In March of 2006, ThreeSixMafia, a rap group from Memphis, Tennessee made history by becoming the first rap group in the Academy Awards' seventy-eight years of presentations to be nominated for an award and perform at The Oscars. But group members DJ Paul, Juicy J, and Crunchy Black (yes, "Crunchy Black"!) did more than perform on that night's telecast. They actually won an Oscar for Best Song in a Film for a tune entitled, of all things, "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp", which was the theme song from the soundtrack to the movie, "Hustle & Flow".
ThreeSixMafia's victory set off a maelstrom of cultural criticism from respected Black religious leaders and others who objected vociferously to such an iconic and uniquely American honor being bestowed on this peculiar collection of young urbanites. A popular Disciples of Christ Pastor in Memphis opined in a local daily newspaper: "ThreeSixMafia are pawns of the devil", and called on his congregation to mount a "holy war" against their music. He also called on parents in his church to go home and destroy all their children's hip-hop music by breaking their CD's and erasing the music from their iPods!
The upshot of this and most other criticism is that hip-hop music is the source of most of the evils in society, particularly in the Black "community". The terms "rap" and "hip-hop" were used interchangeably in these critiques, as if there were no difference between the two. These modern-day Joe McCarthy's, these self-proclaimed keepers of the flame of religious tradition, seemed to revel in their opinion that hip-hop is the root of all evil in the United States today. Shrill voices from all over the religious community suggested that hip-hop is an enemy to be resisted at all costs.
I beg to differ. Hip-hop is not our enemy. Hip-hop is merely one manifestation of our culture. It is easy to blame our culture for the condition of our children, and to blame our children for the condition of the culture, but the Bible says, "And you fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." (Ephesians 6:4, KTW Translation). Our responsibility goes way beyond judging our children's actions, and condemning the children for who they are and what they do.
It is easy to condemn ThreeSixMafia and other "gangsta" rap groups because of the lyrics of some of their music. It is easy for us to condemn ThreeSixMafia and other "gangsta" rap groups because they wear gold "grills" in their mouths, but our people have worn gold in their mouths for as long as I can remember. So if the church is condemning its own young people for being who they are, what role does the church play in making them who they are, and what do we have to offer them as an alternative to who they are?
Yes, it is easy to be self-righteous and condemn our children for turning to whatever alternative they see as their only means of escaping poverty. And, trust me, hip-hop culture has created many millionaires of men and women who probably would have spent their lives in abject poverty otherwise.
Black folk (and, by the way, I actually prefer to use the term, "Black". You may prefer "African-American", which is fine with me. We both know of whom we speak!); anyway, Black folk have had churches on every corner much longer than we have had hip-hop music. Our children have been coming out of broken homes much longer than ThreeSixMafia has been at the top of the charts. It is easier to condemn them to hell for calling women "bitches" and "hoes" than it is to stop "fronting". We in the church, so-called leaders in particular, have arguably been given implicit permission by the communities we serve to put up a front and maintain a certain image while actually treating women like "bitches" and "hoes".
What it amounts to so often is that we in the church are being hypocritical, saying one thing and doing another. The sad thing is that there are so many young people in our churches who, like many of us, are being nurtured in this traditional mindset, looking down on other folk because they do not look or act or "do church" like we do, yet we are doing the same things we condemn the rappers for doing. Jesus upbraided the cities, he condemned the cities, and he chastised the church folk of his day. They killed him to protect their vested interest.
What scares us when we look at hard-core rappers like DJ Paul, Juicy J, and Crunchy Black? What frightens us when we look at young men like the one on the cover of this book? (Would it surprise you to know that at the time of this writing the young man on the cover on this book was a music scholarship student at Morehouse College who sang in the world-renowned Glee Club and played trombone in the bands? That's my youngest son, Kameron.) Why do we almost reflexively condemn young Black boys and men based on their physical or outward appearance? If we condemn them for what they look like, or for being who they are, what role do we play in shaping who they are?
Yes, we can sit in our pristine sanctuaries and condemn our own young people, but Jesus would not have condemned them. When you tell church folks (and there's a difference between church folks and Christians) what Jesus said, they really do not want to hear it. Church folks have been wearing gold teeth long before the members of ThreeSixMafia were born. Church folks need to quit being so hypocritical! That is what we need to do! We are just angry with the hip-hop groups and rappers and ghetto impressarios because they can fill their mouths with real diamonds and genuine gold. We are just hating on them.
