[Zyx]

I was on my search for a Pan-African organization in NY, when I came across this unrelated article on an unrelated website.

http://www.blackstarnews.com/?c=135&a=5466

Rappers As Weapons Of Mass Destruction

By Dr. Barbara Reynolds

March 9th, 2009



Lil Wayne; a weapon of mass destruction?

Singer Chris Brown’s arrest for allegedly beating and biting his girlfriend, pop princess Rihanna, on the same night vulgar rapper Lil Wayne, was being lauded with four Grammy awards is a reminder of how thuggish rap culture creates a climate for not only male-on male violence but abuse of Black women as well.

On one level Brown was only doing what the environment created by hustlers like Lil Wayne and his White backers promote. When the dope-using, pornographic rappers aren’t bragging about how good they are at killing other Blacks, they swagger around calling Black women "bitches and sluts" and showing their agility at dogging and abusing them.

In fact, Snoop Dogg once showed up at the MTV Video Awards accompanied by partially clad girls being pulled along by dog leashes.

The White establishment is applauding this behavior by elevating the thug music that glorifies killing, maiming and abuse to great fortunes. After all the thugs are only killing Black men and abusing Black women. What a great victory for White supremacists, who no longer need the KKK.

Blacks brandishing guns and a pimp mentality are destroying each other faster than White militants could ever dream of.

Mainstream Time magazine in their July 2008 issues headlined Lil Wayne as the Best Rapper Alive. The magazine took great pleasure in commending him for how well he could rhyme "day" with "say" and "way." Those sophomoric rhymes are worthy of praise for five-year-olds but for a grown man? Give me a break.

What else does Lil Wayne advocate that makes mainstream America love him so much? His "lollipop" number was honored as Best Rap Song. It is all about having the so-called "fun and games" of oral sex, of young girls licking him like a lollipop before regular intercourse.

Of course, the promoters would not honor any artist who also talks about how HIV/AIDS is epidemic among black youth and how now 72 percent of household are headed up by single black women, who means the boys and men are missing in action as soon as the babies come.

Another song which the Grammys saw worthy of honor was included in Wayne’s latest album, Tha Carter III. With all the media hype behind it, it sold over one million copies the first week. If there is any doubt what Wayne thinks about women, the lyrics make it plain: "I ain’t got no loves for broads, I grab them on they butts and all." Then he goes on to sing about how wonderful it is for his girls (sluts) to have oral sex with his dog.

It is not hard for me to understand why white led-media and music institutions want to honor blacks who entertain them with low-life, illiterate rantings, while creating a climate of death and destruction for black people. But I can not understand why so much of the black establishment—the pastors, civil rights institutions and universities—accept this standard without protesting their outrage at the systematic destruction of our young.

The major themes of most rap songs are Guns, drugs, death and destruction. And with the help of white corporations they are reaping a rich harvest.

For example, homicide is the leading cause of death for black males between the ages of 18 and 24; 94 percent of blacks murdered are murdered by other blacks, usually men.

Our black women, whose images are being dragged through the mud not only in rap videos, but in movies, are increasingly being raped and beat. Black women are 35% more likely to be sexually and physically assaulted than white women. And one in 4 girls is in danger of being raped by age 18. Every 45 seconds a woman is physically assaulted, according to the National Victims Center.

Big bucks, of course, are fueling this genocidal assault. Women-hating rappers whine about how the man won’t fund them if they don’t go violent and after all they are only giving the public want they want. The argument is that titles like Get Rich or Die Trying will sell, but uplifting songs won’t. If that is so, why aren’t Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson broke?

No amount of money should make black rappers stoop so low as to scandalize black women, whose birth canals are their very entry into humanity. They insult our mothers, daughters and sisters. They are no different from the 19th century white slave masters who paraded half naked black women to the public square to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Unfortunately, the self-esteem of so many young black women, have fallen so low that they too see themselves as half nude butt-shaking objects, who can be sold for group sex, drugs or background filth for videos. They are faceless, pride-less, pitiful creatures who are agree they should be treated like dogs.

In the case of Chris Brown, Wrigley is pulling his chewing gun ad and RadioNOW, a black- owned Radio One network affiliate, is taking a stand by not playing his music. All that is good.

