Why should they be punished for thinking there is more to Black history than “hoes in different area codes"? Why should Oprah, and millions of other black people, be punished for not swallowing whole Cube's and Ludacris’ vision of black women, and daring to think that Cube and Ludacris just might not be the font of black male expression? (And why do so many people think of Cube and Ludacris as the font of black male expression?)
Gangsta rap’s defenders have never stopped to think that maybe Oprah, like millions of black people, knows those "bitches" that Ludacris wants out of the way are raising our children without the help of fathers. Maybe Oprah knows those "cave bitches" that Cube wants to rape are struggling with high numbers of sex crimes, high numbers of sexual abuse, and record numbers of AIDS cases. Maybe Oprah knows that those "hoes in different area codes" are succeeding in spite of periously little love and respect from black men.
Maybe, just maybe, Oprah knows there have been millions of families tormented by the crack that Young Jeezy and Chamillionare love to rap about, that millions of young black men have been scarred by the absentee fatherism that Ice Cube has recently bragged about, and millions of black people have been traumatized by the misery, pain, and self destruction that Hip Hop America gobbles up for its entertainment every hour on the hour.
Ludacris and Ice Cube aren’t the reason for Black America’s misery, pain, and self-destruction. What they have done, however, is written the soundtrack to it, and profited mightily in the process. The debate they have with Oprah isn’t about their right to do so, as no one is saying that Gangsta rappers should be censored. We live in a democratic society and if the gangsta rapper wants to profit from someone else's pain and the gangsta rap fan wants to dance to it, it is their right.
The debate with Oprah is about is Black America’s (or at least the vast majority of Black America that doesn’t buy hip hop records) right to turn away from that Ludacris, Ice Cube, and that gangsta rap fan in disgust.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Victor Plenty
Well said! Gangsta rap may not create the problems of the black community, but it certainly gives those problems more longevity by helping pathetic sociopaths think of themselves as admirable and strong when in reality they are contemptible and weak.
It perpetuates a twisted subculture where people who act in a civilized and educated manner are denigrated as "acting white" -- as if it is somehow unnatural for black people to display courtesy, education, or any other trace of self-respect. In some ways the gangsta subculture is more racist than the Jim Crow south ever was.
White southerners believed it was dangerous for blacks to learn how to read, because it might make them ambitious and inspire them to seek a better life. Now the gangsta subculture tries to prove blacks are easily seduced away from learning and progress by the tenuous promise of easy money from oppressing their own neighbors, their own sisters, and their own mothers.
Thank you for standing up and declaring unequivocally that the gangsta subculture has not yet won its battle to dominate the entire landscape of black American culture. For all our sakes, black and white together, let's hope it never does.
2 - Bryan McKay
I really enjoyed your article. One point regarding Cube's new album though - I think you may be misreading the lyrics a bit. I'm not sure which song you're talking about that bashes interracial marriage, but the song "Child Support" which you claims "takes up the joys of not being a father" ought not to be read so literally. It's quite clear from reading the lyrics that the children Cube refers to are other rappers whom he influenced and not literal "bastard kids."
I think you're making a lot of really valid points here, but I do think Cube has done a bit of growing up. Sure, his lyrics might not make the most subtle or nuanced agruments but I think his new album might be a bit heavier on the social commentary than the ignorant posturing of his youth.
3 - Adam Vega
You also took the lyrics to "Cave Bitch" entirely out of context.
4 - robert lashley
But not the lyrics of One less bitch and find em fuck em and flee. Next.
5 - Michael J. West
Your point is well taken and well written, but I have one small question, really a detail with little bearing on your article:
All the information that I can find on Ice Cube says that his parents were both employed at UCLA...but nothing identifies them as actual faculty members. (You could be a janitor and be employed at UCLA.) Do you perchance have a source for that?
6 - chantal stone
Whether or not a non-creative lyric has or has not been taken out of context here is hardly the issue.
The issue is that Ice-Cube and his misogynistic buddies have a lot of nerve calling out Oprah, when she has spent a lifetime trying to break free of any negative stereotype put upon Black people, while THEY have spent their shallow, pathetic careers doing everything they can to perpetuate these very stereotypes.
