BuzzFlash Reviews

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With the firing of Don Imus for racial slurs and accumulated bigotry on the air, the issue of contemporary Hip Hop and Ganster Rap lyrics re-emerged.

It was sort of a White backlash that posed the question: "If Imus is fired for calling black women hos, what about black rappers who consistently denigrate black women and promote violence?"

Of course, Imus's firing was long past due -- and it's illogical to oppose
Imus's dismissal because there are other vehicles in the entertainment industry for demeaning people based on race and gender. Two wrongs, as we know, don't make a right.

But the question of misogyny, derogatory language, and violence in today's rap is a good one.

"Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes" is a solid and compelling exploration into the controversy surrounding "supermasculine" rap music.

Directed and narrated by former star college football player Byron Hurt, the DVD reveals the complexity behind the emergence of exploitative rap. It's a fascinating exploration into the cultural and financial forces behind the glorification of sexual demeaning and death deifying music.

A good documentary provides a new prism at which to look at an issue, and "Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes" accomplishes just that.

Consider some of these ironies,for example:

-- The glorification of guns in Gangster rap probably has its cultural origins in the mythological powers attributed to guns going back to our gun-toting glorification of the taming of the Wild West. In short, the black gun culture is inextricably intertwined with the culture of the white pro-gun zealots.

-- Black rap that demeans black women has its origins in the way in which black female slaves were often treated by slave owners. They were sexual commodities to be exploited at will.

-- Young white music buyers are the ones that propel the mass marketing trends in rap music. As this DVD claims, the black market for a CD maxes out at 500,000 - 700,000. To go gold or become a nationally branded "artist," you have to penetrate the white market. So, white young people are key to the entertainment industry strategy for maximizing profits from rap groups.

-- Death, violence, and the demeaning of women sells CDs. This is sometimes attributed just to hip hop music, as though it's a "ghetto thing." But as the film points out, all of these negative traits are a part of the American film and music industry as a whole. Just look at the film list of the current governor of California, and his extracurricular behavior and attitude toward women during his bodybuilding and filmmaking years.

These and many more ironies are exposed in "Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes."

Particularly poignant is the lament of wannabe rappers that peaceful lyrics won't get you the attention of a record company nowadays.

The music industry has decided that only "supermasculine" bad boy hip hop will sell, even though, in its early days, some high profile rap was positive in its outlook.

Violence and the objectification of women as sex objects sells, the music industry has determined. But isn't that the same for the white entertainment industry?

Good question there, too.

In short, the controversy over contemporary hip hop lyrics can't be understood unless one looks at the context of the overall white culture, an insightful point indeed.

Indeed, the key trait of the truculent, "don't mess with me," masculine male in current rap is not that different from the attitudes of the Neo-cons.

It's just that, as Karl Rove showed us at the White House Correspondents Dinner, white men can't sing or dance.


BUZZFLASH REVIEWS