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Created by Grand Rapids HipHop Apr 14, 2008 at 2:41pm. Last updated by Grand Rapids HipHop Apr 30.
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2007: The Rebirth of Hip-Hop
In 2007, amidst deaths, arrests, and scandals, Hip-Hop was reborn in the original spirit of the culture. Pioneers and musical forebears continued to impact American society and shape the modern world.
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five became the first Hip-Hop group to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with Jay-Z on hand to present the award. Melle Mel spoke during the ceremony urging music executives to “make Hip-Hop the culture that it was, instead the culture of violence it is right now.”
In a Hall of Fame graduating class that included R.E.M. and Van Halen, they were the most influential and innovative inductees this year. Grandmaster Flash revolutionized DJ culture when he invented the cut, birthing turntablism in its modern form. Flash told David Sprague that it took several nominations to get in: “Well, the first time we were nominated, I was like, ‘Yaaaay!’ Then it was like, ‘No, you're not going in.’ Then, when we were nominated again, there was less of a ‘Yay.’ This time, I got a call the day before the announcement from someone on the board that we got in.”
Flash thought Hip-Hop didn’t have the respect to stand equally with other American musical forms, “I always thought it was impossible, that all the other organizations had embraced Hip-Hop, but that this particular organization wouldn't. It's bigger than Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, though. Hip-Hop is in there now, and that's what really counts.”
August 11, 1973 is the date of the first party where Kool Herc unveiled the technique that spawned Hip-Hop’s global movement and 1520 Sedgwick Avenue was long considered the location of Hip-Hop’s earliest formative moments. In 2007 the building became officially eligible to be preserved and listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The location has recently been threatened by gentrification and tenants of the building were notified that BSR Management, which currently maintains the building, is planning a buy-out in February 2008. The New York State Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation approved an application on July 2 to make the location eligible to be considered a historic landmark. Herc told the New York Times, “This is where it came from,” pointing to the building’s first-floor community room. “This is it. The culture started here and went around the world. But this is where it came from. Not anyplace else.”
Hip-hop pioneers continued to inform American sensibilities. Rev. Run of Run DMC is not only an iconic MC but an accomplished author. In 2007 he signed yet another book deal, this one worth over one million dollars, to write about family issues.
While Hip-Hop culture presently perseveres, it continues to manifest elements from its history. A 10 story limestone building in Soho being converted to luxury condominiums was recently discovered to contain primordial graffiti by Fab 5 Freddy, Futura 2000, and Jean Michel Basquiat which dates back to 1979. The mural is a hodgepodge of scribbled handstyles including a plane, a heart ,and a cake executed in spray paint, glitter, grease pencil, and magic marker. There's also a few references to Quaaludes sprinkled in there too. The entire wall was excavated and is on display at Gallery 151 with "The Wild Style Exhibit" until Feb 15.
The Chief Rocker Busy Bee and Urban Gold Music dropped The History Of Hip Hop Volume One, the first release in a 10-CD compilation series featuring vintage battles and performances from the late 1970's and early 1980's. This first CD also features celebrated MC's like The Cold Crush Brothers, The Jazzy Five, and Grandmaster Flash. Included is Busy Bee’s historic Harlem World battle with Kool Moe Dee. Busy Bee began rapping in 1977 and earned a reputation as one of New York’s top battle rappers. He also won the New Music Seminar's MC World Supremacy Belt in 1986.
Busy Bee was thrust into the national spotlight as one of the main characters in the pioneering Hip-Hop movie Wild Style; Film creator Charlie Ahearn was on hand to accept a Trailblazer Award at the 2007 Hip-hop Odyssey Film Festival, which was a star studded event bringing together the pioneers of the culture, celebrating 30 Years of Crash Crew, 25 Years of Cold Crush, and 20 Years of Public Enemy. Hip-Hop celebrities paid tribute to the Best Hip-Hop Actor, Ice-T; Trailblazers, Ralph McDaniels, Charlie Ahearn, and Ernest Dickerson; and Legend: Grand Wizard Theodore. The presenters and attendees included: Paul Mooney, Ernie Paniccioli, Davey D, Fab 5 Freddy, Pebblee Poo, Immortal Technique, DJ Beverly Bond, Hank Shocklee, Awesome Two, Dana Dane, Roxanne Shante, Chubb Rock, Chip Fu, Lord Yoda X of the Zulu Nation, Harry Allen and Kool Kim.
The elder statesmen of hip-hop were needed more than ever, as Hip-Hop culture became public enemy number one, and anathema to American goodness. Paula Zahn asked the world on Fox News if hip-hop was “Art or Poison”. Al Sharpton also criticized the music after Don Imus ran his mouth and blamed it on hip-hop. While Oprah continued to take shots, Paul Mooney flipped the script and stepped up to made a stand for hip-hop.
Hip-Hop’s Rebirth’s was punctuated by AllHipHop Week 2007, which was part celebration, part education, part commemoration. Hosted by P. Diddy and Russell Simmons the weeklong event was graced by the likes of Slick Rick, Chamillionaire, Mistah Fab, NORE, MOP, Cassidy, Swizz Beats, and dozens of other luminaries. The festivities included a fashion show, an art show, a panel discussion featuring Master P & Dr. Cornell West, and a finale event that sold out the Nokia Theatre in Times Square New York City. For those who missed it, check out Talib Kweli and the rest of the Grand Finale performance for the capacity crowd.
2007 was the year that Hip-Hop matured as a culture. It manifested this maturity on numerous fronts. 50 Cent made a move straight from the Wall Street Journal by investing in a fledgling company called Vitamin Water and subsequently reaped the benefits as it was sold to Coca Cola for $4,000,000,000. Details are sketchy on 50's windfall but it's in the neighborhood of $100,000,000. Jay-z continued to make moves, opening a new 40/40 in Las Vegas, and planning a new business venture, J Hotels. Diddy assumed responsibility as brand manager for Ciroc Vodka and extended his hegemony as Hip-Hop lifestyle maven with a star on the Walk of Fame.
Queen Latifah, Ice Cube, and Will Smith continued to blaze new trails in Hollywood, while rappers like Method Man revealed upcoming roles outside the traditional comedic/hood typecast. Ice-T returned to Law & Order, which also provided a launch pad for another stellar acting performance from Chris "Ludacris" Bridges.
Most important, Hip-Hop didn't run from criticism. Rappers like David banner met the challenge head on by continuing his humanitarian efforts in still battered New Orleans while speaking publicly against criticism by such detractors as Al Sharpton. Hip-Hoppers remained resolute and stuck to their guns regarding the artistic integrity of their music and culture, and the 4th quarter release cycle proved that the music was alive and still evolving.
Whenever power is threatened, it responds in kind. Recent developments in Europe, as well as the tumult it faced in 2007, demonstrate the increasing range of Hip-Hop, and its effect on youth and culture on a global scale. It threatens to rupture old value systems, and boundaries of separation. For a while, Hip-Hop was the golden child, expanding unchecked, soulless and loved by all. That's when you know you're really spaded. When no one protests, there is no change. No evolution. 2007 is dead. Long live 2008 and the rebrith of Hip-Hop as Public Enemy #1.
THIS IS THE 616 HIP HOP NETWORK! HIP HOP LIVES IN THE 616!
Blog Posts
Does Heaven Have A MySpace?
Click the image below and read the story about someone who is one of the illest on the web right now that hails from right here in Grand Rapids, Your Brutha brub!. I call him, "The Multimedia Assassin". He posted this story on his MySpace blog...I had to repost it for the people here on The 616 Hip Hop Network just to let you know...there is a LOT more to the music/entertainment industry than just being on stage. Click… Continue
Posted by The Funkadelic Relic on August 24th, 2008 at 5:30pm —
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The Peacekeepers
A group of men known as The Peacemakers is on a mission to take back the streets of Grand Rapids.
They walked Logan Street on the city's southeast side Friday afternoon and picked up trash and spoke to residents, hoping to influence neighbors to take pride in their community and set a good example for the kids in the area.
"Quite frankly our youth don't see enough men making an outward effort to uplift the community, so we're looking to be that example to be that outward effort… Continue
They walked Logan Street on the city's southeast side Friday afternoon and picked up trash and spoke to residents, hoping to influence neighbors to take pride in their community and set a good example for the kids in the area.
"Quite frankly our youth don't see enough men making an outward effort to uplift the community, so we're looking to be that example to be that outward effort… Continue
Posted by The Funkadelic Relic on August 23rd, 2008 at 6:29am —
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Fireproof tour every day a show!
Lets see... well this tour is crazy yall! Its hard to take time to write these blogs but we realize people look at this and get inspired. We just be sleepy! We drive to a show. Check in to the hotel. Go to the show. Set up the equipment. Polly wit the contact. Rock the show. Polly wit the ladies. back to the hotel. A little sleep. and then do it all over again!
So a quick rewind of the last few days...
we had SUNY Alfred in Alfred, NY (SUNY stands for State Universities of New York) It was abou… Continue
Posted by Fireproof on August 23rd, 2008 at 1:29am —
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UNSIGNED HYPE.6 NEW MIX ft. CHILLA PERTILLA:BY A MILLION S.A.S 40.CAL
Posted by CHILLA PERTILLA on August 20th, 2008 at 11:43am —
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Fireproof Tour Gardner-Web University
Today we redeemed ourselves with a show packed with 500 plus peps. That had the most energy on this tour yet! So big ups Gardner-Web University!
Oh heres the pics for yesterday!
…
Continue
Posted by Fireproof on August 19th, 2008 at 12:14am —
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collabo idea 4 Replies
just an idea..per our correspondance...thinkin about a raw m.c. song called "dis-tortion"
Started by ryan j. davis. Last reply by Grand Rapids HipHop 14 hours ago.
Just watch this..... 2 Replies
and tell us what you think? Shout out to: DJ Spinny Spin DJ Spin and the megamix junkies
Started by The Funkadelic Relic. Last reply by Grand Rapids HipHop Aug 25.
