So much has happened this month, with the tragedy at VA Tech – and even back to the Imus controversy v.s Black Americans and Hip Hop, which the media has suddenly gained interest in.
I’m sure many of you heard about Oprah’s two part town meeting that took place Monday and Tuesday, circulating around a comment Don Imus made to the ‘Today’ show:
I know that that phrase [nappy-headed hos] didn’t originate in the white community. That phrase originated in the black community. And I’m not stupid. I may be a white man, but I know that these young women and young black women all through that society are demeaned and disparaged and disrespected by their own black men and that they are called that name. And I know that, and that doesn’t give me, obviously, any right to say it, but it doesn’t give them any right to say it.
In Oprah’s town hall discussion, topics such as racism and the denigration, marginalization and sexual exploitation of women heated the stage with thoughts and feelings from a group of black female students representing Spelman College.
Russell Simmons; record executive Kevin Liles; Dr. Benjamin Chavis, former CEO of the NAACP and current President/CEO of the Hip-Hop Summit Network; and Grammy-winning rapper Common continued the discussion on yesterday and was there to speak on the behalf of the Hip Hop community…
These clips come from Day 2 of the discussion:
VIEW THE LAST TWO PARTS OF THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE HERE
Is the Hip Hop and Black community responsible or should take credibility for use and exploitation of such derogatory terms as niggers or hoes?
these women are acting like bitches and hoes!! you know who you are so just shut your mouth and know your role(lol)..if this does not apply to you when a song comes on in the club (degrading women who show up in videos to give the hoes a face)feel confident that they are not talking about you..rock your hips and wave and sip!! hahaha! * just my opinion*
418. kindanice said: “…I still fail to see why people keep making Oprah the issue. Oprah bash on another post. This is about Rap Music and the degenrative effects it has on our culture. The fact that WE ALL have allowed it but are now saying no more. Deal with the issue.”
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Why do you want to define the parameters of this discussion? Rappers, Oprah, Imus and anyone else with a public medium is fair game for this issue! You’re hurting, because yo girl was slinging $#!T and she got some on herself! That’s life!
If we’re gonna take a repair the degenrative effects of the media on our culture, we have to look at every stans from news services to talk shows (Imus and Oprah) to BET to VH1 to Jerry Springer to hip hop!
Don’t sit there and pretend that Oprah don’t have her own stans! She said, she don’t let people on her show who she don’t like! That’s her prerogative, but not very objective!
So, I have no problem with her being drug through the mess! Nobody’s exempt! Plus, she has people like Chris Rock and Jamie Foxx on her show and they call women more “bitches” than the “Dog Whisperer”, Cesar Millan! And, they call mo “hoes” than Bishop Don “Magic” Juan!
So, if nothing else, she’s guilty by association!
419. covergirl, great post, sis! I would only add that its a shared responsibility! The problem is not just with the ladies! God expects better from all of us!
420. Just Because, great post, sis! I would only add to women turning down roles, that we all establish a higher standard to live by and make sure that the “worldly” know who the sellouts and exploiters are! That means going through all your CDs and weeding out the negative ones! Blocking hip hop programs that push women to the edge! Boycotting concerts, movies and events that cater to degradationist! Writing letters to the networks and Snoop, Diddy, Russell, Kevin, JayZ and nem to voice concern about the way their products make us look and feel! Establish “smut-free” zones and drive the trash further underground! Request statistics to show just who’s purchasing the trash! Create economic development, so that women can stop turning to strippin and videos!
