In the spirit of Tania's "neighborhood appreciation" blog, I thought I'd share with my kind readers what was going on in my neighborhood this weekend. It was BET's annual HIP HOP awards...and there was definitely some good people watching. Fortunately for me, I live on a street that is very popular for cruising, picking up transsexual hookers and purchasing illegal drugs on any random day of the week so one can imagine how things picked up with the weekend festivities. I was talking to a friend of mine and was thinking that, perhaps, I was being prejudiced by feeling uncomfortable with all of the random people walking around...many of them looking rather thuggish. He reminded me that these were not the Colin Powell awards nor was Oprah Winfrey's studio audience in town...it was the HIP HOP awards...these are people who rap about shooting people, banging "bitches," doing drugs and many other *not so on the up and up* activities. I know my feelings about this may be a disappointment to some of my readers, but I stand by what I say. I do not think that the HIP HOP community is propelling society (african american and otherwise) into a higher level of consciousness. I understand that the lyrics reflect that lifestyle and trials and tribulations of *the street* and I also think that, perhaps, degrading women and endorsing a life of crime and irresponsibility is not the way to inspire people to live better. I strongly believe that the things that we think, say, and feel create the environment in which we exist...at our essence we are all energy...just energy...molecules, really...so it is up to us to create the world in which we wish to live through our thoughts and actions.
10 comments:
you should have shouted that little speech out your window. your own little version of "i have a dream."
" ... these are people who rap about shooting people, banging "bitches," doing drugs and many other *not so on the up and up* activities."
true, many do, but not all. actually, a good portion don't ... much to the dismay of mainstream media. the hip-hop they allow you to see is a heavily commercialized and beefed-up image. unfortunately, this leads those from the outside looking in - such as yourself - to believe that it consists solely of those things you have stated above. not only that, but it perpetuates that biased and fearful feeling many get when seeing a black man (or even worse, more than one) in jeans, timbs, and a white tee - as I'm sure you saw this weekend.
a lot of "these people" (the roots , lupe fiasco, little brother (1), and black star for example) actually rap about anything and everything but.
for the most part, i can understand the point you're trying to make. however, the sweeping generalization that "the HIP HOP community isn't propelling society into a higher level of consciousness" is somewhat ungrounded. the hip-hop summit, citizen change, and hip-hop summit youth council are just a few hip-hop based organizations bettering society as i type this. please believe, what you've seen or think is hip-hop is not even the half of it.
" ...and if you really believe in hip-hop, you know that that's just not real. And it's just not hip-hop but soul music and what you see on television shows on stations like UPN where you have nothing but these ridiculous representations of black people and they have nothing to do with the way people are living in the heart of America." (c) Phonte Coleman of Little Brother. Full article here.
mary, just admit it that you're nothing but a big, fat cross burner.
Excellent point ::K
Should any of us have the opportunity to work for the media, we should remeber the social responsibilty we have to reperesent all people and all cultures in a true-to-life light. The end result should always benefit the greater good.
Forgot to spell check my comment--doh!
remeber = remember
responsibilty = responsibility
reperesent = represent
and hopefully I've successfully proven that I can spell correctly...
ktothefe = jackass
Mary, I know you're not racist.
You are, however, a slack-ass blogger.
What's today?
t: that was impressive. i'm very proud of the words you chose.
thug life. Don't hate the player, hate the game. yeah, I'll call you. I'll call you a bitch and a ho. It's like sam the butcher bringing Alice the beef. It's like Fred Flintstone rolling around with bald feet. damn, my mothers got cancer in her breast, you think I give a shit. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4, 3 2 1 murder lyrics at the door. biggy smalls, baby baby.
Random hip-hop lyrics/quotes. And I think what Bill Cosby is doing is spectacular. He recognizes what has happened to his culture and is bringing the tough love.
you stupid cracker
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