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Mysogyny in Hip Hop
By Stan Kinard
The issue of misogyny in hip-hop must be addressed at this critical time in our history. I don’t think most adults are really in tune with lyrics of many of the songs that our youth are listening to and singing. This article is not about Imus but about us (Black Folks). It is my opinion that this current generation of black youth is the most immoral ever and unless we address the immorality of our youth, they will self-destruct. We need both an internal and an external strategy to address this problem. The external strategy will address systemic and institutional racism. It will confront a school system that refuses to teach black children their history and a police department that profiles black youth, shoots black men and fires 41 bullets at Amadu Diallo for reaching into his pocket for keys to open the door to his own home; and fifty bullets at Sean Bell and his friends for enjoying themselves on a night before his wedding. This external strategy has demanded the resignation of Police Commissioner Kelly, and was at the forefront of the fight to fire racist ass Imus from WNBC and CBS radio for his racist remarks against the Rutgers Women’s Basketball team.
The external strategy also demands that progressive persons of color obtain political power. This can be done by supporting persons like Councilman Charles Barron in his quest to become the Borough President of Brooklyn, with the largest concentration of persons of African ancestry in the Western Hemisphere. This position will give him a platform to address the issue of race in a manner that has never been done before. The goal of activist groups like Operation Power is to influence government by promoting a human rights legislative agenda that addressing the issues of the war, international drug trafficking, police brutality, universal healthcare and mis-education.
We must also develop an internal strategy that addresses the immorality of our youth. While misogyny is clearly a manifestation of the racist and sexist structure of American society, the immorality of our youth is a problem that we must resolve. Hip-Hop culture and not the black church or schools, has been the major influence in defining the culture of our youth. We can no longer shut our ears to Hip-Hop lyrics and not listen to what our youth are saying. The negativity and immorality of these lyrics has deeply penetrated the consciousness of an entire generation of our youth, and has become their cultural norm. As vulgar as it may appear in the written word, I am challenged to present the lyrics to you in the raw way the are being presented to our children.
“B—-s ain’t s– but hos and tricks” -Snoop Dogg
“I like them young, fresh and green, with no hair in between” – Biggy
“Get a bad yellow b—, make her drop them draws, middle finger to the law, I gonna show you how to ball;”- Rich Boy
Move b—, get out the way, Get out the way bitch, get out the way, Move b—, get out the way, Get out the way b—, get out the way …;”-Ludacris
“I’ve got hos in different area codes;” -Ludacris
“I don’t know what you heard about me, but bitches can’t get a dollar out of me, no Cadillac, no perms you can’t see that I’m a mother—- P.I.M.P.”-50 cents
Our children know the lyrics to all these songs. They learn these lyrics in elementary school like we used to learn nursery rhymes. They get their moral direction from these lyrics which are reinforced by music videos where what is said is acted out on television. A spiritual and revolutionary cultural war must be waged to address this crisis in our community. This must be a primary goal of the black church, black educators and activists who have the greatest capacity to wage this fight at this time. You may call it Armageddon but currently, we are losing the war.