The list goes on and on, but desperate women are only a part of the problem!
your right #423 but, by me being a woman, it really upsets me to see..all we have to do is STOP!! or take the abuse!!..you make the call..it’s a domino effect, ladies are we going to wait on hip hop to change, to stop degrading ourselves?..it has to start somewhere, why can’t it start with us? and if the men start to think the same way we can atleast get this ball rollin’..i have a 3 year old son that i am trying to raise in a society where it’s ok to degrade one another, but sometimes we have to call it like we see it..now 1 thing i don’t agree with the the use of the N word..and how we have so called “embrassed” it..that has to be the dumbest thing i have ever heard. how do you embrase a word that was designed to make us feel less important?? i will admit i use it from time to time, but i’m tryin to make a concious effort to change,so that my son does not think it’s ok..we all just need to make an effort to change, we have alot of work ahead of us!! LET’S GET IT!! (JEEZY)..I LOVE HIP HOP!!! (GOD BLESS)
425. covergirl, the n-word use to be the call to alert and attack for white folks! When a white person called a black person that name in public, other whites would circle around and ostracize them! The word became a signal for degrading, because it used to terrorize blacks!
After the civil rights movement and a call to cease using the word, blacks were still terrorified of the label. We told our children to immediately report anyone who calls you the n-word! Well, that lasted for a while until the hip-hop generation came along and said, “I’m not living in the fear of this word! The word means nothing to me.” So, their way of confronting the demon was to ride its back! It goes back to Richard Pryor and nem! That’s probably why you use it from time to time! We all do, because the hip-hoppers said: WTH???
Well, now that we’ve overcome our fear of the word and we run in circles that are a whole pay check from our past, we’re ready to get off of the demon and bury him!
Most white people buried the demon long ago, but we could still smell the white doll on their breath! On the subject of the n-word, we are our own worst enemy, but the problem is not as big as we think it is!
Believe it or not, Imus probably believed that his phrase of choice could be used to describe the black women who gets it done! Who handles her business! She’s scrappy! She ain’t trying to look cute! But, he didn’t have the proper credentials to enter that door!
I said that to say this! Imus would never have used the n-word publicly to describe anyone! I could see him calling Paris and Nicole hoes on the air, but he knows right from wrong! He just misinterpreted the subtleties of black ownership! That’s why TLC said, “Don’t go chasing Waterfalls”!
The n-word ain’t gonna make or break us at this point! The words nappy headed hoe really doesn’t define us either! But, I’m more concerned about that black doll!
In fairness to you, I’ll stop here, so you can get a word in!
Developing…!
After watching Oprah for the last two days and reading blog after blog post, I feel I must respond.
I hear a lot of white people make the argument but black people say it all the time. My grandmother always told me two wrongs don’t make a right.
What bothers me the most is that we even have black people who are ready to jump on the let’s bash hip hop bandwagon.
Yet, none of these outraged brothers and sisters was willing to call for boycotts of the entertainment companies that distribute this mess. There has been no national outrage on the part of blacks until a few days ago. We had a few complaints here and there but nothing on a large scale that said we are sick and tired and not taking it anymore.
I don’t blame the artist totally for the message being put out on the airwaves although they have some culpability but Common doesn’t own a major record label or radio station.
When the right decided to de regulate the media. They knew exactly what they were doing! They knew that by controlling the media markets they would control the political and social message.
I refuse to jump on the blame hip hop bandwagon. Is there some deplorable hip hop out there hell yes but why aren’t we demanding more airtime for a talib kweli or krs-1 ?
Why aren’t we demanding more as consumers? I think the real question here is why do young black men and women (mostly Men) think that the only thing to rap about is pimping hoin and bangin?
I remember growing up listening to Queen Latifah, KRS1 Public Enemy groups like these and others where what lead me to read nooks about my heritage and legacy. Public Enemy led me to read the autobiography of Malcolm X, and the Poetry of Nikki Giovonni, and Maya Angelou.
I remember the first rap song I really could relate too it was grandmaster Flash and Furious Five. I remember hearing the words
â??Donâ??t push me cause I’m close to the edge. I’m trying not to lose my head. It’s like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder how I keep from going under.’
I thought finally someone who gets me. Someone, who understands my sense of despair, and hopelessness. It is just a shame that it has taken twenty years for the rest of the country to get it.
Instead of Black America taking the opportunity to have a real discussion on Race and Poverty and the unequal distribution of wealth and power and the injustice system in this country, we have allowed others to come in and control the debate once again by turning our focus on the rappers!
