OK, you know by now, how it goes! I was flipping through some FB posts on my Google Android powered Motorola Droid, using Twicca, while drinking a Monter Low Carb, and sitting on my Lay-Z-Boy, I decided to pickup my Dell netbook (OK, enough with the shameless plugs, in hopes of getting free merchandise, LOL!).
Anyway, I came across a post from a very good friend of mine; he is also a Detroiter, an educator and an aspiring author. So he has SEEN a lot about life from a lot of different eyes. Well, he posted that he essentially blamed the musical genre of Hip-Hop for all the the problems that black people have. Here are some of his finer points (the list here evolved over a 12 hour period of him & I having our rebuttals):
our ancestors FOUGHT & DIED to show the world we were not "NIGGERS"! To show that we were NOT sex crazed, violent, ignorant beings. But then along came hip hop (our voice) ironic that EVERYTHING hip hop glorifies says YES, IN FACT WE ARE NIGGAS! [Hip-Hop is the problem] WAKE UP BLACK PEOPLE!
If white people made hip hop we'd be outraged and it wouldn't even be a discussion. I'm not sayin its the only problem, but from an educators point of view its the main problem in the black community.
POOR PARENTING AND NO HIP HOP OUR KID HAS A CHANCE. POOR PARENTING MIXED WITH HIP-HOP THEN ITS OVER.
UNTIL WE STOP MAKING EXCUSES FOR HIP-HOP THIS ISH WILL CONTINUE TO POLLUTE
I see it for what it (hip-hop) is. Many debate about what [Hip-Hop] should be. The reality is that the whole world is in trouble!
Its TIME for us as THE BODY to unite and speak up. Evil is successful because GOD's people DO NOTHING.
All I'm saying is be real: take out hip-hop from the black equation and change is destined
To [the younger generation] [Hip-Hop] ...teaches them how to roll blunts, disrespect a woman and despise their education
HOLD IT ACCOUNTABLE. Lobby artists like we lobby corporations to influence things. Someone needs to tell them that they COULD be the most powerful people on the planet (positively) if they changed what they glorify
Well, being a lover of music (especially Hip-Hop), but also being a parent of six kids, I AGREED, but of course did not FULLY, 100% agree. So this is what Stylez had to say:
Actually, its not hip-hop, its the mindless drones who have degraded the art form. Hip-Hop has been tainted and twisted and manipulated into what you see today! But only from one aspect. There are still hip-hop artists out here (not really mainstream) that have continued to use it as a voice of a people instead of as a voice for advertisers, gangs and ignorance! Like you said, we as a people (actually, black, white, yellow and brown, since we are talking hip-hop) need to wake up and start rejecting negative images and negative role-models!
We have to start demanding more, and demanding better! We cannot hold hip-hop accountable for personal choices! Gucci Mane didn't force you to have unmarried sex, Lil Kim didn't make you get an STD, Young Buck didnt make you rob that liquor store... we gotta stop letting lazy people have MORE excuses! Negative images can be found EVERYWHERE! Not just hip-hop! Yes, music is an influence, BUT, when it all comes down to it, what you decide to do in life is a personal choice. Believe me, if you knock over a liquor store and CLAIM hip-hop made you do it, I am PRETTY SURE Lil Wayne IS NOT going to be given jail-time!
But just based on what you are saying, its not the genre that's the problem, because if it was then there would be NOTHING good about it. There would be NO positivity involved with it. The problem is that people are allowing the negativity to feed their lives, instead of choosing to go with the positive side of it!
Just think about it this way, we all know there is positive hip-hop (if you didn't know, then believe me, its out there, just because "the masses" don't buy into it doesnt mean it doesnt exist), just like there are positive movies, positive places to worship, etc. But if I told you to go to a Devil Worshipers church/meeting, you, as a Christian, would feel that it would not be the best place for you. You would avoid the meeting, avoid worshiping with anyone associated!
But what if EVERYONE, or a large majority of folks, decided to start going. And it became "cool" to be a Devil Worshiper! Well, would that mean RELIGION, as a whole, would be to blame for everyone's issues. Would that mean that you, even though you are Christian, should stop going to church or worship services? Well you said that we should just STOP making excuses for Hip-Hop! Well, lets do it across the board, let's stop making excuses for Religion then! I am sure Religion has KILLED 5-10 TIMES more people in the last 25 years than Hip-Hop is "responsible" for! I'm serious, think about it! Do we have to blame Allah, Yahweh, Jehovah AND Buddha for the fact that this world has had 2 world wars AND is constantly under the threat of a 3rd and/or nuclear war!?! Should we start denouncing Religion AS A WHOLE, or just denounce the actions of the few, or the agendas of the factions that have decided to take things a little too far!?!
That's what I am saying about Hip-Hop!!! You shouldn't talk about killing an ENTIRE musical genre, because of the ill affects that a few people and some money-hungry record labels have perpetuated! Like I said before, I will not deny its influence, but there IS positive, right along with the negative! Again, its up to people to make decisions for their own life, not the musicians they listen too!
Like I said, I fully agree with what you are saying TO A POINT! I just want you to understand that its not Hip-Hop as a genre, but like you finally said, its about holding certain hip-hop ARTISTS accountable! Like I said before, we have to hold the artists accountable, we have to demand more from them, we have to boycott, ban, lobby, hold them before a senate committee, etc! We have to hold the RECORD COMPANIES accountable too! They hide behind the lame excuse that they are letting their artists express themselves. Well, why do they choose to spend MILLIONS of dollars on advertising and promotion for negative hip-hop, when those same labels have positive artists, that they don't even support! Its all about the dollar for them, of course!
We, as parents, educators, community leaders, etc have to stand up for our kids. And do whatever we can to protect them from the ills of negative influence, be it hip-hop, video games, movies, or whatever! And best believe, they are DEFINITELY NOT "just being kids", they are trying to be adults TOO FAST and with the wrong things on their minds!
That's What Styelz thinks, what do you think!
I agree Willie..all Hip Hop aint bad. There are artist that don't rap about "money, cars, hoes...and etc.
ReplyDeleteYou have Mos Def, Common, and my favorite Talib (just to name a few) who don't get a lot of air time because they are different.
This is a great post!!
Hey Saritha, sorry for publishing your comment so late (been on vacation) but I feel you, that is my sentiment exactly! I definitely feel like its not fair to blame an entire genre for the ills of a few! If we did that to every musical genre, they'd all be held accountable for the sins of the world and have to be banished!
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