How Hip-Hop Holds Blacks Back

City-Journal.org ^ | Summer, 2003 | John H. McWhorter

[bedolido]

Is there anything more boring than an old(er) fart trying to dissect why kids listen to certain music?

Rap Music (like SH#&) Happens. However, you point is valid. I'm sure every generation listens to the next gen's music and makes fun of it.

As far as old(er) fart goes, if you live long enough you'll get old and make fun of the younger, up and coming generation's clothes and music. It's a fun part of living a boring older life.

[HurkinMcGurkin]

While someone might outgrow your example, kids arn't going to live long enough to outgrow being a hate filled criminal gunslinger.

I was going to post something very similar.

I have seen countless interviews with band members who made music like HOTD mentioned. Many made comments to the effect that they realized the more parents hated what they were producing, the more kids wanted it and thus, they made that kind of music. There is a stark contrast between the type of rebellion HOTD mentioend that most grow out of and the lifestyle that rap promotes. Not to mention much of the controversial hard rock/heavy metal as mentioned above was simply publicity stunts and marketing schemes. I am sure some rap is too, but it promotes a lifestyle rather than youthful rebellion.

[HairOfTheDog]

Yeah - their rebellion is different, they are rebelling against us.

And we are supposed to be horrified and claim that kids these days are gonna ruin the country.... its the circle of life.

[Between the Lines]

I wonder how this author feels about Johnny Cash who has sung songs about:

While Johnny Cash did sing of crime and criminals he did not promote the lifestyle. In fact he was a born again Christian before he started his career. He performed many more gospel songs (with his wife June Carter) than he did country songs.

While he did perform many criminal type songs it was to show that through the saving grace of God that if someone like him could be saved then so could other felons. Through gospel and country music, his music was his ministry.

* Breaking the law & fleeing from the authorities (Wanted Man)

Breaking hearts and fleeing women. You need to listen to the lyrics of Wanted Man more closely.

[Alberta's Child]

I think I saw that segment -- it was with Bob Costas.

The whole thing came down to this -- the rapper guy with the silly hat who looked like a circus clown basically thought McWhorter "wasn't really black."

[gdani]

You need to listen to the lyrics of Wanted Man more closely

Sounds like more than just wimmen problems:

"......I might be in Colorado, or Georgia by the sea working for some man who may not know at all who I might be......"

".....If you ever see me coming and if you know who I am don't you breathe it to nobody 'cause you know I'm on the lamb....."

".....Went to sleep in Shreveport, woke up in Abilene wonderin' why I'm wanted at some town half way in between....."

".....There's somebody set to grab me anywhere that I might be and wherever you might look tonight you might get a glimpse of me...."

[redangus]

The real problem is that many of the black kids listening to this music don't have parents. The music becomes their view of the world and how life should be lived.

[gdani]

While Johnny Cash did sing of crime and criminals he did not promote the lifestyle.

If he didn't promote it, as you say, he certainly lived it through years & years of drugs & booze (while he was also singing gospel songs).

In fact he was a born again Christian before he started his career.

He's certainly a Christian but I've never heard him refer to himself as "born again". If he is, it didn't come about before his career started.

He performed many more gospel songs (with his wife June Carter) than he did country songs.

False. While he has done many, many, many gospel songs they don't eclipse his country catalog.

While he did perform many criminal type songs it was to show that through the saving grace of God that if someone like him could be saved then so could other felons.

Now you're just trying to attribute "making an example" motives for Cash's songs that he himself has never done.

[Between the Lines]

LOL... yes it is supposed to sound like it is other than what it really is, that is the humor in it, many country songs use this technique. And when taken out of context the lines you quote sound incriminating.


Wanted Man

Written by John R. Cash and Bob Dylan
Recorded 10/9/70

Wanted man in California,
Wanted man in Buffalo
Wanted man in Kansas City,
Wanted man in Ohio

Wanted man in Mississippi,
Wanted man in ol' Cheyenne

Wherever you might look tonight you might see this wanted man

I might be in Colorado,
Or Georgia by the sea
Working for some man who may not know at all who I might be

If you ever see me coming and if you know who I am
Don't you breathe it to nobody 'cause you know I'm on the lamb

Wanted man by Lucy Watson,
Wanted man by Jeannie Brown
Wanted man by Nellie Johnson,
Wanted man in this next town

I've had all that I wanted of a lot of things I've had
And a lot more than I needed of some things that turned out bad

I got sidetracked in El Paso,
Stopped to get myself a map
Went the wrong way in Pleura with Juanita on my back

Went to sleep in Shreveport,
Woke up in Abilene
Wonderin' why I'm wanted at some town half way in between

Wanted man in Albuquerque,
Wanted man in Syracuse
Wanted man in Tallahassee,
Wanted man in Baton Rouge

There's somebody set to grab me
Anywhere that I might be
And wherever you might look tonight
You might get a glimpse of me

Wanted man in California,
Wanted man in Buffalo
Wanted man in Kansas City,
Wanted man in Ohio

Wanted man in Mississippi,
Wanted man in ol' Cheyenne

Wherever you might look tonight you might see this wanted man

Other than infidelity... no crimes are mentioned.

