Of course we gotta pay bills and entertain the ma**es
But it doesn´t mean in so doing we gotta feed em profanity
and regressive ideals.
Yes I wanna hear a song that makes me laugh, dance, feel good
It doesn´t have to be a life skills cla** in musical format, It doesn´t have to be serious.....
But it should also give me points to ponder.
make me question my world, make me grow, make me wanna do sumin about whatever situation i find myself in.
One.
below is an interesting article.
By stephanie mwandishi gadlin
Famed Kenyan author Mgugi wa Thiongo once remarked: "...Language
carries culture and culture carries, particularly through orature and
literature, the entire body of values by which we perceive ourselves
and our place in the world."
Interesting perspective. If language carries a people s culture and
therefore projects a people s cultural values to others, explain to me
why are we allowing our young men and women in the recording industry
to use offensive, self-deprecating language disguised as song lyrics
to discredit an entire people . Surely, the ancestors are not proud.
Enough with the excuses already. I love hip hop as much as the next
woman, and my frustration is not another case of "playa hating," or
"blaming rappers for society s social ills." That argument is tired
and quite silly. Nor am I confused about parental responsibility.
Yeah, I know...if you don t like it, don t buy it.
Blah...blah...blah. That is not this discussion. I simply want to
know how long will we make excuses for entertainers of any kind who
work hand-and-foot with compounded social ills to emasculate a group
of people.
Case in point: Dr Dre (Andre Young) was recently referred to as "the
original, true-blue gangsta-rap god," by Talk Magazine (April 2001).
Writer Michael Daly offers a quote from Dre s boss, Interscope Records
cofounder Jimmy Iovine: "Not since the Beatles or the Rolling stones
has any one individual artist affected society or popular music more
than Dr. Dre." His boss then goes on to say: "...he impacts the
entire continent."
Wow, that s a lot of responsibility for a record producer. Young, at
age 36, has ama**ed about a $100 million fortune writing and producing
hip hop music under the genre of gangster rap-a genre he is often
credited with creating. His latest invention, Eminem, is now being
promoted as the conduit for white rage. He offers musical missives
about killing his wife, deranged fans and doing peculiar things to
homosexuals.
No one argues that Young creates the coldest beats known to man.
Brother surely has talent. The ba** hook in Xxplosive on his The
Chronic 2001 album, was so off the hook, R&B songstress Erykah Badu
used it to rocket Bag Lady to the top of the charts. While Badu s
tome expressed the plight of a impoverished woman, Dre s lyrical
contribution to that mesmerizing beat included rapper Kurupt s poetic
utterings:
"West coast ish nigga over dosage - imperial pistols ferocious f**k a
b!tch; don t tease b!tch, strip tease b!tch Eat a bowl of these b!tch,
gobble the d!ck Hoes forgot to eat a d!ck can shut the f**k up!
Gobble and swallow a nut up, shut up and get my cash Backhanded, pimp
slapped backwards and left stranded Just pop ya collar, pimp
convention hoes for a dollar Six-Deuce in a plush, six-deuce impala
Pimpin hoes from Texas to Guatemala b!tch niggaz paid for hoes, just
to lay wit hoes Relax one night, and paid to stay wit hoes Captain
Save Em all day (b!tch) well save this d!ck b!tch nigga, you more of
a b!tch than a b!tch You ain t into hittin pu$$y, or hittin the switch
You into hittin b!tches off of the grip, you punk b!tch"
When Talk Magazine asks the super producer the usual question about
his lyrical content, inquiring about the proposed views of a late
civil rights icon about the quality of his music, Dre responds:
"Martin Luther King would love this." Is that right?
In another celebration of black musical success, wonder-lyricist Sean
"Jay Z" Carter often writes and performs head-banging missives that
have made him a wealthy and sought after celebrity. Take just one
verse from the hit song, "Big Pimpin."
"You know I - thug em, f**k em, love em, leave em Cause I don t f**kin
need em Take em out the hood, keep em lookin good But I don t f**kin
feed em First time they fuss I m breezin Talkin bout, "What s the
reasons?" I m a pimp in every sense of the word, b!tch Better trust
than believe em In the cut where I keep em til I need a nut, til I
need to beat the guts Then it s, beep beep and I m pickin em up Let em
play with the d!ck in the truck Many chicks wanna put Jigga fist in
cuffs Divorce him and split his bucks Just because you got good head,
I ma break bread so you can be livin it up? ish I.. parts with
nothin, y all be frontin Me give my heart to a woman? Not for nothin,
never happen I ll be forever mackin Heart cold as a**a**ins, I got no
pa**ion I got no patience And I hate waitin.. Hoe get yo a** in And
let s RI-I-I-I-I-IDE..."
What kind of women has he been exposed to and just whom is he talking
about? A white woman? Asian? Latino? Oh, I forgot, that s not
allowed. In the spirit of unity, let us not forget the sisters.
Lil Kim (Kimberly Jones) offers the following thought-provoking
observation in "She Don t Love You," from her Notorious K.I. M.
release:
"Is she drop-dead fine? Does she like it from behind? Is
she fly? Do she got a style like mine? Does she slurp it, rub it,
jerk it, ride it? Tell you how you feel when you inside it You love
me, and I know she know Cuz everytime I come around, she be like
"let s go" Girls know not to leave they man around me I get my hands
on em. He puttin rent and a Benz on me..."
Charli Baltimore offers another view in "Pimp the One You Love," on
her Cold as Ice release: "Off the hyped bit, always been the tight
b!tch Keep these cats in line, pay that rent on time And we ll talk
about extra keys to my spot When it s extra V s in my lot, extra G s
in my knots So how I managed to get damaged on chill with one nigga
ish I was to break me off with some more figures b!tch I don t know,
just caught me at the right moment Vulnerable, nigga jumped up on it
With mind games, took me out of my frame I ain t even want his
payback, my homey Tony Drapper He pimped for the guts and I was givin
em up Can t tell me I can t have any player I want And I burnt myself
out tryin to turn his a** out..."
I am sure fans of all four aforementioned artists will dismiss my
ramblings and random recitation of their song lyrics as being taken
out of context. Others might go as far as to tell me that these
artists are merely "storytellers," much like a Eric Jerome d!ckey,
Terri McMillian or Omar Tyree. And please, don t get me wrong about
diversity in the culture either. I understand all rappers can t be
Lauryn Hill, Mos Def, Common, or a member of Dead Prez. I also know
that new artists are more likely to follow the more controversial hip
hop icons than buck them. The more shocking, the more vile, the more
graphic, the more violent, the more sexist... the more money, the
more sales... the more bling, bling..... Right or wrong?
Yet, I refuse to believe that our young people willfully set out to
create songs to ridicule and embarra** their heritage, family and
community. I refuse to believe that Jay-Z sat down with a pen and
paper and wrote those lyrics on his own, and that those are his
beliefs. Nor will I ever believe that Lil Kim wants sex without love,
commitment and intimacy. I do not believe Dr. Dre hates his wife and
children or wants to murder or die in a hail of bullets. I refuse to
believe that many of our young brothers and sisters in the
entertainment industry have little integrity, self-esteem and love.
The more I think I about it, I am convinced there must be a hip hop
constitution that mandates how rappers represent musically. The
mandate, in the form of a recording contract, is actually a set of
commandments authored by the "music establishment," otherwise known as
the "industry," to ensure the artist s marketability in an already
saturated genre.
