"The news media, for example, have taken the
lead in equating young African American males with aggressiveness, lawlessness,
and violence.”
“Likewise, the entertainment media have eagerly
taken their cue from the journalist, and these false images not only affect
race relations but also create achievement can be predetermined for them by
suggestions in the media.”
“It is interesting that, as a group, whites have
managed to escape being associated with crime.”
“Each year, whites account for almost seventy
percent of the total arrests, and today they compromise about forty percent of
the prison population.”
“I was told that all back men were inherently
aggressive and violent”
“Many fulfill white American’s image of them
legitimately by becoming successful gangsta rappers; others fulfill this image
illegitimately by becoming
‘baaad-ass niggers’ Rappers therefore reinforce the
popular belief that as ‘baaad-ass niggers’ young blacks can achieve fame, a
recognition and a sense of being (somebody). If they lose however they face a
long stay in our jails and prisons or even bodily injury and death.”
“Studies indicate that African American teenagers are
aware that they are stigmatized as being intellectually inferior and that they
go to school bearing what psychologist Claude Steele has called a ‘burden of
suspicion’. Such a burden can affect
their attitudes and achievement.” –
Brainwashed:
Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority
“The genesis of all these attitudes can be traced to
American slavery. It was in America, in the ‘Land of the Free’ that Africans
were chained and branded, both physically and psychologically, as subhuman
beasts.”
“Blacks, who’ve been conditioned to expect less from
people who look like themselves, automatically insert these high profile black
achievers into the ‘exceptional expectation’ file.”
“Regardless of our individual social, economic, or
media success, it has not affected the black bottom line.”
“Therefore, though black progress is more visible
today than ever before, I maintain that the unwritten, audacious promotion of
white superiority and black inferiority was (and still is) the most effective
and successful marketing/propaganda campaign in the history of the world.”
“African Americans, no matter how savvy, educated, or
finically privileged, could not completely avoid the conditioning that resulted
from the increasingly sophisticated bombardment of subtle and not-so-subtle
messages created to reinforce how different and inherently inferior blacks are
when compared to whites.”
“Although Jews, like blacks, suffered under a deadly
campaign of propaganda and brainwashing, the effort doesn’t seem to have
hampered their long term cultural evolution or caused stifling psychological
impairment.”
Book- Suspicion Nation (Trayvon Martin)
“Historian David Levering summarizes it:
“Whites commit
crimes but blacks are criminals.” While whites can and do commit a
great deal of minor and major crimes, the race as a whole is never tainted by
those acts. But when blacks violate the law, all members of the race are
considered suspect.”
“Remember Zimmerman’s false syllogism? A
few blacks committed burglary, Trayvon was black, therefore Trayvon was a
criminal. Similar logic is used daily in the assumptions police and
citizens make about African Americans, especially young males.”
“The archetype is so prevalent that the majority of whites and African Americans agreed
with the statement “blacks are aggressive or violent” in national survey.”
“In support of these findings, other research indicates that
the public generally associates violent street crime with African Americans.”
“Other nationwide research has shown that
the public perceives that blacks are involved in a greater percentage of
violent crime than official statistics indicate they actually are.”
“The standard assumption that criminals are
black and blacks are criminals is so prevalent that in one study, 60 percent of
viewers who viewed a crime story with no picture of the perpetrator falsely
recalled seeing one, and of those, 70 percent believed he was African American.
When we think about crime, we “see black,” even when it’s not present at all.”
“In contrast, white slavers, who should
have been the real criminals, imprisoned African Americans on their
plantations, forcing them to live short, harsh lives in extreme poverty,
working without any compensation, constantly subjecting them to regular
beatings and threats of violence.”
“Rampage killers are often in the
news. Nearly every one who has murdered a large number of people in one
horrific event has been white. American bomber Timothy McVeigh took 168
lives at the federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, many of them
preschoolers at day care, in the worst incident of domestic terrorism until
9/11”
“Yet even though these shocking events
generate round-the-clock media attention for days or weeks afterwards, that
level of attention does not scare anyone away from white men…Every American
presidential assassin – the killers of presidents Abraham Lincoln, James
Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy -- has been white, as was the
killer of JFK’s assassin, and the murderers of Martin Luther King, Jr. and
Robert F. Kennedy. Ronald Reagan’s attempted assassin was white, and so
were all those who made attempts on the lives of presidents Theodore Roosevelt,
Franklin D. Roosevelt and Gerald Ford (Ford’s two attempted killers diverged
not on racial but on gender lines, as both were white women).”
