I said I was not going to watch this. But I had to. Just a little re-cap of my favorite moments.
BET had a town hall meeting on HipHop with some very interesting panel members. Michael E. Dyson, Master P, Nelly, Benny Boom, Al Sharpton & TI to name a few…
Let me tell you that Nelly, TI and Master P held it down for all the hiphop heads. They held it down through humor, intellect and plain old common sense.
At one point someone said that music went from the Supremes to NWA - Nelly said when does music ditact our lively hood or our lives. It’s not when music is right, black people are right - it’s when education and opportunity is right black people are right.
***Fact check*** Can’t compare Supremes with NWA:
The Supremes very highly dignified on the surface - then we had EnVogue classy but subtle in there sex appeal - then we had Destiny’s Child - fun, classy, and somewhat trashy (i.e. lapdance at BET awards) - So my take is how does Black America want it? It’s okay for a female group to show what the elites consider “trashy behavior” on tv during primetime but if a man raps about he is the villian…I don’t drink kool-aid.
A Black female journalist from Essence stated that she does not think every song needs to be about killing, sex, drugs and money.
TI says - (in paraphrase) “Lady I rap about real things. Where I grew up and what I have done in my life it what I talk about. I think you should be glad that I am making a respectable living rapping about the things I used to do rather than doing the things I used to do. You are lucky that I am rapping about it mam.
***Fact Check*** So does drug, sex, money and killing only pertains to HipHop…
Oh it’s okay that Denzel can play rogue police officer, taking bribes, killing people and dealing drugs. But if I sing about that same situation it’s wrong? Hmmmmmm… Scarface can shoot up amigos left and right, snort cocaine til the tip of his toes are white, but I can’t sing about such things b/c there is no way they happen in real life? Can we grow up now? Can I parent well enough? Hell my mama was the ironfist and I still watched movies and listen to music that she did not approve…can we come back to reality now people?
Al Sharpton said it best when he said all the PIMP images, gangsta images did not originate with the Black community - don’t get it twisted people.
Master P stated that the things he used to do he does not do anymore therefore he does not have the need to even rap or speak about it anymore. He had a hustle, he was killing, drug dealing & stealing - he decided he did not want to die in the hood - so he got a new hustle - music - he did whatever necessary to get out of the hood and once he made it out and made enough money to just chill he didn’t have to do that anymore. He said that TIP and Nelly are growing up and hip hop and the longer they are in it the more they will change but they have to right to bring their stories to you however they see fit. FREEDOM OF SPEECH is a bad byatch!
I feel that I am a grown ass woman and if I want to hear nigga, bitch and ho all day - that is my right. But my child is forbidden from it - will she hear it somewhere else, probably so but if hearing it makes her turn our like her mama - then I am cool. Dre’s “The Chronic” didn’t make me wanna smoke (I was alread testing around), Ice-T’s “Cop Killer” didn’t make me wanna shoot anyone, it was all art to me and still is. Grow up America.
In closing I was telling my family that I think the Black community has their priorities mixed up. The denegration of society stems more from the lackluster educational system, the failing job market, the gap between rich and poor more so than hiphop.
BET can we get a townhall meeting on this shit?
Now I am going back to work, I had to get that off my chest though.
PEACE TO THE MASSES!
Posts
September 26, 2007 @ 9:38 am
Didn’t catch it.
I was bowling.
But since BET has no shows, I’m sure I’ll catch the re-run.
September 26, 2007 @ 9:57 am
Yea i caught the last 5 mins of it. Im sure ill catch it again
September 26, 2007 @ 9:57 am
All that was on your chest…with those titties too. Damn that shirt must have been tight as hell….
September 26, 2007 @ 10:35 am
Whatup world?
I watched the show. Few notes:
-TI was more of the class clown up there. He didn’t really say much outside of “I have the right to talk about this because I lived it, and most of these rap dudes didn’t.” And say silly shit (”Shout out to White Chocolate!”
. Seemed to me like he was more concerned with convincing everyone of how much of a “real G” he is, than discussing the actual issue at hand.
