Comments on: Imus, Hos and Snoops

By: admin

admin — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 07:22:53 +0000

I just received the latest newsletter from Paris, of GuerillaFunk. It’s a long one, but it’s well worth reading. He looks at the dynamics of rap as a part of the music industry: “My understanding is that artists are supposed to express what they believe in at all costs (if not, there’s work at the post office). But most don’t, and they mold their approaches to making music based on what they perceive major labels wanting. If Def Jam or Interscope or any of these other large culture-defining companies issued a blanket decree that they would only support material and artists with positive messages then 99% of those making music now would switch up to accommodate. That’s real talk. I’m not saying these labels should (or would), but if they did, gangstas would stop being gangstas and misogynists would stop being misogynists at the drop of a DIME.”

Another thought: “in this current era of style over substance Stevie Wonder, Parliament/Funkadelic, Earth, Wind & Fire, Curtis Mayfield and others would never have been signed. Let that sink in for a second. They would never have been signed. Some of the very architects of black music as we know it would have been sidelined too, just as countless others are now, because they wouldn’t have fit into white corporate America’s cookie-cutter feel-good box of acceptable black behavior and appearance.”

I recommend reading the full article at http://www.guerrillafunk.com/thoughts/doc000035.html

Michael

By: admin

admin — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 07:42:04 +0000

Wow! This must be the comment of the week.

Your point about education reminds me of the words of Curtis Mayfield and others back in the sixties and seventies.

There is no reason to accept blingspeak as being normal. There are indeed other ways to communicate.

By: the randomone

the randomone — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 00:53:34 +0000

Thanks for passing through Michael. Like I said in my blog I am a foreigner and when I came to the Americas I was shell shocked at the way some of the black people were carrying on.. I had to move house because the first place I stayed all I would hear were these horrible demeaning words and fake anger. If anyone needs to be angry its me who lived througha guerilla war. When I saw Snoop I cringed and KNEW that nonsense was about to be on and popping. I find that I am less stunned at the name calling and stuff now but as long as its not toward me.

I find America has a forked tongue. They set a bad precedent when they sent Isiah to “rehab”. What is that?? Now they had to act on Imus. Now there is all this fretting about freedom of speech. There is ZERO freedom of speech. Everyone is walking on eggshells trying to be politically correct. We solved our problem by not pretending we liked each other back home. We were/are very honest with each other BUT we do not name call. I still think that Don’s firing has more than meets the eye.

The real problem is lack of education. People need to go to school and get a clue. They will also learn to love themselves. I am a black woman who is fiercely proud of her heritage. You ABSOLUTELY will not find me half naked or on a dog leash!