Book-The Black Male Handbook” A Blueprint For Life
“I had grown up fatherless, reared by a
poor young black woman in Jersey City. My concept of manhood, of black manhood
specifically, had been shaped by the absent dad and the destructive images I
saw all about me: street hustlers, thieves, pimps, numbers runners, drug
dealers, and bootleg preachers who seemed to have more interest in our meagre
earnings than our souls”
“For sure, hiphop both saved and changed my
life, on so many levels: I have been deeply immersed in hiphop since I was a
preteen”
“So, as a black male, it has been profound
and deeply traumatizing to watch the deterioration of hiphop music beginning in
the mid-1990s, all for the sake of profit; to be there in Las Vegas when
Tupac’s death was announced; to be doubly shaken when, less than a year later,
the Notorious B.I.G was also mysteriously murdered.”
Book-Gangster Rap and its social cost:
Exploiting hiphop and using racial stereotypes to entertain America
“Other observers have asserted that hip hop
is the result of young people’s being locked out of the American economic
mainstream.”
“The belief that one’s actions are more
important than one’s words originated in the gang peace dialogue and became a
core value of hip hop.”
“Hip hop was not intended to be an
ideology, nor did its founders want the movement to assume an intellectualized
position. Another core value that emerged from the dialogue between gangs was
that a person should not criticize a rival.”
“Using spray paint to tag space was imitation
for these young people of what they had seen all their lives.”
“What has largely been ignored among hip
hop scholars is the relation between rap and hip hop at this very important
transition point.”
Book- Politics in Rap
“Upon mention that Eminem was white, Dr. Dre famously
remarked, “I don’t care if he’s purple, as long as he can rap.” His
defense of Eminem’s ability in light of his race is notable: Hip-hop, a
predominantly African American genre with ever-increasing nationwide
popularity, presents a valuable opportunity to examine how racial tension still
manifests itself.”
“From its origin in the South Bronx of the early 1970s,
hip-hop represented an expression of rebellion and discontent”
“Yet,
Bradley argues that the entrance of hip-hop into the “marketplace of ideas and
style” also created the opportunity for artists who did not encompass that
stereotypical background to “pick up the pen.””
“The hip-hop industry has been forced to adapt to the tastes
of a wealthy, white population of fans that adore its music by creating music
characterized by carefully enunciated flow, catchy beats, and relatable
stories. Ever since the industry acknowledged in 1991 that white, suburban
teenagers consume 80 percent of all hip-hop, mainstream rap culture’s emphasis on
characteristics appealing to white men has resulted in slow gentrification.”
“A study done by the Prevention Research Center of the Pacific
Institute for Research and Evaluation found a correlation between listening to
hip-hop and alcoholism and violence.”
“Hip-hop no longer speaks exclusively to the marginalized
populations within the United States. The genre is now not solely about
expressing discontent or serving as a mouthpiece for the powerless.”
“But hip-hop can potentially serve as a model for minimizing
the impact of race and removing discrimination. Certainly, it is better than no
model at all: No racial divide will be bridged by pushing uncomfortable
subjects to the periphery of discourse. We are not colorblind.”
“Image plays a big role in media—so big,
in fact, that those stereotypical depictions may have created a stigma for all
black men, suggested panelists at a recent Morgan conference.”
“But one question perists: do black men incriminate
themselves into stereotypes or are these images the only ones available for
black men to step into?”
“In the 1970’s hip-hop became a means for blacks, “in the
struggle,” to express themselves and tell a story about their lives in order to
relate to people like them. But the victory of rap was doused by the crack
epidemic. When drug dealers begin to rap, the two “professions” became forever
entwined—and black men have been associated with that image ever since.”
“Kanye West described it best with his “Heard Em Say” lyrics,
explaining how drug dealers are viewed in his hometown of Chicago: “Where I’m
from, the dope boys is the rock stars, but they can’t cop cars without seeing
cop cars, I guess they want us all behind bars.””
“Drug use continues to inform the music of mainstream rap
artists. Their lyrics often tell listeners how they have sold drugs, served
jail time and used violence as a means to overcome obstacles. It has also
become common for rappers to brag about the number of women they’ve slept with
and could sleep with, by sexualizing their bodies in music videos. Rappers wear
“chains” and drive expensive cars, while using catchy beats and explicit
language to express it all.”
“Some rappers like NWA have used songs like, “F**k the
Police”, to express police brutality.”