7 - Bryan McKay
"But not the lyrics of One less bitch and find em fuck em and flee. Next."
Next? And yet you still haven't really dealt with my (valid) points regarding his new album...
8 - robert lashley
Michael: from msn.com
" Cube, a.k.a. O'Shea Jackson, was born in Crenshaw, South Central Los Angeles, California, on June 15th 1969. He enjoyed a relatively stable upbringing. Cube's parents, both UCLA professors, provided a warm home and nurtured their son's dreams. Still, living in South Central, he was exposed to the gritty urban lifestyle his whole life."
Bryan: I wasnt talking to you on that one.
9 - Bryan McKay
Re: Michael J. West's comments.
I found this in a Village Voice article:
"I got the idea [for the Hip-Hop Archive] because of Ice Cube. Ice Cube's father tended the grounds at UCLA near where I taught. . . . I remember when they were filming Higher Learning (1995) on campus and I just thought it was incredibly surreal that this guy was tending the grounds and that Ice Cube was sitting on one of those carts. His father reminded me"and this could all be my imagination, I hardly said anything to him but 'Good morning' or 'Good afternoon'"of someone who was just bitter, and he did what he did."
10 - Al Barger
Brother Lashley, this is an outstanding bit of writing. In theory this seems like a pretty obvious basic point, but I've not seen anyone else really make it- certainly not this well.
I admit to having a little bit of a soft spot for Ice Cube, though it's mostly for Barbershop- which is pretty much the diametric opposite of, as Eddie would put it, that hippity-hoppity nonsense. But I suspect that if I were darker in hue, I might not have as much patience for the gangsta nonsense.
And a black WOMAN would really not have much reason to be promoting this ghetto schtick just as a matter of self-respect both for herself and her people. I don't pay much attention to Oprah (I'm probably not the target market), but I'd bet she's got plenty of black men on- just not a lot of ghetto thugs.
You make an unassailable case against Cubism on Oprah based on uplifting the race and all, but you really don't need to go that far. She's got an afternoon talk show marketed to middle aged women. What 50 year old woman of ANY ethnic background wants to watch a gangsta minstrel show? Should Oprah turn off her main constituency by insisting on putting up this hateful, belligerant foolishness that her audience doesn't even WANT to see?
There's just no reason in the world why Oprah would fool with them, other than some cheap intimidation like this nonsense about hating black men if she doesn't. But if she really has a high opinion of black men, she won't be looking for the lowest, most vulgar and ghetto characters to represent.
It might be a bit risky with the tricky nature of racial pride and politics, but her better move would be to nicely but openly and actively renounce all that cheap gangsterism, go all Bill Cosby on them. She might be argued to be leaving herself open by not addressing the issue directly like this. She'd risk perhaps alienating a few misguided souls on the edge if she did, but not addressing the issue might be taken to look like she's somehow hiding or being less than forthcoming.
On the other hand, if she just stood up and said a few dozen words explaining that she's just not interested in promoting ghetto behavior like that, what could anyone say against her?
11 - Bryan McKay
Ghetto behavior is the behavior of people in ghettos. Not all people in ghettos behave like violent, misogynistic rap stars. Let's get our verbiage straight.
Plus your little aside about "hippity-hoppity nonsense" is a nice way of marginalizing and trivializing a large (and important) cultural movement. Not all hip-hop is about guns and violence and misogyny. Try out Mos Def or Talib Kweli. I know you've dug Kanye at least a little bit in the past, so you've gotta admit it's not all that bad.
I agree that a lot of the gangsta rap is empty posturing, but there is some truly harrowing shit going down in these songs that is at least interesting from a sociological perspective. The fact that there is a huge culture that buys this music would suggest that it deserves a closer examination than it gets. Often we dismiss it, but there's something important (and maybe even a bit scary) going on there.
12 - argoson
Excellent article.
The only think I might add is that Oprah's also the most generous black in American history. According to Business Week Oprah has personally donated a QUARTER of a BILLION dollars of her OWN MONEY to charity, making her the first black on their list of America's 50 greatest philanthropists.
In addition Oprah's audience has given TENS of MILLIONS to charity which helped blacks afflicted by Katrina, women in the Congo etc.
