Lately I have been reading a lot of magazine articles and newspaper articles and there has been a common theme bubbling beneath the surface. Hip-Hop made do it!!! In reading an article about a 19 year old young man that died in a police chase in Roanoke, Va, his "friend" stated that he was a good person that lived a double life. He then offered the opinion that since he listens to hip-hop music, he was also trying to live a glorified gangster lifestyle. What the peanut butter and bananas is that???? I am getting so sick and tired of people blaming Hip-Hop for our youths shortcomings and mistakes. I am tired of the media throwing a dagger at a culture that it clearly doesn't understand.
There has always been this theme among "popular" media that Hip-Hop somehow influences people to do terrible things or that the lyrics that are on one hand protected by the first amendment are on the other a hand a detriment to our youth. Somehow this culture, and I say culture because Hip-Hop is a movement that goes way beyond music, has breeded contempt from everyone from politicians to school teachers. And this is not to say that every lyric that comes from this music is pure, uplifting, inspirational or even positive. I would be a fool for saying or even believing that. I do believe however that it is getting an unfair bad rap (excuse the pun).
Mainstream media has always had a hard-on for hip-hop. They devoured the stories of Biggie and Tupac and turned isoloated unrelated incidents into an East Coast-West Coast war. It helped sell millions of newspapers and magazines, but also resulted in the murder of two young men that had left behind a life of crime for the most part to pursue a musical dream. Bill O'Reilly, not understanding how a young black man with cornrows from Atlanta could elevate himself up enough to become the face of Pepsi, goes onto his show and causes a hell for Ludacris. Never once did he invite him onto his show to discuss anything. He just maliciously debases his name and character and ultimately Pepsi pulls him from any commercial spots and ends his endorsement deal. The next week, the Osbournes are the face of Pepsi. Wow. How is that for a role model switch. I don't want my kids learning the words bitch or ho, but I would like for them to learn how to do drugs, drink excessively and bite the heads off of bats. Woo Hoo!!! And this is not just a white or black thing. It is a cultural thing. I KILLED me that when Eminem mocked Michael Jackson in one of his videos and Steve Harvey used his forum on the radio to vilify Eminem saying that it was in bad taste and that MJ is an icon. Every black comedian that I have ever seen has dogged MJ in their acts, including Steve Harvey.
Hip Hop gets blamed for a lot of things. When cops were getting killed in the line of duty in the early 90's, it had to be due to N.W.A.'s F#@K the Police or Ice-T's Cop Killer songs. The music made them do it. When Amadou Diallo was shot 50 times coming out of night club reaching for his wallet, it must have been the music that influenced him. But what about Columbine? I didn't hear that the Terminator or death metal influenced them. It was just troubled teens that were have difficulty at school and home. When teenage suicide rates started to rise, I didn't hear Romeo and Juliet or Kurt Cobain being blamed. Shakespeare hasn't been censored last time I checked and neither has Chauser, but if your read their work, they have a lot of violence, rape and murder in thier books. So is there is there something deeper that we are missing?
The answer to the above question is yes. Hip-Hop provides a voice because it is deeper than music. It is a lifestyle. It is a movement. Choose to believe it or not, but Hip-Hop helped elect our President. I personally listen to a lot of music and hip-hop in its purest form is key to me. And it is does inspire me. It inspires me to write what I feel and that's because that's what I am. A writer. It doesn't inspire me to rob a bank, smack women around, curse people out, throw a middle finger to the cops or anything else that it has been blamed for because I wasn't RAISED that way in the first place. I hear people asking how can you listen to that if you are a Christian and you sing and you do this and that. I liken it to the same way you listen to gospel every day, read the Bible every free moment and pray daily, but you judge other people, you curse people out, you drink, you fornicate, you hate certain people and cultures. You are human. So am I.
I will leave people with this last gem. If hip-hop music is truly that influencial, has that much effect on our youth, can sway them to do things that they normally never would have done, maybe, just maybe, whatever Hip-Hop is doing, WE as mentors, parents, Pastors, teachers and just plain people should start doing the same. And that is finding a language that they can relate to. Understand. Understand?
