A friend of mind sent this to me. I agree with some of the things the brother has to say. Let's discuss.


Can't Knock the Hustle?
How the rap music industry is destroying the black community
By Noah B. Stephens

The Hustle

Willie Lynch in his 1712 letter to fellow slave owners detailed a
foolproof method for controlling slaves. He encouraged slave
owners to divide blacks against each other at every opportunity
and using every imaginable dichotomy: light against dark, fine
haired against coarse, old against young, man against woman,
even tall against short.

Additionally, Lynch urged slave owners to condition slaves to
fear, distrust, and envy each other. He predicted that if his
method was used correctly, successive generations of blacks
people would impose this self-defeating, divisive indoctrination
on themselves for "hundreds of years, maybe thousands."

Three hundred years later, I watch BET and wonder if Willie
Lynch was a prophet.

Black rappers, record label executives, and black-owned or
operated television and radio stations and magazines actively
participate in creating and disseminating images of materialism,
misogyny, and criminality that divide and destabilize the black
community. These images divide the same as Lynch's method:
materialism inspires envy, misogyny inspires distrust, and
criminality inspires fear. The destructive imagery of songs like
DMX's "What These *****es Want (from a *****)" is explained well
enough by the song's title.

Why do blacks in the music industry churn out divisive,
denigrating imagery? It's profitable. White people buy it and buy it
a lot (According to the record sales tracking organization
SoundScan, 71 percent of rap music consumers are white).
Social critics often ask why is rap so vile. They should ask why
are whites so interested in vile rap. Why do they buy Ludacris
instead of Talib Kweli?

Black buffoonery sells well because it reaffirms popular racist
notions about who black people are. Selling this imagery has
made a few dozen black music moguls rich. But at what cost to
the rest of us?

The Imagery Through the miracle of mass media, blacks in the
rap music industry distribute divisive imagery far more efficiently
than any slave owner could have hoped. The airwaves and
newsstands overflow with Lynch-like indoctrination.

In your average, high rotation rap video: Black women are
reduced to half-naked, gyrating, mute video décor slithering
around a rented mansion or luxury car (It's also noteworthy that
they are almost always light-skinned with long hair – further
enforcing divisive Eurocentric ideas about color and hair).
Meanwhile, the ex-dope-dealer-turned-rapper of the moment
mean mugs and rhymes about how he "don't love these hoes, "
or about the wide assortment of designer fashions he owns
(because "real *****s" wear clothes designed by white men in
Paris).

Some dismiss these images as harmless entertainment or
argue these images cannot influence the strong-minded or
undermine the work of decent parenting. Consider this:

· Imagery's power to influence behavior is proven fact. It is the
idea upon which the multi-billion dollar advertising industry is
based. If you are exposed to 45 advertisements touting the deep
cleaning power of Tide you are more likely to buy Tide simply
because that is the brand with which you are most familiar. If you
see or hear something enough it will take root in your
subconscious. It will influence behavior.

· Even the strong-minded can be affected by imagery – if only
subconsciously. I am a grown, fairly strong-minded man. But
after two or three sexually charged rap videos I always develop
the inexplicable urge to call long lost female "friends" whom
really don't like. Hmm.

· Unfortunately, many of our homes do not have strong parents.
Even in homes where strong parents are present, they often
cannot guard their children's impressionable minds against this
corrosive imagery because they are too busy putting food on the
table. If this imagery affects grown ups, imagine how these
images affect toddlers, school-age children, pre-teens and
teenagers who do not have the life experience to put into
perspective these absurd caricatures of black life.

The Affect Being inundated by these images affects our
relationships with each other in the following ways:

· Young black boys learn to distrust young black women – they
are mostly gold diggers and hoes. They only want your money,
make sure you get sex in return.

· Young black girls learn to distrust young black men – they only
want your "big tits and your matching ass, " so make sure they
pay you for it.

· Our poor learn they are worthless compared to the
car-cost-as-much-as-a-house, necklace-cost-as-much-as-a-car
rich – just stare and wallow in your poor worthlessness (or better
yet, rob that fool).

· The dark-skinned learn they are not as desirable as their
light-skinned counterparts.

· The old learn that the young are disrespectful, tattooed thugs
home on parole – don't lend them money or rent your
apartments to them; they're criminals. Don't offer them guidance,
just avoid eye contact with them and pray to Sweet Jesus they
don't shoot you.

Envy. Distrust. Fear. Woman against man. Light against dark.
Old against young. Blacks imposing self-defeating, divisive
ideas on other blacks. Lynch's plan to control black people is
being acted out; projected 24 hours a day by the most
wide-reaching mass media in history.

It's no wonder we don't support black businesses. It's no
wonder we find it increasingly more difficult to sustain romantic
relationships. It's no wonder black men are afraid of showing
any emotions besides anger and disregard – lest they be seen
as a target. It's no wonder our elders are willing to write off an
entire generation of young potential – a generation in desperate
need of guidance.

Three hundred years after Lynch's letter, rap is the most
dynamic, influential music in modern history – music that has
the potential to affect immense change for the better. Instead, for
the sake of entertaining whites, blacks willfully project images
that corrupt our children and our relationships with each other.

The Reason Blacks in the rap music industry are manipulated by
same good ole American greed that seduced black overseers in
the slave industry. We're happy to malign each other for an extra
helping of cornbread. A handful of blacks in the music business
prosper, while rap music is the preeminent source of imagery
that destabilizes tens of millions in the black community.

The community destabilizing, divisive imagery of rap music is
allowed and encouraged because it helps keep the black
community poor. Social science suggests a link between broken
homes (spurred by male/female mutual distrust) and cycles of
crime and poverty.

The materialistic imagery of hip-hop further encourages poverty
by advocating financial irresponsibility. Instead of celebrating
commodities that build wealth (stocks, property, savings),
materialistic imagery lauds items that depreciate (cars, jewelry,
clothes). Materialistic envy encourages the poor to live beyond
their means. To floss like their favorite rapper, the poor buy
clothes and lease cars they can't afford – digging themselves
deeper in debt while keeping the appearance of wealth (how
many of us know grown men who drive Cadillac trucks, but live
with their mother).

It would seem in the best interest of any society to eliminate
poverty and the unemployment, underemployment, crime, and
high rate of single parent households associated with it. In truth,
there is an economic need for poverty. Someone has to flip
burgers, wash cars, clean toilets, and fill prisons. The only
question is who will fill the underclass.

In both deliberate and subtle ways blacks have been selected to
fill the underclass using the same divisive indoctrination
advocated in the Lynch letter. As slaves, blacks were this
country's most economically and socially depressed
underclass. A century and a half after slavery's end, black people
are still disproportionately represented in America's underclass.

The Solution

This essay is not a condemnation of all hip-hop. A large
segment of hip-hop is thoughtful, insightful and inspiring.
Rather, the intention is to raise consciousness of an
indoctrination campaign that is helping divide and control the
black community. It's to inspire blacks in the music industry to
consider the role they play in this campaign and the role they can
play in stopping it.

Black rappers, magazine editors, programming directors, and
station owners must recognize that when we promote imagery
that destabilizes the black community we fulfill Lynch's prophecy.
Profitable as promoting that imagery may be, at some point we
must decide what is most important: material wealth or spiritual
well being.

In her brilliant book Salvation – Black People and Love bell
hooks writes, "Loving blackness is more important than gaining
access to material privilege." From the day we arrived on
America's shores, we've been taught to hate our blackness. In
doing so, we were divided and easily controlled. Blacks
overseers cracked the whip on other blacks because they hated
blackness. If you hate blackness today, you are willing to poison
black minds for a Cadillac truck. Obviously, financial stability
greatly improves quality of life. But financial stability must be
sought in light of communal and personal responsibility and with
full understanding that wealth does not guarantee happiness. In
fact, as the late Notorious BIG noted, more money often brings
more problems. In the final analysis, no amount of material
wealth can replace the spiritual peace found in love for yourself
and your community.

Renouncing destabilizing imagery does not necessarily mean it
must be replaced by inane positivity. Positivity is not necessarily
true. Realistically truthful images of black life should become
commonplace in hip-hop.

Single parent households, poverty, and going away to prison are
a reality in black life. So are marriages, tree-lined communities
with manicured lawns, and going away to college. The beauty,
love, and joy in our lives should be a part of our art. We can't harp
on gloom, anger, and overt sexuality because it sells to white
people.

One of hip-hop's most enduring mantras is "keeping it real." A
rapper will scream, "I don't love these hos" in the name of
keeping it real. But that same rapper has a wife and three kids at
home. You love at least one ho. If you are going to make songs
about scandalous women, make as many or more songs about
the wife you love. Otherwise, there's nothing real about you.

We have to redefine what it means to keep it real. For example,
sex is a part of black life and all life on earth. Completely barring
sexuality from hip-hop would make hip-hop unrealistic. The
challenge is to deal realistically and responsibly with the
potentially destabilizing imagery of sex, wealth, and crime.

Cee-lo's "Closet Freak" is a song and video concept that
handles sexual imagery responsibly. In the first line of "Closet
Freak" Cee-lo acknowledge that sex is a natural urge indulged
by "everybody that's grown." With this line alone, Cee-lo sets the
stage for a responsible, realistic discussion of sex.

Responsible because Cee-lo frames sex as an activity to be
enjoyed by adults. Responsible because every single woman in
the video for "Closet Freak" is fully clothed. Realistic because
Cee-lo describes sex as a desire shared by all people. This is
important because blacks are stigmatized for enjoying the most
basic and necessary comforts in life.

When we enjoy a cool, juicy fruit on a hot day we're "watermelon
eatin' coons." When we enjoy sitting in front of our homes on a
summer day we're "porch monkeys." Similarly, black sexuality
has long been a stigmatized taboo. Songs like "Closet Freak"
deconstruct divisive stigmas and responsibly portray black life.
That's keeping it real.

Ultimately, we will determine what hip-hop becomes. Hip-hop is
an art form so deeply rooted in the black experience that no other
group can authentically replicated it. We exclusively create and
sustain it.

If black rappers stop making denigrating songs, denigrating
songs will stop being played. If black program directors choose
to ban videos and songs with destabilizing imagery, they will not
be played.

If black magazine and newspaper editors do cover stories on
acts like Cee-lo, Mos Def, Common, Blackalicious, and dead
prez our children are less likely to be influenced by rappers who
glorify criminality, greed, and misogyny. If rap consumers
demand responsible hip-hop artists receive their due publicity in
magazines and airtime on radio and television, they will. If rap
consumers buy CDs and attend concerts by responsible hip-hop
artists, responsible hip-hop will thrive.

If blacks in the music industry continue to be manipulated by
greed, Lynch's prophesy will be fulfilled.

Source - Black Writers United
--- End forwarded message ---

all of that's on point...it's absolutely pitiful.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

you actually read all of that. props. i'll get at it in a minute but from what i hear in hip-hop clubs and on radio we are all (black & white) in for trouble.

I was just a kid but I remember when Stevie Wonder's "I Wish" was the jam that got people on their feet. Now it's always some bullshit about either ass, dick, pussy or cash.

Very interesting article. Embarrassingly I didn't even know that letter existed. Someone needs to bone up on his history. It explains a lot. Thank goodness I've always been smart enough to sidestep all those divisions. Except the young against old. I'm not old, but teenagers are still a pain. (LOL)

laurarichardson said:

i totally agree with this and couldn't have said it better myself.



i even kno a girl who thinks like that. that light skinnders are more attractive especially if they have hazel eyes (?) ( i kno bullshit and yes she is a light skinned)

This whole situation reminds me of something a really cool mass media and communications teacher once said, "Things don't happen in a vaccuum".

Awesome read, indeed on point.

im copying this article....it kicks ass.

I'm copying this article too. It's extremely well-written and I agree with everything it says and have felt this way about rap music for the longest. The majority of it does nothing but hold black people down and make us stereotypes. The fact that all these black rappers continually rap about growing up in the ghetto and living in poverty disturbs me the most, because I don't see many of them giving anything back to those ghettos that they grew up in. They could help stop the poverty, drug dealing, and stereotypes placed on blacks, but they choose not to. Why? Because they are money hungry and selfish. It's sad and disgusting. Plus, don't get me started on how I feel about them degrading women. Sure, the women audition for the videos, but if the artist didn't ask for half-naked females for the videos, these women definitely wouldn't be wasting their time. They write lyrics about shooting other people and sit back and try and act surprised when a white or black youth actually does this. I've said it before and I'll say it again, "Man, I can't wait for the hip-hop trend to die."

I used to be sooooo proud of Hip hop...as a hip hop head from day one.. i can honestly say it was never like this, it all had taken a serious turn for the worse... what was once a beautiful artform turned into a lost and turned out commodity pimped to the masses.i just dont get that feeling, that hip hop gave me, that sense of belonging that sense of where i come from and who i am anymore.

what the media and these lables have done to hip hop culture in general is commercialize it to a point where being weeded out and disrespecting someone else is the real way of being "hip hop" u see these cats glorifying prison life and thats supposed to be keeping it "real"?? oh hell no..

what keepin it real was it was all about the dj's the writers, the graffiti artists, the sound of a train tagged goin' all city, seeing cats like crash and daze Futura, SEEN, the Late Dondi, doin thier thing on the trains, and walls. to me this is what hip hop embodies. and this is where im from.

today's vision of Hip hopp is nothing more but showing and making a mockery of ghetto life and its people in it. by making fools of them and treating them like Minstrels in a show ya know?..
this is not Hip hop culture.

we need to come to a head and sitdown and agree that Hip hop needs to go away and resurface from where it once was raised and bring it back to the beginning.but until that day i can honestly say i am not proud of Hip hop.

About a year ago I saw 50cent on mtv talking about how he got shot, and to me it seemed like he was proud of this fact, cause he knows it gave him street cred.

I understand why rappers rap about the bs that they do. People are hungry and broke, and the only way they see out of their current condition is to stand behind a mic, layer crap over rehashed hits, throw on the gold chains, a jersey from any team, and have as many half-naked women in the video as humanly possible. Guranteed bling, bling.

I blame the record companies more so than I do the rappers. I read an article some years back about what it takes for a black artist to make it. They have to hit it big with their own people and then cross-over to whites. Before, record companies could bring along an artist and give them time to develop, but now if you don't crank out hits every album they will simply drop you. So, in plays the street cred again. I can't sing, and I don't want to flip burgers.....but I can cuss.....All i need do now is find an oldie but goodie that no one has used before and i'm in there.

I don't offer a solution cause I have none. To be honest, if I could rap I'd probably be doing the same thing. The only difference is I would invest the money into several different businesses as opposed to putting tv's, dvd's, playstations, 3000.00 systems, and 1200.00 rims in and on my car, and dressing my pets up in 10,000.00 fur coats, and putting wide screen tv's in the fuckin' ceiling in my bedroom.

Most of these rappers are downright stupid, and I think this hurts moreso than the images on screen, and the personas that they create, and maintain.

Just my 50cents

the saddest thing is, the sort of folks who need to read this the most would probably not have the desire to read an article like this, nor would they have the patience to read it to the end if they tried. but if by chance some kid who's into the current cRAPola were to slog through the whole thing, i bet they'd get their butt kicked far more than those of us in the choir being preached to by this article.

I'm with The Real Finesse about enjoying hip hop in the early days. The music was fun. It was uptempo and for the dance floor. A lot of it was not even sampled.

I can believe the part about 71 percent of rap consumers being white. That is why this trend will not die. Then the major corporations got their hands on it. The video channels shove it down everyone's throats and will not play anything else. Radio is being dominated by major corporations that can dictate what is played or not played. If you are not a hip hop artist or have a hip hop feel to your music, you practically cannot get any airplay. With no airplay, no one knows your album is even out there. As long as they can keep hip hop in style, they don't have to pay for musicians. They can pinch every penny they can and make millions for themselves. They don't compensate the artists the way they should either.

Think about it. Black people are some of the most talented people on this planet. Black people have always been trend setters and have moved on to the next phase very quickly. Look at all the different styles of black music before hip hip and look at the short life span that these styles lived. These major corporations are keeping this shit alive and laughing at the clowns making the so called music.

this is a good article, & it sounds like something that either Bill Cosby or my father would totally agree with as well.


I listen to very little rap - I do have a bias against it because what they mostly play on the radio is the WORST of it. I have a very good friend who is into hip-hop, but he likes The Roots & Pharcyde, those who do the more "music-based" form of hip-hop. this friend keeps trying to get me to listen to this (& I have heard a little of it) but I am resistant to "good" rap/hip-hop because I (readily & easily) lump the "good stuff" with the GARBAGE you most often hear on the radio.


like this article said, there is a MAJOR "vicious cycle" that takes place with popular rap :

these "hard" roughneck "nigga" who've only known the worst type of ghetto life
do raps about the reality of their life & surroundings
& talk about how they have to kill or be killed
& while dodging all those bullets, they still take time to be with their "ho's"
then the whole part about the materialism is TOO TRUE. coming from a poor economic background, you see the riches that a certain hip-hop/gangsta/thug lifestyle can offer & you go for that - you sell yourself out to have that, & ultimately you end up with nothing.


somehow, someway, this has got to stop. this seems to be difficult, because this part of hip-hop culture is so accepted in so many circles. further, as it says in the letter - this type of "degenerate" hip-hop makes A LOT of money.

what is funny to me is, until recently those fair skinned long haired women weren't even black!! They were everything else with a tan but not black!!

I agree with the article except 4 the title. The title should b....> 'How the Recording Industry uses Rap music 2 make $$ and destroy the Black Community'! I know 4 a fact that there is a lot of positive rap/hiphop out there but mostly only the negative images is whats being pushed by these Record Companies. They controll it all. They help set the trend and definitley radio and video play. That's the same problem that Prince has with this negative wave of hiphop and Viacom and Clear Channel and these big conglomorates. This is y so many young and nieve rap artist think they have 2b street or a gangsta 2 get paid. I'll b glad when we get back 2 the Public Enemy vibe along with some Whoudini.

Like I said in the Public Enemy thread: Hip Hop's growth was stunted sometime in the early '90s, when "gangsta rap" got into full swing, and unfortunately it still hasn't recovered. It's not that there's no quality hip hop out there, it's that the largest percentage of what's being marketed in the mainstream is the nonsense this article talks about.

In general there's less quality being pushed in the mainstream with a lot of forms of music, not just hip hop. And it's just symptomatic of the Clear Channel monopoly world we live in. I look forward to the day that Clear Channel is overthrown. Hopefully it'll happen in our lifetime.

`
[This message was edited Fri Aug 6 20:19:51 2004 by Supernova]

[quote]

Supernova said:

Me too.

COPY.PRINT.SAVE.

vainandy said:

me three.

As a black man who lives and work in the 3rd and 5th ward black communities I can tell you from as a man who sees it everyday how the effect this negative bullshit has influenced some of the young black men and women!!!

I can tell you I hate, I loathe and I despise this form of rap!!!!!

The way it encourages these young people to act and dress is profound and incredible, absolutely incredible!!! I tutor young blacks in math and science and I have to work very hard
to get these children to speak properly. Unfortunately a lot of the young people define their identity of being black by speaking that damn jive, every sentence end's with "You know what I am saying!!!" If they speak properly they are accused of selling out and acting white!!!
I tell them some of the greatest African-American's whoever lived (ie., Malcom X, Marcus Garvey, etc.....) did not speak and express themselve in this fashion.
There is nothing wrong with speaking that way sometimes but you got know when and how to turn it off!!!

This form of rap is truly degrading. There is nothing that bothers me more when I am at the office or anywhere and I see white people emulating rapper's or black ebonics/slang. We as black people have noone to blame but ourselves for this, the greed, the money is to great...I hoped years ago this type of rap would die and go away!!!

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

me four. seriously.

Without a doubt a well written piece.
But it's not telling me anything I didn't already know or feel.
Many of these issues have been out in the open for mass consumption for years by at least a few Spike Lee films (School Daze, Bamboozled, etc.)

Regarding "gangsta rap", the question is what's being done about it by anybody that can make a difference.
The record companies, the 71% which are the major financiers, the 29% which are the minor financiers, parents?

As a consumer, I don't seriously listen to it or purchase it.
As a parent, in my home, I don't allow my kids to listen, purchase or view the videos.
They cannot dress in the extreme "gangsta" styles nor use the associated vernacular.

I've had Kazaa and any similar dl systems removed from all computers in my house.

For many, aspiring to be a rap star is the new easy way out "game", equivalent to the old-school pimp or newer-school drug dealer. The path of least resistance if you will, meaning no formal education or legitimate marketable skills required.

For those that adhere to the MAN is keeping me down b.s.:
There is no MAN that keeps you from going to school when you're supposed to.
There is no MAN that makes you waste productive time hanging out "on the corner".
There is no MAN that makes you foolishly believe you have to "protect a 'hood/turf" where the structure you live in you don't even own. (I'm sure your landlord appreciates your vigilance)
There is no MAN that makes you wear your pants around your kneecaps.
(If someone could explain the logic behind this style i'd really appreciate it)
There is no MAN that makes you remain ignorant under the thinly disguised phoney veil of "keepin' it real".
There is no MAN giving out awards for the number of times you can rack up "my baby daddy" points from different women.
There is no MAN that makes you justified in killing or maiming another brother/sister for some real or imagined "dis".

THERE IS NO MAN...GET OVER IT!

Am I say that there's no racism still in America? No.
What I am saying is that it doesn't exist to the point that some people use it as an excuse for justifying their lack of achievement.

As to the music industry and their part in all of this, IMO this just shows how lazy and greedy they continue to be. With the recent merger of SONY (Colombia, Epic, Legacy)/BMG (Arista, RCA, J, Jive, LaFace), the record industry has just tightened the death grip they have on what music gets mainstream promotion. This also shrinks what was 5 major companies down to 4. The noose just got tighter.

For those of you hoping for "the day that Clear Channel is overthrown" as part of a solution, while I share your sentiments, here's a link to an article on the record industry and Clear Channel's connection to it that indicates they may have only just begun.
http://www.oligopolywatch...music.html

Sorry for ranting, but for musical and sociological reasons this subject has disturbed me for quite some time.

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

theAudience said:

couldn've said it better

theAudience said:

MrTation said:

theaudience

I'm as pro-Black and positive as the next guy, but the Willie Lynch letter isn't authentic....The concept is real, but the letter was written as a tool to put fire under the asses of them asses (the masses)....I've studied African-Amreican History for YEARS....Willie Lynch isn't real....It acts as mythology does...To get a concept across...There are many inconsistencies in the letter that prove that it's fake....I won't go into all of them, but if you want me to, feel free to holla at me.....This is protected by the RED, the BLACK, and the GREEN....

theAudience said:

Yeah, I realize they've got their hands in multiple pies. But they've been in trouble with the US Congress before, although nothing positive has come of that thus far. Sometimes things get worse before they get better. Here's to it getting better ...at SOME point.

Excellent post, btw.

Anxiety said:

Well said! My only problem with this article is that it is loaded. All of the information is true. But while some blame the record companies for pedaling shit, I blame the consumer. Some in our own community see nothing wrong with this vile genre of music (hardcore shit). I also blame the black community.

I remember when our most cherished musical art forms were Jazz, Blues or Gospel. Now, as a people, we are known for vile, lascivious music that is paraded around the world. About a month back, in England, they had a break dancing/rap music festival with Beyonce. I don't know about you, but I would rather the world recognize the African American community for our intellectual pursuits than for how many bitches/hos a "nigga" can run (American Pimp) or how high one of us can jump when we play basketball!

[quote]

theAudience said:

No need to apologize. That was an excellent post. VERY well said.