parental advisory sticker

Words By Drew Ricketts

There are more Black men aged 18-22 living in prisons than in dorm rooms. The disastrous effects of social imbalance, abject poverty and government narcolepsy have transformed the Black condition into the Black Condition: capitals needed to purvey the severity of the gap between the disenfranchised group and the rest of the populace.

Rather than focus on the main ingredients of the worsening problem, the American way dictates that we find a quick single source to assume responsibility for its magnitude. Hip-hop stars fly in exclusive jet planes, flagrantly upbraid the legal system, tout violence and misogyny, and generally spit in the face of decorum. Not only that, record company patrons profit hand over fist from their involvement in this artistic defiance. Every time Johnny Rapper writes about his experience (hyperbolic overtones or not), the label rolls over to his demands if his hit song resonates with a large segment of adolescent buyers. “Something must be wrong with the messengers” goes the logic.

Enter the watchdogs.

The NAACP and the Congressional Black Caucus trot out their perfunctory speech about the state of Black America — carefully averting the state of everyone else — in a grand pronunciamento while drinking political milk from the teat of a bruised urban world.

Representative Bobby Rush of Illinois convened a hearing to make formal the Congress’s bully pulpit. There was a Congressional “hearing” on Monday in which many of the voices “heard” were of detached politicians and ad hoc critics. Where Bush I and Tipper Gore began the opprobrium campaign aimed at rap music, Rush, Sharpton and others seemed determined to finish it. It’s all come full circle, of course. Jay-Z notes, off-handedly in “Blue Magic” to “blame Oliver North and Iran Contra / I ran contraband that they sponsored” as a nod to this causality. Segregation, the politics of racial discrimination and the open endorsement of limited rights for Blacks left us with rap sales, crack sales and sport. When we became the quasi-giants of industry in the drug trade, the handcuffs came down with exacting justice. When we showed the ability to dominate sport, the media moved with similar swiftness to crush egos and divert public opinion. It only stands to reason that as rappers reach the heights of recognition that they, too, will face scrutiny.

As an art form, hip-hop has always skewed toward the vulgar image and raw symbolism. At times, the sexual overture and incendiary language can be as overwhelming as the beat is engaging. Freak, ho, nigger, bitch, faggot are the dregs of American slang. That they are so frequently on display* and a keen tool of verbosity stands as affront to most accepted mainstream art. However, none of the language or semantics in rap music differ from the expressions among any group of artists. There is bloodlust, greed, excess, prejudice in hip-hop just like in the rest of existence. Uniting to diagnose damnation against music instead of uniting to address prevalent social problems is an egregious error. It is an error so deliberate as to think it could not be coincidental. The pegged leaders of our society, the main models of what we call “values” have essentially surrendered.

The reason one Congressperson lined up after another to levy judgment on musicians for our actual environmental flaws is that they have no recourse themselves. In a sense, the government is its own ruler and can turn its back on any issue in an encompassing smokescreen. The whole show of the Congressional hearing was laughable: David Banner in a suit, clean-cut and Master P apologizing for lyrics made me feel as if I had tuned into VH1.

So the story goes. One group creates a narrative of how the world is. Another group weaves a narrative from the other side of the mirror. They tug back and forth for control of the expanding picture. Congress may have gained a Pyrrhic victory by wagging its finger at hip-hop but the ultimate verdict is that things are out of wack. Unless we are committed to the examination of obstinate problems that affect us all, we will suffer for our negligence.

For All The Bitching…

CB4 MC Gusto

Words By Patrick Marshall

Some thoughts on the Congressional hearing, which can be watched online at the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s website.

Three of my least favorite actions of rappers are, 1) promoting an image, be it gangster, indie, or other over substance of their music, 2) spending too much time repping their neighborhood or gang through shout outs or unworthy guest appearances 3) Picking beefs with inferior or weakened competition in order to score easy victories and build up their reputations. (Best example, 50 and Ja Rule.)

I have to apologize to the various MCs I have slighted over the years. These rappers are just copying the old-time tactics of politicians. And this hearing is the latest example of Congress rabble rousing to promote themselves and satisfy those that line their pockets. We have seen this before, with steroids, the Iraq Study Group , there is always a deeply important issue, alot of outrage, and little action. This time the issue is “saving the children,” from foul lyrics and carictatures that in the context of this hearing, are the primary force that causes crime. There is no mention of the permeance of violence in all parts of society, easy access to firearms, prevelance of drugs and drug income, or lack of opportunity for a large segment of our young population due to a lagging educational system. Rather this hearing is an opportunity to take aim at an easy target, (Hip-hop artists,) to build up the image of Congressmen as protectors of the middle class, and to give the impression of action or chance. No one is asking the crucial question, does the violence in the street cause the violent lyrics or vice versa?

Congressional procedure mandates that any hearing cant start without five minute speeches from each committee member. This is where they get to “rep their hood,” to talk about specific bills they have passed to end violence, terror, and famine, and to talk about how their district is better than everyone else’s. Just like a rap song. It’s particularly galling to listen to people like the Republican ranking member Cliff Stearns flouting his moral authority and powers of informed judgment about hip-hop when they are most likely ignorant of the art form. This doesn’t stop Stearns and others (Democrats as well, mind you) from blaming societal ills on hip-hop music. This high-handedness juxtaposed with the U.S. government’s own lack of moral authority in the last ten years (everything from Clinton-Starr to the whole Bush Administration, to bathroom stalls.) reinforces my opinion that this is a big distraction from our societies real problems.

One of the few people who spoke that I could feel was David Banner. His The testimony was the highlight of the whole shitshow, specifically where he calls out Congress on the hypocrisy of singling out young black males as sole instigators of violence in a society where The Terminator is the governor of California. (He also made specific references to Arnold “blowing up Cambodia and Mars.” I love him.) He also calls out Congressmen for doing little to fix the actual problems: poverty, lack of opportunity. Of course, this drifts right over the heads of members who are more interested in scoring political points in their own mini-battles and showing the Fox News crowd that they can about protect suburbia from the oncoming invasion of foul-mouthed youths.

Look, I have written before that glorification of violence in hip-hop is a problem, that youth are impressionable, and that the art can tread in dangerous waters. And I do understand in some ways why Bobby Rush, ex-Black Panther, now Democratic Congressman and committee chair feels the need to explore the relationship between violence in society and violence in hip-hop. (Although Titling the hearing Beyond Imus: and not mentioning Imus’ name is duplicitous plain and simple.) But what’s the point of calling in this group of experts (a group that includes Master P, who hasn’t been relevant for at least half a decade,) when more than half of the committee in question refuses to give the art form the respect and legitimacy it deserves? How can anything be resolved positively in that situation? And the more I watched, the more one thing became clear; Americans have allowed themselves to become too isolated into their own groups and cultures. Once this happens, we are unable to communicate and reach consensus. We spend time talking past each other, not too each other, to make progress. To members of Congress, that’s fine; they get to do their pimping and preening and to play a few quotes at the country club back him. To hip-hop fans, all that happens is we draw more negative attention that reinforces misunderstandings about the music and culture we love. We get pimped out to the whims of those who don’t care whether we survive. So we all lose. Again.