WIN $100 GTV'S ...OOPS MY SWAG CONTEST! 1 Reply
***ONLY ON GUNRULETV.NING.COM*** (GO TO GUNRULETV.NING.COM & SIGN UP) *ALL YOU GOTTA DO IS GO TO OUR GROUP SECTION (JOIN GTV'S CONTEST GROUP) *CLICK "START A DISCUSSION" *UPLOAD A PIC OF Y...
Started by GUNRULE TV. Last reply by The Funkadelic Relic Aug 24.
Check out my mixes on my page 1 Reply
Let me know what you think. Comment here or on my page :)
Started by MC LiL Mack. Last reply by MC LiL Mack Aug 20.
FYI 2 Replies
THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO CAME OUT AND PARTICIPATED IN THE VIDEO SHOOT LAST WEEKEND. UNFORTUNATELY, HOWEVER, BIGG JIGG AND I ARE NO LONGER TOGETHER AS A COUPLE, AND THEREFORE I NO LONGER REPRESENT H...
Started by Dj BubbleLicious. Last reply by Grand Rapids HipHop Aug 20.
DON'T LEAVE THE PAGE.....IT'S STILL POPPIN'.
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Make Hip Hop, Not War
One of the reasons more diversity is needed in Hip Hop is the lack of political Hip Hop that gets exposure. Whether in the music or through other elements, Hip Hop has long had an activist side, taking on everything from urban decay to Apartheid. Rev. Lennox Yearwood, head of the Hip Hop Caucus, has begun a natioal tour to display this activist side of the culture called "Make Hip Hop, Not War." Yearwood has stood out not only for his application of Hip Hop to the Anti-War movement, but because he is also an officer in the United States Air Force. For his stance he has come under pressure from the USAF, who has branded him a security threat. Listed here are a few articles about Rev. Yearwood's Hip Hop activism, from others and in his own words.
Make Hip Hop, Not War: The Tour
Glen Ford, Black Agenda Report
April 20, 2007
"Our president is addicted to war," said Rev. Lennox Yearwood, head of the Hip Hop Caucus, on the first leg of a national "Make Hip Hop, Not War" tour. "We knew that, but we held out hope that this Congress would have done an intervention. But our Congress is co-dependent. They act just like the person who is addicted, as well."
The young minister spoke at Manhattan's West Park Presbyterian Church, a magnificent edifice that has been condemned to death by gentrification—just as minority communities have been condemned to a slow death by the onrushing forces of hyper-capital. And as black New Orleans was sentenced to death: "Instead of building levees, Bush built bombs," said Yearwood, who was raised in Louisiana.
The massive re-distribution of America's wealth to the rapacious "defense" sector and the most wealthy segment of the population, if allowed to continue, will doom any hope of revitalization of the nation's inner cities. Our cities are rapidly being dispersed by the same forces that that will soon raise million-dollar condominiums on the site of the West Park Presbyterian Church in New York City. We are all facing social death.
Hip hop's massive international appeal has the potential to create rivers of communication among the sufferers. At the heart of the culture—the real one, not the industry-manufactured variety—is the essential internationalism and human compassion of the African American population-at-large, a culture that has been hijacked by huge corporations that put forward a caricature of black life. An array of hip hop artists have joined with Rev. Yearwood to present the other face of black culture and politics.
full article:
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/04/20/make_hip_hop_not_war_the_tour.php
Air Force Claims Anti-war Minister is a National Security Threat!
Kevin Zeese
July 3, 2007
With this type of priority no wonder U.S. policy is so counterproductive to real national security.
If you have heard Rev. Lennox Yearwood speak against the continued occupation of Iraq and express outrage at how Katrina has been handled you have no doubt been in inspired. He is a speaker in the mold of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., who not only can move people to tears with his words – but more importantly, move people to action. And as the Chairman of the Hip Hop Caucus he reaches youth, especially African American youth – the people the U.S. military needs to continue its occupation of Iraq. This is probably the threat that moved the Air Force to seek to discharge him on the basis of “behavior clearly inconsistent with the interest of national security.”
What is this behavior? Rev. Yearwood has pointed out that the military attack and occupation of Iraq are illegal – that the U.S. is engaged in an illegal war of aggression. And, he argues the Iraq occupation can be opposed not only for its devastating human impact on Iraq civilians, U.S. soldiers and families in both countries, but also because it undermines U.S. national security.
There are many ways in which the Iraq occupation undermines U.S. security. The continued presence of U.S. troops in Iraq is causing violence in Iraq, creating enemies for the United States – enemies that will impact future generations of Americans. The bombings this week in England show how the occupation is exporting tactics to western nations – car bombs are a threat that the UK and U.S. will have a hard time combating. When they hit U.S. shores, as is sadly likely, remember that their roots began to grow in Iraq.
full article:
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=31346
An Open Letter to America: "Now Is the Time for Us to Stand Up and Stand Together"
By Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr.
AfterDowningStreet.org
Monday 02 July 2007
My Fellow Americans:
The power of our voices against the U.S. occupation of Iraq is reaching the top echelons of the military and the administration. Our government is persecuting Americans who speak out against the U.S. military presence in Iraq. The U.S. military has launched politicized attacks on its own military members and moral leaders who oppose the war to discredit their voices of dissent.
We have seen them target Cpl. Adam Kokesh to stop him from exercising his freedom of speech, after risking his life in Fallujah, Iraq. We have seen them threaten Sgt. Liam Madden for publicly stating the legal fact that the U.S. invasion is a war crime according to the Nuremberg principles. They have targeted Cpl. Cloy Richards, a soldier put in the media spotlight when his mother Tina Richards worked to get him the health care he needs after returning from Iraq eighty percent disabled. These are not happenstance targets. These young men are leaders of the Iraq Veterans Against the War and they are speaking out in a strong and coordinated way.
And now I have been targeted.
full article:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070307L.shtml
Make Hip Hop, Not War: The Tour
Glen Ford, Black Agenda Report
April 20, 2007
"Our president is addicted to war," said Rev. Lennox Yearwood, head of the Hip Hop Caucus, on the first leg of a national "Make Hip Hop, Not War" tour. "We knew that, but we held out hope that this Congress would have done an intervention. But our Congress is co-dependent. They act just like the person who is addicted, as well."
The young minister spoke at Manhattan's West Park Presbyterian Church, a magnificent edifice that has been condemned to death by gentrification—just as minority communities have been condemned to a slow death by the onrushing forces of hyper-capital. And as black New Orleans was sentenced to death: "Instead of building levees, Bush built bombs," said Yearwood, who was raised in Louisiana.
The massive re-distribution of America's wealth to the rapacious "defense" sector and the most wealthy segment of the population, if allowed to continue, will doom any hope of revitalization of the nation's inner cities. Our cities are rapidly being dispersed by the same forces that that will soon raise million-dollar condominiums on the site of the West Park Presbyterian Church in New York City. We are all facing social death.
Hip hop's massive international appeal has the potential to create rivers of communication among the sufferers. At the heart of the culture—the real one, not the industry-manufactured variety—is the essential internationalism and human compassion of the African American population-at-large, a culture that has been hijacked by huge corporations that put forward a caricature of black life. An array of hip hop artists have joined with Rev. Yearwood to present the other face of black culture and politics.
full article:
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/04/20/make_hip_hop_not_war_the_tour.php
Air Force Claims Anti-war Minister is a National Security Threat!
Kevin Zeese
July 3, 2007
With this type of priority no wonder U.S. policy is so counterproductive to real national security.
If you have heard Rev. Lennox Yearwood speak against the continued occupation of Iraq and express outrage at how Katrina has been handled you have no doubt been in inspired. He is a speaker in the mold of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., who not only can move people to tears with his words – but more importantly, move people to action. And as the Chairman of the Hip Hop Caucus he reaches youth, especially African American youth – the people the U.S. military needs to continue its occupation of Iraq. This is probably the threat that moved the Air Force to seek to discharge him on the basis of “behavior clearly inconsistent with the interest of national security.”
What is this behavior? Rev. Yearwood has pointed out that the military attack and occupation of Iraq are illegal – that the U.S. is engaged in an illegal war of aggression. And, he argues the Iraq occupation can be opposed not only for its devastating human impact on Iraq civilians, U.S. soldiers and families in both countries, but also because it undermines U.S. national security.
There are many ways in which the Iraq occupation undermines U.S. security. The continued presence of U.S. troops in Iraq is causing violence in Iraq, creating enemies for the United States – enemies that will impact future generations of Americans. The bombings this week in England show how the occupation is exporting tactics to western nations – car bombs are a threat that the UK and U.S. will have a hard time combating. When they hit U.S. shores, as is sadly likely, remember that their roots began to grow in Iraq.
full article:
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=31346
An Open Letter to America: "Now Is the Time for Us to Stand Up and Stand Together"
By Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr.
AfterDowningStreet.org
Monday 02 July 2007
My Fellow Americans:
The power of our voices against the U.S. occupation of Iraq is reaching the top echelons of the military and the administration. Our government is persecuting Americans who speak out against the U.S. military presence in Iraq. The U.S. military has launched politicized attacks on its own military members and moral leaders who oppose the war to discredit their voices of dissent.
We have seen them target Cpl. Adam Kokesh to stop him from exercising his freedom of speech, after risking his life in Fallujah, Iraq. We have seen them threaten Sgt. Liam Madden for publicly stating the legal fact that the U.S. invasion is a war crime according to the Nuremberg principles. They have targeted Cpl. Cloy Richards, a soldier put in the media spotlight when his mother Tina Richards worked to get him the health care he needs after returning from Iraq eighty percent disabled. These are not happenstance targets. These young men are leaders of the Iraq Veterans Against the War and they are speaking out in a strong and coordinated way.
