After all, if education is more readily available as wonderful08 astutely puts it, then what is so much more appealing about hip-hop to the "ghetto youth"? Some people say that it is not easier, but it is more of a reality. I don't see how. I think that hip-hop is percieved as more of a reality to the youth because of skewed perception, they feel that hip-hop points to their identity as black people more so than education. This is due to the white supremacist notions clouding the perceptions of young people.
In our Sunday school class this quarter, we are examining the meaning of different aspects of life and salvation by looking critically at our perceptions and also looking at truth- the "realest reality" so to speak (cf. John 18:33-38). Most times, young people relate to hip-hop more due to exposure- they see it, hear,and play it all of the time. Education often times is not shown to them in a way in which they can take ownership of it. It becomes foreign to them, even though it is way more "real" to them than hip-hop will ever be, because they are actually in the school, interacting with teachers and administrators, and actually reading books (those who can read
. I think it is easier to give up on education and claim a negtive identity (huslter, pimp, etc.) than to work to empower yourself through education.
Hip-hop is a media creation now. The reality of black life is being filtered through a prism of white label and media execs who are not trying to deliver reality (or truth), but a marketable perception (or view) of black life. Doggeystyle notes that it is too easy to blame the white media, because we see these things in our communities. I agree we see these things, but the media has succomb to the post modern notion that truth is merely perception. Since they choose to high light certain aspects of our culture, those aspects become
the "reality" or truth about our culture to many people, black and white. I do not deny that there are drug dealers, gangsters, strippers and pimps in our inner city communities, but is that all there is? Aren't there any hard working, honest women and men, hairdressers and barbers, preachers that are dedicated to making a difference, schools and teachers that are making differences, etc.? I think so, but if your perception of the truth is clouded by media due to an untrained and uncritical mind, then you will gravitate towards the negative element due to the ongoing search for a racial identity that seems to be quenched when you claim a marketable media image as an authentic racial identity. You value self-perception (read- expediency or "ease") over truth ( read -despite your environment, you don't have to be a "hustler" to be "authentically black").
I think the education piece is vital, but we also have to consider values. Do we value truth, or do we value self-perception? I think it is easier for the ghetto youth to fall into the nihilism that McWhorter talks about than to own up to the reality of overcomming the world. This is what makes hip-hop more relative to youth, it represents nothing by means of empowerment, but it offers a lot by means of expediency, which ultimately leads to destruction.
Blackwatch!!!!!!