Some Musings on Hip-Hop (As Inspired By Ta-Nehisi Coates)

Before I begin, let me just say this:

Ta-Nehisi Coates is the man. Period. End of discussion. I stumbled on his Website a few months back after Jesse Jackson wanted to cut Barack Obama's nuts off; I've been hooked ever since. Most of what he says I agree with, particularly as it concerns hip-hop. I'll be blunt here: I love the genre, and for the life of me, I can't understand why more people don't. Furthermore, I can't understand why hip-hop, out of all musical genres, is so grossly misunderstood by the mainstream media. I suppose one could point to BET and MTV and posit that white and black conservatives at large get a flat concept of blackness from them, which contributes to their misguided opinions on it. However, I'm a bit too optimistic to think people that stupid and close-minded. These people had to have run into black people before, right? Or listened to some hip-hop that didn't depict blacks as buffoons, savages, and shallow? Put plainly: they should know better than to pass judgement on an entire musical movement based on a few videos on TV, right?

Wrong. Very, very wrong. Mind-numbingly wrong, in fact. Whenever I see some so-called pundit on TV discussing hip-hop, it's always the same (maybe the news networks share the same script?): put one angry, white blowhard on one side to complain about some random rapper's lyrics, and add one angry, black blowhard to lament the evils of said rapper alongside him. Black blowhard pretends to be knowledgable about hip-hop (because that's what he's there for: expertise, right?) and then promptly shows that he isn't, while the white blowhard gets to pat himself on the back because *gasp* a black guy agreed with him!

Why the hell do we let this shit happen? Furthermore, why do black writers/journalists/what have you let themselves be duped in this way? To give a concrete example, consider this: in the wake of the Michael Vick scandal, Bill O'Reilly had FSN columnist Jason Whitlock to his show to discuss it. Somehow, the two managed to go from talking about an abominable act to riffing about the ills of "hip-hop culture" and how it, not Vick himself, was somehow responsible for the 50 or 60 something dogs that were exhumed from Vick's backyard or taken alive from his premises. Moving past the obvious irony of a man who preaches conservative principles passing the buck in his blatant agenda against hip-hop, let's talk about Whitlock for a second. Who in the hell made him a hip-hop expert? What makes him qualified to determine what hip-hop culture is? The earring he wears? The fact that he's a reasonably intelligent black guy? Let's be clear, here: he's a journalist with a degree in said subject ferom Ball State University. If I'm trying to get an educated opinion about hip-hop, I'm not running to him for counsel. Beyond him, the more pressing question is this: why do people who are so obviously uninformed about hip-hop get a platform to spout their views? At best, it's lazy and trite reporting, and at worst, it's a flourescent sign that says, "We Really Don't Give a Fuck About Black Culture." Seriously, how did being materialistic, violent, and downright stupid become "hip-hop culture?" Last time I checked, these things existed long before hip-hop ever did. "Hip-hop culture" is simply a buzz-phrase conservatives use to describe blacks who act in a way that they expect them to act. Why do you think that O'Reilly was so damn shocked when he realized that black people had manners and knew how to act in restaurants? Implicitly, it's because he--and other of his ilk--truly believe the image of blacks as uneducated, greedy, and over-aggressive. This is completely detached from some over-arching concept of a genre that promotes ingnorance; the "hip-hop culture" tag is a convenient scapegoat for them to justify their own racist views of blacks in general.

This is not to say that the O'Reilly's of the world are completely to blame, because to do so would be to see only a part of the equation. The other aspect lies on the music industry itself, from the artists who put out such images to the corporate bigwigs and media outlets that propogate it. The Young Jeezys, 50 Cents, and DMXs of the world have admittedly given white America at large a selection of easy outs when bemoaning rap music. They try and emulate Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls, without the element of remorse or the cautionary tone with which each adopted with their street tales. The result is the polar opposite of what 'Pac and B.I.G. conveyed in their lyrics: while the two warned against the dangers of drugs, today's new artists glorify them. Jeezy brags about being a hustler who just happens to rap, while 50 Cent is able to sell over 15 million albums on the strength of being shot nine times. The other side of this concerns the record label CEOs who seem to encourage such imagery. Sure, there are exceptions like Kanye West, Outkast, and Jay-Z, but by and large, the mainstream rap landscape is dominated by ringtone rappers all cut from the same mold of buffoonery, and record labels give them deals. Why is this? Probably because they realize that it's a whole hell of a lot easier to make money by selling the brand of black that whites are more comfortable with, as opposed to attempting to reverse that set of views. Lupe Fiasco rapping about Japanese manga isn't as comfortable as G-Unit making videos where they have women in chains. To that end, consumers--white, black, and everything in between--must also share the blame in this dynamic, because they are the ones who buy these most horrifying and disgusting images of blackness.

Of course, Hell would freeze over if the Bill O'Reillys of the world admitted that good ole fashioned family racism played a part in why rap has become the misshapen behemoth that it has. A look in the mirror is too pressing a look into a serious issue; dismissing it as an entirely black problemis far more convenient an explanation.

It is also the one that absolves him and others like him of any blame.

Yeah, I'll probably add more in a bit, but I think this is a good start given that this is the first time I've posted something of this nature.