Instead of focusing on the very real issues that rappers are rapping about and facilitating a dialogue as to how we as a community can fix what ails us. We have chosen to turn on each other like crabs in a barrel.
I think we all have some soul searching to do as brothers as sisters, Moms, daughters, sons , fathers, consumers and role models. We can either focus on the negative in hip hop or take this opportunity to really effect change in our society.
I know that I will get a lot of flack for this post but I felt it necessary to point out that hip hop didnâ??t create the climate in our neighborhoods or in our culture it just merely reported on it.
We shoulder the burden for failing to act!
427. Hi said: “…I know that I will get a lot of flack for this post but I felt it necessary to point out that hip hop didnâ??t create the climate in our neighborhoods or in our culture it just merely reported on it.”
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Your comments are thoughtful and you gave good reasons for your points, but I crashed at the very end! Why do you think that the hip-hop culture just reports on our neighborhoods? Doesn’t it dresses us? It teaches us how to think and act? Motivates us to get rich or die trying? Causes us to misunderstand and disrespect each other? Doesn’t it glorfy drugs and sex, making us want more? Doesn’t it tells us what to drink and what kind of car to drive? Doesn’t it show us what kind of mate to find and how to treat them once we get them? Doesn’t it tell us that its all about us? And, that we are the center of it all? Doen’t it demand a certain percentage of our incomes? Doesn’t it bind gang members under a groove? How many rapper’s lives has it claimed? How many innocent by-standers has it claimed?
I think that the rappers do the reporting, but the “hip-hop” culture is more than what the rappers bring to it! We tend to think that the culture begins and stops with Diddy, Jay, Snoop and nem, but the culture is more than just them! Its a certain style and way of thinking that includes people like Venus and Serena! Randy and Paula! Tiger and Carmello! Hip hop is about keeping it real! Its about Tupac and Biggie! Its about Concreteloop and Sandra Rose! (**i feel you, Boo) Its about Mika’s sexy ass! hehe! It includes gangs and violence! So, yes I think hip-hop is responsible for a lot of the climate in our neighborhoods!
if the black family unit was more stable than hip hop would not be such a problem. the disintegration of the black family (if there ever was that strong family unit) deteriorated long before hip hop.
people’s mentalities are screwed up, hip hop ADDS to it but I’m not going to say it is the #1 cause. honestly i think it all goes back to slavery(yes I said it). now I am not trying to excuse anyone’s behavior but some people really do not realize how it infected the mind sets of so many people. i don’t sit home and have pity parties (maybe some do)i just try to do my best. i am lucky because I had parents that loved and cared about me. i feel it is crucial for the average black person to have that family unit considering all that we are up a/g in this society. now of course some people are going to persevere regardless of their circumstances.
I have to agree with KinDanice, what is really going on that black people have to turn this into an Oprah thing, someone else posted that she was the real sellout!?! I dont get it, you are selling out when u have done something to hurt the people u were birthed from. If anything, Oprah has done nothing but HELPED black women, made a new image that she can only hope others follow. seriously, after Oprah, who else?? she is alone in her journey and cause. these rappers have hurt our image tremendously, no doubt. and if you say they havent hurt us, then u certainly couldnt say they have HELPED at all! nothing positive has come of this..if it were would we be even having this discussion??
wow. loving all the thoughtful dialogue.
we have a radio station here that pratically refuses to play the more hopeful, upbeat, non-abusive language where they have to bleep almost every third word and positive songs. They claim they are the home of today’s hip hop and r&b but they play the exact same songs 10 to 20 times a day.
I’ve written letters, called and finally just turned off the station. I listen to a different station that plays everything and not just what’s popular. It plays hip hop, r&b, rock, rap, pop.
And covergirl – very well said.
Everyone talks about tip drill from nelly but don’t talk about fly away or n dey say.
