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.

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Who killed hip-hop? I’ve heard some say D4L killed hip hop. I’ve heard others say it was Dem Franchise Boys, Lil Jon, Three-Six Mafia and even Young Jeezy. Right now we are on the verge of an East Coast/Down South feud that I am sure the media will sensationalize until we loose even more of our talented young men and women in a hail of bullets and bullsh*t.

Everybody’s talking about who killed hip-hop, but the last time I checked you don’t investigate a homicide without a body. With Three-Six Mafia just winning an Academy Award and T.I. nominated for multiple Grammies, hip hop is looking very much alive to me. It seems the more important question on everybody’s mind should be, “Who in the hell said hip hop was dead?” Before we turn this into an East Coast vs. The Dirty South beef lets remember that Smoke of Field Mob, just this past summer was quoted having said, “…hip hop is dead and D4L killed it.”

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