And now I have been targeted.
full article:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070307L.shtml
Caucasian Please! America’s True Double Standard for Misogyny and Racism
Part of the idea of "Fairness" 4 Hip Hop, is a need for equity in analysis and portrayal of the culture. While Hip Hop does indeed have its fair share of misogynist and violent lyrics, such things must be placed into the larger societal context. As pointed out in previous articles, violence and sexism are part of the American reality. Hip Hop was not born somewhere in outer space--it was conceived, birthed and nurtured right here. Yet, as Cornell West notes, the criminalization of black males in American media and popular thought results in a bias towards Hip Hop as some aberration. In the following article Dr. Edward Rhymes points out the hypocrisy of painting Hip Hop as the eternal "bogeyman in blackface," while neglecting the institutional sexism and racism that dominates American mainstream culture.
Caucasian Please! America's Cultural Double Standard For Misogyny & Racism
By Dr. Edward Rhymes
Black Agenda Report
Despite the firing of Don Imus, corporate media continue to attempt to divert attention from long-established institutional sexism, in order to depict Black youth culture as the vector of the disease. The American reality is one of pervasive celebration of violence, in general, and violence against women, in particular -- a white cultural invention. Black rappers, who are owned and controlled by white corporations, did not create this culture of violence and misogyny, but are made the scapegoats for a much deeper national social crisis -- a landscape in which "The Godfather" and "Goodfellas" are revered as "classic" films.
Introduction
In this composition I will not be addressing the whole of hip-hop and rap, but rather hardcore and gangsta rap. It is my assertion that the mainstream media and political pundits -- right and left -- have painted rap and hip-hop with a very broad brush. Let me be perfectly clear, hardcore and gangsta rap is not listened to, watched, consumed or supported in my home and never has been. I will not be an apologist for anything that chooses to frame the dialogue about Black women (and women in general) and Black life in morally bankrupt language and reprehensible symbols.
In the wake of MSNBC's and CBS's firing of Don Imus, the debate over misogyny, sexism and racism has now taken flight -- or submerged, depending on your point of view. There are many, mostly white, people who believe that Imus was a fall guy and he is receiving blame and criticism for what many rap artists do continually in the lyrics and videos: debase and degrade Black women. A Black guest on an MSNBC news program even went as far as to say, "Where would a 66 year-old white guy even had heard the phrase nappy-headed ho" -- alluding to hip-hop music's perceived powerful influence upon American culture and life (and apparently over the radio legend as well) -- and by so doing gave a veneer of truth to the theory that rap music is the main culprit to be blamed for this contemporary brand of chauvinism.
However, I concur with bell hooks, the noted sociologist and black-feminist activist who said that "to see gangsta rap as a reflection of dominant values in our culture rather than as an aberrant 'pathological' standpoint, does not mean that a rigorous feminist critique of the sexist and misogyny expressed in this music is not needed. Without a doubt black males, young and old, must be held politically accountable for their sexism.
Yet this critique must always be contextualized or we risk making it appear that the behavior this thinking supports and condones -- rape, male violence against women, etc. -- is a black male thing. And this is what is happening. Young black males are forced to take the 'heat' for encouraging, via their music, the hatred of and violence against women that is a central core of patriarchy."
There are those in the media, mostly white males (but also some black pundits as well), who now want the Black community to take a look at hip-hop music and correct the diabolical "double-standard" that dwells therein. Before a real conversation can be had, we have to blow-up the myths, expose the lies and cast a powerful and discerning light on the "real" double-standards and duplicity. Kim Deterline and Art Jones in their essay, Fear of a Rap Planet, point out that "the issue with media coverage of rap is not whether African Americans engaged in a campaign against what they see as violent, sexist or racist imagery in rap should be heard -- they should. ...[W]hy are community voices fighting racism and sexism in mainstream news media, films and advertisements not treated similarly?
The answer may be found in white-owned corporate media's historical role as facilitator of racial scapegoating. Perhaps before advocating censorship of a music form with origins in a voiceless community, mainstream media pundits should look at the violence perpetuated by their own racism and sexism."
Just as the mainstream media and the dominant culture-at-large treats all things "Black" in America as the "other" or as some sort of science experiment in a test tube in an isolated and controlled environment, so hardcore rap is treated as if it occurred in some kind of cultural vacuum; untouched, unbowed and uninformed by the larger, broader, dominant American culture. The conversation is always framed in the form of this question: "What is rap's influence on American society and culture?" Never do we ask, "What has been society's role in shaping and influencing hip-hop?"
Gangsta and hardcore rap is the product of a society that has historically objectified and demeaned women, and commercialized sex. These dynamics are present in hip hop to the extent that they are present in society. The rapper who grew up in the inner-city watched the same sexist television programs, commercials and movies; had access to the same pornographic and misogynistic magazines and materials; and read the same textbooks that limited the presence and excluded the achievements of women (and people of color as well), as the All-American, Ivy-league bound, white kid in suburban America.
It is not sexism and misogyny that the dominant culture is opposed to (history and commercialism has proven that). The dominant culture's opposition lies with hip-hop's cultural variation of the made-in-the-USA misogynistic themes and with the Black voices communicating the message. The debate and the dialogue must be understood in this context.
Popular Culture's Duplicitous Sexism & Violence In Black And White
In a piece I penned a couple of years ago, I endeavored to point out the clear ethnic and racial double-standards of the media and society as it pertains to sex and violence. My assertion was, and remains to be, that the mainstream media and society-at-large, appear to have not so much of a problem with the glorification of sex and violence, but rather with who is doing the glorifying. In it I stated that "if the brutality and violence in gangsta rap was truly the real issue, then shouldn't a series like The Sopranos be held to the same standard? If we are so concerned about bloodshed, then how did movies like 'The Godfather,' 'The Untouchables' and 'Goodfellas' become classics?"
I then addressed the sexual aspect of this double-standard by pointing out that "Sex & The City," a series that focused, by and large, on the sexual relationships of four white women, was hailed as a powerful demonstration of female camaraderie and empowerment.
This show, during its run, was lavished with critical praise and commercial success while hip-hop and rap artists are attacked by the morality police for their depiction of sex in their lyrics and videos. The don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-it appearance of Janet Jackson's right bosom during [a] Super Bowl halftime show. ... caused more of a furor than the countless commercials that (also aired during the Super Bowl) used sex to sell anything from beer to cars to gum. Not to mention the constant stream of commercials that rather openly talks about erectile dysfunction medication."
The exaltation of drugs, misogyny and violence in music lyrics has a history that predates NWA, Ice Cube, Ice T and Snoop Dogg. Elton John's 1977 song "Tickin," was about a young man who goes into a bar and kills 14 people; Bruce Springsteen's "Nebraska," featured a couple on a shooting spree, and his "Johnny 99," was about a gun-waving laid-off worker; and Stephen Sondheim's score for "Assassins," which presented songs mostly in the first person about would-be and successful presidential assassins.
Eric Clapton's "Cocaine" and the Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (LSD) as well as almost anything by Jefferson Airplane or Spaceship. Several songs from "Tommy" and Pink Floyd's "The Wall" are well known drug songs. "Catholic girls," "Centerfold," "Sugar Walls" by Van Halen were raunchy, misogynistic, lust-driven rock refrains.
Even the country music legend Kenny Rogers in his legendary ballad, "Coward Of The County," spoke of a violent gang-rape and then a triple-homicide by the song's hero to avenge his assaulted lover. Marilyn Manson declared that one of the aims of his provocative persona was to see how much it would take to get the moralists as mad at white artists as they got about 2LiveCrew. He said it took fake boobs, Satanism, simulated sex on stage, death and angst along with semi-explicit lyrics, to get the same screaming the 2LiveCrew got for one song. Manson thought this reaction was hypocritical and hilarious.
Other artists like Kid Rock have won commercial success easily and faced only minor battles with the FCC with songs such as: "F**k U Blind. Consider the lyrics of Kid Rock, whose piercing blend of hard rock, metal and misogyny has sold millions of records:
Now if you like the booty come on fellas show it This is your last verse to wax so why would you blow it And if the ladies if you are tired of a man on your fanny Then f--k you go home and watch the tube with granny ... Just look at all the girls that are dying to get some Man, just don't be a wussy
And I'll guarantee you could get a piece of p----
Likewise, consider the lyrics of the rock song "Anything Goes" from Guns 'N Roses:
Panties 'round your knees
With your ass in debris
Doin' dat grind with a push and squeeze
Tied up, tied down, up against the wall
Be my rubbermade baby
An' we can do it all.''
The bad-boy, outlaw rockers have traditionally and consistently been marketed and packaged as misogynistic. Artists and groups such as David Lee Roth, Kid Rock, Metallica, Uncle Kracker, to name a few.
Take note of the following list of rock groups and some of the albums and songs that they have released: American Dog (released an album in 2001 titled, Six Pack: Songs About Drinkin & F**kin), Big C*ck (released an album in 2005 titled: Year Of The C**k -- with titles like Bad Motherf***er, Hard To Swallow & You Suck The Love Out Of Me) W.A.S.P. (released an album in 1983 titled: Animal: F**ks Like A Beast, an album in 1997 K.F.D.: Kill, F**k, Die), Faster Pussycat (released album in 1992 titled Whipped -- with a song titled Loose Booty, 2001 titled: Between The Valley Of The Ultra P**sy, 2006 album titled: The Power Of The Glory Hole -- with such titles as Porn Star and Shut Up & F**k), Lynch Mob (released an album in 2003 titled: Evil: Live -- featuring the song (Tie Your Mother Down) and a compilation album released in 2003 titled C**k'N'Roll: The World's Sleaziest Rock Bands -- displaying "hits" like: Dog Sh*t Boys -- One Minute F**k, Sagger -- The Closest I've Ever Come To F**king Myself and Hellside Stranglers -- Motherf***ers Don't Cry.
In an article by Dana Williams titled, BEYOND RAP: Musical Misogyny, Ann Savage, associate professor of telecommunications at Butler University stated: "It's the repetitiveness of the messages, the repetitiveness of the attitudes, and it builds on people...." "People say rap is dangerous. Yes, rap music does have misogyny, but there has always been an objectification and misogyny against women in music," said Savage. "Yet we focus on the black artists, not the rockers and not even the white executives who are making the big money from this kind of music."
