Well, ever since Imus, Hip-Hop has been under attack by what we in today’s generation label ‘wanna-bes’ or ‘flodgers’ and that’s people who portray to be something they are not.
To Rap/Hip-Hop Critics
Before one can label a person as a mentally unstable individual, he/she must first be evaluated by a professional/expert on the matter so how is it that so many people are speaking on Hip-Hop as if they are experts on the matter. How can you say what Hip-Hop is causing bad and you have no knowledge of the subject. Just this week a columnist for Commercial Appeal in Memphis, TN has labeled Three 6 Mafia as bad for the Memphis in May music festival because of their “raunchy raps” but is she an expert on the subject? When I went to read the story on Three 6 Mafia I happened to run across another story also on Commercial Appeal’s website about a group of kids with Sickle Cell Disease who formed a rap group and produced a rap song to inspire themselves and others to stay strong and support the fight against the disease. Well what inspired those kids to do that? Can you believe Three 6 Mafia? Well that is exactly what inspired them! According to the article the group of kids were inspired by Three 6 Mafia to form their group and their rap video. Now what does that say about Rap/Hip-Hop and it’s influence and Three 6 Mafia or about the critic speaking on them?
Rap/Hip-Hop vs. Pop Music
If we look for the bad in Pop music we can find it. Many can say that Pop music is bad for us because of it’s major influence on a majority of our young generation of girls pushing them to want to be skinny and to do anything to get skinny or to stay skinny (e.g. bulimia, anorexia). Also how about those teenage girls influenced to try to look and dress like the popular pop singers today who dress and dance over sexually? Does that have a great impact and influence on our teenage girls to want to look sexy, or to be promiscuous? How about the popular music and entertainment celebs who show their goodies (vagina) when stepping out of a car at a nightclub or those who show their goodies on the red carpet? What impact does that have? Basically what I’m sayin is that if you look for the bad in anything, you will find it! Just try it and see! Basically if we looked for the bad in everything, then this would be a very sad and probably suicidal people because there are so many things wrong with this world but we can’t make it through the world and grow looking for the negative, therefore, we look for the positive. Try to look for the good in things! Now I know if we can find good in war, we can find good in Hip-Hop.
H--s, B-----s and N----s
Now this is another touchy subject, but let’s start off by saying this: there are women who sell there bodies for money right? Yes, of course, but is that referring to every woman? No, of course not. Now, the quote N-word, n---a, not n----r, but n---a, because that is the word rap/hip-hop is using (n---a). N---a is the term used by not only blacks but also whites, Asians and other races to refer to someone as maybe a friend or in some cases, even an enemy. This goes to the topic that, for generation after generation, we have had slang that the today generation creates and it is their own language and their own communication, it is their freedom of speech to do, right? Yes, of course, it’s what America was built upon. Well, if we know these things than what is the big deal? In truth there are many big deals, but on this topic (music) censorship is the big deal. Censorship can hurt many but can profit many as well. Say for instance, when they censored Television, they later came back and offered the world uncensored versions of TV for a price, get it? Well if that’s over your head, than ask someone who gets it, because I don’t have time to get into everything. Just know that the words in mention (H--s, B-----s and N----s) are not new, and the meanings of the words are not new either (even older) and they all have no just cause for anyone to say “they don’t make me feel good so you can’t use them.” If you say B-----s and h--s discriminate against women and n---a discriminates against black people, than you are not Hip-hop nor are you the voice of today’s generation. As a matter of fact, you discriminate when you target music (e.g. Hip-Hop) and not every other profitable business such as porn, war, drugs, tobacco, and more which I’m sure we can see the obvious harm in them, right?
Rap/Hip Hop: A Challenge
Rap/Hip-Hop was birthed in the streets and until the streets clean up then don’t expect rap/hip-hop to clean up.. so I also throw out a challenge and that is a challenge not to the rappers but to the parents. It all starts with the next generation and that is our kids…. we must love our kids, provide guidance to our kids, talk to our kids, listen to our kids, teach our kids and learn from our kids, then we will see a true change in the streets and that will bring a change in our everyday lives… including the songs we hear from rap/hip-hop genre and rappers. But not until the streets clean up will rap/hip-hop clean up.
There’s an old sayin on the streets “You can take the person out of the hood but you can’t take the hood out of the person,” well I know a few things that you can take out of the hood that may help with the clean up. How about all the liquor stores on every corner, how about the broken down buildings, how about the billboard advertisements of tobacco and/or liquor, how about we look for more negatives in the hood where rap births from and watch the roots grow into something healthier. That’s a challenge to everyone to write the government about things in the hood that they can work to clean up in our neighborhoods.
I am willing to bet my website that most the critics of Hip-Hop are parents. So that being the case, I challenge the Hip-Hop critics to let their kids voice their opinions of the hood and Hip-Hop versus their (the parents) opinions which are backed by no knowledge of the subject or the hood which most if ever even from the hood, are not aware of and haven’t been for years upon years.
I challenge anyone to debate with me, if you feel you have something to debate about regarding Rap/Hip-Hop. I, for one, know Rap/Hip-Hop is the voice of the streets, the community, the average everyday people, and if you censor Rap/Hip-Hop then you take away our voice, then what do we have left? Rap/Hip Hop speaks the truth and it tells the story of the hood like no other. It tells you of the crime, it tells you of the hardships, the broken homes, the broken dreams, the pain, the suffering, the good and yes, the bad. There is a world of people out there that really relate to what Rap/Hip-Hop speaks about because there’s a world of people out there that’s going through what rap and hip-hop speaks about. We can’t censor it, sweep it under the rug, we can’t hide it, we have to work on the problems that Rap/Hip-Hop reveals today, tomorrow and yesterday.
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