Logo

As the influence of Hip-Hop culture has grown around the world, so has the scrutiny of the very art form itself. In the past, there were attacks on the validity of the genre as an art form, and now, a resurrection of C. Dolores Tucker's battle due largely to the Don Imus controversy is at hand.

Last week, the Reverend Al Sharpton organized protests across the nation earlier this week, calling for the end of the music industry's government funding unless rap artists clean up their act(s). The reverend is specifically demanding the removal of the words "n***er/n*gga", "b***h" and "h*e/h*" from rap recordings.

Though I feel that our culture is being unfairly targeted as there are plenty of disrespectful words and phrases spoken in all genres of music, I do understand the "clean up our own house" mentality of our elder leaders in the larger Black Community.

What I don't understand is how our leaders are missing the bigger picture here. While there are many issues existing in our community that need our attention, there are far bigger fish to fry than the misogynistic and derogatory words used in some hip-hop songs. I am concerned at the new "beef" brewing pitting the older Civil Rights generation against the younger Hip-Hop generation. The media has become very adept lately at instigating divisions between people (ex. Beyonce vs. Jennifer and 50 Cent vs. Kanye) and ideals (use of N-words) in Black culture as a whole.

When our Black leaders attempt to censor the culture of their own sons and daughters, using the current media as a platform to pressure groups to make changes, they co-sign with groups and principalities that have never had our best interests at heart. What we are seeing is the divide between the younger and older generations. Many older Blacks happen agree with whites and others who do not understand hip-hop culture as a whole. They see the baggy clothes; they isolate and focus on the questionable lyrics and choices of some Hip-Hop artists and they judge what they do not understand. A classic example of this is the contextual use of the word "nigga" versus its origins in the word "nigger."

While I do feel it is important for hip-hop artists (the media calls them "rappers") to understand the the immense power they posses, the push by the older generations and those who seek to judge is towards censorship instead of education. We want to put a BAND-AID on a gunshot wound!

Artists could not release albums on major record labels (1) if there was not a market for their music and, (2) if record labels simply refused to release the material. Instead of making certain words taboo, why not focus on EDUCATION for both groups in society? If we focus on educating our young on the value of women and respectful behavior in general and we enlighten our artists about the great power and responsibility they have as cultural trendsetters, we would be less inclined to create/embrace music that we feel is negative or paints a negative light towards our people as a whole. It is NOT enough to say that "rappers should not take the place of parents." If I am creating music on some level for my people and I know that my people often are currently in cirumstances where there is NO family support and broken homes, I am a kind of "defacto parent." Rappers, take responsibility for the great blessing of success that has been bestowed upon you! And, if we similarly focus on educating our older generation about hip-hop and its use of the word nigga and other lyrics that are found to be questionable, maybe there would not be such a backlash because education and understanding will have been promoted at both ends of the spectrum.

Our cultural leaders, young or old, need to be aware of the divide & conquer strategy that has long been used to fuel violence and miscommunication between each other. We may belong to different generations as youth and elders (and all in between), but the mandate remains the same: we must believe that knowledge is power. When we throw darts in the media and seek to take (money) away from our people because we don't agree with the choices of others, we are not focusing on the ROOT causes, just the effects. Let's not treat the symptoms, let's heal the disease so that we can be whole.