Music and Lyrics
Hip-hop "artists" are no better than Imus.
BY JIM FUSILLI
Tuesday, April 17, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
In case you missed it, on Friday afternoon the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN), an advocacy group for the rap and hip-hop industry, issued a press release "differentiating between Don Imus and Hip-Hop." That such a press release is required suggests there may be reasons to confuse these two reliable sources of offensive speech--but no, say Russell Simmons and Benjamin Chavis, HSAN chairman and president, respectively.
After pointing out that Mr. Imus "is not a hip-hop artist or a poet," the release states: "Hip-hop artists rap about what they see, hear and feel around them, their experience of the world. Like the artists throughout history, their messages are a mirror of what is right and wrong with society. Sometimes their observations or the way in which they choose to express their art may be uncomfortable for some to hear, but our job is not to silence or censor that expression."
One might quibble and say the quest for commercial success, and not artistic integrity, is the driver for many major-label rappers, but let's accept the statement as fact so that all those in favor of freedom of expression may line up behind Mr. Simmons and Dr. Chavis. Mr. Imus might join the queue, arguing that his comedy sketches provide him with some claim to free speech in the service of satire. But Mr. Imus abused that right on the public airwaves for quite a while, and it's about time he was sent to his room.
Mr. Imus's skits with producer Bernard McGuirk were among the most vile, sexist, racist and homophobic on mainstream public radio. His attack on the young women of the Rutgers basketball team in which, smirk firmly in place, he called them "nappy-headed hos" was far from out of character for the program. Good riddance, and the satellite radio network that will inevitably revive the Imus program can deal with its equally inevitable return to the bilge and bile of hate speech that may be protected by law but is not immune to public outrage that compels laudable action.
Perhaps the reason HSAN feels it must differentiate itself from the radio bigots is that, in attacking the Rutgers basketball team, Mr. Imus and Mr. McGuirk co-opted the language of hip-hop. In fact, one might argue that they were empowered by the language of hip-hop, which is now mainstream and in play both in schoolyards and penthouses in the U.S. and many parts of the planet. In the world of hip-hop, a woman who displeases the narrator is often referred to as a "ho," a shortened version of "whore." To use a phrase popular among hip-hop purveyors and their fans, to "disrespect" women is an everyday thing, a sign of authority and virility. Because it's a common enough expression in some circles, Messrs. Imus and McGuirk thought their listeners would let their remarks slide.
Not familiar with the latest hip-hop lyrics? Sample these: "I got a lot but baby you can be my best ho," "The hos love it when they see a coupe roofless," "A lot of hos give me they numbers but I never call." Call it cherry-picking to make a point, but these lyrics aren't on obscure recordings. They, and others far more coarse and offensive, appear on three of the top five CDs on Billboard's Top Rap Albums chart--and are marketed by units of EMI and the Universal Music Group.
HSAN argues that Young Buck, Mims and Rich Boy, perpetrators of the aforementioned lyrics, are playing characters that represent urban archetypes. But hip-hop has enormous cultural influence that blurs such distinctions, and Mr. Simmons and Dr. Chavis know it. When rappers imply that all women who don't acquiesce to their demands are hos, the young, impressionable part of their audience may think that's a valid point of view--and take that attitude with them into adulthood.
The undeniable link between the Imus flap and hip-hop is how people in some segments of society now feel free to bring such an opinion of women into public discourse with confidence that others believe it's true. Mr. Imus, Mr. McGuirk and their sportscaster, Sid Rosenberg, who chimed in with equal venom, saw assertive black women and believed they could denigrate them with impunity. Some rappers think the same way, and thus it must follow that so do executives in companies that profit from selling their product.
The HSAN press release went on to say the following: "Our job is to be an inclusive voice for the hip-hop community and to help create an environment that encourages the positive growth of hip-hop. Language can be a powerful tool. That is why one's intention, when using the power of language, should be made clear."
As Mr. Simmons and Dr. Chavez strive to "help create" such an environment--an admission that one does not yet exist--they might keep in mind their own words. Language is indeed a powerful tool. Ask any young woman who's been called a "ho" by some dimwit who heard it on shock radio or a rap record and thought it a fact of modern life. Whether the speaker was trying to emulate Don Imus, Young Buck or an executive profiting from hate speech , the intention was the same: to degrade our daughters and sisters.
Mr. Fusilli writes about rock and pop music for the Journal.
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