Rap's excesses come home to roost

St. Petersburg Times ^ | October 12, 2003 | Bill Maxwell

[Cincinatus' Wife]

All of the excesses of rap music are coming home to roost with a vengeance.

In his book, Hip Hoptionary: The Dictionary of Hip Hop Terminology, author Alonzo Westbrook argues that rap music has great social and cultural significance and redeeming value. But he and other commentators who see only the positive in rap have unwittingly given birth to antirap products, such as the board game Ghettopoly. I will return to Ghettopoly shortly.

"Through catchy tunes, inventive phrases, and expressive voices," Westbrook writes, "rappers address the concerns and hopes of America in ways "intellectuals' have not or cannot because they are removed from "this' society. In doing so, they communicate history - they collect it, speak it and keep it alive. And despite what critics may say, by all indications, this music, these words are doing more good than harm. . . . The only possible harm . . . is that rap exposes sides of the conscience, like sexism, racism, and poverty that (the) mainstream does not want to hear, but needs to hear."

Todd Boyd, a professor of critical studies in the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television, agrees. In his book, The New H.N.I.C. (Head Niggas in Charge): The Death of Civil Rights and the Reign of Hip Hop, Boyd argues that the values of rap and hip hop have trumped those of Martin Luther King and his generation and those of the Black Power movement. In fact, Boyd says, King's "I Have a Dream" speech is less important today than understanding DMX's It's Dark and Hell is Hot.

Perhaps. I fear that Boyd and Westbrook fail to see that the inherent nature of rap and their praise of it have set up the genre - and black people - for ridicule.

In comes Ghettopoly, a takeoff on Monopoly. Unlike the Monopoly gent who sports a top hat, cane and mustache, the Ghettopoly bruh is a thug wearing a bandanna. His bug eyes glare at you over dark glasses, and he clinches a marijuana cigarette between his teeth. But wait! The gangsta homey holds an Uzi in one hand and a bottle of malt liquor in the other.

Charles Thomas, an announcer for WLS-TV in Chicago, describes Ghettopoly well: "The game is played like Monopoly, but the object is to put crack houses or project buildings in some of the worst neighborhoods in America while trying to avoid being carjacked, shot, or addicted. There are ghetto stash and hustle cards, and the seven game pieces include a pimp, a prostitute, a machine gun, malt liquor bottle, basketball, marijuana leaf, and a rock of crack cocaine."

On its Web site, the company that sells Ghettopoly touts the game by promoting adventures in "buying stolen property," "pimpin hoes" and "paying protection fees." It also entices buyers with this come-on: "If you don't have the money that you owe to the loan shark you might just land yourself in da Emergency Room."

I went online to buy the game, but it is sold out, the waiting list stretching from now to Christmas. The Urban Outfitters chain sells the game, but the stores I contacted are sold out, too.

Obviously, many African-Americans, along with whites who care about such things, are outraged. To them, Ghettopoly is racist and offensive.

Listen to Conrad Worrill of the Center for Inner City Studies: "Black or white, can you see yourself playing a game that just highlights all this wrong? That focuses in on all of the negative images and stereotypes of African people in America? I don't think anybody with any sense of humanity ought to play or purchase this game or even consider this game."

The Rev. Michael Pfleger of Chicago: "It is not only insulting and ignorant, but it's shameful. I'd like to get ahold of the person who is behind it because this is something that should be stopped. . . . It promotes the absolute worst of racism. It's racial pornography. It takes the worst element of race prejudice and begins to glorify it and raise it up."

What on earth were blacks thinking as rap (some of which I like) glorified the worst of everything - real and imagined - about our culture? Did they not know that smart people looking to capitalize monetarily would be listening and watching? Which is exactly what David T. Chang, creator of Ghettopoly, was doing. He bought the rap videos. He studied them. He listened to the trash talk. He viewed the naked female flesh. He made images of the gold teeth, gold chains, flashy cars, guns and the other melange of rap.

The difference is that instead of praising his material, Chang ridicules it mercilessly.

I cannot improve on the observations of Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell: "The symbols found in Ghettopoly are an accurate reflection of what hip-hop heroes are selling to white America. Ironically, people are outraged about Urban Outfitters' selling a foul board game, but few people of influence seem to care that every record store in America is selling music that glorifies the very stereotypes the game promotes. How can black people be outraged over a board game when black superstars have gotten rich by promoting those same stereotypes? These performers aren't boycotted. They are worshipped."

The success of Ghettopoly should serve as a cautionary tale for blacks who celebrate the negative for profit: Be careful what you wish for.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

WE WILL NOT GAIN GROUND BY BLAMING WHITES FOR THIS SORRY STATE OF AFFAIRS.

A cry in the black education wilderness

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[goldstategop]

I really do love the sight of liberal black leaders outraged over a MERE game... but silent as church mice on the breakdown in da 'hood. What gives bruh? I guess satire hits too close to home.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Check it out.

This too.

[just deserts]

"rap exposes sides of the conscience, like sexism, racism, and poverty that (the) mainstream does not want to hear, but needs to hear."

Rap promotes sexism, racism and poverty.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Yes, this is true.

[TheOtherOne]

Rap promotes sexism, racism and poverty.

No more than TV, Movies, etc. Rap is not church, it is mere entertainment. This is what gets me about Bill O'reilly. He will trash a Rapper for the lyrics of his song -- why does he not trash actors why play bad characters? He seems to think that rappers should be condemned for writing and singing about pinps and hoes and the like, where movie actors can act about those same topics without his scorn. Where is his outrage at James Gandolfini? He is no better or worse than the rappers who sing about crime - he acts about crimes.

[madprof98]

Rap is not church, it is mere entertainment.

Dead wrong. In the inner city (which I know very, very well, having lived there most of my adult life), rap is a religion. It defines the life of the people who blast it out of their cars 24-7.

[rickmichaels]

...rap music has great social and cultural significance...

And it also keeps undertakers employed.

[milagro]

I don't doubt the truth in what you say--and it is really sad to think that so many people, young and old, are deeply rooted in a "faith" based not on Hope or Love, but despair and rage. And the liberal mindset only helps cultivate the mentality that grounds this "religion" by "fertilizing" it with its own condescending assumptions: people need government to take care of them because otherwise they will become victims of--well, anything, of course, but NEVER government!

[Alia]

Yep.. and the way "rap music" is blasted outta cars here.. hearing-impairment should be on the rise. Being trapped at a traffic light with someone playing "rap" at full blast is beyond rude. And so common. The message is "my beliefs, my music" is so much more important than anything you could possibly want or do. I despise Rap -- and due to being trapped at intersections with some selfish driver forcing everyone to have to roll-up their windows just to hear themselves think. Cell phones are a problem while driving? So is rap-while driving. grr.

[boris]

How can black people be outraged over a board game when black superstars have gotten rich by promoting those same stereotypes? These performers aren't boycotted. They are worshipped.

If the inventor had been black, he would have been worshipped!

--Boris

[mewzilla]

Not all rap is bad. Click here for my favorite rapper.

[upchuck]

When I first heard of Ghettopoly, which occured right here ^ on FR, I thought of the parallel between the message of some rappers and the game. I also figured that "black leaders" would condem the game while giving the rappers a free ride. I was not disappointed. Between 10/8 and 10/10, this ^ story, "Black leaders outraged at 'Ghettopoly'" was posted here on FR four times.

The hypocrisy is amazing. Many of the rappers messages are much worse then the game but the "black leaders" choose to ignore that and go after the game.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Again, I think "follow the money" is instructive.