We've been sipping on E&J: that's "E" for Envy and "J" for Jealousy. When we condemn the hip-hop generation for certain things we have to take that definition all the way. What do you say you condemn them for? Calling women "hoes" and "bitches"? What if that's what the women act like? What if that's what they are? Let me challenge you linguistically for a moment. Let's consider what those words really mean. The word "hoe" is a derivation of the word whore, which is defined as "an offensive term for someone regarded as being sexually indiscriminate" (MSN Encarta Dictionary). If a person is, in fact, "sexually indiscriminate", or intentionally acting that way, what is the objection to using the term in that instance? Similarly, the word bitch is defined as "someone who is malicious or unpleasant" (MSN Encarta Dictionary). Again, if the shoe fits ...
Not long ago, I went to see media mogul Tyler Perry's movie, "Madea's Family Reunion". At the beginning of the movie a judge forced Madea to be a foster mother to an unruly little girl. Madea did not want to do it, but she had to do it because the judge ordered her to either take care of the little girl, or go to jail. One day the little girl skipped school. When Madea confronted her about it she told Madea that the reason she did not go to school was because the other students called her names, to which Madea replied, "It don't matter what folks call you. It matters what you answer to."
That is Madea-ology. Yes, we can condemn our young people for doing what they do, but what is it that we are doing that is leading them to do what they do? Just because someone calls you an unflattering name does not make you that which is named.
Consider this: There are people who hear me speak at various churches and other venues who have traditional sensibilities. They object to me speaking the way that I do. I use, shall we say, colorful language. Keep in mind that I always use the language in the context of whatever text I'm speaking on at the time. Do these objectors not realize that if this kind of language is not used in proper context children will take, and use, them out of context? Do they not realize that if we teach people how such language is supposed to be used they will not fall into the trap? That is what it is. It is a trap.
Be wary when you hear church folks passing judgment on other folks. Whenever all the church folks start condemning somebody, take a step back from the situation and look at it objectively. Not long after ThreeSixMafia won their Academy Award, I appeared on a local radio station in Memphis which has a gospel music/talk format, WLOK-AM 1340, the first Black-owned radio station in Memphis. When the show's host asked me about the brouhaha surrounding whether ThreeSixMafia's members were devil worshipers, and whether they deserved the Oscar, I made the following statement: "I absolutely, categorically refuse to condemn ThreeSixMafia or any other black youth for getting out of poverty!" I refuse to condemn them! I do not really care how you get out of poverty, but baby, get out!
What ThreeSixMafia and countless other hip-hop musical artists have done is quite simple, yet profound. They have found a way to get out of poverty that bypasses formal education or training. They have found a way to use the skills, gifts, and talents they've been blessed with to escape a life of hopelessness and despair. We shouldn't begrudge them the freedom they've achieved. We should do everything we can to make sure even more of our children do the same!
Poverty is what is wrong with so many of our babies. Look at most public school systems in the United States. The systems are poor because two thirds of the children are poor. And in most large urban areas like Memphis, the overwhelming majority of those students are Black. And poverty carries with it all the attendant ills that naturally prevent poor people from achieving the heights often achieved by people of means.
At the time of this writing I serve as an elected member of the Memphis City Schools Board of Commissioners, which is the policy- making body responsible for providing every public school student a decent education in a safe learning environment. Our system made headlines recently because we opened several school-based health clinics, which are expected to be seeing the first of thousands of city school students, many already diagnosed as obese or in need of glasses, blood pressure medication and even psychiatric care.
In opening the clinics, the schools superintendent said, "We've always had the data on student health, but we haven't done anything about it." (Memphis Commercial Appeal - April 4, 2009). Schools across the nation have experimented with clinics for nearly thirty years, but there has been a resurgence in recent years because of the intractable health problems compounded and sometimes created by generational poverty in America's largest cities. Meanwhile, in those same cities, many Black Pastors seem to think that God is pleased with them sitting in their pulpits, making disparaging remarks about our children, casting aspersion on them, and condemning them to hell while the preacher drives a Cadillac!
Often we preachers wear alligator shoes and designer suits as the fruit of our ingenuity and creativity in ministering to our communities. In the minds of many church-goers, young people like ThreeSixMafia cannot get up out of poverty unless they come through the church establishment and do things the way the church says they should do them. I am not about to let church folks off the hook. Church folks have a responsibility to the young people in our neighborhoods, and we aren't discharging that responsibility by accusing them of going to hell just because they don't do the church thing. ThreeSixMafia are no more pawns of the devil than you and I are; well, I can only speak for myself on that one!
