Scapegoating hip-hop for every social ailment in America is nothing new, if you've been paying attention lately. But to blatantly blame rap music for Don Imus' racist and reprehensible remarks on the Rutgers women's basketball team is outrageous, especially when there's no evidence that said Imus even listens to rap. We're talking about a man with a history of ad hominem slurs, who's described African-Americans with despicable terms like "cleaning lady" and "quota hire" in the past.

Worse still, Imus contradicted his previous sorryloquies on NBC's Today Show yesterday with a classic cop out:

"I may be a white man, but I know that young black women all through that society are demeaned and disparaged and disrespected by their own black men and that they are called that name. I didn't invent the phrase...the phrase was invented in the black community."

No sh*t, Sherlock!

Who's this guy's publicist anyway? Will someone please tell him to shut up and face the fact that what's wrong is wrong irrespective of who's perpetuating it? Treat others as you expect them to treat you, period.

Honestly, I don't know what's more disturbing about this whole saga: the media's superficial obsession with the issue amidst a slow-news cycle or the lip-service (not to mention double standards) approach from the black folks on the other end of the spectrum. Or the fact that hip-hop gets blamed for everything from misogyny to Osama's disappearance.

Blame hip-hop for the Iraq war. Blame hip-hop for global warming. Blame hip-hop for Anna Nicole Smith's death. Hell, if you look at the world trade center long enough, you might catch hip-hop staring right back at you.

If rap music has only been around for about 3 decades, how then is it acceptable to continually blame it for societal ills that existed prior to to the culture's origins?

Labels: Issues