Floyd is not winning any popularity contests on HBO's 24/7. However, I believe he will kick Oscar's ass Saturday Night. Blind speed. Maybe the fastest fighter of all time. And that's saying something.
they've seen a couple of videos. Yes they're tired of their teen age daughter playing "In Da Club" over and over. But they aint never heard Ghetto Quaran'. They aint never heard Power of The Dollar. They can't name a rapper with more flow than Fiddy shows on As The World Turns. They don't understand 50's Baltimore Love Thing any more than they understand James Joyce's Ulysses.
Remember that freestyle Cam'ron did about the Duke Lacrosse team? Well, he's issued a full apology for his remarks that were made off the top of his dome.
sister and does not warrant my automatic, knee-jerk, put my life on the line, defense. My sister? Act like it. Which does not mean selling pussy to white Frat boys and then claiming rape when shit goes sideways. The credibility of real sisters, victimized by rapists has been permanently damaged. Not to mention the hundreds, perhaps thousands of young brothers locked in cages in the For Profit Prison system because some other ... "sister" ... lied about being raped.
Hip Hop Before Hip Hop Was Cool
"Boyce Watkins is one of the greatest minds of our time" 
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.
Dennis Kucinich and President George W. Bush have taken diametrically opposite positions concerning Cuba. Kucinich has now called for an end to the embargo against that Communist nation.
Notice that every other week or so, the corporate media parades a brother in front of the cameras to become the national object of hatred and scorn. If it's not Terrell Owens, it's Kobe Bryant. If it's not Kobe it's Isaiah Washington. If it's not Pacman Jones it's Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson. Next week it will be somebody else.
Yes the news pundits always have a good argument / accusation, and brothers are not completely without fault. Yet the venomous hatred that bubbles just beneath the surface, the hyperbolic mob justice and group think that chants for the blood of these often strong, typically heterosexual and more often than not, rich black men - is uncanny and revealing.
Main Entry:
This one sista got more heart guts and intellectual courage than 3 reactionary Plantation Negros combined. Her analysis is chess ya'll cats talking checkers.
More Handkerchief Head Negros Paraded In Front Of TV Cameras to dump everything on Hip Hop.
"Caribbean left-wing movements began to contact and support each other. In Grenada on 10 May 1970, Bishop led a demonstration of favorable approval for the black-power uprising in Trinidad, including support for ‘Grenadian brothers’ on that neighboring island. He was inspired by the Black Power Movement and Black dignity.
Two-thirds of the people in prison are now racial and ethnic minorities. For Black males in their twenties, 1 in every 8 is in prison or jail on any given day. These trends have been intensified by the disproportionate impact of the "war on drugs," in which three-fourths of all persons in prison for drug offenses are people of color.
Denmark Vesey said...
The Meteoric Rise To Stardom of Buffie The Body
"And can we please have a moment of truth?
Could the anti-War movement benefit for Hip Hop's global media swagger?
Comin' up I was confused, my mama kissin' a girl
Mr. Wilson said... Okay DV...
First thing I want to say is...primarily I am on your side but...
I do have to play devil's advocate about modern rap. You have to admit that most of the hip hop we get exposed to today, is not the raw expression of what is in the hearts and minds of these young and talented griots. What we get is sent through a filter meant to get the most units sold, even if its white kids. If you listen to "underground" hip hop, even the gulliest grimiest brothers seem real, human, and somewhat balanced. Mainstream (aka corporate-sanctioned) hip hop is marketing-driven, not art driven,
In 2007 rappers are on the slave block as they get presented as products and brands. I don't think 50 cent got shot 9 times with a real gun, but it makes for great marketing because he sounds invincible and untouchable. I bet 50 cent has gone to Jimmy Iovine with more than one record expressing how lonely and isolated he is, but Jimmy ain't letting the public see 50 as anything but an alpha male silver-back urban gorilla that solves all problems with dispassionate aggression. "Nigga get your ass back in the studio and murder somebody on the track...do you think Vivica liked you for your soul?"
Most of these young rappers are not being honest about how they are getting manipulated and pimped by these companies (although Jadakiss has made some notable references throughout the years). Most of the rappers you mentioned are coerced every step of the way through their creative process by the irresponsible and money hungry white-run corporations to express themselves the way they do. They don't even get signed unless they demonstrate that they are willing to be exploited, and once they get the contract, they must do what the label says or never get one word on a record, ending up broke as fuck. I will grant that some brothers are too brilliant to be completely nuetered and find a happy medium between pleasing execs and still saying something relevant (Jay-Z and Andre 3000), but many are just tyring to eat and will do and say anything (ying yang twins) they are told to. The execs will force the rappers to be or do anything that they think will results in album sales, and some shit is socially irresponsible. Suggesting to little black boys that affluence is the only way to demonstrate self worth is social irresponsible. Suggesting to little black girls, that their ability to make their ass cheeks clap together is more interesting than anything they could ever say is socially irresponsible. I am not saying this is the source of the problem, but it isn't helping.
DV, I know this for sure: something is missing. Rakim had swaggar, Biggie had charisma, Pac had heart, but the corporations hadn't locked things down so tightly then. Today, the images are skewed, unrealistic, 1 dimensional and there is much less diversity. Where are the fun happy but fairly clean rappers like kid and play and will smith? where are the political rappers like public enemy? where are lyrical monsters like big daddy kane? where are the new native toungues? where are the pharcydes, the black moons, the souls of mischiefs?
today's kids are identifying with Lil Wayne, and Young Joc but partly because they aren't getting exposed to anything else. we talked about exposure at dina's, and these kids are getting exposed to the same hyper agressive mysogynist image instead of getting exposed to a diverse range of rap heros and identifying with them all. i had eazy e, but i also had krs-one and they were both embraced by radio and mainstream outlets then. or is there really something different about this generation?
