Society

I am in the car on my way to work and didn’t even notice the time going by as I was bopping my head to the music on the radio.  It was the morning drive mix of A Tribe Called Quest, EPMD, Busta, Das FX, Jungle Brothas, Public Enemy and De La Soul. Now, I am showing my age but to me this was true hip hop.  Today’s rappers, not all but most, have gone away from being lyrical but to being commercial.  The mix ended and now it is 2 minutes of commercials.  They varied from which club is open on Monday to the concert that is happening the upcoming weekend.  The commercials ended and the DJ talked about current events around the city.  “BLAH BLAH BLAH”, is what I heard anticipating some good ole hip hop to be played again. 

Then all of sudden I was smacked with this ringtone bubble gum rap.  What the hell just happened?  Now what is playing on the radio on which big booty chick this dude is going to screw at the strip club to saying who is pushing drugs to make money.  Really as a society this is what we glorify? Where are the morals?  Matters of fact are why are we letting this on our airwaves?  Now what a person buys is their own business but to put it on the radio is another.  I am not holier than thou, but when are we going to say enough is enough?  What are you saying to our youth with this type of music?  I will tell you what is being said.  To the young women, it is ok for you to be a stripper or it’s alright for a man to buy you everything you don’t have to stand on your own feet.  To the young men, it is ok for you to degrade women or selling drugs is a good career move.  That brings me to my next issue, where the hell is the parents?  Personally I don’t want my kids to singing “I am a trap star” or my nieces to be singing “I need a sponsor”. 

It is amazing how many parents let their kids listen to this to the point the music becomes the teacher to that child.  Ask minority youth, who they want to be and most of the time they name a rapper.  The next is basketball player.  What happened to being a doctor, lawyer, teacher or law enforcement? Well I will break down that down: they don’t want to be a doctor or lawyer because they don’t want to put the effort in to getting good grades; they don’t want to be a teacher because there is no glory in it again they have to get good grades and last is law enforcement.  Now this is a true problem in our society is trusting law enforcement.  Let’s tackle the biggest hurdle which is the “Stop Snitching” campaign. 

What an effing joke this is.  The theory behind this is, if you see a crime you don’t say nothing just bury your head in the sand.  Now I have laid witness too many crimes being committed and I have not called the cops but they were not hurting anyone of the physical nature.  The real definition of “Stop Snitching” is if you get caught doing dirt you keep your mouth shut and don’t roll on anyone else to reduce your time.  Now that has evolved to what I mentioned above is to not tell anything even is someone grandmother is getting mugged.  We as a society will never be able to move forward if we keep letting ourselves get pushed 2 steps backwards.  I will tell you now, if I witness a murder or someone causing physical harm to another (unless it’s a one on one fight no weapons involved) I will give a statement.  Does this make me less “black” or less of a man?  Personally I don’t care but I know I will be a better man for it.  I hope its sprouts like the commercial where each individual sees another help a person out.  I am tired of our culture being destroyed just so a few people can make millions.