See by forcing Imus to resign we have just raised the standards of broadcasting. Why is that a problem? Because we refuse to do it for Ice Cube. I hear you whining. Ice Cube is just an entertainer, nobody takes him serious look at all the crap he's done over the years.... Exactly my point. Which is to say there is a double standard. White men are supposed to be serious and taken seriously at all times. The power of their words resounds around the planet and crushes, kills and destroys, so we must insure that all white men be pure of heart, mind, body and soul. Right? But Ice Cube? Nahh. Nobody needs to take that Negro seriously anyway, ever.
Look at Ice Cube's network. What can they do to you?
Look at Imus' network. What can they do to you?
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Not That I've Been Following
but what type of music is Ice Cube making these days. I would suggest that unless he's reverted to making the type of music he made in his NWA days that another example be used. Frankly, it would be some serious time-warp bullshit to throw his name in the ring in 2007 when he may not be an appropriate target. I'm out of the loop on his music - the last I heard, he was stealing beats from Cypress Hill.
It would be best that we of another generation not date ourselves so quickly.Â
Doesn't matter. Use Fiddy.Â
Doesn't matter. Use Fiddy. Who's in his network? What can they do to you?
It's Amazing
I am continually amazed, more than perplexed, everytime people that I presume to be reasonably rational raise the alleged specter of rap recording artists and their music as a contribution to the national dialogue about Don Imus' fall from grace. This morning on NPR it was Juan Williams going on ad nauseam about Rev. Jesse's and Br. Al's failure to speak out against these recording artists and their music.
The unstated implication is that the rest of us Negroes are somehow complicit in this alleged hypocrisy by our willingness to support those who condemned Don Imus but who take a pass on Fifty-Cent et al. What none of these so-called independent thinking black pundits can explain is what do they expect the rest of us to do save for not purchasing or listening to such music?
Do they want us to charter buses and head off to the overwhelmingly white suburbs to set up picket lines where, as market study after market study shows, the majority of the fans and buyers of this musical genre reside? Perhaps they would prefer that we direct the buses to the upscale shopping malls where many of these non-black music fans buy the cds containing these songs?
See, I think that folks like Cobb and Williams are constantly looking for any angle they can find to go upside Rev. Jesse's and Br. Al's heads. Both of them are big boys so I know they can take it. But what I don't understand is why the Cobbs and Wiliamses want to describe every collective protest action undertaken by black folks over Imus' remarks as lacking because we can't stop white teenagers from buying music that we don't allow our children to buy.
I don't get it. BTW, Rev. Jesse, Br. Al and even Minister F Man have spoken out against this type of music. Is it their fault that white teenagers and their parents refuse to let these three black men dictate how their consumer dollars are going to be spent? Also, since Cobb and Williams are ardent capitalists what exactly are their objections to this music being in the marketplace for those listeners who enjoy hearing it?Â
See, I feel no sense of shame, embarassment, resentment or envy when I read about guys like Fifty Cent making buck by peddling melodramatic stories about ghetto life to people whose own lives must seem narrow and constipated in contrast. His music is not allowed in my house and I am certain that the only time my oldest child hears any of it is when he is visiting the homes of some of our non-black neighbors. Â
nope, not their fault
but it is the fault of partisans that they have not anticipated the systematic co-option and subversion of this moment by the well-oiled machine that has already seized control of the narrative/rhetorical upper hand...,
bear in mind that imus has never been identified as a conservative talkospheric figure, rather, he was identified as a moderate/liberal figure who employed conservative flavorings to keep his audience smugly self-satisfied and coming back for more.Â
autopetardinalhoistiage...,
perfect problem statement..., priceless.
ROTFLMBAO!Â
Hip-hop Has Been A Target
of black adult angst for decades. This is not new. Dismantling nihilism and misogyny from hip hop is not as simple as attacking rappers. If you've listened to the music since the mid-1980's, you know that a seismic shift occurred in the early 1990's - and that that shift has been subsidized by the Big Six - and you know that Radio Payola has been an issue in hip hop that led to the demise (with respect to air play) of more positive, message-oriented artists.
The cultural devolution was not accidental. It was part of a well-subsidized assessment of new market trends.
Hip-hop can't be isolated from the broader economic context of publishing, artist rights, etc., etc.
At that critical time in this art forms infancy when it required the economic and cultural support of elders, hip hop was largely orphaned. The form was disrespected because folks said they couldn't understand the words...they hated the sampling...it wasn't "real music." Never mind that it served as a rallying point for youth...never mind that the simultaneous rejection by white folks (ala MTV) offered a unique opportunity to capitalize on the genre. The one person who did move on this did it late and without any sense of what else was going on in the genre. BET and MTV provided belated outlets for new rappers with bullshit methods and hot beats to get their method out - and continue to do so...and that would include Sean-Puff-Diddy, Biggie, Jay-Z, Fiddy, NWA, Eminem, and many more. That they were able to displace other groups has everything to do with the belated shift of white youth as primary consumers.
I could go deeper down this rabbit hole - and I believe I have over at my site, but the essential thing for me
is that I REFUSE to play the demonization game with criminals. Ain't happenin'. I don't even consider having
morality based convo's with white folks about anything we do - especially when dollar signs are hanging out of
their grilles. As I've said, there are 650,000+ corpses in Iraq - and it's a direct result of a lack of fidelity to this democratic process that folks are so hyped on...deal with those bodies first, then call me.
As for our internal issues - that's different and the role of Big $$ in changing the face of hip hop can't be ignored.
Seriously, does anyone really, really think Nelly knows what the phuk he's doing with a MIC? Ja Rule? And yet...
Excuse my formatting. It's the best I could do in opera.
And If That's What You Mean By Imus' Network
then 650,000 is a huge number. (he is a former Marine.)
Well, I know how I feel
I don't mind going after the Modern Day Minstrels...but, don't stop there. I want their record label bosses too.
I'm game for going after all of it.
I had these guys in
I had these guys in mind.Â
This Is What Is Making Me So Mad
Look at that list of guests! Where did he even have room for the "humor" and disgusting remarks in his show? Who else with a line up like that would even think of having the kinds of segments where the "nappy headed ho" statement would fit in? I just don't get why he had to ruin what could have been a great show by trying to double as an obnoxious shock jock.
Oh well.
shit happens...someone else will get a shot now. nothing more than a change of seasons.