I think black men are jealous because the ONLY black billionaire in the entire world is a woman. Check out Forbes international rich list. BET founder Bob Johnson is now off the list, and Oprah's the world's ONLY black billionaire!
She's not just the most successful black woman, she's the most successful black person.
13 - Al Barger
Bryan, most of rap music deserves to be trivialized and marginalized. We could argue about it sociologically, but my main objection is that it is bad music. That's not because there's no talent, but because it's mostly not about music in the first place. It's all about the benjamins. Of course, this can be said of, say, Britney Spears among many others. It's not like rappers are the only folks making crappy music.
But Ice Cube is not particularly about music to begin with. That he's come up with a couple of decent songs is almost accidental. Ain't none of these people going to make anyone forget actual MUSICIANS like, say, Prince or Miles Davis.
Which is not to dismiss all hip-hop or rap, or even all gangsta rap. "F*&#$ the Police" still gets regular rotation on the iPod, for one. Foolishness aside, PE had some worthwhile songs in their prime. I try to keep an open ear. But I'm not going to talk my self into liking some utterly musically non-interesting crapola to prove I'm down with the hood.
There is certainly a large culture that buys this music, but then again there was a huge culture that loved blackface minstrel shows. Doesn't make them good art, though- or worthy of defending.
Also Bryan, perhaps YOU need to work on getting your verbiage straight. "Ghetto" behavior in fact is commonly used to describe specifically those negative attitudes and actions typified by gangsta rap. Of course not everyone who has to live in the ghettoes engages in the negative behavior. They're just the ones having to bear the brunt of other people's bad behavior.
14 - Bryan McKay
Mostly it is about the benjamins, you're right, but mainstream country music these days seems to me to be about the same thing but you don't hear me dismissing all country as nonsense. I referenced a few specific artists who aren't in it simply for the money as evidence. You didn't hear me defending some of the more blatantly commercial acts.
And yeah, I'm more than aware that "ghetto behavior" is used to describe those actions, but that doesn't make it right. It doesn't seem fair to associate these million-dollar artists with real ghettos. You were speaking properly within the cultural vernacular, but that doesn't mean the vernacular can't be offensive. Whether you like it or not, the term associates poor minorities with violent crime and abusive behavior. They aren't free of that sort of thing, of course, but it doesn't seem fair to shove that label upon everyone who lives in that segment of society.
15 - Al Barger
Bryan, if you're reading my stuff, you'll find that I WILL dismiss almost all modern commercial country music as nonsense. Just on musical grounds, I listen to a lot more rap (which is to say, "a little bit") than to country. I'll listen to a little urban radio now and again, whereas I'd about as soon take a beating as listen to commercial country radio ever.
Pretty much NO ONE thinks that EVERY person who lives in ghetto neighborhoods lives down to the stereotypes. Plus, not every person who lives in impoverished neighborhoods is black. I appreciate not wanting to negatively brand the innocent, but you risk bending over so far backwards in a misguided ideal of fairness that you refuse to acknowledge reality.
16 - Bryan McKay
What's misguided about fairness? From your position of relative privilege, it's pretty damn easy for you to make these arguments. Please, Al, enlighten me: What reality am I failing to acknowledge?
17 - Bryan McKay
Also, you wrote:
"Bryan, if you're reading my stuff, you'll find that I WILL dismiss almost all modern commercial country music as nonsense."
And if you're reading my writing you'll find that I just freakin' agreed with you: "mainstream country music these days seems to me to be about the [benjamins]." I don't write off the entire GENRE of country music the way you are writing off the entire GENRE of "hippity-hoppity nonsense." If you specified in the first place we wouldn't have gotten into this mess.
18 - Al Barger
Bryan, now you're crossing over into pure PC foolishness. "Fairness" is an unquestionable concept that is HIGHLY overrated.
What's misguided about fairness? Nothing, as a general principle- but everything when it gets rated higher as a priority than telling the truth. When you get so concerned with how someone could possibly misinterpret your remarks that you start self-censoring and have to dance around the truth, then it's bad.
