(WARNING: if you are easily offended by foul language, avoid the section in italics. I’m putting the lyrics on this post to make a point, and since I guarantee your kids are listening to it, if you’re still in denial, just skip it.)
At work yesterday, I made mention that there were a few specific rappers that I had no respect for and, in fact, would not mind a tussle with because of my profound distaste for them. When I said this, at least three of my coworkers expressed their shock and asked why I so deeply disliked rappers like Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z and 50 Cent.
I’ll first let their words speak for themselves:
“Yo what up, this murder def kill homicide nigga/I got two freaks/yo, watch yo fuckin’ mouth, man…” -Jay Z, “1-900-Hustler”
“C’mon, I got that ignorant shit you need/Nigga, fuck, shit, ass, bitch, trick plus weed/I’m only trying to give you what you want/Nigga, fuck, shit, ass, bitch, you like it don’t front” -Jay Z, “Ignorant Shit”
“Cause is probable/In and out the prison/We got soldiers/But you still gotta respect ours/We got more 4-5′s and 9′s than a deck of cards” -50 Cent, “Catch Me in the Hood”
“It was Kangols, Cazelli shades, Pumas and corn braids/Doo-rags on the waist, brass knuckles, switchblades/Ski mask to get paid, new shells to get sprayed/Hoodrats to get laid, money to get made/Yeah I had a dream/I was rich, woke up broke, gun in my hand/Sayin DAMN!/Dope cost sixty a gram/I got to find me a nigga, line me a nigga/And say “Give it up kid, before I put one in your wig”/Picture me thirsty, ridin ’round foamin out the mouth/Sayin “I don’t get on, I’ma lay a nigga out” -50 Cent, “Curtis 187″ (for those who are unaware, the LAPD radio code for murder is 187.)
“I’m hittin’ you and ya niggas/Feel tha flame when I aim/For tha top of ya brain/See tha spark and tha bang/Nigga shit ain’t a game/Do tha math or get blast/Bullets go thru tha glass/Go-thru-ya-ass, fast/And tha leather seat sittin’ Ave/Nigga/It’s not a war when there’s casualties on one side/I ride!/Turn it up on you niggas after Jay ride-by…” -50 Cent, “My Gun Go Off”
“Motherfucker gonna die tonight/That’s why I smoke weed, get high tonight/Cause I’m a no limit soldier/With TRU datted in blood/I went to jail for years, for movin’, burnin’ the drugs…kill, kill, kill/Murder, murder, murder/Ain’t nothin’ personal, tru/See it’s all about respect…” -Snoop Dogg, “Ain’t Nut’in Personal”
“I went to your house/Your girl came in and started cussing you out/You should have slapped her/In her face/I wanted to tell you, but it wasn’t my place/I kept it on the low ’cause I know you/Was gonna check that hoe…this is what you made me do/I really didn’t wanna put hands on you/But bitch you playin’ with fire/I’m so sick and tired/Of loud-mouth bitches like you…” -Snoop Dogg, “Can U Control Yo Hoe”
I could post this garbage all day. I cannot stand today’s popular “rap.” It’s not real music, and the lyrics are nothing–literally nothing–but hate, violence, drugs, misogyny and murder. There is no saving grace to any of these so-called artists. There is no excusing them, not for any reason–and saying, “it’s the best they can do for themselves” is a cop-out.
We have heard activists both black and white (the white ones being bleeding-heart liberals) talk about how black kids don’t get a fair shake. They’re locked out of a life because they can’t get an education, they can’t get jobs, and nobody will give them a chance. Poor, poor thugs; they’re just living the life that was handed to them. We can’t expect them to be better because we haven’t allowed them to be better.
It’s not just black kids. And it’s not just the poor ones. If you’re going to argue that it’s the poor black kids who are put upon, though, then look no further than their idols. Cretins like 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Jay Z, Snoop Dogg, and other rappers make a thug’s life a dream to be attained, not something to be avoided like the plague. Hell, Snoop Dogg released “Blue Carpet Treatment” as homage to his gang set: the Rollin’ 20′s Crips. They glorify pushing drugs on kids, shooting rival gang members, maiming people, murdering them, raping women, beating women–and it’s all acceptable. The kids eat it up because society has told them that it’s okay to want what they’ve got. It doesn’t help that some of the cops tasked with cleaning up the mess from these mini-thugs are into this drivel, too. I know a few, and it’s a characteristic I’ve made well-known I have no respect for.
Rap is the low-class culture committing suicide. It’s an entire group of people saying, “we don’t care, we just want what we can get, even if we have to take it.” How will troubled black kids learn any better with this kind of leadership? How will ANY of the kids who idolize these monsters learn the difference between right and wrong with their heroes graying the lines for them? Yes, it is a travesty that blacks make up a majority of the prison inmate population in America. I will agree with that. But it’s not racism that’s the problem. It’s the tacit refusal to grow up. The culture is killing itself by embracing the thug life.
Shelby Steele, a prominent black conservative writer (and one of my heroes), said this: “We then think that our whole future depends on keeping whites feeling guilty and keeping them on the hook. The more we protest, the more dependent we become, the weaker we become. We’re weaker today than we were in the nineteen-fifties.”
I think that has a lot to do with those placed on a pedestal, those bastions of the “good life” quoted above. Look no further than your own mirror, folks, for killing your own culture.