DV, just admit that something is amiss and in spite of the fact that rappers represent a liberated crotch grabbing alternative to looking up to corporate negros, the truth is almost every rapper you have named IS a corporate negro. and not only that, at least this corporate negro isn't owned and can take his brilliant understanding of info. theory and communications systems to another corporation if this one starts tripping. in other words, the truth is that given my education and experience, i have more options than 99% of rappers, but how would kids ever know that?
but basically, i am on your side against anybody that tries to demonize hip hop or any genre of hip hop. fuck anybody who says there is something wrong with gangsta rap. NWA was a blessing to me and expressed a hostility and rage I didn't even know I had as a good little southern boy. Although I wouldn't even want to hang with cats like Havoc and Prodigy if I knew them, I think my life is enriched by Mobb Deep because what they do is artful.
okay...chew on that...
Denmark Vesey ...
To boycott Hip Hop while eagerly consuming mainstream bad language, sex guns and violence is the ultimate in discrimination and self-hatred.
Why do kids not respond to the messages from the bourgeoisie black consumer class? Why is Lloyd Banks more recognized than any member of the Congressional Black Caucus? Why is every black leader with the exception of Minister Farrakhan ignored by young blacks?
Instead of criticizing rap, the energy should be spent developing and delivering an alternative message, equally relevant and intrinsically real that inspires, compels and empowers young blacks.
The Post Civil Rights Negro has failed to excite the imaginations of young black Americans. They appear refugees from a bygone era still struggling with racism and glass ceilings. Passed up by Mexicans and Asians. Last year’s players.
The Corporate Negro appears a disenchanted, compromised occupant of a glorified plantation. Often laid-off employee with a degree and student loans toiling away at jobs he hates while scheming an escape. Compromised emasculated conformist. A snobby sucka.
Does James Bond make white people kill each other? Does Hannibal Lecter make white people eat each other? Does 24 make white people torture Arabs? The governor of California has killed far more people on the screen than has 50 Cent.
The iconography of Hip Hop has currency. Rich. Masculine. Media savvy. Powerful. Self-Defining. Accessible. Capitalist. Winner. EVERYTHING AMERICA WORSHIPS. – Jay-Z
The iconography of the Post Civil Rights Negro is the flickering black and white video of the emasculated loser, a victim ultimately dependent on the largesse of white folks – Harold Ford, JR.
The fact is America worships Hip Hop. Every Sunday millions of consumers plop their fat asses in front of TV’s and consume a Hip Hop product slickly packaged as football.
Intellectual Insurgent said... DV, I've been pondering this argument all day and it is finally apparent to me why it doesn't sit well for me. It suffers from the same intellectual fallacy as apologists for slavery make. "Well, slavery existed in Africa before the Europeans showed up and, therefore, we didn't cause the problem." True, just like the European slave traders, vulgar rap didn't "cause" the problem of degradation and demeaning of women. It just took an already bad situation, added its unique stamp to it and showed that they could be 100x worse than those before them. Snoop is to the church of secular liberalism what Europeans were to the institution of slavery.
I see your point Dina. My position on Hip Hop certainly includes, but is not limited to the rejection of the notion that Hip Hop is the “cause” of societal blight. However, equally important to my argument is the disingenuous and hypocritical attack on the art form by a group of people whose own house is not in order. I have coined the term “Post Civil Rights Negro” to describe the myopic and ineffective leadership of the African-American middle class. On whose watch we have witnessed the implosion of the African-American family, the complete capitulation of any real political power and massive economic potential reduced to pathological conspicuous consumption.
“Now is not the time to close bases, ... With almost 140,000 American troops serving in Iraq, 17,000 American troops serving in Afghanistan and more than 60,0000 troops on the ground or aboard ships helping with relief and recovery efforts in the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina, our military is already overstreched.”
The increasingly vitriolic diatribes against all things Hip Hop (lower class blacks with more money than corporate negroes and less inclination to assimilate than civil rights negroes) have grown to ridiculous proportion. One would think rappers invented gratuitous sex, graphic violence and conspicuous consumption judging by the narrative of plantation blacks and Civil Rights Negroes who form the growing "I Hate Hip Hop and Cornrows Movement".
Once the spokespeople for all things black, the Post-Civil Rights Negro finds himself increasingly marginalized by the voice of Hip Hop, which commands audiences not seen on the Civil Rights tour since the 1963 March on Washington.
The problem is no one listens to the Stanley Crouch’s of the world anymore. Hordes of out of work refugees from the Racial Cold War, have abandoned the causes of affirmative action and reparations. They have now flocked to higher paid jobs as racially licensed mouthpieces for white resentment against blacks they cannot control.
The "I Hate Hip Hop and Cornrows Movement" indulges in hyperbole that suggests "Hip Hop" is single handedly destroying black people, ‘decimating our culture’ and ‘Degrading’ black women.
That’s right. It’s all the fault of rap music. 60 years of failed social policy had nothing to do with the health of the black America. A war on drugs that became a war on people and has incarcerated over 1,000,000 black men IS NOT REMOTELY connected to the collective ill health of our community.
Rap is the reason black men don’t respect black women. Rap is responsible for global warming. Rappers created the myth of WMD’s and lied this nation into war. Rap causes diabetes.
The Hon. Elijah Muhammad had a solution for the racist justice system:
Stay away from criminality, mind your own business, build your own business, if they come to take your stuff, defend yourself with a vengence.
De facto the American justyice system as far as black folk is concerned always had a "three strike law". Heck, a "one strike law". If you f***d up they'd hang a black man for an offense fr which they'd give house arrest to a white guy.
Thus... don't give 'em any excuses. There's no need for any of us to get into the drug trade on any level. period.