Savage further asserts that the race-based double standard applies to violent content in music as well. "There was the Eric Clapton remake of Marley's 'I Shot the Sheriff,' and there was little to be said. But then you have the 'Cop Killer' song by Ice-T and it's dangerous and threatening."
In this same article Cynthia Fuchs, an associate professor at George Mason University, affirmed that "the public seems far more disturbed by misogynistic lyrics in the music of rap and hip hop artists who are largely black than similar lyrics in rock music, perceived by most as a white genre."
"The flamboyance of rock is understood as performance, rather than from the perspective of personal feelings," said Fuchs, who teaches courses in film and media studies, African American studies and cultural studies. "These guys are seen as innocuous. They appear to be players in the fence of accumulating women in skimpy costumes, but they aren't necessarily seen as violent. The mainstream takes it (hip hop and rap) to represent real-life, so it's seen as more threatening than some of the angry, whiney white boy rock, even though the same messages and images are portrayed."
Moreover, in a piece titled C*ck Rock from the October 21-November 3, 2003 edition of the online music magazine Perfect Pitch, it was revealed that when the Hustler founder and entrepreneur Larry Flynt wanted to combine the worlds of porn (the ultimate god of misogyny) and music he did not turn to rap, but rather to rock.
It was stated that since porn has been mainstreamed, they wanted a more "contemporary" look -- and when they looked for a contemporary look, did they seek out the likes of Nelly, Chingy, 50 Cent or Ludacris? No. Rock legend Nikki Sixx was chosen to "grace" the cover of Hustler's new venture along with his adult-entertainment and former Baywatch star girlfriend Donna D'Errico wearing nothing but a thong and Sixx's arms.
It is my belief that this paradigm; this unjust paradox exists because of the media stereotypes of black men as more violence-prone, and media's disproportionate focus on black crime (which is confused with the personas that rappers adopt), contribute to the biased treatment of rap. The double standard applied to rap music makes it easier to sell the idea that "gangsta rap" is "more" misogynist, racist, violent and dangerous than any other genre of music.
However, I believe that bell hooks conceptualized it best in her essay Sexism and Misogyny: Who Takes the Rap?: "To the white dominated mass media, the controversy over gangsta rap makes great spectacle. Besides the exploitation of these issues to attract audiences, a central motivation for highlighting gangsta rap continues to be the sensationalist drama of demonizing black youth culture in general and the contributions of young black men in particular. It is a contemporary remake of 'Birth of a Nation' only this time we are encouraged to believe it is not just vulnerable white womanhood that risks destruction by black hands but everyone."
Part of the allure of gangsta or hardcore rap to the young person is its (however deplorable) explicitness. The gangsta rapper says "bitches" and "hos," defiantly and frankly (once again... deplorable) and that frankness strikes a chord.
However, it is not the first time that a young man or woman has seen society "treat" women like "bitches" and "hos." Like mother's milk, the American male in this country has been "nourished" on a constant diet of subtle messages and notions regarding female submission and inferiority and when he is weaned, he begins to feed on the meat of more exploitative mantras and images of American misogyny long before he ever pops in his first rap album into his CD player.
Young people, for better or worse, are looking for and craving authenticity. Now, because this quality is in such rare-supply in today's society, they gravitate towards those who appear to be "real" and "true to the game." Tragically, they appreciate the explicitness without detesting or critically deconstructing what the person is being explicit about.
There have been many who have said that even with Imus gone from the airwaves, the American public in general and the Black community in particular will still be inundated by the countless rap lyrics using derogatory and sexist language, as well as the endless videos displaying women in various stages of undress -- and this is true.
However, by that same logic, if we were to rid the record stores, the clubs and the iPods of all misogynistic hip-hop, we would still have amongst us the corporately-controlled and predominantly white-owned entities of Playboy, Penthouse, Hustler and Hooters. We would still have the reality TV shows, whose casts are overwhelmingly white, reveling in excessive intoxication and suspect sexual mores.
If misogynistic hip-hop was erased from American life and memory today, tomorrow my e-mail box and the e-mail boxes of millions of others would still be barraged with links to tens of thousands of adult entertainment web sites. We would still have at our fingertips, courtesy of cable and satellite television, porn-on-demand. We would still be awash in a society and culture that rewards promiscuity and sexual explicitness with fame, fortune and celebrity (reference Anna Nicole, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears).
And most hypocritically, if we were to purge the sexist and lewd lyrics from hip-hop, there would still be a multitude of primarily white bands and principally-white musical genres generating song after song glorifying sexism, misogyny, violence and lionizing male sexuality and sexual conquest.
Dr. Edward Rhymes, author of When Racism Is Law & Prejudice Is Policy, is an internationally-recognized authority in the areas of critical race theory and Black studies.
Rhymes Reasons
Caucasian Please! America's Cultural Double Standard For Misogyny & Racism
By Dr. Edward Rhymes
Black Agenda Report
Despite the firing of Don Imus, corporate media continue to attempt to divert attention from long-established institutional sexism, in order to depict Black youth culture as the vector of the disease. The American reality is one of pervasive celebration of violence, in general, and violence against women, in particular -- a white cultural invention. Black rappers, who are owned and controlled by white corporations, did not create this culture of violence and misogyny, but are made the scapegoats for a much deeper national social crisis -- a landscape in which "The Godfather" and "Goodfellas" are revered as "classic" films.
Introduction
In this composition I will not be addressing the whole of hip-hop and rap, but rather hardcore and gangsta rap. It is my assertion that the mainstream media and political pundits -- right and left -- have painted rap and hip-hop with a very broad brush. Let me be perfectly clear, hardcore and gangsta rap is not listened to, watched, consumed or supported in my home and never has been. I will not be an apologist for anything that chooses to frame the dialogue about Black women (and women in general) and Black life in morally bankrupt language and reprehensible symbols.
In the wake of MSNBC's and CBS's firing of Don Imus, the debate over misogyny, sexism and racism has now taken flight -- or submerged, depending on your point of view. There are many, mostly white, people who believe that Imus was a fall guy and he is receiving blame and criticism for what many rap artists do continually in the lyrics and videos: debase and degrade Black women. A Black guest on an MSNBC news program even went as far as to say, "Where would a 66 year-old white guy even had heard the phrase nappy-headed ho" -- alluding to hip-hop music's perceived powerful influence upon American culture and life (and apparently over the radio legend as well) -- and by so doing gave a veneer of truth to the theory that rap music is the main culprit to be blamed for this contemporary brand of chauvinism.
However, I concur with bell hooks, the noted sociologist and black-feminist activist who said that "to see gangsta rap as a reflection of dominant values in our culture rather than as an aberrant 'pathological' standpoint, does not mean that a rigorous feminist critique of the sexist and misogyny expressed in this music is not needed. Without a doubt black males, young and old, must be held politically accountable for their sexism.
Yet this critique must always be contextualized or we risk making it appear that the behavior this thinking supports and condones -- rape, male violence against women, etc. -- is a black male thing. And this is what is happening. Young black males are forced to take the 'heat' for encouraging, via their music, the hatred of and violence against women that is a central core of patriarchy."
There are those in the media, mostly white males (but also some black pundits as well), who now want the Black community to take a look at hip-hop music and correct the diabolical "double-standard" that dwells therein. Before a real conversation can be had, we have to blow-up the myths, expose the lies and cast a powerful and discerning light on the "real" double-standards and duplicity. Kim Deterline and Art Jones in their essay, Fear of a Rap Planet, point out that "the issue with media coverage of rap is not whether African Americans engaged in a campaign against what they see as violent, sexist or racist imagery in rap should be heard -- they should. ...[W]hy are community voices fighting racism and sexism in mainstream news media, films and advertisements not treated similarly?
The answer may be found in white-owned corporate media's historical role as facilitator of racial scapegoating. Perhaps before advocating censorship of a music form with origins in a voiceless community, mainstream media pundits should look at the violence perpetuated by their own racism and sexism."
Just as the mainstream media and the dominant culture-at-large treats all things "Black" in America as the "other" or as some sort of science experiment in a test tube in an isolated and controlled environment, so hardcore rap is treated as if it occurred in some kind of cultural vacuum; untouched, unbowed and uninformed by the larger, broader, dominant American culture. The conversation is always framed in the form of this question: "What is rap's influence on American society and culture?" Never do we ask, "What has been society's role in shaping and influencing hip-hop?"
Gangsta and hardcore rap is the product of a society that has historically objectified and demeaned women, and commercialized sex. These dynamics are present in hip hop to the extent that they are present in society. The rapper who grew up in the inner-city watched the same sexist television programs, commercials and movies; had access to the same pornographic and misogynistic magazines and materials; and read the same textbooks that limited the presence and excluded the achievements of women (and people of color as well), as the All-American, Ivy-league bound, white kid in suburban America.
It is not sexism and misogyny that the dominant culture is opposed to (history and commercialism has proven that). The dominant culture's opposition lies with hip-hop's cultural variation of the made-in-the-USA misogynistic themes and with the Black voices communicating the message. The debate and the dialogue must be understood in this context.
Popular Culture's Duplicitous Sexism & Violence In Black And White
In a piece I penned a couple of years ago, I endeavored to point out the clear ethnic and racial double-standards of the media and society as it pertains to sex and violence. My assertion was, and remains to be, that the mainstream media and society-at-large, appear to have not so much of a problem with the glorification of sex and violence, but rather with who is doing the glorifying. In it I stated that "if the brutality and violence in gangsta rap was truly the real issue, then shouldn't a series like The Sopranos be held to the same standard? If we are so concerned about bloodshed, then how did movies like 'The Godfather,' 'The Untouchables' and 'Goodfellas' become classics?"
