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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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 Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 5:10 pm Post subject: Rap mogul wants racist lyrics ban |
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Last Updated: Tuesday, 24 April 2007, 11:55 GMT 12:55 UK
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Rap mogul wants racist lyrics ban
Russell Simmons is chairman of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network
The founder of legendary hip-hop label Def Jam has called for three sexist and racist words to be banned from songs.
Russell Simmons said there was "growing public outrage" about the use of the terms, which he said should be viewed as the same as "extreme curse words".
He asked broadcasters and record companies to voluntarily remove, bleep or delete the words from music.
And he suggested setting up an industry watchdog to recommend guidelines for lyrical and visual standards.
'History of oppression'
Simmons, the pioneering entrepreneur whose label has released music by Public Enemy, Run DMC and the Beastie Boys, objects to the use of "nigger", "ho" and "bitch".
He said: "The words 'bitch' and 'ho' are utterly derogatory and disrespectful of the painful, hurtful, misogyny that, in particular, African-American women have experienced in the United States as part of the history of oppression, inequality, and suffering of women.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6586787.stm |
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Slep
Joined: 14 Oct 2006
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| Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 8:46 pm Post subject: |
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http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=105&ItemID=12658
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No Scapegoats: The Other Side of Hip-hop
by Jeff Chang
and Dave Zirin
April 24, 2007
LA Times
Printer Friendly Version
EMail Article to a Friend
MUCH OF THE criticism of commercial rap music - that it's homophobic and sexist and celebrates violence - is well-founded. But most of the carping we've heard against hip-hop in the wake of the Don Imus affair is more scapegoating than serious.
Who is being challenged here? It's not the media oligarchs, which twist an art form into an orgy of materialism, violence and misogyny by spending millions to sign a few artists willing to spout cartoon violence on command. Rather, it's a small number of black artists - Snoop Dogg, Ludacris and 50 Cent, to name some - who are paid large amounts to perpetuate some of America's oldest racial and sexual stereotypes.
But none of the critics who accuse hip-hop of single-handedly coarsening the culture think to speak with members of the hip-hop generation, who are supposedly both targets and victims of the rap culture. They might be surprised at what this generation is saying.
In his recent PBS documentary "Beyond Beats and Rhymes," filmmaker Byron Hurt made clear that rap music can be as sexist and homophobic as it can be positive and enlightening. Marginalized young women and men have found their voices in hip-hop arts, gathering to share culture at b-girl conventions around the world or reading for each other in after-school poetry classes. Hurt's film pointed the finger where it needs to be pointed - at American popular culture, which has trafficked in racist and sexist images and language for centuries and provides all sorts of incentives for young men of color to act out a hard-core masculinity.
If all the overnight anti-hip-hop crusaders really cared about the generation they want to save, they would support the growing Media Justice movement led by hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa and such outspoken women activists as Malkia Cyril and Rosa Clemente. The group contends that such media powers as Emmis Communications and Clear Channel have corrupted hip-hop radio.
The critics would engage young public intellectuals like Joan Morgan ("When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost"), Gwendolyn D. Pough ("Check It While I Wreck It") and Mark Anthony Neal ("That's the Joint!: The Hip-Hop Studies Reader"), who are defining what they call a new hip-hop feminism.
The gap between the programming on Viacom's MTV and BET and young people's interests seems never to have been bigger. According to the Black Youth Project, a University of Chicago study released in January, the overwhelming majority of young people, especially blacks, believe rap videos portray black women negatively. That's one reason rap music sales declined 20% last year and remain down 16% this year.
Yet sales are a poor indicator of what is really happening in hip-hop.
Local hip-hop scenes are thriving. Great art is being made not just in music but in visual arts, film, theater, dance and poetry. It can be seen in the works of Sarah Jones, Nadine Robinson, Rennie Harris, Kehinde Wiley and Danny Hoch. Hip-hop studies is a rapidly growing and popular field at colleges and universities, with more than 300 classes offered. In hip-hop after-school programs, voter registration groups, feminist gatherings and public forums, the future of hip-hop is under discussion. These hip-hop thinkers want to take the culture that unites many young people and channel it toward political engagement. In 2004, voter registration campaigns using hip-hop to target youth produced more than 2 million new voters under the age of 30.