“Young black fans gravitate towards the images placed in the
media by the hip-hop lifestyle whether it is the sex, the drug use or
distribution, the shiny jewelry or the expensive clothing. For that reason when
blacks see their favorite rapper associated with a particular brand or way of
life, they are more inclined to buy a certain items or act certain ways in
order to be a part of that same lifestyle.”
“Social media could be a great solution to solving a huge
question, why do black men matter? The image of black men in the media wasn’t
tarnished overnight and it will take work from within the African American
community to create a new and improved image, panelists asserted.”
Book- The impact of rap and hiphop
music on American youth
“It is from Big Pun’s “Brave In the Heart”
lyrics that affect the minds of young Americans by telling them that they must
use violence in order to win or survive.”
“Ever since the rise of rap and hip-hop music, teens have
been turning to them to help solve their problems. However, these kinds of
music can be very destructive to teens. It is not the youth’s fault, it is the
content that the music contains”
“In a recent experiment, 700 fifteen- year- olds were exposed
to rap music. One third listened to sexually explicit lyrics, and two thirds
listened to degrading lyrics about sex. After the experiment, each fifteen year
old was asked about their sexual thoughts. Almost all of their responses had
something to do with sex (Degrading). The results of this experiment are very
alarming because they show how much rap and hip-hop music is affecting American
youth.”
“American youth are a target towards the marketers of rap and
hip-hop. They are always influenced by the media and still trying to find their
identity.”
“Equally important, the effects of rap and hip-hop music on
American youth can be positive, yet can be very destructive. On the positive
side, they can make a person feel good about who they are. They may not live a
good life, but they can relate to the lyrics in the song.”
The
Socialist’s Journal: The Effects of Rap Music
“Rap music is different from other kinds of music.
Stylistically it is distinct from all other vocal music in that the artists are
speaking rather than singing the words to the songs. That is the surface difference
though.”
“Why does any of this matter? Because while rap music has
always had a passionate fan base from its beginnings in the 1970s through the
early 1990s. Now in 2013 rap music has grown into one of the dominant and most
popular types of music in the world. It is the music of choice for youth in the
United States. As such it is shaping the way future generations view the world
around them.”
“I don’t believe that anyone fell in love because they
listened to a Stevie Wonder song, rather their feeling were reinforced by the
music. Similarly rap music doesn’t make anyone selfish but it does help to
legitimize one’s desires and the efforts to fulfill those desires.”
Hip Hop matters: politics, pop culture, and the struggle for
the soul of a movement
“Significantly, the event
was arranged because there was a genuine fear that the already violent feud
between Ja Rule and his chief nemesis, superstar rapper 50 cent, was spiralling
toward another hip hop tragedy.”
“The ‘sensitive thug’
moniker he earned was an oxymoron in the coarse world of corporate rap music.
But while the kinder and gentler thug-life persona Ja Rule concocted had
increased his record sales, it also opened him up to charges that he was not
‘street’ enough”
“His life as a petty drug
dealer, the death of his crack-addicted mother, and his miraculous survival of
nine bullets formed a classic ghetto tale that put him on the pop map.”
“The embrace of guns,
gangsterism, and ghetto authenticity brought an aura of celebrity and glamour
to the grim yet fabulously hyped portraits of ghetto life.”
“During the broadcast Ja
Rule told Farrakhan, ‘They want you to stay hood’. But the pressure to stay
hood had severe costs; namely, the devotion to the thug life that ran counter
to hip hop’s claim that it represents the voices and experiences of generation
of marginal youths.”
Hip-Hop revolution: The culture and politics of rap
“The popular fixation of
black people as criminal, lazy, witless miscreants in American popular culture
has been well documented.”
“It is not uncommon to
see black actors in roles as varied as medical doctors, judges, street thugs,
or even president of the United States.”
“Hip-hop has been an ever
dynamic force with potential for social change, for better or for worse. The
question, however, is the degree and the nature of that influence.”
“There was no denying the
influence of hip-hop on that spring day in America’s heartland. But my imaging
a reconfigured scene without hip hop brought the same hot-headed youth to mind,
only in a different cultural display.”
“In fact, under the administration
of President George W. Bush, increases in subversive expressions are common
among the most mainstream of artists, including Jay-Z, Eminem, Ludacris, Kanye
West, and Lil’ Wayne, all of whom have criticized the bush administration for
the war in Iraq, the handling of Hurricane Katrina victims, and other Issues.
These sorts of political expressions are uncommon among mainstream R&B and
pop musicians whose format typically encompasses love ballads and festive
tracks.”