I then addressed the sexual aspect of this double-standard by pointing out that "Sex & The City," a series that focused, by and large, on the sexual relationships of four white women, was hailed as a powerful demonstration of female camaraderie and empowerment.
This show, during its run, was lavished with critical praise and commercial success while hip-hop and rap artists are attacked by the morality police for their depiction of sex in their lyrics and videos. The don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-it appearance of Janet Jackson's right bosom during [a] Super Bowl halftime show. ... caused more of a furor than the countless commercials that (also aired during the Super Bowl) used sex to sell anything from beer to cars to gum. Not to mention the constant stream of commercials that rather openly talks about erectile dysfunction medication."
The exaltation of drugs, misogyny and violence in music lyrics has a history that predates NWA, Ice Cube, Ice T and Snoop Dogg. Elton John's 1977 song "Tickin," was about a young man who goes into a bar and kills 14 people; Bruce Springsteen's "Nebraska," featured a couple on a shooting spree, and his "Johnny 99," was about a gun-waving laid-off worker; and Stephen Sondheim's score for "Assassins," which presented songs mostly in the first person about would-be and successful presidential assassins.
Eric Clapton's "Cocaine" and the Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (LSD) as well as almost anything by Jefferson Airplane or Spaceship. Several songs from "Tommy" and Pink Floyd's "The Wall" are well known drug songs. "Catholic girls," "Centerfold," "Sugar Walls" by Van Halen were raunchy, misogynistic, lust-driven rock refrains.
Even the country music legend Kenny Rogers in his legendary ballad, "Coward Of The County," spoke of a violent gang-rape and then a triple-homicide by the song's hero to avenge his assaulted lover. Marilyn Manson declared that one of the aims of his provocative persona was to see how much it would take to get the moralists as mad at white artists as they got about 2LiveCrew. He said it took fake boobs, Satanism, simulated sex on stage, death and angst along with semi-explicit lyrics, to get the same screaming the 2LiveCrew got for one song. Manson thought this reaction was hypocritical and hilarious.
Other artists like Kid Rock have won commercial success easily and faced only minor battles with the FCC with songs such as: "F**k U Blind. Consider the lyrics of Kid Rock, whose piercing blend of hard rock, metal and misogyny has sold millions of records:
Now if you like the booty come on fellas show it This is your last verse to wax so why would you blow it And if the ladies if you are tired of a man on your fanny Then f--k you go home and watch the tube with granny ... Just look at all the girls that are dying to get some Man, just don't be a wussy
And I'll guarantee you could get a piece of p----
Likewise, consider the lyrics of the rock song "Anything Goes" from Guns 'N Roses:
Panties 'round your knees
With your ass in debris
Doin' dat grind with a push and squeeze
Tied up, tied down, up against the wall
Be my rubbermade baby
An' we can do it all.''
The bad-boy, outlaw rockers have traditionally and consistently been marketed and packaged as misogynistic. Artists and groups such as David Lee Roth, Kid Rock, Metallica, Uncle Kracker, to name a few.
Take note of the following list of rock groups and some of the albums and songs that they have released: American Dog (released an album in 2001 titled, Six Pack: Songs About Drinkin & F**kin), Big C*ck (released an album in 2005 titled: Year Of The C**k -- with titles like Bad Motherf***er, Hard To Swallow & You Suck The Love Out Of Me) W.A.S.P. (released an album in 1983 titled: Animal: F**ks Like A Beast, an album in 1997 K.F.D.: Kill, F**k, Die), Faster Pussycat (released album in 1992 titled Whipped -- with a song titled Loose Booty, 2001 titled: Between The Valley Of The Ultra P**sy, 2006 album titled: The Power Of The Glory Hole -- with such titles as Porn Star and Shut Up & F**k), Lynch Mob (released an album in 2003 titled: Evil: Live -- featuring the song (Tie Your Mother Down) and a compilation album released in 2003 titled C**k'N'Roll: The World's Sleaziest Rock Bands -- displaying "hits" like: Dog Sh*t Boys -- One Minute F**k, Sagger -- The Closest I've Ever Come To F**king Myself and Hellside Stranglers -- Motherf***ers Don't Cry.
In an article by Dana Williams titled, BEYOND RAP: Musical Misogyny, Ann Savage, associate professor of telecommunications at Butler University stated: "It's the repetitiveness of the messages, the repetitiveness of the attitudes, and it builds on people...." "People say rap is dangerous. Yes, rap music does have misogyny, but there has always been an objectification and misogyny against women in music," said Savage. "Yet we focus on the black artists, not the rockers and not even the white executives who are making the big money from this kind of music."
Savage further asserts that the race-based double standard applies to violent content in music as well. "There was the Eric Clapton remake of Marley's 'I Shot the Sheriff,' and there was little to be said. But then you have the 'Cop Killer' song by Ice-T and it's dangerous and threatening."
In this same article Cynthia Fuchs, an associate professor at George Mason University, affirmed that "the public seems far more disturbed by misogynistic lyrics in the music of rap and hip hop artists who are largely black than similar lyrics in rock music, perceived by most as a white genre."
"The flamboyance of rock is understood as performance, rather than from the perspective of personal feelings," said Fuchs, who teaches courses in film and media studies, African American studies and cultural studies. "These guys are seen as innocuous. They appear to be players in the fence of accumulating women in skimpy costumes, but they aren't necessarily seen as violent. The mainstream takes it (hip hop and rap) to represent real-life, so it's seen as more threatening than some of the angry, whiney white boy rock, even though the same messages and images are portrayed."
Moreover, in a piece titled C*ck Rock from the October 21-November 3, 2003 edition of the online music magazine Perfect Pitch, it was revealed that when the Hustler founder and entrepreneur Larry Flynt wanted to combine the worlds of porn (the ultimate god of misogyny) and music he did not turn to rap, but rather to rock.
It was stated that since porn has been mainstreamed, they wanted a more "contemporary" look -- and when they looked for a contemporary look, did they seek out the likes of Nelly, Chingy, 50 Cent or Ludacris? No. Rock legend Nikki Sixx was chosen to "grace" the cover of Hustler's new venture along with his adult-entertainment and former Baywatch star girlfriend Donna D'Errico wearing nothing but a thong and Sixx's arms.
It is my belief that this paradigm; this unjust paradox exists because of the media stereotypes of black men as more violence-prone, and media's disproportionate focus on black crime (which is confused with the personas that rappers adopt), contribute to the biased treatment of rap. The double standard applied to rap music makes it easier to sell the idea that "gangsta rap" is "more" misogynist, racist, violent and dangerous than any other genre of music.
However, I believe that bell hooks conceptualized it best in her essay Sexism and Misogyny: Who Takes the Rap?: "To the white dominated mass media, the controversy over gangsta rap makes great spectacle. Besides the exploitation of these issues to attract audiences, a central motivation for highlighting gangsta rap continues to be the sensationalist drama of demonizing black youth culture in general and the contributions of young black men in particular. It is a contemporary remake of 'Birth of a Nation' only this time we are encouraged to believe it is not just vulnerable white womanhood that risks destruction by black hands but everyone."
Part of the allure of gangsta or hardcore rap to the young person is its (however deplorable) explicitness. The gangsta rapper says "bitches" and "hos," defiantly and frankly (once again... deplorable) and that frankness strikes a chord.
However, it is not the first time that a young man or woman has seen society "treat" women like "bitches" and "hos." Like mother's milk, the American male in this country has been "nourished" on a constant diet of subtle messages and notions regarding female submission and inferiority and when he is weaned, he begins to feed on the meat of more exploitative mantras and images of American misogyny long before he ever pops in his first rap album into his CD player.
Young people, for better or worse, are looking for and craving authenticity. Now, because this quality is in such rare-supply in today's society, they gravitate towards those who appear to be "real" and "true to the game." Tragically, they appreciate the explicitness without detesting or critically deconstructing what the person is being explicit about.
There have been many who have said that even with Imus gone from the airwaves, the American public in general and the Black community in particular will still be inundated by the countless rap lyrics using derogatory and sexist language, as well as the endless videos displaying women in various stages of undress -- and this is true.
However, by that same logic, if we were to rid the record stores, the clubs and the iPods of all misogynistic hip-hop, we would still have amongst us the corporately-controlled and predominantly white-owned entities of Playboy, Penthouse, Hustler and Hooters. We would still have the reality TV shows, whose casts are overwhelmingly white, reveling in excessive intoxication and suspect sexual mores.
If misogynistic hip-hop was erased from American life and memory today, tomorrow my e-mail box and the e-mail boxes of millions of others would still be barraged with links to tens of thousands of adult entertainment web sites. We would still have at our fingertips, courtesy of cable and satellite television, porn-on-demand. We would still be awash in a society and culture that rewards promiscuity and sexual explicitness with fame, fortune and celebrity (reference Anna Nicole, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears).
And most hypocritically, if we were to purge the sexist and lewd lyrics from hip-hop, there would still be a multitude of primarily white bands and principally-white musical genres generating song after song glorifying sexism, misogyny, violence and lionizing male sexuality and sexual conquest.
Dr. Edward Rhymes, author of When Racism Is Law & Prejudice Is Policy, is an internationally-recognized authority in the areas of critical race theory and Black studies.
Rhymes Reasons
FAIR News- The Other Side of Hip Hop - June 17-23
Hip Hop News these days is either often about who got arrested, locked down and shot down. But beyond controversial lyrics, violence, sexism and the latest media scapegoating, Hip Hop makes news that doesn't get top billing. This week June 17-23: Dead Prez teams up with ACLU to take on Gitmo; Morocco's Hip Hop Revolution.
Hip-Hop Artists Urge Guantanamo Shutdown
by Kerry Sheridan
Tue Jun 19
AFP
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Hip-hop musicians, themselves longtime enemies of police and government policies, on Tuesday likened their struggle for justice to that of "war on terror" prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
But in order to call attention to their message to end prisoner torture and urge the closure of the US detention camp, they had to plunge deep into the caverns of the much-hated "establishment" -- the US Congress.