I seriously detest black americans who down the Rap Industry which has gotten more of our boys off the streets and made them millionaires than any other. It is ironic and plain stupid to want to break this industry just because it does sling some smut just like Jerry Springer, Maury Povich, The Porn Industry, The Stripper Industry, many soap operas, , girls gone wild, entertainment shows which are constantly reminding us that women are hoing (paris, nichole,lindsay,no panty wearing brittany) around so much that DNA is needed to know the paternity of their children, Cheaters, Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable guy, George Lopez, South Park, The Queens/Kings of Comedy, etc.
NOT A SINGLE NEGRO SPEAKS OUT ABOUT THESE PROGRAMS BUT PICK ON AN INDUSTRY WHICH EMPLOYES HOPELESS BLACK MEN AND ALLOWS THEM TO ESCAPE THE GHETTO. NOT ONLY THAT, THE SAME RAPPERS WHICH ARE CRITICIZED:
MARRY BLACK HOS
ARE THE FATHER’S OF BLACK HOS CHILDREN
ARE THE SONS OF BLACK HOS
ARE THE BROTHERS, COUSINS, AND FRIENDS OF BLACK HOS
TAKE CARE OF BLACK HOS
WORSHIP THE BODIES OF BLACK HOS IN THEIR VIDEOS
LOVES AND ADORES BLACK HOS
DON’T ABANDON BLACK HOS AS SOON AS THEY GET SOME MONEY LIKE STUPID MIDDLE CLASS BLACK MEN DO
LOVE MEANS NEVER HAVING TO SAY YOU’RE SORRY.
I see the rappers as the TRUE AND GENUINE men of the black community because they don’t abandon their own as soon as they get a buck. Instead they employ them as bodyguards, dancers, choreographers, etc., AND THAT IS WHY WHITE RASCIST ARE CONSTANTLY ATTACKING THEM AND DUMB MIDDLE CLASS BLACKS WHO DON’T UNDERSTAND THAT RASCISM IS STRICTLY ECONOMICS, BELIEVE THAT IF WE COULD ALL JUST BE PERFECT, RASCISM WOULD END.
YOUR MOTHER CALLED YOU A NAME OR TWO BUT IF MR. CHARLIE DOWN THE STREET DID THE SAME THING YOU WOULD BE GREATLY OFFENDED.
NOT ONLY THAT, WHITE MEN (YOU NEED TO WATCH ROOTS AGAIN) HAVE USED HATEFUL WORDS TO ENSLAVE US. BLACK RAPPERS CAN’T ENSLAVE US WITH THEIR WORDS. THEIR WORDS COME OUT OF FRUSTRATION WITH THE WOMEN IN THEIR LIVES. I GUESS YOU DUMMIES WHO CRITICIZE THEM WOULD PREFER THEM BACK ON THE STREETS SELLING THE DRUGS THAT ARE KILLING OUR PEOPLE. YOU’RE NOT GOING TO GIVE THEM A JOB.
frantzie, while i applaud these black rappers for marrying black women, why would any self-respecting woman want to be married to one of these guys. Apart from all the cheating, refusal to take care of their offspring financially like their lifestyle, and having tons of women of all colors have sex with them every night, they arent good role models, and dont convey what “Good Men” are. so they are not anything to be proud of. would not want my kids hanging around drug dealers, druggies and thugs but they are as you say True and Genuine men………..
none of those girls had a gun to there head making them do that!!! God gave people impulse and choice to make choices.. they made there choice.
Any idiot can glorify a problem, it takes a true artist to glorify solutions.
EXACTLY WHAT THE WHITE MAN WANTS ……….BLACK ON BLACK……BLACKS AGAINST BLACKS…….TAKE 1 STEP FORWARD……..20 STEPS BACK……
*Some of the touched ones on here are saying Oprah doesn’t care about black people and she only caters to a white people. Are you smoking crack? Oprah is building neighborhoods, not homes, but neighborhoods for the victims of hurricane katrina, built a huge boys and girls club (complex) in AMERICA, and a school for little black girls in africa so they no longer have to look at selling themselves as their only career option. And what was 50 cent doing while the hurricane katrina situation was jumping off? He was on tv saying George bush was a gangster for not coming to help the HK victims! But y’all keep it real..The ignorance amazes me..
