The Hip Hop Factor in Today's Society

Rap artist Nas spoke the truth when he stated "Hip Hop Is Dead" on his current cd. Gone are the days of conscious hip hop music that entertained us, spoke a message, and often times made us laugh. Today we have a group of artist who degrade women in their lyrics, they often speak about the pimp lifestyle also they brag about riches they claim to have.

I can not recall in any genre of music where women are referred to as ho's or bitches.

Hip Hop is supposed to uplift us as a people and show the rest of the world how strong a people African Americans really are. But today's hip hop music does the opposite; it degrades us, embarrasses us and perpetuates every stereotype against African Americans. Some may argue that the artist have a right to creative freedom, but I do not see anything creative in calling a woman a ho.

Hip Hop is such a major influence in today's society. You see it every where. From clothing at major department stores, to television commercials it was even displayed at the recent GOP Press Corps Dinner.

But it is not only the responsibility of the artist, the executives at these larger than life music companies also have a role to play in securing what our young people listen to. The fact is hip-hop superstars like Snoop Dog and 50 Cent are not hustling cd's out of the trunks of their cars, big corporations are distributing the crap disguised as rap.

There are many young rappers out there with positive messages and rap about having a good time without the profanity who are not able get record deals. It seems as if the only way a label would even consider signing you is if you have been shot 10 times, use the N word or refer to women as bitches and ho's. "Good" rap music is considered underground meanwhile the garbage that we hear daily on the radio and the videos that CBS/Viacom play on their music cable channels MTV and BET is considered mainstream. Now that CBS has fired Don Imus it will be interesting to see how they address these other issues within their corporation.

Back in the late 1970's early 80's when parks in the Bronx were alive with the sounds of dee jay's spinning records, mc's on the mike and young people break dancing, no one back then would of ever thought it would turn out to be such a profitable business. The Hip Hop culture has spread beyond the streets of NYC to corporate boardrooms.