"When I walk through these halls, you know, all the way here, I felt this despicable taste in my mouth," rapper M1 of the group Dead Prez told a news conference inside the Capitol Hill press briefing room.
"I came to this building which claims to represent the people who live in this country and (where people) do some of the most treacherous and demeaning acts to other human beings," said M1, his camouflage baseball cap tilted to one side.
"I know some of you feel me," he said to a burst of applause and calls of "Come on!" from an audience that included button-laden peace activists, fresh-faced congressional interns and members of the media.
full article: Hip-Hop Artists Urge Guantanamo Shutdown
Morocco's Hip Hop Revolution
21/06/2007
By Latifa al Arousni
Rabat, Asharq Al-Awsat- Audiences scream and shout in frenzied anticipation for Morocco’s rap bands to perform. Moroccan rap artists are taking the local music scene by storm in what can only be described as a bona fide phenomenon reflecting the voices of the country's younger generation.
Held annually in Rabat, the ‘Mawâzine Rythmes du Monde’ festival dedicates a main section of its artistic program to provide a platform for such artists and groups to perform their music, which it dubs the ‘Mawazine generation’. Musical genres include rap, rock, hip-hop and reggae. Among the names of some of these bands are ‘Zanka Flow’ (Street Flow), ‘H-Kayne’, ‘Fnaïre’ and ‘Kanka’. These bands depend on sharp performances that address their listeners in an immediate and direct manner.
But what is the secret behind the popularity of these groups that draw twenty-something year olds? They perform very simple musical compositions and most of the performers lack musical background. The only redeeming quality to their music is their love for this Western type of music, which they imitate or ‘Moroccan-ize’ by integrating popular Moroccan rhythms such as Gnawa [also Gnaoua].
Full article: Morocco's Hip Hop Revolution
Hip-Hop Artists Urge Guantanamo Shutdown
by Kerry Sheridan
Tue Jun 19
AFP
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Hip-hop musicians, themselves longtime enemies of police and government policies, on Tuesday likened their struggle for justice to that of "war on terror" prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
But in order to call attention to their message to end prisoner torture and urge the closure of the US detention camp, they had to plunge deep into the caverns of the much-hated "establishment" -- the US Congress.
"When I walk through these halls, you know, all the way here, I felt this despicable taste in my mouth," rapper M1 of the group Dead Prez told a news conference inside the Capitol Hill press briefing room.
"I came to this building which claims to represent the people who live in this country and (where people) do some of the most treacherous and demeaning acts to other human beings," said M1, his camouflage baseball cap tilted to one side.
"I know some of you feel me," he said to a burst of applause and calls of "Come on!" from an audience that included button-laden peace activists, fresh-faced congressional interns and members of the media.
full article: Hip-Hop Artists Urge Guantanamo Shutdown
Morocco's Hip Hop Revolution
21/06/2007
By Latifa al Arousni
Rabat, Asharq Al-Awsat- Audiences scream and shout in frenzied anticipation for Morocco’s rap bands to perform. Moroccan rap artists are taking the local music scene by storm in what can only be described as a bona fide phenomenon reflecting the voices of the country's younger generation.
Held annually in Rabat, the ‘Mawâzine Rythmes du Monde’ festival dedicates a main section of its artistic program to provide a platform for such artists and groups to perform their music, which it dubs the ‘Mawazine generation’. Musical genres include rap, rock, hip-hop and reggae. Among the names of some of these bands are ‘Zanka Flow’ (Street Flow), ‘H-Kayne’, ‘Fnaïre’ and ‘Kanka’. These bands depend on sharp performances that address their listeners in an immediate and direct manner.
But what is the secret behind the popularity of these groups that draw twenty-something year olds? They perform very simple musical compositions and most of the performers lack musical background. The only redeeming quality to their music is their love for this Western type of music, which they imitate or ‘Moroccan-ize’ by integrating popular Moroccan rhythms such as Gnawa [also Gnaoua].
Full article: Morocco's Hip Hop Revolution
3rd Annual Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival
Founded in 2005, the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival is a series of free events celebrating Hip Hop music and culture and the borough of Brooklyn as a premier cultural destination. The BHF features the best in legendary performers as well as the culture's next brightest talents. Now entering it's 3rd year, the Festival has expanded to include 5 events throughout the month of June, 2007. From a celebration of Stax Records and its 50th anniversary, to a Wildstyle retrospective, to the Brooklyn Stories video contest, or the day of performances, the BHF is a Summer highlight in the NYC calendar.
3RD ANNUAL BROOKLYN HIP HOP FESTIVAL
Events:
Thursday, June 7th
Stax Records 50th Anniversary Celebration
WITH LARGE PROFESSOR AND UNCLE RALPH MCDANIELS. A night of funky soul all night long at the powerHouse Arena in Dumbo, BK. Stax Records was home to legendary acts such as Otis Redding, Booker T. and the MGs, The Bar-Kays, Isaac Hayes, The Dramatics, The Staple Singers, The Emotions and so many more. Celebrate 50 years of Soul magic, as well as the re-launch of the label.
Thursday, June 14th
Living Proof: David Alan Harvey/Magnum Photo Festival
In 2005, Magnum Photographer David Alan Harvey began photographing local emcees in the Bronx River Projects, home of hip hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa, whose legendary Zulu Nation parties inspired a new generation of b-boys and -girls. It is their descendants that Harvey has captured in here—from Boogie Down thugs and Hollywood celebs to the local cultures of Spain, France, Gambia, Senegal, South Korea, and Thailand—revealing how Hip Hop has always spoken to the guy on the corner and the girl at the club, because skills and style comes from love.
Friday, June 22nd
WILD STYLE
In 1982, a small independent movie written, produced, and directed by Charlie Ahearn was released, first in Germany, Japan, and Cannes, then finally in Times Square. Some twenty-five years after its release, Wild Style is truly a classic, having inspired countless artists, musicians, and writers with its unforgettable scenes starring the era’s most memorable personalities. We're celebrating in conjunction with the powerHouse retrospective book Wild Style The Sampler to be released. With a live set by DJ Disco WIZ!
Saturday, June 23rd
All Day Performances and BHF Festivities
Performances from: GHOSTFACE, CONSEQUENCE, SKILLZ, EMILY KING, DRES,
EL MICHELS AFFAIR, TANYA MORGAN, RALPH MCDANIELS, LARGE PROFESSOR, AND MANY MORE!!!
3RD ANNUAL BROOKLYN HIP HOP FESTIVAL
Events:
Thursday, June 7th
Stax Records 50th Anniversary Celebration
WITH LARGE PROFESSOR AND UNCLE RALPH MCDANIELS. A night of funky soul all night long at the powerHouse Arena in Dumbo, BK. Stax Records was home to legendary acts such as Otis Redding, Booker T. and the MGs, The Bar-Kays, Isaac Hayes, The Dramatics, The Staple Singers, The Emotions and so many more. Celebrate 50 years of Soul magic, as well as the re-launch of the label.
Thursday, June 14th
Living Proof: David Alan Harvey/Magnum Photo Festival
In 2005, Magnum Photographer David Alan Harvey began photographing local emcees in the Bronx River Projects, home of hip hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa, whose legendary Zulu Nation parties inspired a new generation of b-boys and -girls. It is their descendants that Harvey has captured in here—from Boogie Down thugs and Hollywood celebs to the local cultures of Spain, France, Gambia, Senegal, South Korea, and Thailand—revealing how Hip Hop has always spoken to the guy on the corner and the girl at the club, because skills and style comes from love.
Friday, June 22nd
WILD STYLE
In 1982, a small independent movie written, produced, and directed by Charlie Ahearn was released, first in Germany, Japan, and Cannes, then finally in Times Square. Some twenty-five years after its release, Wild Style is truly a classic, having inspired countless artists, musicians, and writers with its unforgettable scenes starring the era’s most memorable personalities. We're celebrating in conjunction with the powerHouse retrospective book Wild Style The Sampler to be released. With a live set by DJ Disco WIZ!
Saturday, June 23rd
All Day Performances and BHF Festivities
Performances from: GHOSTFACE, CONSEQUENCE, SKILLZ, EMILY KING, DRES,
EL MICHELS AFFAIR, TANYA MORGAN, RALPH MCDANIELS, LARGE PROFESSOR, AND MANY MORE!!!
5th Annual H2O International Film Festival - NY
Beyond beats and rhymes, Hip Hop is an all encompassing culture that easily blends with other artistic, intellectual and philosophical pursuits. Though it receives little attention in the mainstream press, Hip Hop Cinema is hardly new. As far back as movies like Wild Style and documentaries like Style Wars, Hip Hop and film have deep roots. This May 31 - June 15 will celebrate the fifth year of Hip Hop Cinema, Education, Art and Culture at the Hip Hop Odyssey International Film Festival (H2OIFF). The films range in discussions as diverse as skin color bias among African-Americans in the short Colour Me Bad: Third Coast Hip Hop, to full length documentaries on the intersections of blood diamonds and Hip Hop like Bling: A Planet Rock to the international I Love Hip Hop in Morocco. Complete with panel discussions, over 50 avant-garde filmmakers, industry experts, community leaders, activists, artists and historians, the 5th Annual H2OIFF will showcase that Hip Hop can be as diverse an artform as any other, when given the space to be so.
5th Annual H2O International Film Festival
May 24, 2007 - New York, NY – Celebrating five years of Hip-Hop Cinema, Education, Art and Culture, the H2O [Hip-Hop Odyssey] International Film Festival (H2OIFF) will showcase the best of Hip-Hop Cinema and the Industry. The festival jumps off with the a special screening and after-party for the feature documentary, Rock The Bells hosted by Bobbito Garcia at APT on Memorial Day, May 28.