And the same people ragging on Oprah for speaking her mind are chanting freedom of speech for the rappers? Get your mind right and stop contradicting yourselves
*Now on to Imus. That crypt keeper is a half an idiot who had no right to call out those women like that with no information on their sexual history. But everybody already knows that. He is just a symptom of the bigger issue. He reacted the way a lot of white people do in the privacy of their own homes because the media is flooded with retarded images of black people.
*That doesn’t mean rappers should be censored. I think they have the right to speak as they please. Does that mean we shouldn’t give them hell for it? Of course not. I don’t agree with the gay lifestyle, but I sure do admire how they rally together. They took m&m from calling a bunch of gay people names to rapping with elton john. Too much heat on his behind! If only black people could get their ish together and do the same. Hip hop has become kin to the painted face shows back in the day, only they’ve got real black people as stand ins, demeaning their own women. That’s why a lot of black guys don’t want to claim sisters now. Not all of course, but a good chunk of the impressionable ones cause they get that crap from the songs and videos.
There are hoes in all the races but people automatically assume that black women are like that cause that is dam there the only image you see in mainstream media. Again are there white people at the top of this mess? Sure. But there were white people in charge when segregation was in play. When we got off our butts, marched, and stopped flooding our money into the messed up system (bus system & restaurants), they had to conform and desegregate. Blacks spend more money on BS than any other race and we get the least respect. If we channeled that buying power and stopped taking ish on a platter cause we’re scared we wont get a good beat, things will change.
Also women need to do their part instead of just complain. I don’t buy any CD if I don’t like the lyrical content. I bump john legend, Common, Robin Thicke, etc. Not pimp and ho anthems.
And all you women that say oh i’m not a hoe i’m not like that, do hoes have tramp tatooed on their foreheads? These videos affect how society as a whole sees us as a people and they don’t section us off. Why do you think black men have become the flavor of the month with all types of women? These videos. Divide and conquer.
The level of the self-hatred in our community is amazing. The anger and vitriol with which live our daily lives is unhealthy.
I am a big Russell Simmons fan, but his excusing the denigration of women, and the promotion of violence in music is depressing. His excusing the “lyrical” content of Ganster Rap, for the sake of the “poets,” is a joke.
I am embarassed when youngsters in L.A. drive down the street with vulgar music blasting, and it’s within earshot of elderly people. It’s just not right.
@Meatlof Said: “Why do you want to define the parameters of this discussion? Rappers, Oprah, Imus and anyone else with a public medium is fair game for this issue! You’re hurting, because yo girl was slinging $#!T and she got some on herself!”
Look here: Oprah is a big girl. She can defend herself. I actually don’t care. Stan or not, This IS NOT ABOUT HER VIEWS ON RAP. If she was off the air TODAY, we would still have this problem.
This is a classic example of the not being able to see the forest for the trees. Defenders are bringing up racisim, KKK, education and Porn to detract from the real issues. PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.
Many women have admitted that the problem is not Just the rappers fault. Anyone who thinks that is not dealing with the real truth.
Video girls, consumers, rappers, the music company, the radio, Viacom, etc ….ITS ALL OUR FAULT. OK.
NOW WHAT.
Here is the latest:
http://www.calendarlive.c...80016.story?coll=cl-music
See Paragraph 3
Also, interesting articles found online.
http://www.thnt.com/apps/...20/COLUMNISTS06/704200435
http://www.detnews.com/ap.../704210310/1008/OPINION01
and the always comical:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwmC-6hzLpk
Peace,
Kind.
@437….agree 110%…And I’m still on the floor behing you calling Imus a crypt keeper,,,girl u know u wrong 4 that…Lol.
@380..Bill: Though I remain confused about the defensive nature of many of your post (on this topic) The article you posted was on point thank you. I can’t belive I did not consider the political implications of this dilemma.
