‘censorship itself is bad enough but RACISM disguised as censorship is even worse’.

Great line indeed!!!

I agree with most of the points you made, and the racial hypocrisy can be overwhelming. There is a long list of issues that exist today that need to be dealt with just the same as existed before hip-hop ever existed. Versus say, our educational system, parenting, and public policy, is the influence of music/TV highly overrated? I think so. But I still think it is one of many issues that need to be addressed.

whether music or TV there is still a problem when positive images are not allowed to shine through. THESE are the images that are being censored. There are many negative images of whites in TV, music, and arts. But those images are also complemented by positive images. It is the positive images that round out the picture.

In and of itself there is nothing wrong with hip-hop. But when Clear Channel, Viacom, or even Bob Johnson won’t give us all the voices, we have to fight for those other voices. Same for TV.

Today’s HIP HOP has been saturated by guys who aren’t from the streets. Posers and the like have created an avenue for the junk to fall into place. And there is SO MUCH money to be made now as opposed to the 80′s, that there is a market for everybody whether real or phony, rapper and fans alike. Unfortunately, there are BILLIONS involved so it’s up to the consumer’s individual taste as to what he or she wants to listen to. If they don’t like it, they won’t listen.

It’s no different than Salsa and how it changed into a crossover style of music in the early 90′s. Marc Anthony was credited with destroying Salsa with his R&B like crooning, which won over the youthful Puerto Ricans on this side of the Atlantic. He created a more romanticized version of Salsa which was ridiculed by traditional Salseros from the 60′s and 70′s. What Marc Anthony did do was Americanize Salsa to the point it was selling out arenas all over the place. Dozens of salseros took the same road to riches. It made Salsa much more visible to the younger generation of Latinos who didn’t connect with the more older based styles that Salsa catered to.

In the end, it’s all about what the individuals like. There isn’t anyone on the planet who will ever convince me that Snoop, Dre, Eminem, 50 could ever hold a candle to guys like Rakim. Rakim came around way too early in the rap game, before it exploded. I don’t really care for much of the rap out there today, because I’m more arrogant about rap than the typical fan. I lived the life. I’m from the Bronx. I bleed hood. Where others are ashamed of claiming they are from the Bronx, I love it. To me, rap has always been about celebrating who you are in an egotistical way.

Sorry for the diatribe! I wish some of our Knicks were as passionate about basketball as I am about expressing some of my most inner thoughts!

The larger complaint is simply that the radio does not reflect the diversity of rap. My problem is not with 50, but Clear Channel. As an analogy: the Sopranos, in and of itself, is not bad, but if 80% of the time I turned on the TV it was Tony, then I would have a problem.

The distaste might be all the great hip-hop artists whose hands the money is NOT falling into because their message is different from the accepted blueprint. Even if you were to section off hip-hop to NYC in 2007, wasn’t there far more radio diversity of messages in 1980′s than now?

Here is where the ignorance of those who are controlled by the media rears it’s ugly head. The word “nigga” is all of a sudden this word that is offensive to every black person in America from ages 18 and above. 5 years ago in Rockland County, a black man approached me as I was having a cellphone conversation with my boy. I used the term, “They caught that nigga out there!” What ensued was a fight because I told the dude to mind his business. As the ghetto graduate, perhaps I should have followed the hood and shot the kid, but I didn’t have a gun on me. The stupidity of his actions were shocking. The kid told me “I shouldn’t be saying that word” and when I told him the word was a Bronx word used by Bronx natives, he said “Don’t say that word again if you know what’s good for you.” A few punches later, we were seperated by mall security. My last words to him were..”Remember a Bronx nigga did that to you” and I will never forget the shocked look on his face. He must have thought I was insane, since I’m Carlos Beltran’s complexion from the Mets.

In short, the term “nigga” was created by Puerto Ricans in the 70′s in the Bronx. In Puerto Rico, someone of my complexion would be called “negrito” as a term of endearment. It’s a Puerto Rican thing. As our people arrived here, the term morphed from a term of endearment on the streets of NY towards anyone into a slangish form of way to name someone (like a surfer in Cali would say “dude”). The word was heavily used in every hood in NYC. It was accepted by any and everyone and there was never an issue using it. Even the white kids in my hood used the word. The rap game made this word “nigga” a national word.

Now this word has been demonized via the rap game. But rap isn’t to blame. It’s the ignorant media members who don’t know history, or misinterpret history to fit their needs, that create the problems. The rap game only mirrors what’s on the streets and that’s what it should be about. Rap isn’t a solution. It’s a story. Sometimes harsh. Sometimes realistic. Sometimes exaggerated. The reality here is that it’s supposed to be hood!It’s not to be judged by socities’ elite majority. Even studio thug rappers have a role in rap, because the hood always had guys who wanted to be bad, but didn’t have the need to rob nor the heart to do so. In the end, rap is about the beats. If the beat sucks, it won’t matter if the lyrics are the hottest thing since oral sex was invented, because it will get shut off in 10 seconds. 50 cent is so garbled after his shooting, you can barely understand what he says, but the beats for his jams make you take notice. That’s the rap game right there…..50 couldn’t have said it better himself:

An ill flow with no beat, is incomplete
it’s like a stickup kid runnin round without no heat
it’s like a fifth with no kick a fiend with no hit
a willie with no whip
A bad bitch that won’t blow dick
It’s like a rollie with no ice, a gamblin spot with no dice
Like fuckin supermodel bitches and not bustin off twice

Very interesting information! Thanks!

G’night

Firstly, you have the best web name in sports website history! I am a kindred spirit! Yeah, you are right about “never to far”. And thanks for the tip on Immortal Technique. I was considering him because he is such a good emcee, but pulled back for a couple of other reasons as it relates to this particular list.