The festival will officially take place from May 31, 2007 – June 17, 2007 at the ImaginAsian Theatre and other venues throughout New York City. This year’s festival movie line-up will include the premieres of Wu: The Story of the Wu-Tang, I Love Hip-Hop in Morocco, Waters Rising, Mr. Devious (South Africa), Guilty Or Innocent of Using the N Word (USA/UK), Holy Hip-Hop, Hiphopistan (Turkey), Unsigned, Ghostride The Whip: The Hyphy Movement, Frekuensia Colombiana, Living The Hiplife (USA/Ghana), Remixed In Japan, Skip Hop (Australia), South Coast (UK), and wtf: an okaymentary.
Hip-Hop enthusiasts will get an opportunity to engage in stimulating, thought-provoking panel discussions with over 50 avant-garde filmmakers, industry experts, community leaders, & historians. There will be full days devoted to the youth, women, social justice, Hip-Hop history, & the craft of filmmaking and self-distribution. Dozens of companies and organizations will participate, including Chuck D Mobile, Third World Newsreel, SOHH/FreshFlixx, The Ave Magazine, Listen Up!, Chica Luna, NY Women In Film & Television, African American Women in Cinema, SoonR, Breakthrough.TV, MXGM, Latin Nation, UrbanWord NYC, Video Music Box, Zulu Nation, & the Universal Federation for the Preservation of Hip-Hop.
The festival culminates with the Odyssey Awards extravaganza hosted by Hip-Hop Powerhouse, Ed Lover and legendary Comedian, Paul Mooney on Tupac Shakur’s Birthday. Sponsored by QD3 Entertainment, World Up!, Lyrics To Go, AllHiphop, African Ancestry, & Powerhouse Books. Celebrating 30 Years of Crash Crew, 25 Years of Cold Crush, and 25 Years of Public Enemy. Hip-Hop Celebrities will pay special tributes to the Best Hip-Hop Actor, Ice-T; Trailblazers, Ralph McDaniels, Charlie Ahearn, and Ernest Dickerson; and Legends, Grand Wizard Theodore, Sandra “Lady Pink” Fabara, and the First Lady of Hip-Hop, Cindy Campbell. Some of the presenters include: Ernie Paniccioli, Davey D, Fab 5 Freddy, Michaela Davis, Harry Allen, Pebblee Poo, Immortal Technique, DJ Beverly Bond, and Bizarre Royal. Two exclusive Pre-Odyssey Awards filmmakers’ receptions will take place to honor pioneers Iris Morales, Director of Siempre Pa’Lante!, Kathleen Cleaver, Founder of the Black Panther Film Festival, as well as the late Ted Demme, co-creator of Yo! MTV Raps.
For more info on the 5th Annual H2O International Film Festival, including information films, events and tickets sales, please visit H2OIFF at http://www.h2oiff.org/.
For a listing of individual Films at the conference please visit http://www.theimaginasian.com/comingsoon/index.php.
5th Annual H2O International Film Festival
May 24, 2007 - New York, NY – Celebrating five years of Hip-Hop Cinema, Education, Art and Culture, the H2O [Hip-Hop Odyssey] International Film Festival (H2OIFF) will showcase the best of Hip-Hop Cinema and the Industry. The festival jumps off with the a special screening and after-party for the feature documentary, Rock The Bells hosted by Bobbito Garcia at APT on Memorial Day, May 28.
The festival will officially take place from May 31, 2007 – June 17, 2007 at the ImaginAsian Theatre and other venues throughout New York City. This year’s festival movie line-up will include the premieres of Wu: The Story of the Wu-Tang, I Love Hip-Hop in Morocco, Waters Rising, Mr. Devious (South Africa), Guilty Or Innocent of Using the N Word (USA/UK), Holy Hip-Hop, Hiphopistan (Turkey), Unsigned, Ghostride The Whip: The Hyphy Movement, Frekuensia Colombiana, Living The Hiplife (USA/Ghana), Remixed In Japan, Skip Hop (Australia), South Coast (UK), and wtf: an okaymentary.
Hip-Hop enthusiasts will get an opportunity to engage in stimulating, thought-provoking panel discussions with over 50 avant-garde filmmakers, industry experts, community leaders, & historians. There will be full days devoted to the youth, women, social justice, Hip-Hop history, & the craft of filmmaking and self-distribution. Dozens of companies and organizations will participate, including Chuck D Mobile, Third World Newsreel, SOHH/FreshFlixx, The Ave Magazine, Listen Up!, Chica Luna, NY Women In Film & Television, African American Women in Cinema, SoonR, Breakthrough.TV, MXGM, Latin Nation, UrbanWord NYC, Video Music Box, Zulu Nation, & the Universal Federation for the Preservation of Hip-Hop.
The festival culminates with the Odyssey Awards extravaganza hosted by Hip-Hop Powerhouse, Ed Lover and legendary Comedian, Paul Mooney on Tupac Shakur’s Birthday. Sponsored by QD3 Entertainment, World Up!, Lyrics To Go, AllHiphop, African Ancestry, & Powerhouse Books. Celebrating 30 Years of Crash Crew, 25 Years of Cold Crush, and 25 Years of Public Enemy. Hip-Hop Celebrities will pay special tributes to the Best Hip-Hop Actor, Ice-T; Trailblazers, Ralph McDaniels, Charlie Ahearn, and Ernest Dickerson; and Legends, Grand Wizard Theodore, Sandra “Lady Pink” Fabara, and the First Lady of Hip-Hop, Cindy Campbell. Some of the presenters include: Ernie Paniccioli, Davey D, Fab 5 Freddy, Michaela Davis, Harry Allen, Pebblee Poo, Immortal Technique, DJ Beverly Bond, and Bizarre Royal. Two exclusive Pre-Odyssey Awards filmmakers’ receptions will take place to honor pioneers Iris Morales, Director of Siempre Pa’Lante!, Kathleen Cleaver, Founder of the Black Panther Film Festival, as well as the late Ted Demme, co-creator of Yo! MTV Raps.
For more info on the 5th Annual H2O International Film Festival, including information films, events and tickets sales, please visit H2OIFF at http://www.h2oiff.org/.
For a listing of individual Films at the conference please visit http://www.theimaginasian.com/comingsoon/index.php.
Melissa Harris-Lacewell on Hip Hop's Potential for Change
On May 11th Dr. Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Associate Professor of Politics and African American Studies at Princeton University, appeared on the award-winning Bill Moyers Journal on PBS. She shared her thoughts on a host of issues involving race and society in America, which inevitably led to Hip Hop. In a brief series of questions and exchanges, she discussed her thoughts on the Don Imus affair, Hip Hop as a scapegoat, Hip Hop criticism and the culture's inherent potential for creating change.
Bill Moyers Journal
May 11 2007
Interview with Professor Melissa Harris-Lacewell
Excerpts from Transcript
Backdrop: Moyers and Harris-Lacewell are discussing the lack of space given to diverse voices in the news media to speak on issues of politics, and the change that needs to come in order to bring progressives, people of color, women and others into the mainstream.
BILL MOYERS: So, how do you expect change to come?
MELISSA HARRIS-LACEWELL: Slowly and through pressure. So--
BILL MOYERS: But kids don't go out and protest the way they did in the '60s.
MELISSA HARRIS-LACEWELL: Oh, have you listened to hip-hop?
BILL MOYERS: Well, I've tried to, and I've had people try to explain it to me.
MELISSA HARRIS-LACEWELL: Yeah.
BILL MOYERS: But what do you mean? Why is hip-hop bringing this change?
MELISSA HARRIS-LACEWELL: Well, I think that hip-hop has the insurgent possibilities and capabilities. Now there's a little bit of a problem with hip-hop, and that is it's a commodity that's bought and sold. And any time you're a commodity that's bought and sold, you-- have at least one aspect of your culture that can sort of go in a profit motivation.
But I will say that hip-hop music like Gospel music, like Blues music, like jazz music is the voice of a generation. And it has within it the insurgent capacity, the capacity to say, "Look, I'm not happy here, this is not enough, I expect more, I'm worthy of more." And over and over again in hip-hop from the mid-1970's until today, there's a strain of it that is saying that.
BILL MOYERS: But why do so many people say-- accurately it seems to me, reading the lyrics, that-- that hip-hop puts down women-- puts down the race, in fact. That it's a venomous language.
MELISSA HARRIS-LACEWELL: Well, there is a clear misogynist and sort of-- I would say aspect that is just about, you know, making money and commodifying women. But I will say that that came at a very specific moment, and it came at a moment in hip-hop when hip-hop went from being kind of a street-based, musical art form of urban, young people to a corporate entity, purchased mostly by white suburban boys who were interested in generating and consuming a particular form of blackness. But even as hip-hop went in that direction, there's a whole 'nother, very well articulated and well loved element of hip-hop which black urban youth continue to not only produce, but consume.
BILL MOYERS: The popular perception was that Imus was quoting hip-hop.
MELISSA HARRIS-LACEWELL: No, he wasn't. No, seriously, he really wasn't. I mean--
BILL MOYERS: when he referred to the basketball…
MELISSA HARRIS-LACEWELL: Yeah, no, really, he wasn't. No. So there's a couple of reasons why Imus could not have been quoting hip-hop. First-- it wasn't as though hip-hop taught America how to degrade women or particularly how to degrade black women. America had figured that out long, long, long before hip-hop. Secondly, although hip-hop often uses the word "ho," it rarely ever calls someone a "nappy-headed ho." So we talked a lot about "ho." But we haven't talked much about "nappy-headed." And "nappy-headed" is a way of saying you, black woman, in your natural, physical state in, who you are -- are unacceptable, ugly, valueless. Now, that's not hip-hop.
Actually hip-hop tends to dress up black women in long, straight wigs, much more likely than it is to go to this place which is a very old place around, slavery, around Jim Crow that says, "Your physical self is an unacceptable, sort of orientation of blackness. I can see that you're black from across the room, and that's unacceptable to me."
Melissa Harris Lacewell is Associate Professor of Politics and African American Studies at Princeton University. She is the author of Barbershops, Bibles and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought and is currently working on an upcoming book titled For Colored Girls Who've Considered Politics When Being Strong Wasn't Enough.
