queens, no revolutionaries, no dissent, no political commentary and no anger -- how is that? In an era where EVERYTHING is political and people are more disgusted with the way things are more than ever? It's no mistake. Yes I can say that we have failed, that we have allowed black culture to once again be co-opted, diluted and prostituted. Commercial rap culture is now to hip-hop is what disco was to funk. No wonder Nas is saying it's dead.
And who's to blame? Definitely not artists like the ones mentioned above. Not most artists at all, actually, because we don't control whether or not we're seen and heard by the masses. No, the blame needs to squarely sit on the shoulders of those who run the labels, the commercial radio stations, the television studios and the large corporate sponsors who reward only the worst in us and seem hell-bent on pursuing (with little success) the most fleeting, fickle demographic of all -- 12-16 year old adolescent females. You know, the demo that's the most impressionable, with the least amount of loyalty or disposable income. Brilliant.
Know that it's okay to call shit like it is and quit being cowards worrying about who we'll offend. It's okay to blame Simmons, Lyor Cohen, Jimmy Iovine, Antonio "L.A." Reid, Kevin Liles, Bob Johnson, Debra Lee, Michael Martin and others of their ilk because the blood is on their hands. They are the gatekeepers of popular culture and they are the ones who determine what you see and hear. They can't say that their decisions are based on economics when they exclude voices of reason because there are literally hundreds of millions of people globally who feel the same way. What about that consumer base? I guess that money is no good, huh? Fuck outta here... Remember, part of the strategy of mind control is to fool the public into thinking that they have choice. We do, but the playing field is so skewed in the favor of mega-corps that the contributions of the alternatives are often viewed by most as insignificant.
So yes, there is a problem, but the fake "Kumbaya" moment on Oprah recently won't solve it. Are we really going to look to those individuals who have made a killing off of pushing poison to us to fix the problem? We shouldn't. Instead, we should vote with our dollars and continue the campaign of public shame until we see some concrete change. The music industry as we know it is on its death bed. People are now more tired than ever of 'music business as usual' and style over substance.
Imus was an insignificant part of a much greater problem. Sure, his incident opened up national discourse regarding issues of race and sex. And yes, it is now more apparent than ever that whites have a hard time acknowledging racist and sexist behavior in other whites as being solely their fault. Most black artists are not to blame, as we often can't been seen or heard without white help. But it's important to note that many of us can and should know better when saying and doing the things we say and do. It's easy to despise the indefensible, and media outlets like Fox News have made good money demonizing those with little real power.
But will we champion the good among us?
As a response to the Paris article, I think that it is the responsibility of people who are independent like him, and have a problem with the current music industry, to become its competition. I don't think that the issue is to place blame on the people who are in control, but to find a way to dis empower them.