Rap Sessions @ the University of Chicago

from the Chicago Tribune

Forum tackles hip-hop debate
Depiction of women discussed at U. of C.
By Lolly Bowean, Tribune staff reporter

On the heels of the controversy over radio host Don Imus' racial comments, hip-hop and its depiction of women was a hot topic Saturday at the University of Chicago.

No subject and no person was off limits, even hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons.

The community forum, called "Does Hip-Hop Hate Women?," was planned months before Imus made disparaging comments about the Rutgers University women's basketball team, but the incident spurred a spirited discussion from the 500 or so at the forum. The event included a panel of scholars and authors who lecture, write and offer critical views on hip-hop.

Simmons was singled out by one of those panelists.

Award-winning author and feminist commentator Joan Morgan said that when Simmons recently met with a group of music industry executives about the sexist and demeaning portrayal of black women in hip-hop music, the only solution they came up with was to censor three sexist and racist words. But, Morgan noted, beeping out those words on radio and television broadcasts is being done already.

She said that shows that those with power in the music industry don't take the opinions of young, black women seriously.

Even without the hurtful words, some songs and music videos are just as hurtful, misogynist and damaging, said Tracy Sharpley-Whiting, director of the black studies program at Vanderbilt University, who also spoke at the forum.

"They want to deal with words, but not deal with their behavior ... their way of being," Sharpley-Whiting said. It's much easier to tackle language than to attack the sexist attitudes that are revealed in the music, she said.

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"Niggerology" 101: A Conversation with Jabari Asim

from Salon.com

Who gets to use the N word?
by Mark Anthony Neal

Author Jabari Asim talks about the history of the loaded term, when its use is valid and why Don Imus' firing was justified.

April 25, 2007 When faced with increasing criticism for his "nappy-headed hos" commentary, Don Imus deftly flipped the conversation, suggesting that he found inspiration from the world of hip-hop. The conversation quickly and disingenuously turned into a debate about the role of hip-hop in spreading sexist and vulgar language, as if scripted by the folks at CBS Radio and NBC. Central to this discussion was the sense that a double standard exists where black male rappers are permitted to call women "bitches" and "hos" and are subject to little scrutiny while old white men like Imus face a public crucifixion for what some deem a bad joke. Author and longtime Washington Post Book World editor Jabari Asim had heard all of these arguments before in relation to the use of the word "nigger" in American popular culture. In his new book, "The N Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn't, and Why," he places the focus squarely on American society and the undercurrents of white supremacy in our culture. Conceived long before the Imus story broke, "The N Word" provides a needed perspective on the controversy. Asim spoke to Salon about the use of the word, from "Uncle Tom's Cabin" to N.W.A. to Imus, and set some boundaries for who can say it -- and where.

One of the things I thought about while reading "The N-Word" was Ralph Ellison. In his review of Leroi Jones' [Amiri Baraka] now classic "Blues People," Ellison quipped that the "tremendous burden of sociology that Jones would place upon the body of music is enough to give even the blues the blues." In that same vein, the amount of historical research and literary history that you present throughout "The N-Word" fundamentally demystifies the word.

I had my preconceived notions about the word, but I tried for them to not be a guiding influence. I wanted to be as open-minded as I could honestly be. I wanted to look into it and see where it led me. Let me just wander around in the culture, and I'm a greedy consumer of culture. Bakari Kitwana said to me that I'm obviously a bibliophile, and that's the one area where I had some confidence, so naturally I leaned on that -- a lot more than I could lean on music.

What was the conversation like with your publishers about the title of the book? Was the title your idea?

That was the working title from the beginning. I thought that was a marketable title because everybody knows what the N-word is. Where we went around the bend a little bit was on the subtitle, which was originally "race, metaphor and memory," because I kept thinking of the N-word as a metaphor for these various ideas involving citizenship and black inferiority, in particular. Later, my editor and I agreed on "a short history of racism" because ultimately the book is about white supremacy. Then the marketing people said that it wouldn't work, so they came up with the current subtitle. I didn't like it at all, but they said it was the difference of having the book displayed with the cover out front as opposed to just the spine. What it leads to, as the marketing people well knew it would, is that I've done about 50 radio interviews.

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David Halberstam Goes Home

When I entered graduate school in 1991, I sercretly desired to become the "David Halberstam" of the hip-hop generation. It was my hope that I would write the big social history of the post-Civil Rights era. Of course it was Bakari Kitwana and Jeff Chang who would eventually write those books, but I still always admired Halberstam's work. Nevertheless there's a big book in me about baseball and the black men who played it in the 1970s and David Halberstam will be one of the primary inspirations for it.

Listen to David Halberstam though the years on NPR's Fresh Air

A Night at the Museum

Grammy Award-winning producer Ninth Wonder explained his craft of record sampling at an event the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Professors Mark Anthony Neal from Duke and Kawachi Clemons from North Carolina Central University commented on the musical form's cultural roots.

Up at Bat: Davey D

from The Brian Lehrer Show (WNYC)

Have we reached a turning point on what's acceptable speech, in light of the Don Imus firing? Cora Daniels, journalist and author of Ghetto Nation: A Journey into the Land of Bling and the Home of the Shameless; Davey D, columnist for the San Jose Mercury News, runs a website about hip-hop and politics; John McWhorter, senior fellow with the Manhattan Institute; Marc Maron, stand up comic and former Air America host; and listeners weigh in.



*Thanks to Jeff Chang for this.

Make the Music with Your Mouth

Professor Kim has posted an 18-minute audio interview with Rahzel. Here's a taste of Profesor Kim's narratve:

"RESPECT"--the 40th Anniversary

from the BBC Scotland--Songlines

S.O.N.G.L.I.N.E.S. demands your respect this week for a soul classic. Otis Redding first ignited the listeners’ attention before the song burst into flames with Aretha’s interpretation, transforming it into a rallying call for civil rights in America, as well as an anthem for women around the world. With host John Cavanagh and featuring Nikki Giovanni, Jerry Wexler, Mark Anthony Neal and others.

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