Yet, until the black establishment protests groups like Lil Wayne, who white corporations are paying to sing and dance the death jig, the beat down of black women will still be viewed by many as acceptable behavior for black men.

There are other threads dedicated to the detriment of Rap, however they are not as critical I'd like for this thread to be. Any how, to continue this story, after speaking some words with my brother on the logistics of playing a video game with him, I brought up this article. He reported to me that Lil Wayne is incredibly stupid and that Lil Wayne in an interview mentioned, among other idiotic things, that he likes to mix coolaid, alcohol and robutussem (?--the medicine) together. This is unbelievably . . . well unbelievable.

I recall a show wherein the objective was to make a Black family live a "White" life and a White family to live a "Black" and their phenotypical display fooled all that they interacted with. In short, I have a suspicion, is Lil Wayne an example of Black face or an idiot?

It seems that Eminem, though not Black, is an example of someone who makes 'rap,' once a political and respectable music (compared with mainstream Rock), a vicious and disturbing musical genre.

[NoRapture]

You can't meaningfully criticize the medium. You have to be careful here. Hip Hop and Rap are here to stay. They are beautiful musical forms.

You can only criticize the artist and his art (or absence of it). The rappers this article singles out as ugly, dangerous, abusive, and tasteless are undoubtedly deserving of the labels, but the form remains a thing of beauty. Sadly, Hip Hop has been, almost from the beginning, associated with this kind of garbage due to the corporate, basic common denominator status quo approach to its marketing. This sort of product is relegated under the same heading as drugs and porn, which it most often closely accompanies. Giving Rap a bad-rap, pardon the pun, from the beginning. I still love the music when it's done the way I feel it should be.

[Skunk]

and that Lil Wayne in an interview mentioned, among other idiotic things, that he likes to mix coolaid, alcohol and robutussem (?--the medicine) together.

No, he does not mix kool-aid, alcohol and Robotussin. The drink is Sprite (example: from Hot Shit "I cant think why my sprite so pink and I might be floatin but I will not sink") and a syrup containing Promenthazine and Codeine or just Codeine. Whether or not he drinks alcohol with it I couldn’t say but the drink is very common in the Southern United States.

The article I thought was very interesting. I too disapprove of the bragging of criminal activities and treatment of women and find it peculiar how the majority of rap songs are just verse after verse, song after song, album after album of “I’m better than you are, I’m running this shit, and mock my geographical region of affiliation and my crew and I’ll murder you.” I often ask myself, what is the point really?

There is however some active rappers trying to put out a more positive message, see Ice Cube’s Hood Mentality.

[NoRapture]

Immortal Technique, baby. He is happening for me. There are also getting to be some cool white rap influences with cred that isn't necessarily street, but academia. Sort of avante gard. But the traditional Hip Hop approach, regional hood beat telegraph will never be surpassed. I don't necessarily agree the message has to be positive. Tupac and his disciples are still the pinnacle of the form. But, just like there is stupid, ignorant, country music, there is stupid, ignorant Hip Hop.

[Donna]

Singer Chris Brown’s arrest for allegedly beating and biting his girlfriend, pop princess Rihanna, on the same night vulgar rapper Lil Wayne, was being lauded with four Grammy awards is a reminder of how thuggish rap culture creates a climate for not only male-on male violence but abuse of Black women as well.

Rihanna isn't black.

[Zyx]

Yeah, NoRapture, I agree that rap is a great art form, and in my youth I tried writing some lyrics as they flew through like a lyrical set of poetry, still some rappers are terrible and the capitalist establishment only wishes to fund as much.

I've seen some poetry readings that were phenomenal, and some rappers like Lauryn Hill or KRS-One are really impressive and reputable, but for all the negativity that comes from the genre as a result of the stealing of the art form by capitalist pigs, I'd happily lose the music over the rest of the community.

Donald, I do not understand what you are trying to get at. Is there a purpose to your retort or are you just being difficult?

[Nattering Nabob]

In short, I have a suspicion, is Lil Wayne an example of Black face or an idiot?

I don't recall many black fans of Al Jolson & Co. so I'm going to say idiot...