“It is unconscionable that the NAACP would sully its brand, squander its legacy, and take such a stand contrary to the aspirations and dreams of the mainstream of the African-American community,” Reverend Delman Coates of Mt. Ennon Baptist Church told the San Jose-Mercury Sun in regards to NAACP’s choice of rappers for tonight’s March 4th,2011, 42nd Annual NAACP Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. According to Rev Coates he is not against the hip-hop culture but against some of the artists who have been selected to perform, present or have been nominated. He states: “The NAACP should be ashamed for not using this platform to profile the numerous positive hip-hop/R&B artists that are out there today,”.
Tobacco and Cancer…
Another shot apparently aiming at Comb’s and other successful young businessmen came in from Rev. Lucious Smith, pastor of Pasadena Friendship Baptist Church who said “On one side these are young black men that are great business men, but on the other end it is like the tobacco business,” . “In the end you get cancer.”
So who are these ” Not Fit for, Tobaccco artists” that are been talked about since names such as Jay-Z, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, B.o.B, Diddy and Dirty Money are being floated around as those selected to be involved in this great occasion.
According to Joe Brown of the Pasadena, California NAACP he thinks “the national office is going to review the policy of the nominees and the participants,” and “Hopefully this will eliminate inviting those whose lyrics are considered disdainful.”
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To prevent myself from being ignorant, I went on to NAACP’s site naacp.org to really understand their mission and vision
Mission: The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination.
Vision Statement : The vision of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure a society in which all individuals have equal rights without discrimination based on race.
I also took a step back to see the definition of hip-hop:
Hip-hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American communities during the late 1970s
Orijinal Question?
1) How should hip-hop be read in today’s world? Should it be seen more like a Hollywood movie or storybook where lyrics can be explicitly crafted to tell a graphic story like “American Gangster by Denzel”,where the use of words like the “f” and “s” words are not taken as an insult as it is understood when used in movies? Where sexuality not, pornography weighs the same weight as watching an award winning movie? If that is the case, how do we change and develop the mentality of the world to understand what the new hip-hop world is and not become a disciple of what rappers say or portray in their music? Will this minimize some of the violence or disrespect which has been claimed to be a result of rap music?
2) If we were to go through the movie and storybook route, will Hip-hop loose its value as a vehicle or voice? Will it become like a WWF where we don’t take it seriously because we know it is staged?
With respect to the churches, NAACP and other great father figured foundations, what is the best way to bridge the gap between the hip-hop culture and your views, implementing the knowledge that both sides have to educate the world today and ensuring a society in which all individuals have equal rights without discrimination based on race, gender and humanity as a whole?
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