Makin' It Magazine

Now just wait one G– D—- minute, you telling me that rap music is to blame for Don Imus calling a predominantly black female basketball team a bunch of “nappy head hoes.” Well if you let Oprah Winfrey or the ladies of Spelman tell it, you might be led to believe Don Imus was bumping the new Young Jeezy CD on his way to work that morning. It’s crazy how the media has spun a cut and dry case of a bigot making an obviously racist statement into a crusade against hip hop. For the second time in less than a year (Don’t forget about Kramer) a white man has made a racist outburst and instead of us examining the institutionalized racism that permeates every aspect of American culture, Oprah Winfrey and the Ladies of Spelman have chosen to focus on rap music. Now, I got nothing but love and respect for Oprah and the ladies of Spelman but they have clearly got a problem with hip hop. The way Oprah has used this racist outburst to rally her followers against rap music, reminds me of how Bush used 9/11 to invade Iraq.

I must say I was very disappointed to see Oprah and the ladies of Spelman attacking rap music and blaming it for the downward spiral of the black community, but I suppose that’s much easier than looking at the role they play in the situation. It has become increasingly obvious to me that the primary concern of our so called best and brightest has turned from collectively advancing our people to distancing themselves from them.

Those who are socially and economically in the best position to bring about change do not. They are more concerned with bettering their situation. When I look at the ladies of Spelman I see a group of privileged girls attending a college that costs over $25,000/year to attend and they are sitting on national television criticizing artists who come from the hood. In my opinion they are more concerned with making a point than making a difference. After all, this is the same school that protested a charity event to raise awareness and money for leukemia research because they didn’t like the Tip Drill video. I wonder if the media coverage they received was worth the lives that could have been saved from that bone marrow drive.

I’m not gonna front like rap music is the most wholesome thing on the radio but at the end of the day it is just entertainment and like any other form of entertainment when the demand dies so will the supply. So ultimately your beef should be with the consumer because the music is just a reflection of their tastes and as long as there is a demand for it someone will supply them. So how can you honestly attempt to change rap music when you are doing nothing to heal the community and social climate that produces it. When you get your college degrees and graduate into the upper echelon of black society what will you ladies of Spelman do to improve the situation. Will you open businesses in the hood and help bring jobs into the community or will you take your money and spend it on BMW’s and looking fly totally removing your money from the black economy? Will you move to a house in a nice subdivision never to visit the communities of which you so passionately talk about in academic conversation with other members of the Afristocrasy or will you be an agent of change. Will you be a role model for the young woman who feels her only asset is her a–, because at the end of the day rappers will be forced to stop putting half naked women in their videos the day that they stop showing up on the set. Rappers will stop disrespecting women when they start demanding respect. In case you didn’t know women account for a majority of all CD sales in America. But at the end of the day if you don’t like a song, or the video you always have the power to turn it off.

“Bad things happen when good men do nothing. What are you doing?”