[HairOfTheDog]

Naw - most of them will grow up too.

[tru_degenerate]

True, I thought Dame could have done better or they should have had someone else on the show.

[redangus]

I have also heard a couple of these "artist" who have kids say they don't allow them to listen to rap music or hang around with those who do. Russell Simmons, who lives in a gated community and whose daughters go to private schools, was one I remember.

[tru_degenerate]

There was this female rapper who went by the name Boss. She pretended to be a gangsta rapper. She took the money from that and paid her way thru college or something like that.

[RussRoberts]

"The biggest cause of decline in civility in America has been because the average man is now afraid to do his part to enforce "the code".

We all have to take the blame for this. When I was growing up, if I got out of line, neighbors, teachers, etc. got the word to my parents. Now, too many people believe that we should not judge - nonsense. I was at an amusement park, and a group of kids tried to cut in line in front of my family and others, and I stood in the way. They were verbally challenging, but when I stood my ground, other adults then joined me and blocked their way. They left and cut in line elsewhere, where no adult was prepared to be the first to stand up to bad behavior. Unfortunately, too many people are willing to just stand aside and then privately grumble.

[Between the Lines]

"This book will tell you about a long time gone prodigal who has been brought back…you’ll find out how I’ve fallen and how I’ve turned around again to feel (God’s) love and his forgiveness ….. You may promise that I will unveil my life just as clearly and honestly as I know how. I’m including the failures as well as the times spent in finding strength..." opening lines by Johnny Cash in his autobiography Man In Black.

Cash also wrote another book called "Man In White" a biography of St. Paul.

More on Cash's life: People Just Like Us.org /Christian Positive Role Models

[B-Chan]

Translated into English:

Wise men listen and laugh while fools talk
Stick up kids don't live long in New York
Fuck around and catch the wrong jukes on the street
Get caught slippin', then get hit wit' like three

I am the alpha male of my group. I am physically superior to all other males. Those who offend me by failing to render me the respect I to which I am entitled will be attacked with overwhelming physical force.

In every hood in the US, I'm that nigga they feelin' Rap full of good guys, 50 Cent is the villan

Other rap performers have watered down their lyrical content to appeal to suburban white people. These rappers are sellouts at best, race traitors at worst. True Negroes, who inhabit inner-city ghetto areas, recognize me alone as an authentic Negro.

I play the bar with 8 bottles all night gettin' right
Teachin' the hoodrats what Cristal taste like

I am a succesful hunter-gatherer, and I regularly consume eight bottles of Cristal [champagne] per night as a symbol of my lofty financial and cultural status. Those who have never imbibed this superior vintage cannot help but be impressed by my financial and societal success.

I put 60 on wrist, 12 on my fist, 100 on my neck
We in the hood nigga schemin', what you expect?

I am fabulousy wealthy, and regularly wear expensive gold jewelry in order to display that wealth. This fortune was earned through illicit means, furthering my reputation as a succesful predator.

My S on 22's leave ya hos confuuuuuused
On the track ready to choose, like "Daddy we want you"

I drive a Cadillac Escalade with 22" diameter custom wheels as a symbol of my wealth and sexual prowess.

My love live ain't change, the shorties still hug me
Bullet wound in my face, and bitches still love me

My many offspring are proof of my ability as a stud. Not only am I a powerful enough alpha male to survive a bullet wound to the face, but the fact that I have done so makes me irresistable as a mating partner to the available population of prime females.

[Teacher317]

Q: What's Reagan's program to cure poverty?
A: 100,000 new teams in the NBA

Yet Clinton was the one to bring this joke to life. His cure for inner-city crime was midnight basketball courts.

The Left calls the GOP racist, while they continue to be the most racially divisive, most blatantly racist ("treating people differently according to their race"), and the most condescendingly allof to the problems of blacks in this country. One marvels at how 90% still vote for them, when all they have ever stood for is racial inequity, and all the GOP has ever stood for is equal treatment under the law. Apparently, that many blacks do not care about equality, if they can get preferential treatment at the expense of others. Knowing this, I refuse to feel guilt for any white Democrats who wrote Jim Crow laws and other devices seeking advantageous treatment based on race. Liberal Blacks clearly do not think there is anything wrong with it.

[Between the Lines]

"What Goes Into the Mind Comes Out in a Life"

[gdani]

LOL... yes it is supposed to sound like it is other than what it really is, that is the humor in it, many country songs use this technique. And when taken out of context the lines you quote sound incriminating.

(Not that it really matters in the grand scheme of this thread but) do you have any knowledge that the song is only or at all about infidelity or are you just assuming?

[Calpernia]

But it isn't the rap music that is creating the situation. The rap music is the result.

No family Units. The rappers grew up with absent fathers, mom's at work with one or two jobs...maybe grandma around if the kids are lucky.

The street becomes their home...gangs become the family.

The teens like the music cause it identifies their situation.