Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Saul Williams & Cam'ron: Reppin' the Best and Worst in Hip Hop
Cam'ron on 60 Minutes:
More: Part 2 - listen to those kids (from a church group no less!), truly sad....
Even more:
- Rapper Cam'ron says Snitching Hurts His Business and violates his "Code Of Ethics." LOL!
- Cam getting super-flagrant as usual.
Excerpt from Saul Williams' "Open Letter to Oprah Winfrey":
Someone with more time and insight than me could probably connect the dots between these two things but right now, right here it ain't gonna be me. On a related note though, I happened to catch an episode of the MTV show "Parental Control" today and I was way more offended by the content of that show than any rap record I have ever heard. But maybe that's just me?
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More: Part 2 - listen to those kids (from a church group no less!), truly sad....
Even more:
- Rapper Cam'ron says Snitching Hurts His Business and violates his "Code Of Ethics." LOL!
- Cam getting super-flagrant as usual.
Excerpt from Saul Williams' "Open Letter to Oprah Winfrey":
"[T]oday we are at a crossroads, because the institutions that have sold us the crosses we wear around our necks are the most overt in the denigration of women and thus humanity. That is why I write you today, Ms. Winfrey. We cannot address the root of what plagues Hip Hop without addressing the root of what plagues today's society and the world.
You see, Ms. Winfrey, at it's worse; Hip Hop is simply a reflection of the society that birthed it. Our love affair with gangsterism and the denigration of women is not rooted in Hip Hop; rather it is rooted in the very core of our personal faith and religions. The gangsters that rule Hip Hop are the same gangsters that rule our nation. 50 Cent and George Bush have the same birthday (July 6th). For a Hip Hop artist to say "I do what I wanna do/Don't care if I get caught/The DA could play this mothafukin tape in court/I'll kill you/ I ain't playin'" epitomizes the confidence and braggadocio we expect an admire from a rapper who claims to represent the lowest denominator. When a world leader with the spirit of a cowboy (the true original gangster of the West: raping, stealing land, and pillaging, as we clapped and cheered.) takes the position of doing what he wants to do, regardless of whether the UN or American public would take him to court, then we have witnessed true gangsterism and violent negligence. Yet, there is nothing more negligent than attempting to address a problem one finds on a branch by censoring the leaves.
Name calling, racist generalizations, sexist perceptions, are all rooted in something much deeper than an uncensored music. Like the rest of the world, I watched footage on AOL of you dancing mindlessly to 50 Cent on your fiftieth birthday as he proclaimed, "I got the ex/if you're into taking drugs/ I'm into having sex/ I ain't into making love" and you looked like you were having a great time. No judgment. I like that song too. Just as I do, James Brown's Sex Machine or Grand Master Flashes "White Lines". Sex, drugs, and rock and roll is how the story goes. Censorship will never solve our problems. It will only foster the sub-cultures of the underground, which inevitably inhabit the mainstream. There is nothing more mainstream than the denigration of women as projected through religious doctrine." (Click here for more.)
Someone with more time and insight than me could probably connect the dots between these two things but right now, right here it ain't gonna be me. On a related note though, I happened to catch an episode of the MTV show "Parental Control" today and I was way more offended by the content of that show than any rap record I have ever heard. But maybe that's just me?
Labels: 60 Minutes, Cam'ron, Saul Williams, Stop Snitchin'