What is hip-hop anyway? We are hip-hop. In his book entitled Rap and Hip-Hop: Examining Pop Culture, Jared Green defines hip-hop as "the musical medium through which the story of life in America at the end of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first centuries is being told." Hip-hop is a medium. A medium is a means or instrumentality for storing or communicating information. That is why we cannot escape it. Hip-hop is perpetually morphing and transforming, transmitting, responding to and shaping information about America's underbelly, her neglected step-children who are demanding that she pay attention to them, and that she do her duty to mother them, to nurture them into becoming productive citizens in a civil society.
At the same time, hip-hop, in all its inglorious hype - from video vixens to prison paternalism - is informing America of the dire consequences of continued marginalization of an entire class of people. If we don't begin to embrace the hip-hop generation we will begin to reap the antithesis of productive citizens. The antithesis of productive citizens in a civil society is a generation of destructive rebels in a society under siege. Anarchy - which is defined as, a situation in which there is a total lack of organization or control - wouldn't be far behind.
Make no mistake about it; hip-hop is here to stay. Anytime you can turn on your television and see one of hip-hop's darlings, SnoopDogg ("What's the dizzle my nizzle?") and Lee Iacocca (Mr. Establishment, the Chief Executive who led Chrysler Motor Company out of bankruptcy, the epitomy of the White Establishment) in a television commercial, riding together in a golf cart, hawking automobiles, that lets you know that hip-hop is ubiquitous, and no matter how hard you try you cannot get away from its presence and influence.
Any time you can turn on your television and see NASCAR's Dale Earnhardt, Jr. - a true representative of the traditional South if I ever saw one - and Atlanta rapper T.I. smile at each other, shake hands, exchange pleasantries, hug, and swap cars you know that hip-hop has arrived in the living room of mainstream America. Anytime a rapper like 50 Cent (aka Curtis Jackson) - whose claim to fame is based largely on the fact that he was shot nine times before his twenty-fifth birthday - can help develop his own grape-flavored vitamin water for a fledgling company, then sell his share of that company for $100 million, hip-hop and hip-hoppers have demonstrated a deft ability to negotiate the turbulent waters of the American Dream. Not to mention the fact that at the time of this writing a new movie entitled Righteous Kill is being promoted that stars 50 Cent and Oscar-winning actors Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino. Talk about mainstream!
If America is about anything she is about commercial success through capitalism, and hip-hop is a primary engine driving a lot of dollars into the bank accounts of countless corporations whose CEO's probably don't even listen to hip-hop music, and who would no doubt be terrified if "caught" on an elevator alone with any of hip-hop's ubiquitous ambassadors.
Why would anyone condemn Snoop, T.I., 50 Cent, or others for making millions of dollars legally? At least those hip-hoppers' children will not have to grow up in poverty. However many children they have, it'll be that many children that need not suffer for lack of money and material things. Think about it. From whose perspective is hip-hop music presented, generally? It is presented from the perspective of poor Black youngsters. It is presented from the perspective of children who live in the ghetto twenty-four hours a day, three hundred sixty-five days a year.
We cannot help it if a majority of rich white kids apparently do not have rhythm and cannot write poetry at the drop of a dime and cannot flow lyrically to an improvised beat. That is not our fault. Poverty breeds creativity. If you're reading this book you probably know what I'm talking about. If you had to, you could probably stretch a half of a potato, a quarter of an onion, and some bacon grease, and feed seven children, and have leftovers. That's creativity! It's a creativity born of struggle.
Most people I know have had to struggle to make it in life, and that struggle strengthened their character. That struggle birthed a tenacious will to do whatever is necessary to overcome obstacles. We must not frown on our own culture. Do not frown on the innate ability of our people to survive in the midst of the madness we face daily. Make up your mind right now to encourage young people wherever you encounter them. Encourage them to create whatever it is they need to create, within the limits of legality, to get up and out of poverty. And if you are a Christian, or a Muslim, or a Jew, or any of countless other faith-based belief system adherents, please resist the powerful influence of those who are so heavenly-minded that they are no earthly good. Resist the temptation to condemn anybody and everybody who doesn't do church like you do church.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from HIP HOP IS NOT OUR ENEMY by Dr. Kenneth T. Whalum, Jr. Copyright © 2010 by Dr. Kenneth T. Whalum, Jr.. Excerpted by permission.
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