Ahem..@412….by bad. I eventually did read the article posted UNDER the inflamatory comments you used to start off your post.
The actual article however just proves another point.
Any minority, in this case, the gay community, can stand up for themselves and hold hip-hop accountable for their actions. Just not us. If we do, it’s because we hate men and are gay and always “puttin down da black man”…gheeze…gimme a break.
kind.
Kindanice they just don’t hear me though.
Good posts on the topic btw.
Here’s another article:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/S...WBIZ/Music/03/03/hip.hop/
Kindanice girl they just don’t hear me.
Good articles btw.
Here’s another one:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/S...WBIZ/Music/03/03/hip.hop/
There has to be a few things accomplished in all these discussion.
1) Imus – The simple fact that white people with power and money can no longer go around and promote there personal dreams on the uneducated mass. This has been going on forever and it’s the main root of racism in America, because the elite condone it its ok for the poor white trash to uphold it. That is why Imus had to go, because he was promoting racism in his words. Even if Imus he did not believe them in his heart others do and others would operate on is words.
2) Its amazing that most Americans don’t understand that they are not intelligent enough to recognize the spin on things they see or hear. It’s a know fact that most Americans and even more so in the African American community. We as a race must get educated. We must rise above the bickering and the back stabbing amongst us. We must provide a united front. If this means cracking down on rap and there glamorous tale of the hard life and life in the wards of the south then be it so.
I know people will go back to this post even if just to read. It is just to important.
Articles, Post, Food for thought:
http://www.google.com/products?q=‘nappy-headed+ho’+t-shirt&hl=en&safe=off&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-37,GGLD:en&um=1&sa=X&oi=froogle&ct=title
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqlWtBcMEAs
http://www.youtube.com/wa...a951%2D7aed%2D461f%2Db902
I saw the show twice, and I was more upset with Oprah than ever before. Many of the Oprah fanatics can’t see the subliminal messages in her shows and in Oprah’s actions. When a racist white man says something demeaning about blacks, then he tries to divert the attention away claiming black men call women ho’s this is a cop out! Yes in rap men use foul language, but what rapper walks around calling women b-tches or hoes? Not many if any. In the black community we use foul language, but we are in foul conditions which is what the panelists were saying. When the communities are cleaned up, you will see it reflected in the music. Also in the black community when we say b-tch to each other as many women do, it’s not deragatory,it’s just how we talk, like when we call each other n-ggas! It’s the same thing.
This show was another way Oprah got to bash and attack black men. In movies women are nude and called foul names, even Oprah’s respected friend Halle Berry had one of the most graphic sex scenes in recent years, but Oprah admires her greatly, theres porn, there’s primetime t.v when women are treated as mere sex toys, in rap men just basically say they love to chase their beautiful black sisters, they may not say it the best but that’s what it is. Oprah even divided the blacks more when she got black women from Spellman to go against the black men represented by the males from the music industry. Oprah is always subtley against black men, I don’t care if she occasionally says she dates Steadman, she is always with Gayle, they have a home, they take trips together, they go to celebrity events together, and when she does her charity events like open all girl schools (neglecting the little boys), or she promotes her lesbian play “The Color Purple” with it’s re-edited lesbian scene she shows her true colors. Oprah again sold out on that show!
test
Mr. Real Nubian Man:
My Brother: U watched that show and all you got out of it is how much u hate Oprah? Ok, fine.
FOr the purposes of this discussion……………… DOWN w/Oprah! SHe hates black Men and Rap. She uses every opportunity to bring the Black man down. That’s why she is not married. Oh yeah, and she’s gay.
Can we all agree on that so we can get beyond the OPRAH factor? I’m sure she would not mind being the sacrificial lamb.
Now since we ALL hate Oprah now, let’s deal w/the issue by looking at non-oprah tainted info on the topic:
Please see the article below. I don’t agree w/everything he has 2 say, but it is somewhat fair assessment of our predicament.
