Photo: Amanda Marsalis, from Fader 28A few scholars in the Hip Hop community, along with David Banner and Master P, banded together to defend Hip Hop (again).
Billboard.com: On Sept. 26, David Banner joined fellow MC Master P, music industry executives and scholars to discuss offensive language in hip-hop music before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Reading from a statement, the 33-year-old Mississippi rapper/producer tenaciously defended hip-hop from its detractors.
During his testimony, Banner said, "If you fix our communities, we'll fix our lyrics." Asked how that would affect change, he tells Billboard, "In the Katrina hearing, one congressman asked, 'Haven't we done enough for Katrina?' They live in a world that we don't live in, and it's hard to speak for a majority when you don't live under the same conditions. People don't sing happy songs if they're broke."
"Rap music does for us the same thing gospel did for the slaves," he adds. "We communicate our anger through our music."Banner has butted heads with those trying to ban words like "bitch" and "hoe" from rap lyrics, including the Rev. Al Sharpton and Master P.
"Aren't there bitches out there?," he says. "Don't they exist? Those types of women exist, and if they didn't it'd be different. When someone yells in a room full of women the word 'dyke,' my mother isn't insulted because she isn't one.""Rap is an art, and I can say whatever the hell I want to," he continues. "I use the words I use because they are graphic and they hurt. It's supposed to get people's attention. Where we come from, we speak that way."
You're right, David Banner. There are bitches in the world (mainly those who serve as imprudent bosses in the workplace).
I could preach the "why tear down black women" speech, but I've done better than that. I don't support music that I don't believe in or agree with. I concur with many Hip Hop artists when they say that listeners should ACTIVELY pay attention to their music before they purchase it. If you don't like what you're hearing, don't support it. Because not all Hip Hop is good Hip Hop (and that's another story that we won't EVEN get into).
2 comments:
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