Put It to a Beat-Part II
By: Ccep
dews_ccep@yahoo.com
www.myspace.com/ccepvanity
It’s not hip-hop’s fault that the youth of our community is maturing too quickly in the wrong direction, but in a society where someone has to take the blame, something has to be at the end of that pointed finger.
The reality is that children listen to and see things when adults aren’t around. Though I grew up with an infatuation with Dru Hill that had me singing “somebody’s sleeping in my bed” at the age of ten without thinking about the fact that my favorite song was about infidelity, it bothers me to hear a twelve year-old sing “I’ma put you to bed” then pause to say how sexy J. Holiday is. The difference is that the children of this generation don’t posses the sweet naivety that a lot of us had and the current generation of music artists rarely comes up with sensual, endearing ways to ask for some good loving like Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On”. We bluntly say things and take all the blame for parents who don’t check parental advisory disclaimers, adults who talk about or play mature content around children assuming they don’t hear or notice it, and people who just need something to complain about.
It’s not hip-hop’s fault that the youth of our community is maturing too quickly in the wrong direction, but in a society where someone has to take the blame, something has to be at the end of that pointed finger.
Something like Bomani Armah’s song “Read A Book”, which has recently sparked controversy about the music video set as a cartoon. Personally, I love how Bomani’s song and video uses the same marketing qualities found in most of today’s mainstream music such as cursing, violence, bling, blurred labels, and dancing hoochies. Furthermore, the vulgarity of the lyrics, “Read a book. Read a Book. Read a motherf****** book […] Not a sport’s page. Not a magazine, But, a book, n****. A f****** book, n****”, get across his message about the lack of true literacy in the same style that most artists are following. More importantly, he demonstrates how anything can make it into mainstream media if you put it to a hot beat. But, is it wrong to follow such standards to get a point across even if the message is positive? If “Read A Book” was set in a style that mimicked “The Star-Spangled Banner” or “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” would it get any attention at all?
[Common] and Andre 3000 should be celebrated in the hip-hop community over those who only rap about hood fairy tales, neglecting to note that they are their own big bad wolves.
I want to fully love and support hip-hop, but I’m frustrated with how anybody can get radio and television play. Has anyone even listened to the verses of Souljah Boy’s “Crank That?” Not the best lyricism. Hip-hop’s intended purpose was to vent and get a message out to the masses. Yet, the accomplishments of artists who are using it that way are overlooked or lost under the hype of Plies and the controversy of T.I. People such as Common, who in fifteen years of being a hip-hop artist has been nominated twenty-nine times and only received six awards. He and Andre 3000 should be celebrated in the hip-hop community over those who only rap about hood fairy tales, neglecting to note that they are their own big bad wolves.
So, where do we draw the line? When do we realize that music as a whole has been watered down and poured into a cast created by people whose say outranks consumers, artists, producers, and executives? When do we admit that music videos have become less about a storyline that actually pertains to a song and more about bling, violence, and sex, be it hip-hop, rock, r&b, or pop based? When do we stop agreeing with our kids about how cute Bow Wow, Chris Brown, and Omarion are and start listening to their lyrics before handing their CDs over to our nine year-olds?
The answer: we don’t because things like this just continue to grow more and more acceptable in a world where the people who have all the control are concerned with more important things like whether or not our next president will be a negro or a chick.