[blackwatch06]

In some of the replies, many people are restating the obvious problem that I think Bro. Cornel West stated plainly. Yes the parents are not doing a good job talking to their children about images and the "entertainment" of the rap artist. Considering this context, what should the black community advocate more for, the rap artists' rights to free speech or the community's overall well being? Using Senusret I's logic ...

"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."

then we should also find a problem with community standards for pornography . You see, there are laws against children under 18 purchasing pornography because the community feels that it would be detrimental to children to purchase pornography. One could argue that pornography is free speech and, according to Senusret I's logic, should be protected from community censorship. If parent's where doing their job as parents, then children should be able to glean the entertainment value and artistry out of porn. But the community doesn't think so, and deems it illegal for children to purchase porn, regardless of what their parents are or are not doing in the rearing of their children.


Some people may say that rap music and pornography are two different things, but I beg to differ. Both claim to be fantasy masked as reality. The subject matter in many rap songs could be (and in some instances actually is) the soundtrack to many porn movies (check Snoop Dogg, Treach, and Mystikal-all who have recently appeared in porn movies). With songs like "Coochie Don't fail me now" and "Magic Stick" in heavy rotation on the air waves, these songs don't just bring up real world issues as OthelloStreet asserts, they actually would require that parents talk to their children about subjects that some would deem unnecessary. It's one thing to hear "Black Steel in the hour of Chaos" by Public Enemy and have a conversation with your children about military drafts, it's quite another thing to talk to a 10 year old girl about how to please a man sexually with her "coochie" because she has heard that is how women get men to remain monogomous. Now, I was not necessarily calling for censorship, but what I am calling for is more responsible messages from our black rappers. If you are going to put out pornographic songs, or minstrel shows masked as "real" hip-hop, then be able to show how this "art" has at its core social critique or some type of redeemable value to the community from which it came and to which it is aimed. This is called true artistry. If the rap "artists" want to claim that what they do is "art" let's hold them to an aesthetic like other forms of art are held. The black arts aesthetic has at its core a responsibility to uplift the community through unique creativity or keen social critique. Art is a lot more than just people doing what they want to do, art is a reflection of a community's conscience. This is why communities have obscenity laws, because all speech is not protected speech (check your constitution). Like Bro. W.E.B. DuBois stated "All art is propaganda". Which means that all art has something to say and influences people.



To leave it up to the parents is like stating that the reason a person has cancer is because of cancer cells. That is obvious, but the true cure to the cancer is to figure out how to stop the cancer cells from forming. To state that rappers have the right to say these things and only will influence people if there are weak or ineffective (or ignorant) parents is like stating that even though we know that smoking can cause lung cancer, it's okay to smoke, we just have to figure out a way to keep the smoking from causing the lung cancer. While it would be nice to have your cake and eat it too, since we do not know how to keep the smoking from causing the cancer, then why continue to smoke? Are your rights as an individual to smoke more important than your will to live? Recognizing bad parenting as part of the problem and suggesting that good parenting is needed is obvious. It is also obvious that there is a dearth of good parenting in our community for a variety of reasons. My suggestion is that we take steps to do something about our condition, rather than continue to suffer from a pathology that is preventable by advocating for more responsible "art" from rap "artists".

Blackwatch!!!!!!