So a friend showed me this clip earlier today and I was astounded.
This is just ridiculous. First a guy gets shot to death in a Bay-area subway, and now this...the whole shoe-issue reminded me of the attorney who called a member of the Jena 6's tennis shoe a murder weapon. Young minorities really seem to have good reason to fear law-enforcement these days. Sound off below.
shit like this depresses me to know end. The panelists @ the Black Solidarity Conference said we need to stop killing ourselves (read: black on black violence) but ill be damned if the cops dont do it for us the regardless.
ReplyDeleteIs he gonna get in trouble for this mess? Doubt it.
Hold up, its cool you all strive to be aware and care but what this got to do wit hip hop. If you all want to talk bout current events and the man and the state of black America when its not connected to hip hop, then make a blog for that. And dont come back wit some mess bout hip hop is the culture we in it and everything is hip hop cuz then this blog has no focus and nobody like reading a paper that doesnt follow its thesis. This ant hate, its love.
ReplyDeletesince apparently you've staked out your position with really no hope of changing your mind, I'll take the cheap route and point out that this video came from worldstarHIPHOP.com....if it's good enough for them, I'll take it.
ReplyDeleteso I really hate to comment under my own comment, but I have to tell you guys, I've been bothered by anonymous' comment all week (and we certainly thank you for the feedback anon).
ReplyDeleteI'm going to retract my cop out answer. There is a reason that this clip is hip hop. and I think WSHH knows that too. This clip is about police brutality/mistrust of law enforcement--a subject that has been well-documented throughout the ages of the genre. Yes, if this girl was white, I probably wouldn't have posted it, but she's not and that makes this relevant.
There are certain themes that go hand in hand with hip hop. For example, Chris Brown and Rihanna would be less of an issue if misogyny/the violent black male stereotype were not already associated with it. No one paid much attention to the fact that Hillary Clinton has admitted to physically abusing Bill, but here we have two popular hip hop icons, and we are very much in-tune with the details of the case. Chris Brown and Rihanna are two well-known examples of an issue that goes on within the lives of the people who listen to hip hop.
In THIS example, the girl is not a well-known figure. But the reason a general dislike of law enforcement is a recurring theme in rap songs, is due to the many young minorities who can relate to this issue on a day to day basis. Police brutality is a fact. It is also a fact that it commonly happens to the demographic who make hip hop happen. And this girl, unfortunately, provides us with visual proof that this is still relevant in communities.
and that, my friends, is why this is Hip Hop.
So hip hop is a theme that reoccurs in Hip Hop songs? That argument is sophistry. That would cover every aspect of the human experience, so is Hip Hop a grand narrative of the human experience? I didn't know Lil Wayne = Marx and Jay Z = Locke with a little bit of Hobbes. I am not unmovable on this, you just have to come with more than the cereal box, one size fits all, answers.
ReplyDeleteP.S. ur 2nd response was precisely what i said it would be (hip hop is everything) and saying if its good enough for others, then its good enough for me, is the weakest response (i thought too highly of "hip hop heads" to consider that would come up). However, looking at the new stuff, it seems you heads have taken my advice. What does your leader have to say about all of this?
ReplyDelete