Why Hip-Hop? Why Now?

from Vibe.com

What's the Real Reason for the Sudden Attack on Hip Hop?
by Mark Anthony Neal

When Snoop Dogg was asked to weigh in on the Don Imus controversy, his response elicited both humor and disgust. According to Snoop, when rap artists like himself refer to "hos," they aren't talking about young women college students, but the "hos that's in the 'hood that ain't doing shit, that's trying to get a nigga for his money." In other words, Snoop don't love dem hos. Yes, descriptive terms like sexist, ignorant and misogynist would be apropos in response to Snoop's comments - but at least he was being honest. Less honest are the bandwagon critics, who have suddenly become so concerned about what the men in hip hop are saying about black women (they the poets, you know). Even less honest is Russell Simmons - who, when pressured to translate his gatekeeper status within hip hop into a real policy initiative, could offer only a tepid suggestion: the banning of the words "bitch", "ho" and "nigger." (What, no "faggot-ass"?)

Simmons's suggestion is emblematic of many of the misguided responses in the aftermath of Imus's now infamous comments about "nappy headed hos." The desire to police hip hop at the level of language does little to address the sexism, misogyny and homophobia that informs the treatment of black women in black communities and the larger society. The lyrics that some rap artists employ to describe their relationships with black women is only symptomatic of the position of black women in America, where terrorism and violence against them warrants little, if any, response from the mainstream media or black leadership. Are we really to believe that the bandwagon critics really have a concern for the wellbeing of black women? If so, then where were these supporters and media pundits when Tynesha Stewart, a Texas A&M undergraduate, was murdered and her body barbequed by her former boyfriend, or when Clara Lee Riddles was dragged down an elevator in CNN center in Atlanta by her boyfriend and subsequently shot, or last year when a six-year-girl was sexually assaulted by 12 of her male classmates during recess? Where were the hastily organized marches and protests? Where was the outrage about the treatment of black women and girls? But of course the sudden focus on hip hop has little to do with the lives that black women and girls live.

In the context of these questions, we can also ask why the attacks on hip hop - and why now? That some people hoped to enact political retribution for the so-called victory of Don Imus's firing, goes without saying. But I'd like to suggest that, more significantly, the current critique of hip hop is aimed at undermining the culture's potential to politicize the generations of constituents that might claim hip hop as their social movement. After high profile voter registration campaigns in 2004 that were fronted by Russell Simmons, Sean Combs and others, much was made of the lack of impact that hip hop generation voters had on the outcome of the 2004 Presidential election. The hip hop generation, in fact, embraced the franchise in unprecedented numbers, but those numbers were obscured by the unprecedented turnout of religious fundamentalists who were galvanized by issues like same-sex marriage and threats of anti-American terrorism. With no candidate on the Right likely to galvanize religious fundamentalists, the hip hop nation - which has continued to organize since 2004 - represents a legitimate political bloc. With this political bloc comes demands for social justice, particularly within the realms of the prison industrial complex, the labor force, US foreign policy, law enforcement, the electoral process, mainstream corporate media, the economy, public education and a range of other concerns.

Read More...

***

Mark Anthony Neal is the author of four books, including the recent New Black Man: Rethinking Black Masculinity. A professor of African-American Studies at Duke University, Neal will begin blogging (Critical Noir) at Vibe.com next month.