The hip hop issue?

Pleas be warned that this is a VERY long blog.

I will start of with the issues of the day before I move on to the other music stuff. Today was very busy and I decided that I needed to unwind by meeting friends for a drink (hee hee). I went to the Raddison (is that the correct spelling?) with best friend, Anne (friend from work) and her man. It was so cold outside and my Jack n Lime was not enough to keep me warm. We stayed for a while, saw some more friends from the past, had fun and then decided it was home time. Marcee and I went to Fat Alberts for some good food and wine (Yay!!!), had lots of girl talk. I discovered that I might be deeply in-like with a mutual friend of ours... GREAT!! I don't have time for that, so I decided that it would have to wait till I was done with other things... AAAAARGH!! Too frustrating to talk about. My emotions will have to take a number and get in line just like everybody else. I don't have time for this right now.

Now onto the Hip Hop issue...

You have been warned about the length of this post, so don't complain. I came across a clip (which I have conveniently added at the bottom) which was at onsmash.com and it really got me thinking. Pop culture has a lot of power and influences young people in a way that is almost unbelievable. Yet the people who have this power seem not to know how better to use it. The use of words like 'bitch' and 'hoe (whore)' have become acceptable. Even the dreaded 'n-word' has become fashionable. believe it or not I've heard young South Africans call each other that. i much rather prefer the word 'cat' than 'the-n-word'... But that's just my opinion.

Young men and women think that if Snoop Dogg, Lil' John and who ever else can call a woman a hoe then it MUST be completely okay. Young women also start to become 'desensitised' to the use of words like that. Which is followed by the use of phrases like 'He is not talking about ME, he is talking about those other hoes.' The sad truth is that when we are all standing in a group, they can't really tell the hoes from the 'non-hoes', so essentially we are all implicated and the thought that some man has called me and my fellow sisters 'hoes' is both insulting and infuriating. how dare any woman (regardless of what she is wearing, conducts herself, how many people she has slept with etc) be called a 'hoe'. I detest that word!!! I DETEST IT!!!! What is worse in this case is that it is a black man oppressing HIS sisters, mother and wife by calling her that. If we cannot be respected and loved by our own men, then who will?

Now that I've said my peace about the men. I have to turn to the women in showbiz/ entertainment. I will try not single anyone out, but if I do... Well, then I do! While the men are calling 'the women who deserve it' hoes and objectifying them. There is a group of VERY successful young women, with a lot of power in their hands who are sending all the wrong messages to young women. Why would any self-respecting, talented woman shoot a music video in a bikini? I'm not talking about 30 seconds worth of footage. I'm talking a whole VIDEO! That is all our sister is wearing. A DAMN BIKINI!! The song is not even about having fun at a beach. the song is actually about love. So young impressionable girls connect the dots like this love=being half naked=sex. The alarm bells are going off in my head.

Then as if to add insult to injury talented young women make it a point to shake their booty's all through their career. I DO NOT see Jay Z shaking his booty, Usher takes his shirt off occasionally but he is not always half naked, Method Man, Red Man, Common, Mos Def... All these men have become successful without once taking their clothes off or shaking their booty's. Young women once again start connecting the dots and success=being naked/shaking what your mama gave you!! DAMMIT DAMMIT!!! WHY?!

Lastly I'm going to talk about an industry that most of us have helped 'grow'. The music video industry (at home and abroad). The girls who are willing to do anything to be in a music video, where they will be demeaned, de-humanised, insulted and portray the hoes (you know the ones that we all AREN'T). These women have jobs because WE have allowed these celebrity 'hip-hoppers' and 'sexy singers' to get away with it. Nobody is taking responsibility for anything. So I will be the first to step and say I fucked up. How did I fuck up? Because i kept quiet and was afraid of being called the F-word (feminist). Well I will NOT be quiet anymore and I REFUSE to dance to or even entertain any song that demeans women (from 'Sister Bettina' to 'I've got hoes') AND I will not entertain 'successful' sisters (many of whom are way too talented to make booty shaking a living) who misguide the young women of the world.

WOW!!! That was a LOT!! Below is the clip that inspired it all. It's bedtime for me :)