Hip-Hop

As a black woman who was born in the Bronx and spent enough time there to call it the Boogie Down Bronx I carry a little cockiness with me about hip-hop. What bothers me about the critique of rap music is that individuals fail to examine all music as a form of entertainment and whether that music is a reflection of the culture or representative of the culture. The discussion is almost always about the problems with black music or to be more accurate the problems with black men and their continuous victimization of black women through images of bootylicious, light-skinned, long-haired, video vixens.

What is never discussed and doubly offensive is that rap music is the main if not only genre that is highlighted in the music industry as oppressive without acknowledgment that rap music although performed mostly by black male entertainers is controlled by white CEO’s, white A&R Executives and white radio.

There are things that have continuously bothered me around the discussions on rap music. This post is a response to a webinar I attended last week.

1. There is a very important and distinct difference between rap and hip-hop and using the two terms interchangeably is not only problematic but offensive. Rap or rapping is a style of flow, a form of lyrical expression. Hip-hop is the lifeblood of people, primarily people of color, who experience struggle. One’s pet dog can be taught to rap, but that in no way shape or form encompasses hip-hop. The passion and power that hip-hop music holds is what has become appealing to so many groups of people who experience struggle and in my opinion is the reason why now more than blacks are relating to hip-hop.

2. Why aren’t we having a conversation about the larger culture? Both commercial rap and hip-hop and arguably all music is a reflection of the dominant larger culture that is truly obsessed with violence, sex, addiction, and the victimization of women of all colors. Why aren’t their more frequent discussions about these issues as opposed to the “problem with rap music” or as I hear it “the problem with black people.” Furthermore, there needs to be a racial and economic examination of the control over music and how that affects the music we listen to everyday. When individuals who have never been violent, never lived in the “projects,” never been victims of drug abuse, never engaged in criminal activity are coerced to reflect these negative images as a means to sell records this further destroys not only black people but the reflection of blacks to other cultures. This is to say that white executives directly control and benefit from thug imagery to the point that being a womanizing thug with bling has been popularized and glorified in the black community. This to me is a criminal offense and I would prefer a forum on how we are going to make these executives accountable.

3. What the hell is “conscious rap”? Okay, I use the term myself to differentiate between artists I think are talented and artists I think are….WHACK! By its very definition hip-hop is consciousness. I am just tired of hearing the same old names of Talib, Mos Def and Lupe. The use of derogatory descriptions of women does not make an artist a “non-conscious” rapper. The truth is that the majority of artists are consciously reflecting their lived experiences from the larger culture and that may very well mean wanting to kill someone, wanting to demoralize women and wanting all the money in the world. Isn’t that what we have come to know at the American way?