What reality are you failing to acknowledge? The reality that the problems of poor folk living in ghettoes are largely the bad behavior of their neighbors, not the presumed prejudices of everyone else.
As to my "position of relative privledge": What priviledge is it that I am presumed to have- as if you knew anything about me to speak so presumptively?
As to "pretty damn easy for you to make these arguments," I might suggest that it's pretty damned easy for YOU to sit in Boston in your post-colonial studies yank off classes talking this worthless PC foolishness that does not advance the quest for truth, nor help poor people. Not exactly swmming against the current there, are you?
19 - Bryan McKay
When you get so concerned with how someone could possibly misinterpret your remarks that you start self-censoring and have to dance around the truth, then it's bad.
Then the truth is what... all hip-hop sucks and all poor people are criminals? These are the only points I disputed. Since I know that you don't believe those two things I just named, I'm not sure what you're arguing about.
The reality that the problems of poor folk living in ghettoes are largely the bad behavior of their neighbors, not the presumed prejudices of everyone else.
Both are contributing factors. As a talented writer yourself, I know you understand the power of words. Do you think the use of the n-word didn't ever hurt anybody? Prejudices do matter, and if poor impoverished black people are constantly lumped in with criminal, misogynistic gangsta rappers, that can really do a number on their self-esteem.
What priviledge is it that I am presumed to have?
I know you're white and male which is a huge set of privileges. You're also well-liked enough to have thirty-thousand (?) people stuff your name into a ballot box. On top of that, you obviously have an internet connection and a computer which is more than can be said for the majority of the world's populace.
And as for your last paragraph, how does a fucking education not advance the "quest for truth?" What do you propose I be doing with my time? Should I sit at home waxing roth about the Dixie Chicks all day? I value an education. Specifically, I value a well-rounded education, and that involves learning about a lot of different things that you may or may not disagree with. Try having an open mind for once. I'm twenty years old, I'm a college student with a whole life ahead of me to try and make a difference with if I so choose - what exactly do you do that's any better?
20 - Christopher Rose
Al Barger says: "most of rap music deserves to be trivialized and marginalized. We could argue about it sociologically, but my main objection is that it is bad music." This from a man who thinks The White Stripes are both talented and original!
Al, just in case you missed it, rap/hip-hop is the last great new music. It has been at the cutting edge of progressive new music ever since some NYC kids started copping ideas from Jamican toasters at the end of the 70s.
That's over thirty years of continuous musical evolution and growth whilst simultaneously embracing both art and commerciality. If only rock had been able to do the same...
21 - chantal stone
even though comment #12 is a very positive one...I can't help but be bothered by this: "...Oprah's also the most generous black in American history."
and this: "...making her the first black on their list..."
Color me sensitive....but something's just a little off about about referring to someone as a black, instead of a black PERSON, no matter how politely it is stated.
22 - Bryan McKay
chantal: I'm not defending/advocating any one position and nor would I deny you your right to be offended, but I just wanted to point out that I have seen folks both white and black use either set of terms. Some people find them offensive, some don't. I understand your point, but I don't think the commenter meant any harm.
23 - Sterfish
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Oprah's appearance on Ed Lover's radio show.
24 - cat
You've eloquently articulated an opinion I've held for years. Thank your for standing up and giving these thoughts voice and validity.
25 - robert lashley
I admit that the source I got that said that Ice cube's parents were professors was wrong. However, even if he wasnt that far away from the vicinity, Cube had a lot more than most poor black folks had, had a family more stable than most poor black folks had, and had a whole lot more than he ever had the right to rap about. My father went into rehab in 1987 and got a job as a groundskeeper for the University of Puget Sound, and although he got back on drugs 6 months later and lost the job after a year, he still netted 2500-3000 a month(even in the months he was smoking it up). So Ice cube's parents were well off.
I know Im not partial on this subject. A lot of my anger at cube comes from living a great deal of my childhood in this neighborhood. seattlepinwsource.com
I have a lot of scars from this, scars that I will carry till the day I die, and I have troubles with anyone who hasnt lived in that who claims they does. Every black man goes through problems in America, but a whole lot of brothers who actually went through what Cube speaks dont rap about it because they arent here to tell it.