Also, thier are some useful links in post 439, 441 and 444. Oprah Free!
Kind
April 25, 2007
Music
Don’t Blame Hip-Hop
By KELEFA SANNEH
Hip-hop has been making enemies for as long as it has been winning fans. It has been dismissed as noise, blamed for concert riots, accused of glorifying crime
and sexism and greed and Ebonics. From Run-D.M.C. to Sister Souljah to Tupac Shakur to Young Jeezy, the story of hip-hop is partly the story of those who have
been irritated, even horrified, by it.
Even so, the anti-hip-hop fervor of the last few weeks has been extraordinary, if not quite unprecedented. Somehow Don Imus’s ill-considered characterization of
the Rutgers women’s basketball team — “some nappy-headed h*s” — led not only to his firing but also to a discussion of the crude language some rappers use. Mr. Imus and the Rev. Al Sharpton traded words on Mr. Sharpton’s radio show and on “Today,” and soon the hip-hop industry had been pulled into the fray.
Unlike previous hip-hop controversies, this one doesn’t have a villain, or even a villainous song. The current state of hip-hop seems almost irrelevant to the current discussion. The genre has already acquired (and it’s fair to say earned) a reputation for bad language and bad behavior. Soon after Mr. Imus’s firing, The Daily News had Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, splashed on its cover alongside the hip-hop producer Timbaland, whose oeuvre includes some Imusian language. He had helped arrange a fund-raiser for her and apparently was now a
liability. Oprah Winfrey organized a two-show “town meeting” on what’s wrong with hip-hop — starting with the ubiquity of the word “h*” and its slipperier cousin, “b**ch” — and how to fix it. The hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons, who appeared on the show, promised to take action, but last Thursday a planned press conference with hip-hop record label executives was canceled at the last minute, with scant explanation.
On Monday, Mr. Simmons and Ben Chavis, leaders of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, released a statement that said, in part, “We recommend that the recording
and broadcast industries voluntarily remove/bleep/delete the misogynistic words ‘b**ch’ and ‘h*’ ” and a third term, a common racial epithet. (That already happens on the radio; it seemed the two were suggesting that all albums be censored too.) Mr.
Simmons helped create the hip-hop industry, and he has always spoken as a rap insider. Monday’s statement was remarkable partly because he was speaking as a hip-hop outsider, unable (so far) to persuade the executives to go along with him.
A different sort of criticism was voiced in this Sunday’s episode of “60 Minutes”: Anderson Cooper was the host of a segment arguing that hip-hop culture had
popularized an anti-snitching ethos that was undermining the police and allowing criminals to operate with relative impunity. The rapper Cam’ron, who was shot in 2005, cheerfully told Mr. Cooper that cooperating with police would hurt his professional reputation and run counter to “the way I was raised.” Asked what he would do if he were living next door to a serial killer, Cam’ron merely shrugged and said he would move. The segment said remarkably little about the fear and anger that might help create such an anti-police culture. Even if Cam’ron is just doing what sells, the question remains: Why is this what sells?
None of these complaints are new exactly. Few rappers have used the words “h*” and “b**ch” as enthusiastically — or as effectively — as Snoop Dogg, who has spent 15 years transforming himself into cuddly pop star from a menacing rapper, while remaining as foul-mouthed as ever. And rappers’ hostility toward the police has been a flashpoint since the late 1980s, when the members of N.W.A. stated their position more pithily than this newspaper will allow.
Nowadays, as all but the most intemperate foes of hip-hop readily admit, this is not a debate about freedom of speech; most people agree that rappers have the right to say just about anything. This is, rather, a debate about hip-hop’s vexed position in the American mainstream. On “Oprah,” Diane Weathers, the former editor in chief of Essence magazine, said, “I think Snoop should lose his contract — I don’t think
he should be on the Jay Leno show.”
On “60 Minutes,” Mr. Cooper kept reminding viewers that hip-hop was “promoted by major corporations,” and he mentioned anti-snitching imagery on album covers.
