Author says that Hip Hop holds African Americans back

Hip-hop holds African-Americans back, author says
By Angela Woodall
Oakland Tribune
Posted: 05/12/2010 12:01:00 AM PDT
Updated: 05/12/2010 08:19:34 PM PDT

A group of teenagers armed with little more than an attitude and some turntables created a rebellion 30 years ago in the Bronx. The fire spread across the globe, from Beirut to Beijing, where youths use hip-hop to rap about being denied freedom, power and a voice.

Back at home, the lingua franca of the counterculture has become the language of vapid commercialism and empty values, according to author Thomas Chatterton Williams.

The argument he makes in his book, "Losing My Cool: How a Father's Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip-Hop Culture," is not about high culture versus low culture. Neither is the book — Williams' first — a thinly disguised attempt to make money by offering lurid details about hip-hop's royalty.

The stakes are too high for that, especially for African-Americans, said Williams by telephone during a national book tour that touches down Friday at the Book Passage in Corte Madera.

The stakes are higher, he said, because racism and now hip-hop have limited what it means to be black by insisting on one measure: street culture as embodied by Biggie Smalls and Jay-Z.

Jay-Z, who once rapped, "I dumb down my lyrics to double my dollars," is one form of blackness, Williams said. "But why does he set the tone for black culture today? It's tragic."

The irony is that young men have a better chance of being like President Barack Obama than a rap star, Williams said. From Oakland to New Jersey, they will

sabotage their future just for the sake of trying to be like their millionaire entertainment idols. The dynamic, Williams said, "has quietly taken the place of white racism as the most formidable obstacle to success and equality in the black middle classes."

Williams used to emulate and idolize the rappers he now criticizes. He still listens to hip-hop but learned to appreciate jazz and Nina Simone and Marvin Gaye while studying at Georgetown University. There he discovered other definitions of what it could mean to be black, ones that included men like James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison — and his father.

It took a long time for him to appreciate his scholarly parent, an African-American man who grew up in the height of segregation in the South.

"Black never looked like my father sitting in a study underlining a book," Williams said. "It looked like a kid who could be walking in the South Bronx."

Growing up in the middle-class New Jersey suburb of Fanwood, Williams remembers watching wide-eyed as Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre and The Notorious B.I.G. swaggered across the TV screen at the local barbershop, Unisex Hair Creationz. The men set the tone for what it meant to be young and black and male: dumbed-down and thugged-out.

"I'm a put it on a bullet and put it in your brain," rapped Eric B. and Rakim while Williams and his friends imitated the rappers' scowl. Others went further because they thought they shared the tragic fate of men like Tupac Shakur.

While writing "Losing My Cool," Williams said he realized how easily he "could have become a statistic." He credits his parents with helping him to break the "python grip" of bad role models and what he called a "relentless and powerful propaganda campaign that steamed into the house 24/7."

Williams changed, but hip-hop didn't despite a promising moment during Obama's presidential campaign. Hip-hop returned to bling obsession instead of, as Williams put it, evolving into an art that describes what it means to be alive and black in America in the 21st century.

That said, "Losing My Cool" doesn't try to explain why the flame of rebellion no longer illuminates hip-hop. Williams does, however, offer a mirror that reflects what has happened to society as a result of the transformation.

" 'Losing My Cool,' " he said, "will provoke readers black, white, old and young to question, critique and ultimately reject more of the nonsense and conformity that surrounds us all."

 

The one thing I noticed is how now more black people than ever want to be in politics and that is a good thing. Something that Bill Clinton "the first black president" could not do. There is something about how someone who looks like you draws you to do the same thing they do. That being said hip hop is not the problem. The environment is. A lot of these rappers rap about their background. They usually are from the ghetto, projects or an economically deprived area. They don't know how they affect the children through words. All for the dollar. Parents can't really stop that. Parents have to judge what is good or not good for their children. You can't stop freedom of speech.

I have to say beyonce is confusing. One minute she is singing about if you can pay her bills and if you can't she dumps you(not what a relationship is about but kids will take that in). Another minute she is singing about being an independent lady(how you are independent and asking your b/f to pay your bills is beyond me). Now, she is singing put a ring on it. just so conflicting. Her songs like others is just there for money but the kids don't know that. It is unfortunate for the kids.

