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In the coming years, a future of immense possibilities awaits
the Hip-Hop generation. Hip-Hop culture and music has a responsibility
to maintain its role as the “CNN of Black people.” With the current
state of Hip-Hop, and a stigma of discouragement confronting listeners
of all stripes, certain strategies must be adopted to help steady
the ship, and elevate Hip-Hop back to its rightful throne as the
megaphone of conscience for Black, Brown, Yellow, Red, and White
disenfranchised peoples across the globe.
If Hip-Hop is to survive this brewing storm, and emerge victorious,
critics, fans, and scholars must be mindful of three factors which,
I believe, can sustain the prophetic balance of Hip-Hop in these
trying times.
1)
Healthy Critique: Many Hip-Hop non-listeners seem to
be infatuated with rendering unmerited critiques upon Hip-Hop,
and are quick to blame it for all of society’s ills. It is a cruel
and mean gesture which exonerates the history of patriarchy, homophobia,
materialism and gangsterism which precedes the 1970s – when Hip-Hop
was officially incepted. For Hip-Hop to survive as an art-form
in the coming years, critics of the culture must be willing to
hold its feet to the fire, but nevertheless, mature enough to
offer viable solutions that can restore its moral standing. It
is easy to remonstrate against some of the pathologies promoted
by Hip-Hop artists, but true courage lies in the ability to acknowledge
that Hip-Hop is, mostly, a mere reflection – a sort of transparent
glove – of the overall immoral universe that houses us.
2) Courage: Hip-Hop
artists of consciousness would have to play a large role in breathing
back the breath of life, through spoken word, into the lungs of
Hip-Hop culture. Their time-tested ability to weather the commercial
storm, and remain unfettered in the face of seeming defeat is
a limitless inspiration to all those fighting on the side of truth
and justice in this battle to save the soul of Hip-Hop.
3)
Protection: Most Rap critics lack a fundamental
understanding of the political cloud that hovers around the Hip-Hop
industry. Many are unaware of the degree of leverage Hip-Hop executives
– disproportionately white – hold in all matters concerning their
artists. From the decision over art covers, to tracklisting, to
album singles, most Executives usually have the final say. This
grants the corporate criminals enough leeway to wreak havoc, through
their puppets (artists), without being faulted for doing so. This
reality is what denies most commercial Hip-Hop artists the willingness
to lend their conscience a voice to speak. Because the repercussions
are often severe when an artist thinks and acts independently,
most would rather do the bidding of the bosses who sign their
paychecks. Many female Hip-Hop artists are entrapped in the same
system, and find no value in speaking out about male-abuses and
sexist treatment within the industry. The few who muster the fortitude
to do so are usually
confronted with unimagined opposition and castigation from
columnists, fans, peers, and executives. For this reason, mainstream
and underground Hip-Hop artists deserve the protection of concerned
critics and listeners, from the above-listed parties. Any other
strategy meant to change the tonality of modern-day Hip-Hop would
prove unsuccessful and illogical. Without a defensive army surrounding
them, their courageous actions would be obliterated by the patriarchal,
capitalist machine of the Hip-Hop industry.
The promises of Hip-Hop culture can
only yield substantive offerings if the hymns of courage are sang
across the Hip-Hop universe. Artists, listeners, and critics all
have a part to play in helping balance the pulse of Hip-Hop. It
would take the unmitigated support for female artists whose past
experiences strengthen their commitment to advancing tougher
measures for domestic-violence laws. It would take the encouragement
of artists who, with
the soul of a rebel, remind millions of people around the world
of the unchanged conditions the black mass is entrapped in, and
expose the antics of those who have been given “permission to go
down and shoot” victims of criminal-ineptitude.
Mainstream Hip-Hop artists have,
over time, expressed a yearning to articulate political viewpoints
that, often, fall outside of the mainstream of public opinion –
if given the chance and support. Take for example the Rap artist,
Kanye West, who in a 2003 song declared that, “Racism [is] still
alive, they just be concealing it;” or the Chicagoan native,
Lupe Fiasco’s public confessions to abstinence from smoking, drinking,
and corresponding sponsorship, as a sign of devotion to his Muslim
faith. We can also acknowledge the audacity of the Rap duo, The
Clipse, which, in 2006, apologized to fans for a long-delayed
album because “those crackers weren’t playing fair at Jive.”
Shortly after the single which featured those words, the album release
date was again pushed back – leading
one of its members to profess his hatred for the label with
“all my heart and all the passion and my soul.”
Hip-Hop artists have the capability
to transform their existence, and that of the listening audience,
into a stream of unending possibilities. To save the Hip-Hop generation,
and straighten the fabric of this existential art-form, all concerned
individuals and parties must possess the humility to observe; patiently
interrogate; and dutifully render solutions to the many problems
confronting it.
E!
Digs Deep Into the Poisoned Well
“Stupid... reality shows do not amuse us
- Hip-Hop artist, Canibus, For Whom the Beat Tolls
Oh, yes! Just what we need at this momentous period in Black
history – at the crossroad of a Black man rising to the highest
seat of the land, with a wife whose grace, dignity and integrity
has become a beacon of inspiration to women of color around the
world. At this junction, the Entertainment channel, E!, sees fit
to revisit the ghosts of the not-so ancient past.
