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Call me old....I haven't listened to a Hip-Hop album or checked out a Hip-Hop blog in awhile, so I was a bit surprised when I was checking out my friend Del Cowie's blog and through one of his posts was directed to MissInfo.TV's site. Amanda Diva is a Hip-Hop artist and a former MTV2 veejay who, in response to the commenter's who posted on Nahright in response to her new single, said this:
In reading more of the foulness I then took it as an affront to women in the game in general. Real talk we put up with SO much bs from dudes simply based on “I mean, niggas will be niggas. You know the game” But fuck that! It doesn’t have to be that way and the disrespect should NOT be accepted…..
Viewing the comments like “I wanna f— her raw in her c—,” and “She looks like she takes n– in her face,” (ewww nasty) etc. and the blogger’s indifference of them honestly made me feel like, “dag here we go with another forum for dudes to objectify and completely demean us.” It wasn’t about me wanting respect as an emcee but more so me wanting at least the minimum as a woman. So, I approached (not attacked as some have been insinuating) Eskay because I felt a “way” about his handling of it. In the end however, felt like he understood my point and have no ill feelings toward him whatsoever. There was no “twitter fight” of any sort. What I look like fighting on twitter?! Gimme SOME credit ya’ll, lol.
As the images of President Obama, First Lady and their cute-as-a-button little girls inspired many to ask if they will inspire more black folks to honor the traditional family (which I think is mildly patronizing) I also wondered if an Obama presidency means the death of Hip-Hop.
Why?
Well, part of the roots of Rap were about the opportunity for disenfranchised communities to speak openly about their lives. Now that a brother is in the White House, is there still a need? Also, Mark Hemingway from the National Review Online suggested that the amount of memorabilia that was available in Washington on the day of the Inauguration, especially one in particular would suggest that it is ( see link). On Wednesday, The Atlantic's Ta-Nehisi Coates, responded to Hemingway's glib remarks, by saying this:
In the real world, where real people live, and breath real air, a multitude of forces--cultural, social, economic, etc.--weigh on people. Barack Obama will certainly change something about black culture. But anyone who's spent any time around actual people should know better then to act like they know what that is, or how it will play out. These guys are Skip Bayless, telling you who's going to the Super Bowl next year.
For more on Coates opinion, you can read it here. One of the most troubling issues about the genre that I once loved, was the representations of women of color, not just in the videos, but the lyrical content. That, as the example above notes, has translated into the language that commenters on the post use to describe Amanda Diva. I thought that over time, the foolness would stop, but obviously it hasn't.
Tiffany Shorter from Hip Hop Republican believes that Michelle Obama will be a good role model for Black Woman, solidifying the fact that black women can raise their children and be a supportive spouse, too(?):
Although slavery and segregation has ended, the African American community continues to struggle with building strong families ties. Over 40% of black men and women have never married and about 70 percent of children are born out of wedlock. Many black Republicans want to promote family values in Washington regardless that 2009 will bring a Democrat administration.
Black Republicans and the black community at large can benefit from the constant example of Michelle Obama who has successful balanced the demands of politics with the needs of her husband and children.
I do agree that there are huge issues within many communities, not just among black folk, but really, aren't people wishing too much that all of a sudden that the Obama will miraculously solve all the dysfunctional relationships? Will the image of the two dancing at a ball suddenly make a deadbeat dad marry his baby mama? Will he rush to the bank and hand over the years of child support that he neglected