 

I agree that we lack a variety of good role models but I think its important to recognize its not just african american culture its American culture in its entirity. You ask your average high school student what they want to do when they grow up its always something entertainment related and truthfully you can't blame them. We are a money oriented society, material things for the most part are the representation and signs of accomplishment in our lives. One of my favorite quotes is "To judge someone by how much they have is a fruitless endeavor but to judge them by how many they also make wealthy is truly devine"
We as adults need to better lead by example instead of blaming people in entertainment. We shouldn't condemn them for indulging in the system we all embrace. We need discipline and direction. As far as Beyonce is concerned blame Columbia records for her music she's a marketing tool for them to get more money.

 

Good read I'm gonna buy it

 

I kinda agree with both sides. It can be said that hip-hop is the problem because the rappers do represent hip-hop, but at the same time, like you said, it's the environment and they just rap about what they know and grew up around. Also, many of these rappers are not out to be role models. Yeah, they have the "responsibility", which was just thrown onto them by the mainstream, but it's not like they agreed and said, "aight, I'm gonna go out and be a role model". They are just trying to make money. And money, especially with rappers, is always gonna be priority over what the message may mean to some kids they will never meet. To them, making legit money > influence on random fan #4876.


Plus, most rappers were making music for people like them before they got big. All the rappers out today talking about selling keys and bricks were making tracks for people in their circle, who thought like them. Gucci Mane's dumb ass hangs out with a bunch of thugs, gang bangers, and drug dealers. His circle can relate to what he raps about. If he did't have a group of people who he knew that could relate to his shit, I doubt he would have come all this way(and land his ass back in jail) White college chicks and 14 year old boys just happen to like his shit, as well.



As far as Beyonce, I never understood that shit, either.

Sounds like a good book, though. I might check it out.

 

Arch, actually "Can you pay my bills" was Destiny's Child, that was their very first single as a group and their very last single as Destiny's Child was "Cater to U". Interesting choice for the last single to end the group, but I get your point...

 

Not a hater of hip-hop but I have never loved the genre. Its always simplistic to blame hip-hop for the problems of black America but I will readily concede that hip-hop has not, in my mind, been a force for progressive change or even addictive entertainment for a long time. Worst of all for me it kid of sets up a model of behavior for young black men that is damaging towards them. Fuck all that non-step, one-sided whining about how hip-hop degrades black women, homosexuals, etc. Hip=hop does most of its damage to the psyche of young black men as far as I’m concerned.

 

I thought "No, no, No" was before that, though, because I was hella younger when that song came out, and I was a couple years older when "Bills" came out.

 

It has been so long since I have heard this song. I had to look it up on youtube. lol

 

Get rid of hip hop and all our troubles just vanish........fuck outta hear with that monkey-ass shit.:butthead:

 

B.A. I was wrong and you are correct No, No, No was before Bills. That smashes my statement to Arch.....whooooooops!!!!

 

Agree & Concur, m8..

The *Big R* comin' yer way, eh?






















OpinionsCartoonStudios@Yahoo.Co.UK

 

The author makes some good points, however he seems to blame most of commercial hip hop for the problems. My problem with current black culture that it tends to focus on one aspect of the black experience. Most of the black radio stations in my area play the same type of music all day. When that happens people become restricted and don't open their minds and grow.

 

And it is that kind of talk that ALOT of blacks like you have as to reason
why you all always lose and hip hop wins, everytime they try to get rid of it
They lose lose lose, because hip hop has the recipe of winning and you all
dont. Folks are just mad and been mad because Hood blacks dont follow society's rules like the houseniggers and uncle toms and the square blacks
do. Ya'll are too concern with either impressing or being better than white people in this country and both are side, how about people being themselves before they be a RACE. Even Common said in an interview that folks wanted
to cancel him from coming to perform in they city. The Hood and Hip Hop is
where REAL lives. We are NOT afraid to point out racism, like Jay-z has about "crystale".... If that was a black person like you, you would of came on
here and cried about how racist something is.

Your biggest problem is that you and I get the feeling its purposely, you
mix the ignorance in hip hop with the ART.


It funny how some blacks can attack hip hop this strong, but scared to death to attack racism in this industry....HIP HOP Keep winning and you keep losing, usually when it goes that way somebody doign soemthing wrong somebody is doing something right.

 

I'm not into Rap or Hip Hop but I find it funny that some people always assume I like Rap just because I'm black, Rap is an African American thing, not a black thing in general, they think all blacks are the same and listen to the same kind of music, funny... I never assume all whites like pizza because Italians like Pizza...