E! has announced its plans to feature a competitive reality-show
called, “Candy Girls.” [Context: By no means are these girls
and, of course, no candy of any sort is being advertised
by E!]. Packaged as a good intention, with a desire to assist video
vixens/models who aspire “to reach the career pinnacle of appearing
in ‘A-list’ music videos and gain access to the world of superstars,
private jets and exclusive parties,” E! requires
that all participants be able “to play the game as well as you
look.” To position themselves as God’s mercenary to the Womanist/Feminist
community, E! has taken the liberty to inform willing contestants
that, “musicians need to live their image and that includes surrounding
themselves with the beautiful women who are so often featured in
their videos at all times. However, like runway models, these women
know they need to get in early and make their money fast before
time takes away the looks that make them so successful.” [Emphasis
mine] The show is slated to premier right after “Keeping
up with the Kardashians” – how fitting.
E! is certainly not the first media outlet to engage in such
debacle. The scene is an all-too-familiar one for those engaged
in the struggle to end misrepresentation of womanhood in entertainment:
A white network, bored out of limited options and thinning inspiration,
recruits Black females to whore themselves in exchange for temporary
fame and fleeting popularity. Ain’t nothing new here. It’s
the same ole’ ball-game. Some might argue, a national past-time.
What does create more discord than previous instances, however,
is the juxtaposition of E!’s experiment to Michelle Lavaughn Robinson
Obama’s rise to international prominence. With the ascendancy of
First lady Michelle Obama, a distinguished lawyer and public
servant, nothing comes off more appalling than the effrontery
of E!, in continuing the centuries-old tradition of reducing Black
females to one-dimensional characters, whose promiscuity and hyper-sexuality
is sentenced to death by a thousand qualifications, in the court
of public opinion. Unsuccessfully masquerading its deceitful desires
by deeming the contestants “beautiful women,” as opposed to “puns,”
E! is simply borrowing a page from VH1, MTV and BET.
In less than a decade, the Viacom-owned trio have successfully
erased nearly-all traces of social-awareness in the younger generation,
and nurtured it with a healthy diet of scantily-clad-women-focused
reality shows. “Flavor
of Love,” hosted on VH1 since January 2006, is perhaps the most
popular and regrettable of its kind. As those familiar with the
theme’s show would acknowledge, VH1 accomplished, in three short
seasons, what very few TV-networks have been able to. In the years
Flavor of Love ran on the network, and was picked up by subsidiaries
worldwide, it effectively established itself as the regulator for
21st century reality-show-based-exploitative-renditions of Black
Womanhood. With a certified coon (Flavor Flav) as the host, VH1
propagated the centuries-old lie that Black Women are over-sexualized
objects with an insatiable appetite for lust-based pleasures only.
Before long, Black Women in European countries began reporting of
the hazardous effects these shows were having on their self-esteem.
Many noted that men (mostly white), in those countries, had, as
a result of the graphic images broadcast around the world, come
to associate them with the sexual practices promoted on the shows.
Using commercial Rap music artists as the buffer to prolong the
existence of this untruth, networks like MTV, BET, E!, VH1 seek
to justify their criminal antics with the claim that such activities
are an integral part of Hip-Hop, to begin with. It is a lie worthy
of lethal refutation.
Selective-listening seems to be the supreme inspiration of
any such rationale. For if these channels were to dig deeper into
the well of Hip-Hop, and pass the shallowness and filth that comprises
the majority of commercial/chart-topping Hip-Hop, they would certainly
find artists that put an indelible dent on their theory. Well-known
cross-generational and cross-gender Hip-Hop artists such as Afrika
Bambaataa, Roxanne Shante, Dead Prez, Nefertiti, NYOIL, MC Lyte,
Black Star, Lauryn Hill, Black Star, Queen Latifah, KRS-One, Invincible,
Jasiri X, Jean Grae etc., are an everlasting invalidation of all
suggestions that Hip-Hop culture is a cesspool of misogyny. The
skill of devious corporate media channels, like E!, lies in their
inherent ability to sample unfortunate fragments of commercial Hip-Hop,
and expand or plaster them over an overblown layer.
Commercial Hip-Hop artists are not
genuine representations of true Hip-Hop culture – neither are they
spokespersons for the community. Criminal-minded corporations, however,
neglect this reality with intense delicacy. After all, the pimping
and devaluation of Black (and all) Womanhood is hardly successful
if an admission of this fact is afforded.
What the E! channel is proposing
is a deadly blow to the significance Michelle Obama’s astronomical
rise to the pedestal of history poses. If possible, they seek to
siphon all inspiration derivable from seeing a Black Woman glow
with dignity, spirit and elegance, on an international stage. Many
Black Women and girls, who, for decades and centuries, have been
compelled to administer skin-bleaching creams, for a desire to appear
lighter, or felt undeserving of love and appreciation, for lack
of long hair, now have a dark-skinned, short-haired Woman as the
new face of Black America, and the Black world! E!, and its counterparts,
cannot afford the inevitable – a reorientation of Black female consciousness.
To impede what seems to be unavoidable, E! has now decided to inform
Black Women of how irrelevant Michelle Obama should be to their
formation of self-identity. Instead, “‘Video Vixenry’ is where it’s
at!”
What Black (and all) Womanists and
Feminists still possess is the power to resist and refuse all distorting
forms of Black (and all) femininity. Whether E!’s reality show turns
out successfully or not is of little interest to this writer. The
most important lesson is that through critical and vocal opposition
to the avaricious interests of commercial media channels, this battle
can still (and must) be won.
BlackCommentator.com Columnist,
Tolu Olorunda, is an 18-year-old local activist/writer and a Nigerian
immigrant. Click here
to reach Mr. Olorunda. |