Wednesday, April 25

It's about that time.


It's about that time for a new Black leader. This Al Sharpton guy is starting to get on my nerves now. I'm glad that he feels the need to step up and be a voice for our community, but now he is trying to take away things that are important to some of us. Some of us look at hip hop, rap, crunk music, hyphy music, whatever music as a way to float off to another place where we can freely express ourselves. Not only express ourselves, but also to pick ourselves up when we are down. To provide us joy when we are sad. A lot of us take this hip hop stuff to heart and really appreciate it. Tell me, where would this society be without Hip Hop?? Answer that for me. Who would have been the person to rock the fat laces in the Adidas if Run DMC hadn't done it? Who would have thought it was cool to rock the fat dookie gold chains if Slick Rick, Big Daddy Kane, and the likes weren't rocking them? What would Jay Z, Nas, 50 Cent, Kany West, and the boat load of other artist be if there weren't people like Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Grand Master Flash, Kurtis Blow, and KRS 1? Would they still be on the block supposedly slanging? I say supposedly because I don't know honestly how many of these cats are really out there making it happen. What I'm trying to say is that Hip Hop has molded and created this society that we live in. Turn on your "idiot box" and just watch the commercials that come on. Then tell me how many of them have your favorite rap song instrumental playing in the background. This is something that is just killing Mr. Sharpton so badly that he needs to go out and try to buy share in top Record Labels in an attempt to voice his opinion on raunchy and sexist lyrics. To be honest, I don't think it's worth it.

Now I know that Al Sharpton is upset with the degrading lyrics (Bitches and Hoes), but whats new? It's not like hip hop created those terms, or the way that they are used. Before rap there were Pimps and Hustlas using those terms. I'm sure Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and even Al Sharpton have called people "Bitches" and "Hoes." What about the movies? Go back to the Rudy Ray Moore's and Max Juliens' and Ron O'Neil... more "Bitches" and "Hoes." I am not saying that these terms are perfectly fine for everyday use, but they are not making or breaking this society or our community. What is breaking our Black community is the abundance of ignorance that the rappers and the listeners have. What's breaking our Black community is these crazy white men who are helping bring in these drugs to sell in our communities. I have always been upset with the way that rappers use their platforms. They have everyone's attention, but yet they choose to put down instead of uplift most of the time. Now I'm getting off track. But the raunchy lyrics are not bringing our community down. Those raunchy lyrics were around before 50 Cent existed. Even back before crack rock was invented and introduced to a neighborhood near you.

One person who I am glad to hear something from is that Obama cat. He let it be known that we can't just single out the rappers. He made it clear that he had heard offensive words in other places than rap music. Thats cool. I respect him for making that statement. There's a honest man who cant deny calling some chick in college a "Bitch."

This is truly a situation where Al Sharpton is running out of battles to fight. So now he is choosing battles that are exerting too much energy for little change. Do you really think that Time Warner, Sony, and Universal Music are going to revoke contracts or whatever Sharpton wants them to do just to not promote these raunchy lyrics? I mean these companies are bringing in millions of dollars off of these albums. That would be stupid, especially since these same offensive words are global. Everybody else is making money why not continue making money and tell Sharpton to beat it? If he wants to be the Big Black Leader, then he need to find another mountain to climb up instead of this mole hill.

I'll leave Mr Sharpton alone for right now.

Over and Out... DocBoone

1 comment:

Maelstrom said...

well stated, and although I could make strong arguments on either side of the fence (for or against the current language in hip hop), people need to get a few things straight. Hip hop is not the origin of the B-word, N-word or H-word, and hip hop is not the only venue in which these terms are used. Finally, as you pointed out, movies are just as guilty of promoting violence and misogyny (consider the recent movie "The Departed") as rap music...but they get Oscars, rap gets ridiculed!