Welcome to the Pop Arcade, your source for fair and balanced pop-culture news. I am your host, Chemarryn Thornton, and you don't stop.
The roof is on fire
I don't know if you should go so far as to say I've reached a crossroads, but I have found myself stuck between a rock and a hard place on the issue of hip-hop lyrics.
On one hand, I recognize the negative effects that the lyrical content of some of the most commercially successful rap of the past 20 years has had on the black community.
I've heard it said that hip hop's broad appeal has been detrimental to white America, influencing a number of them to "act black," while often portraying "black" as ignorant and "gangsta." What better proof than an old fuddy duddy like Don Imus trying to up his street cred with racist statements that could have come straight from any of today's top selling artists?
The reality, however, is that the gangsta mentality that contaminates hip-hop is far more detrimental to black America. Chris Rock famously said that there's a civil war going on between black people and (a certain N-word he likes to use). Well that same war is going on in the world of hip-hop, and like art imitating life, black people are losing that one, too.
So yes, on the one hand, I recognize the problems in rap.
On the other hand, I recognize the artistry in the music and in some rappers that many point to as the problem. Tupac Shakur was simultaneously the best and worst thing to ever happen to the genre.
There were times when he'd represent "thug life" -- ignorant and gangsta as any -- and there were times when he'd lay down the most socially conscious lyrics ever put to a beat, sometimes on the same song.
If rappers like 'Pac don't highlight some of the social issues that they do, when given such a grand stage to do it on, who will?
The Tupac enigma is in part why I agree with hop-hop mogul Russell Simmons, who in the wake of the rap lyrics debate that followed the Imus firing, has requested that the words "bitch," "ho" and "(that aforementioned word)" be banned from "clean" versions of rap songs and the airwaves.
I agree not because I think Simmons took a bold step towards cleaning up hip-hop -- he didn't -- but because he took a level-headed approach that was sensitive to the issue from a rapper's perspective.
As much as I hate the perception of blacks that certain hip-hop artists have manifested over the years, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't listen to it myself. I am very much a part of the hip-hop generation, which is why I find myself between this rock and hard place.
Is it the message that's the problem, or the messenger?
Chris Rock was right. There is a civil war taking place.
Unfortunately, on the issue of rap lyrics, your friendly neighborhood columnist is having a hard time deciding whose side he's fighting for.
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