Why Oprah is Hip Hopping off Target

"Boyce Watkins is one of the greatest minds of our time"
- Marc Lamont Hill, Temple University Professor and CNN/FOX analysis

By Dr. Boyce Watkins

When I was young, my mother used to say, “ Coco (my nickname), your mouth will either make you great or get you killed, I’m curious to see which one.”

My mother may see her prophesy fulfilled by that religious figure otherwise known as Oprah Winfrey. I was asked to appear in a documentary as an Oprah critic, but I refused. People think that because you question someone’s motives, you must hate them. I don’t hate Oprah, I love her. But my love can’t match the worship she receives from the millions who rely on her for life support. Oprah should change her name to “Black Baby Jesus”, since her following makes me think she sprinkles crack cocaine onto the TV screen. Talking about Oprah on national TV will get you in serious trouble and I have never gotten as much hate mail as I get when I mention her name. I quickly recognized the gravity of challenging a sacred religious figure, as I have nightmares of the angry big woman from “The Color Purple” running at me in the cornfield and saying, “You told Coco to beat me!”

This week “Queen Pope-ra” gathered for a “town hall meeting” with her army of soccer moms, all to discuss how terrible hip hop has become (as if they know anything about rap music). She included the “brilliance” of men like sports writer Jason Whitlock, who couldn’t get second place in a two-man spelling bee against George Bush. The only rapper present was Common, whom I don’t think has ever “spit” a vulgar lyric in his life. Not that Common “ain’t tight”, but his presence on the show was probably rewarded by the fact that he has been approved by Queen Pope-ra for being a good boy, not a “hood boy”.

Let’s be clear. Much of hip hop is dog crap, any dummy who watches MTV knows this. But it’s not identifying the problem that matters, it’s how you analyze it. Basically, I can say 4 things about Oprah’s “town hall meeting”: wrong people, wrong venue, wrong analysis, wrong target.

The “town hall meeting” quickly turned into a cheerleading convention, with nearly every person stating that hip hop is bad, rappers suck, and some even saying that we can’t hold Don Imus accountable for what he said, since black people say the same thing. Blah blah blah blah blah.

So, as Oprah held her anti-meat convention with an audience full of vegetarians, I wondered if she realized a few important facts. First of all, the language used in hip hop does NOT excuse Don Imus. The “I’ve seen others do worse” argument is just dumb. I wouldn’t be able to defend a crime against white women by saying that I saw a white man do worse. Secondly, if you want to impact hip hop, attacking the artists in a venue of people who don’t even listen to the music is not going to achieve very much. OK great. Now soccer moms will no longer buy rap music. But guess what? Their kids don’t give a damn. Third, having a “panel of experts” consisting of a bunch of people who feel the same way you do is NOT a town hall meeting. It’s a McCarthyist witch-hunt against those you do not agree with. Oprah is good at having those, as she possessively avoids “providing legitimacy” to those with whom she does not agree. She proved that to the rapper Ludicris, whom she reluctancy placed at the edge of the stage as a member of the film “Crash”, proceeded to chastise him, and then edited out his response to her statements. Only a bully a**hole would do something like that.

If rappers suddenly changed their tune, then the record labels would simply do as Queen Pope-ra has done with Jason Whitlock; find some other idiot off the street to say what they want to hear. If you really want to have this conversation, and you want it to mean something, you have to go after the labels. This isn’t so easy, because many of the companies that own these labels ALSO own a piece of Oprah.

Hip hop hating is not the answer, and neither are cultish gatherings with Stepford Wife-like unanimity. Constructive and productive solutions work best. THAT is how you kill the monster.