Hip Hop vs. America Pt 1 "Oprah...wasn't fair to hip hop"

As seen on BET, the debate over Hip Hop vs. America Feat. Russell Simmons, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, T.I., Nelly, Master P , and hosted by Cousin Jeff and Toure

For all the criticism they receive, BET deserves credit for taking on this topic and broadcasting it as a special prime time event during the first big week of the new television season. The image of BET in the media and in the black community is often reduced to a caricature that fails to acknowledge the subtlety and nuance of BET's programming.

But having said that, I'm not sure that one television series is quite enough to make amends for years of missed opportunities. I've been very critical of the business model initiated by BET's founder Bob Johnson, which amounted to little more than profit over programming. For years, BET was little more than music videos, syndicated TV shows, and late night infomercials. Now, under new leadership, the network has been trying -- sometimes in questionable ways -- to build original programming.

What troubles me about BET today is the absence of timely news and public affairs programming. It's great that "Meet The Faith" airs on Sundays, but the show is taped so far in advance that it's impossible to be timely in response to new news. Even in the Bob Johnson days of the 90s, BET had a nightly news broadcast and a lively and current evening talk show with host Tavis Smiley. If we still had a daily news and talk show on BET, we wouldn't have to wait almost six months to have this discussion on hip hop and America. While everybody else in America was talking about offensive language back in April, that discussion was nowhere to be found on our own black network.

And I have to say that the discussion we had at the town hall meeting in June was important. Rapper Nelly was clearly the most controversial and outspoken of the performers, repeatedly defending hip hop and his own music, including his controversial video "Tip Drill," which as some observers said, has come to identify his career.

Nevertheless, the movers and shakers at BET, Reginald Hudlin and Debra Lee, were both involved in the town hall meeting, and both attended the event in Los Angeles, held the day after the BET Awards. They heard a lot of discussion about BET and about hip hop that day, and I hope they took the messages to heart in a constructive way.
Hip Hop Is America

The real problem here is not just BET or hip hop. The real problem is broader than any one TV network or one cultural phenomenon.

Hip hop didn't invent sexism, violence, homophobia or materialism. If you listen to the language used by President Bush, you'll realize that all those things are as much a part of America as baseball and apple pie. Who is more sexist, violent, homophobic and materialistic than the President of the United States? He's the guy who wants to take away a woman's right to choose and a gay couple's right to marry. He's the guy who wants to arm the nation with hand guns and started two wars in his first term alone. He's the guy who promotes unchecked capitalism at the expense of worker's rights. And he's the guy with the power to do something about those things.

Still, that shouldn't let hip hop off the hook. Hip hop may not have started any of those things, but it has amplified, and in many cases, glorified the images of violence, materialism, sexism and homophobia. Some people pick on hip hop just because they don't like it. But many of us pick on hip hop because we want it to do better. We remember when the music of hip hop was connected to the streets, powerful and political and entertaining at the same time. And we worry that much of today's hip hop and rap has descended into something meaningless, produced by people of color but largely consumed by young white guys in the suburbs.

And no matter how much we talk about hip hop, the white and black executives in the music industry don't look like they're ready to change its formula anytime soon. Nor for that matter is the consumer changing. Unless and until consumer outrage spurs action, the industry won't be doing much about it.




cont...

video courtesy of BET Networks
verbage courtesy of Keith Boykin

Category:

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Tags:

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[ThePrinceMakaveli]

Hip Hop died when 2pac died.

[DJhossy1]

FUCK! russel simmons... look him up on twitter he says 'Yes im illuminati.... So'.... if you dont know who the illuminati is then look it up. they killed hip-hop.... Russel simmons was helping to kill hip-hop!....

[yungCra23]

@79Rialto Then that makes the Black rappers sell outs..

[Noleafunburned]

hip hop isnt "black music" sorry, last time i checked non blacks could record tracks and if blacks call them "wannabes" let it be..just dont let them perpetuate any more "you trippin" rhetoric while expressing the validity of other inferiority complexes on behalf of an entire race(ofcourse in their minds when enraged with such "opposition") OH WAIT..that demographic buys into trends before most rappers do,carry along (sarcasm)

[ETAEI]

@buggeazy102 i totally agree 100% but it is a shame that other people dont think like this..

[buggeazy102]

@ETAEI yea but in this country one bad apple spoiles the bunch

[buggeazy102]

@ETAEI yea but they cover up what white people do yes i agree white people did so much fucked up shit in this country but never foot the bill other words never take the blame for shit its been goin on since the beginning of time so if you blame whites we dont belive it blame blacks you belive it thas just the way it is and always will be

[buggeazy102]

@RamReyez3 right record companies and tv period dont give a fuck about the kids its all about what sells now they even got homosexuality on tv now you havent seen nothin yet just wait till they legalize low scale drugs

[buggeazy102]

@XavierRuffin i kinda agree hip hop in the 70s and 80s was to let people know what was going on around them yes we had violence back then it wasnt as harsh as it is now and they rap about it so what we got today nothing but more violence more money sex then we did back then so thats what they rap about and all you people not talkin to you xavier out there talkin bout you gotta keep it real and thats what they are doin

[buggeazy102]

@tavern2468 we are white