Bill Moyers Journal
May 11 2007
Interview with Professor Melissa Harris-Lacewell
Excerpts from Transcript
Backdrop: Moyers and Harris-Lacewell are discussing the lack of space given to diverse voices in the news media to speak on issues of politics, and the change that needs to come in order to bring progressives, people of color, women and others into the mainstream.
BILL MOYERS: So, how do you expect change to come?
MELISSA HARRIS-LACEWELL: Slowly and through pressure. So--
BILL MOYERS: But kids don't go out and protest the way they did in the '60s.
MELISSA HARRIS-LACEWELL: Oh, have you listened to hip-hop?
BILL MOYERS: Well, I've tried to, and I've had people try to explain it to me.
MELISSA HARRIS-LACEWELL: Yeah.
BILL MOYERS: But what do you mean? Why is hip-hop bringing this change?
MELISSA HARRIS-LACEWELL: Well, I think that hip-hop has the insurgent possibilities and capabilities. Now there's a little bit of a problem with hip-hop, and that is it's a commodity that's bought and sold. And any time you're a commodity that's bought and sold, you-- have at least one aspect of your culture that can sort of go in a profit motivation.
But I will say that hip-hop music like Gospel music, like Blues music, like jazz music is the voice of a generation. And it has within it the insurgent capacity, the capacity to say, "Look, I'm not happy here, this is not enough, I expect more, I'm worthy of more." And over and over again in hip-hop from the mid-1970's until today, there's a strain of it that is saying that.
BILL MOYERS: But why do so many people say-- accurately it seems to me, reading the lyrics, that-- that hip-hop puts down women-- puts down the race, in fact. That it's a venomous language.
MELISSA HARRIS-LACEWELL: Well, there is a clear misogynist and sort of-- I would say aspect that is just about, you know, making money and commodifying women. But I will say that that came at a very specific moment, and it came at a moment in hip-hop when hip-hop went from being kind of a street-based, musical art form of urban, young people to a corporate entity, purchased mostly by white suburban boys who were interested in generating and consuming a particular form of blackness. But even as hip-hop went in that direction, there's a whole 'nother, very well articulated and well loved element of hip-hop which black urban youth continue to not only produce, but consume.
BILL MOYERS: The popular perception was that Imus was quoting hip-hop.
MELISSA HARRIS-LACEWELL: No, he wasn't. No, seriously, he really wasn't. I mean--
BILL MOYERS: when he referred to the basketball…
MELISSA HARRIS-LACEWELL: Yeah, no, really, he wasn't. No. So there's a couple of reasons why Imus could not have been quoting hip-hop. First-- it wasn't as though hip-hop taught America how to degrade women or particularly how to degrade black women. America had figured that out long, long, long before hip-hop. Secondly, although hip-hop often uses the word "ho," it rarely ever calls someone a "nappy-headed ho." So we talked a lot about "ho." But we haven't talked much about "nappy-headed." And "nappy-headed" is a way of saying you, black woman, in your natural, physical state in, who you are -- are unacceptable, ugly, valueless. Now, that's not hip-hop.
Actually hip-hop tends to dress up black women in long, straight wigs, much more likely than it is to go to this place which is a very old place around, slavery, around Jim Crow that says, "Your physical self is an unacceptable, sort of orientation of blackness. I can see that you're black from across the room, and that's unacceptable to me."
Melissa Harris Lacewell is Associate Professor of Politics and African American Studies at Princeton University. She is the author of Barbershops, Bibles and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought and is currently working on an upcoming book titled For Colored Girls Who've Considered Politics When Being Strong Wasn't Enough.
Q&A- Cornel West on Politics, His New Album & Hip Hop
Professor Cornel West is a brilliant figure in numerous ways. Not only is the well known African-American philosopher ranked as one of America's foremost thinkers, and an academic member of the prestigious Ivy League, but he has an uncanny ability to step down from the ivory tower he's managed to climb and rub elbows--along with thoughts--with those outside those hallowed halls. In 2002 he was invited by Larry and Andy Wachowski, the writer-director team of the philosophical dystopian sci fi trilogy The Matrix, to appear in the sequels to the film. In 1999 he shocked fellow colleagues by releasing a spoken-word contemplative Hip Hop album titled Sketches of My Culture and a 2003 follow up with the edgy title Street Knowledge. This summer, coincidentally in the wake of the Imus scandal, Professor West is set to release yet another album titled Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations. Like past works, a who's who list of top Hip Hop artists--Talib Kweli, Rah Digga, KRS-One and Rhymefest to name a few--will make appearances throughout the album. Recently the Princeton professor sat down to discuss his views on politics, race, society and Hip Hop.
Q&A: Cornell West Takes "Journey" to Hip-Hop's Roots
By Gail Mitchell
May 11, 2007
LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Talk about timing. Dr. Cornel West's upcoming album, "Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations," touches down at a time when renewed debate over hip-hop lyrics and video images is still swirling post-Don Imus. Add to that mix Verizon's recent termination of its ties with Akon over the singer's sexually suggestive dance onstage with a female minor during a recent concert.
Due in stores June 19, West's "Never Forget" will be the first release on Hidden Beach's new Hidden Beach Forum label. Tapping into R&B/hip-hop's historical role as a social force, the recording is the brainchild of Black Men Who Mean Business, an organization established by West, his brother Clifton and songwriter/producer Mike Dailey.
Prince, Talib Kweli, Andre 3000, KRS-One, Rhymefest, the late Gerald Levert and Killer Mike are among the R&B/hip-hop artists featured on the disc, which tackles such subjects as the events of September 11, 2001, racial profiling, the Bush administration and the n-word.
West's discography includes 2001's "Sketches of My Culture." The author of "Race Matters" and other books, West also has taught American and African-American studies at Harvard and Yale and helped develop the storyline for the "Matrix" movie trilogy. He is professor of religion at Princeton University.
Q: What is your take on the Don Imus-sparked hip-hop debate?
A: He was willing to say some very ugly things in order to be successful. But, as a Christian, I don't believe in hating anyone. I'm more concerned about being great in terms of serving others than being successful in terms of being on the top of some financial hierarchy.
Q: Is that hip-hop's dilemma: Its original message has become overridden by its financial gains?
A: The white brothers and sisters in the vanilla suburbs became the major consumers of this (commercial) hip-hop. And to sell well, you need a kind of vicarious living through black rebellion.
I'm not putting white brothers and sisters down. I just recognize it's going to be very hard for empathetic hip-hop artists to really sell because (consumers) tend to be more interested in some of the stereotypes, for example, male conquest of women and posturing at being bad. I think the industry pushed it to the margins, and some of these artists simply haven't been courageous enough to engage in truth-telling.
Q: Do you agree with the movement to clean up rap lyrics?
A: Some of these brothers deserve some serious criticism because misogyny is real. A woman's dignity, integrity and humanity need to be affirmed. But this just can't be a displacement of Don Imus for Snoop Dogg.
If you really want to reach Snoop Dogg and other rappers, you've got to make them understand that you are part of a community that they're a part of. You can criticize the ugliness and vulgarity of the Imus situation. But from there you say, "Brother, you know your mother has dignity, so when you're talking about these other sisters you can't be including all black women. Recognize that those sisters are somebody's mother, too."
That kin
Q&A: Cornell West Takes "Journey" to Hip-Hop's Roots
By Gail Mitchell
May 11, 2007
LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Talk about timing. Dr. Cornel West's upcoming album, "Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations," touches down at a time when renewed debate over hip-hop lyrics and video images is still swirling post-Don Imus. Add to that mix Verizon's recent termination of its ties with Akon over the singer's sexually suggestive dance onstage with a female minor during a recent concert.
Due in stores June 19, West's "Never Forget" will be the first release on Hidden Beach's new Hidden Beach Forum label. Tapping into R&B/hip-hop's historical role as a social force, the recording is the brainchild of Black Men Who Mean Business, an organization established by West, his brother Clifton and songwriter/producer Mike Dailey.
Prince, Talib Kweli, Andre 3000, KRS-One, Rhymefest, the late Gerald Levert and Killer Mike are among the R&B/hip-hop artists featured on the disc, which tackles such subjects as the events of September 11, 2001, racial profiling, the Bush administration and the n-word.
West's discography includes 2001's "Sketches of My Culture." The author of "Race Matters" and other books, West also has taught American and African-American studies at Harvard and Yale and helped develop the storyline for the "Matrix" movie trilogy. He is professor of religion at Princeton University.
Q: What is your take on the Don Imus-sparked hip-hop debate?
A: He was willing to say some very ugly things in order to be successful. But, as a Christian, I don't believe in hating anyone. I'm more concerned about being great in terms of serving others than being successful in terms of being on the top of some financial hierarchy.
Q: Is that hip-hop's dilemma: Its original message has become overridden by its financial gains?
A: The white brothers and sisters in the vanilla suburbs became the major consumers of this (commercial) hip-hop. And to sell well, you need a kind of vicarious living through black rebellion.
I'm not putting white brothers and sisters down. I just recognize it's going to be very hard for empathetic hip-hop artists to really sell because (consumers) tend to be more interested in some of the stereotypes, for example, male conquest of women and posturing at being bad. I think the industry pushed it to the margins, and some of these artists simply haven't been courageous enough to engage in truth-telling.
Q: Do you agree with the movement to clean up rap lyrics?
A: Some of these brothers deserve some serious criticism because misogyny is real. A woman's dignity, integrity and humanity need to be affirmed. But this just can't be a displacement of Don Imus for Snoop Dogg.
If you really want to reach Snoop Dogg and other rappers, you've got to make them understand that you are part of a community that they're a part of. You can criticize the ugliness and vulgarity of the Imus situation. But from there you say, "Brother, you know your mother has dignity, so when you're talking about these other sisters you can't be including all black women. Recognize that those sisters are somebody's mother, too."
That kin