To confuse commercial rap made by a few artists with how hip-hop is actually lived by millions is to miss the good that hip-hop does. If hip-hop's critics paid attention to the hip-hop generation, they would learn that the discussion has already begun without them and that they might need to listen. Then a real intergenerational conversation could begin.
JEFF CHANG is the editor of "Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop." DAVE ZIRIN is the author of the forthcoming "Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics and Promise of Sports." Contact Zirin at [email protected] |
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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 10:21 pm Post subject: |
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[quote="Slep"]http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=105&ItemID=12658
[quote]
No Scapegoats: The Other Side of Hip-hop
by Jeff Chang
and Dave Zirin
April 24, 2007
LA Times
Printer Friendly Version
EMail Article to a Friend
MUCH OF THE criticism of commercial rap music - that it's homophobic and sexist and celebrates violence - is well-founded. But most of the carping we've heard against hip-hop in the wake of the Don Imus affair is more scapegoating than serious.
Who is being challenged here? It's not the media oligarchs, which twist an art form into an orgy of materialism, violence and misogyny by spending millions to sign a few artists willing to spout cartoon violence on command. Rather, it's a small number of black artists - Snoop Dogg, Ludacris and 50 Cent, to name some - who are paid large amounts to perpetuate some of America's oldest racial and sexual stereotypes.
[Much of the commercial rap is full of violent lyrics and an emphasis on degrading women. Some of that in small doses might be okay, but it has really gone too far, I think. It is interesting that you mention Clear Channel and others promoting the offending artists. Clear Channel is a right wing radio station that supported George Bush.
I think what happened is that greed has taken over and materialism and the executives don't care about the art that is being called art and how black people are being portrayed. Probably, some just thought in a racist way that it was what black people wanted to hear. Who knows? Of course, it is not true in many cases. Variety among black artists in the commercial area doesn't seem to be vibrant.
There is definitely vibrant hip hop. I am not that familiar with it, because it is not promoted. Of course, people like Alicia Keys is good. Collective Soul is good. There are good bands, but the ones promoting bad stereotypes and encouraging the bad behaviour among at risk kids need to go. I don't understand why such criminal behaviour is encouraged.
We don't let criminals profit from book sales, but we let rappers do it. |
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stevemcgarrett
Joined: 24 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 10:24 pm Post subject: |
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Adventurer:
It's about time he showed a modicum of decency. He's profited from gangsta rap and hip hop for far too long. Easy for him now to suddenly take a stand, albeit meek.
It's like those Hollywood starlets with virtually no talent who make their fortunes from notoreity only to lament how the very same media enablers later turn on them. You get what you pay for.
And Simmons has paid for a lot of crap.
These days, the black community is its own worst enemy, those the PC liberal crowd still insists otherwise. |
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endo
Joined: 14 Mar 2004
Location: Seoul...my home
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 3:05 am Post subject: |
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| stevemcgarrett wrote: |
Adventurer:
It's about time he showed a modicum of decency. He's profited from gangsta rap and hip hop for far too long. Easy for him now to suddenly take a stand, albeit meek.
It's like those Hollywood starlets with virtually no talent who make their fortunes from notoreity only to lament how the very same media enablers later turn on them. You get what you pay for.
And Simmons has paid for a lot of crap.
These days, the black community is its own worst enemy, those the PC liberal crowd still insists otherwise. |
Let's see some examples Stevie-boy? |
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stevemcgarrett
Joined: 24 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 8:13 am Post subject: |
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endo:
I've posted numerous examples on other threads over the month. Since you're in desperate need of proof, do a search of my posts and find out for yourself. I don't have time to deal with your false curiosity. |
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