I thought he would have been one of the dudes to really hold it down, but….nah.
He fails to realize that even if you did really live that kind of life, that’s no reason to glorify it. And if you do, fess up to it. In his rhymes, he talks that trap shit to no end (Say you need 200 squares/They just came off the scale/Let’s do it), versus coming from the stand point of an ex-dealer expressing remorse. But he tried to portray himself as the abused stepchild of Hip-Hop.
I like Tip’s music, but I gotta call a spade a spade. And cuzzo is a hypocrite.
You need more people Cliff.
Cousin Jeff said it best with the “Well, if you’re on your 3rd or 4th album you aren’t living that type of life anymore” comment.
-Nelly comes off as a real smart dude. I think he made probably the best point of the show when he asked why/how did Hip-Hop become the looking glass for Black America? People have choices in what they listen to…so if you don’t like a certain artist’s shit, don’t buy it. Simple. And if you enjoy that type of music, that doesn’t make you a criminal.
I rock with that 100%
-Kim Osorio had a good point about some people just liking their music violent. No different from enjoying watching The Sopranos on TV. Nelly co-signed saying that not everyone likes their music positive, political, and all that. Sometimes people want to party, or hear some gangsta shit.
True.
-Diane Weathers (editor in chief @ Essence) came off as only showing up to talk about Tip Drill. Shorty is real pissed about that, and wants us all to know. Aight. Let’s move on.
-Benny Boom had a good point about NOT hiding black stereotypes in music videos. If you eat chicken, whatever whatever, then what’s wrong with that being in a video? It’s not like white people don’t eat chicken too right? Uncle Al cosigns saying that we should not allow white folks to dictate the music to us. Cool, ‘cept he forgot that white folks OWN the music, and force the current crop of bullshit you hear and see down our throats. So like it or not, they DO in fact dictate the culture to us. And WE LET them.
That is a problem, and a story for another day…
-Michael Eric Dyson pretty much owned for the time he was on air. We should nominate this dude the President of Hip-Hop or something. He said that Hip-Hop at its worst simply follows the pathology of the American empire. This country was built on bloodshed, thievery, greed, etc. It’s ok that our forefathers did it, but not ok if we speak on those same things in the music.
You can imagine that’s some shit white folks really don’t want to hear.
Anyway, he says that we (the people of the culture) bear the ultimate responsibility for Hip-Hop, and we should mentor ourselves. A point that got lost as soon as money got introduced into the game….
-Master P. was aight. Another dude that really didn’t help make any points. Just talked about how he doesn’t curse in his records anymore, and blah blah blah…
-Tonight we’ll hear from former video ho queen Melyssa Ford talk about why is it when stopped shaking her ass in videos, people stopped paying her attention. News flash shortstop…you can’t go from video ho, to intellectual. Once dudes identify you as the big butt bitch from their favorite rapper’s video, that’s ALL YOU WILL ever be. No one is going to care that you finally put on some clothes, and now have something to say.
I’ll leave that on yall to discuss whether or not it’s right….
Fuck that was long…but pretty good. Imma up that.
Anyway, I’m going to lunch. I’ll holla in a few.
September 26, 2007 @ 12:24 pm
Only I thing I really disagree with is TIP being the class clown. I think he was bringing the focus back to reality and how utterly silly some of this shit is. He was saying I am a grown man - and as a parent there are certain things I do; and as an artist there are certain things I do. Who is the judge on right and wrong and where it begins and end? I think he was trying to lighten up the show b.c it got hella boring and outta control at some points.
September 26, 2007 @ 12:27 pm
Yeah Mike is the star no doubt about it. I could not find myself disagreeing with anything he said. He makes so much damn sense.
But Stanley Crouch will be on there tonight so you know it’s gonna be some bullshit…lol
Other than that I think they did a good job but when it’s over we all go back to the American way - making money.
September 26, 2007 @ 12:27 pm
cjp:
You ain’t shit! :razz: :razz: