Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Surprise, Surprise...Ope hates rap!

So Ope is in the middle of her two-part "After Imus" show. From what I can tell, she decided to focus on hip-hop music.

While I can agree we should look at all media and use this as a chance to open dialogue, I am disturbed by the quick turn to bashing hip-hop. I grew up listening to this music and will make no excuses for listening! I understand the complaints surrounding the music but am saddened by how all of us have shifted the blame. This is a GROWN man who made these comments. Not some impressionable teen. He knew full well what he was saying. Additionally his choice of words ("jiggaboo" and "nappy-headed") are not common in the hip-hop community.

I'm sick of people dabbling in the African-American world and thinking they know all about us AND what all of OUR problems are. EARTH has a problem with how we treat women. It's been a problem since the beginning of time. Yet, we're placing blame on a 30-year old music genre? Give me a break!

I know Oprah has a well noted bias against hip-hop, but even she should know better. The media loves to place blame but this time they have it all wrong. The blame lies with Imus. Yes, we should examine every part of our culture and discuss accordingly. But let's not start or stop with hip-hop. It's much deeper than that. Women and Blacks were NOT equal, to white men, 30 years ago. Hip-hop did not ruin some magical land of equality. Oprah you do a disservice to all by running with this "hip-hop is to blame" concept.

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