What he showed, though, was a picture taken from a mixtape, not a major label release.
That’s a small quibble, perhaps, but a telling one. In the wake of Mr. Imus’s firing, some commentators talked about a double standard in the media, though “double” seemed like an understatement. Like MySpace users and politicians and reality-television stars and, yes, talk-radio hosts, rappers are trying to negotiate a culture in which the boundaries of public and private space keep changing, along with the multiplying standards that govern them. This means that mainstream culture is becoming less prim (or more crude, if you prefer), and it’s getting harder to keep
the sordid stuff on the margins.
This also means that just about nothing flies under the radar: a tossed-off comment on the radio can get you fired, just as a fairly obscure mixtape can find its way onto “60 Minutes” as an exemplar of mainstream hip-hop culture.
You can scoff at Mr. Simmons’s modest proposal, but at the very least, he deserves credit for advancing a workable one, and for endorsing the kind of soft censorship that many of hip-hop’s detractors are too squeamish to mention. Consumers have learned to live with all sorts of semi-voluntary censorship, including the film rating system, the F.C.C.’s regulation of broadcast media and the self-regulation of basic cable
networks. Hip-hop fans, in particular, have come to expect that many of their favorite songs will reach radio in expurgated form with curses, epithets, drug references and mentions of violence deleted. Those major corporations that Mr. Cooper mentioned aren’t very good at promoting so-called positivity or wholesome community-mindedness. But give them some words to snip and they’ll diligently (if grudgingly) snip away.
It’s not hard to figure out why some people are upset about the way Mr. Simmons’s three least-favorite words have edged into the mainstream. One of hip-hop’s many
antecedents is the venerable African-American oral tradition known as toasting; those toasts are full of those three words. Hip-hop took those rhymes from the street corner to the radio, and those old-fashioned dirty jokes are surely meant to shock people like Ms. Winfrey. Once upon a time, such lyrics (if they had been disseminated) might have been denounced for their moral turpitude, but now they’re more likely to be denounced for their sexism. Both verdicts are probably correct, and each says something about mainstream society’s shifting priorities and taboos. Maybe dirty
jokes never change, only the soap does.
Mr. Imus has one thing in common with rappers, after all. Like him, many rappers have negotiated an uneasy relationship with the mainstream: they are corporate
entertainers who portray themselves as outspoken mavericks; they are paid to say private things (sometimes offensive things) in public. It’s an inherently volatile arrangement, bound to create blow-ups small and big. Mr. Simmons’s proposal could
buy some rappers a few years’ reprieve. But it wouldn’t be surprising if the big record companies eventually decided that brash — and brilliant — rappers like Cam’ron were more trouble than they were worth. (Cam’ron’s last two albums haven’t sold well.)
Why not spend that extra money on a clean-cut R&B singer, or a kid-friendly pop group?
The strangest thing about the last few weeks was the fact that hardly any current hip-hop artists were discussed. (All these years later, we’re still talking
about Snoop Dogg?) Maybe that’s because hip-hop isn’t in an especially filthy mood right now. It sounds more light-hearted and clean-cut than it has in years. Hip-hop radio is full of cheerful dance tracks like Huey’s “Pop, Lock & Drop It,” Crime Mob’s “Rock Yo Hips,” Mims’s “This Is Why I’m Hot” and Swizz Beatz’s “It’s Me, Snitches.” (The title and song were censored to exclude one of the three inflammatory words — proof that this snipping business can be tricky.)
On BET’s “106 & Park,” one of hip-hop’s definitive television shows, you can watch a fresh-faced audience applaud these songs, cheered on by relentlessly positive hosts. For all the panicky talk about hip-hop lyrics, the current situation suggests a scarier
possibility, both for hip-hop’s fans and its detractors. What if hip-hop’s lyrics shifted from tough talk and crude jokes to playful club exhortations — and it didn’t much matter? What if the controversial lyrics quieted down, but the problems didn’t? What if hip-hop didn’t matter that much, after all?
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