Backlash Hits Rap

A story that made me smile when I saw it in one of my local papers this morning: hip hop struggles with sales decline and growing criticism from within about the culture's negative effect on society.

Although music sales are down overall, rap sales slid a whopping 21% from 2005 to 2006, and for the first time in 12 years no rap album was among the top 10 sellers of the year. A recent study by the Black Youth Project showed a majority of youth think rap has too many violent images. In a poll of black Americans by Associated Press and AOL-Black Voices last year, 50% of respondents said hip-hop was a negative force in American society.

While most rap consumers are white, the music is still disproportionately consumed by black blacks. Some people worry that the black community is suffering from hip-hop -- from the way America perceives blacks to the attitudes and images about themselves and women being adopted by black youth. However, rapper David Banner derides the growing criticism as blacks joining America's "attack" on young black men who are only reflecting the crushing problems within their communities. Besides, he charges, that's the kind of music that America wants to hear. "Look at the music that gets us popular -- 'Like a Pimp', 'Dope Boy Fresh'", he said. "What makes it so difficult is to know that we need to be doing other things. But the truth is at least us talking about what we're talking about, we can bring certain things to the light," he said. "They want (black artists) to shuck and jive, but they don't want us to tell the real story because they're connected to it."

My response: Thankfully, the trash that is called mainstream hip hop is getting rejected more and more. David Banner excuses the bad message promoted by him and his cohorts. Any criticism of this gutter music - which brings down a once-glorious black American culture - is to "shuck and jive" in Banner's either/or scenario (as if decent rappers like Talib Kweli or Common don't exist, and thug rappers aren't already doing the shuck and jive with their de facto minstreal shows). However, I agree with him that this music - until recently, at least - was shamefully what America wanted to hear.