Quote:
Originally posted by Senusret I
[B]Having met McGruder after the comic strip dropped, but before he gained his notoriety, I just want to start out by saying this brother keeps it real and has always kept it real, and for that I respect him.
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That's the deal my friend, that's partially why I am a fan of his work because like BERNIE MAC, he says a lot of the things people are scared to say and he is unapologetic for it.
Quote:
Originally posted by Senusret I
I will vigorously defend a rap artist's right to free speech because as a writer, I would not want the black community coming together to decide that what I write is not appropriate or someway degrades the moral values in the community. As a child, I read a lot and listened to a lot of different kinds of music. Honestly, I read and listened to material with explicit sexual content (Prince, Madonna, and random Jackie Collins novels that my mom had).....but I didn't turn into a mysoginist or pervert just because I was exposed to the material. I had a parent who taught me how to read critically at an early age....anyway, I am rambling, and it's time to bring this puppy home...
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And this is where HOME-TRAINING comes in. I see that Senusret I's parents and mine fell from the same tree because anytime I brought home work by Snoop Doggy Dogg, Dr. Dre, DJ Quick, Ice Cube or any "gangsta rap"/West Coast artist, I could talk to them about what I was listening to and they didn't prevent me from listening to these artists. My parents took the time to SHOW & TELL (most parents just
tell and don't
show) me right from wrong so I knew that when ever these artist were saying "questionable" stuff, I could decipher what I was supposed to get out of it.
Now as a hip-hop artist who writes a good deal of pulp fiction and erotica, I, like many of my contemporaries do not feel that it is my responsibility to be mindful of creating MY material, which may not be suitable for YOUR children. YOU,
the parent, need to have a TALK with your children so that they can enjoy my work if you or they so choose and take my work as entertainment and not as a guide to handle a REAL situation.
I think the real problem is that TODAY's children are way more aware, bold and inquisitive about their surroundings and what is going on with the world and TODAY’s parents can’t handle that. Because a lot of parents can’t handle the idea of having and adult conversation with their children, the children in turn seek the artist(s) creating their work and hope to use the work as a guide to handle a REAL situation. This is why we as African Americans have a lot of other problems too but I won’t go into that on this post.
So if anything, I think the talking should be between the parent and the child; with the child listening to what the parent has to say and the PARENT LISTENING TO WHAT THE CHILD HAS TO SAY. I emphasize parents listening because I do not think they are doing a good job of that either and if they did, their children wouldn’t be getting into so much trouble.