Hip-Hop's Crossover to the Adult Aisle

[Bantu_Kelani]

Sex sells. Now, many rap/hip-hop artists jump on the Porn Bandwagon. Sigh..

B.K


Hip-Hop's Crossover to the Adult Aisle
By MARTIN EDLUND

For the boisterous Atlanta-based rappers Lil John and the East Side Boyz, Dec. 10 was the crowning night of what had already been a triumphant year. Their album "Kings of Crunk" had been certified platinum; their song "Get Low" was in heavy rotation on MTV and commercial radio. That evening, at the MGM Grand hotel in Las Vegas, they collected three Billboard Music Awards, including one for R&B/hip-hop group of the year.

But the rappers didn't linger over their victory. Instead, they skipped the after-parties and rushed upstairs to their suite to film a graphic girl-on-girl sex scene for their new porn video, "Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz American Sex Series," which was released last month through adult video stores and the Internet. "It's not softcore porn," Lil Jon said by telephone from Atlanta. "It's some real XXX."

Hip-hop has lately taken a turn toward the bourgeois, with prominent rappers renouncing violence, embracing philanthropy and donning pinstripe suits. But in deliberate defiance of this newfound respectability, some top acts have begun to pursue a less-than-wholesome sideline: commercial pornography. Pop music has always pushed sexual boundaries, of course, and rap has never shied away from gleefully smutty lyrics. But now, some stars are moving beyond raunchy rhetoric into actual pornographic matter, with graphic videos, explicit cable TV shows and hip-hop-themed girlie magazines.

50 Cent, whose "Get Rich or Die Tryin' " was the best-selling album of 2003, was at the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas in January to promote a deal with a company called Digital Sin. The result, to be released later this year, will be an "interactive sex DVD," titled "Groupie Luv," featuring 50 Cent and the rap group G-Unit that will allow the viewer to select partners, sexual positions, camera angles, even the dispositions of the women ("naughty" or "nice"). The newly launched music-meets-porn magazine Fish 'n' Grits gives rappers and and porn stars equal play in its pages. (The rapper Method Man shares the inaugural cover with the adult film star Solveig.) And in January, Playboy TV introduced a new hip-hop-themed series - the first of several planned for this year - called "Buckwild." The show features mainstream stars like OutKast, Snoop Dogg, Nelly and Busta Rhymes cavorting with a frisky troupe of women called the Buckwild Girls, who seem to fall out of their clothes whenever a camera approaches.

"It was inevitable," said Ken (Buckwild) Francis, the creator, producer and host of the series. "Hip-hop is a billion-dollar-a-year industry. If you don't do it, you're going to miss the boat."

The first mainstream rapper to do a feature-length commercial porn video was Snoop Dogg, whose "Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle" was distributed through Hustler Video in 2001. Set in his Los Angeles home, it featured sex scenes interspersed with lip-synched performances of 11 previously unreleased songs. (Like other rappers who dabble in porn, Snoop Dogg does not actually have sex on camera; instead, he plays master of ceremonies, presiding over the festivities.) In an industry where a video that sells 4,000 copies is considered a runaway hit, "Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle" sold somewhere "in the hundreds of thousands," according to Larry Flynt, president of Larry Flynt Publications, which owns Hustler Video. It was named the top-selling tape of 2001 by the porn trade publication Adult Video News and was the first hardcore video ever listed on the Billboard music video sales chart. "It's been very lucrative for Snoop and us," said Mr. Flynt. The sequel, "Snoop Dogg's Hustlaz: Diary of a Pimp," was named top-selling tape of 2003.

For the porn industry, hip-hop fans are an attractive new market. "The fresh music brings people who are primarily fans of hip-hop to the adult genre," said Christian Mann, president of Video Team, the company which co-produced and distributed the Lil Jon video. "We get a lot of customers that we might not otherwise get."

Camille Evans, a publisher and editor of Fish 'n' Grits, said: "We've been using sex to sell music for years. Now we're just flipping it to have music sell sex."

The economics of porn make it a lucrative prospect for rappers. A video like Lil Jon's can be done "on a very meager production budget of maybe $50,000," Mr. Mann said. Marquee rappers tend to undertake these projects as partners, rather than hired help, so if the video does well they get paid twice: once as talent (about $1 for every copy sold in the case of Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz), and then again as investors. (Lil Jon is a major stakeholder in Legacy DVD Works, which was co-producer of the video and will receive 50 percent of the profits from it.) The video retails for just over $20; if it sells 100,000 copies, that's a million-dollar profit, according to Mr. Mann. Sales of cable, Internet and foreign distribution rights can contribute 20 percent more, he said.

Even if a video doesn't set sales records, it can add a helpful dash of danger and erotic adventurism to a rapper's image. One common scenario is to depict the rapper as a pimp presiding over a stable of beautiful women. The pimp is a stock figure in hip-hop iconography, an attractive rebel, full of street savvy and sexual charm. When it comes to hip-hop porn, he also solves a vexing casting issue: how to give rappers the appearance of sexual prowess without actually showing them having sex.

In "Snoop Dogg's Hustlaz: Diary of a Pimp," Snoop peacocks in outrageous outfits and seduces a prudish journalist into his employ. But when it comes time for sex, Snoop passes the honors off to someone else — or, more often, to several other people. Ice-T's 2003 porn video, "Pimpin' 101," takes a similar tack. As the host, Ice-T leads the viewer through a step-by-step mock lesson in how to be a pimp, including primers on various kinds of women. (Oddly, Ice-T is a regular on the highly rated NBC television series "Law and Order: S.V.U.," on which he plays a detective who investigates sex crimes.)

Another common conceit for these videos is a behind-the-scenes look at the "real" life of a rap superstar. Lil Jon's "American Sex Series" lets fans follow him to the strip club and into the hotel suite. "Your fans want to hang out with you," said Lil Jon. "When you watch this movie, if you're a guy, you feel like you're hanging out with us and wilding out with some girls."

According to Brian Leach, vice president in the urban music division of Lil Jon's label, TVT Records, the porn video appeals particularly to Lil Jon's core audience of "hard, aggressive, crunk, edgy youth," as Mr. Leach puts it. These are fans who might feel alienated by Lil Jon's recent Top 40 success. (He produced and appears in four songs in the top 50 on last week's Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart, including Usher's "Yeah!," which has been No. 1 for two weeks running.) "You have this audience that's wondering if he's still theirs," Mr. Leach said. "These videos say, `I still belong to you.' "

However, they may distance him from everyone else. In mainstream pop music, it's hard to know where titillation ends and smut begins (often, it's just a few inches of cloth that separate a Rolling Stone magazine photo from a Playboy-type one). As Janet Jackson's recent Super Bowl misstep proved, even mock sexuality can be difficult to reconcile with commercial standards and tastes. In the past, rappers like Luther Campbell of 2 Live Crew and Too Short have dabbled in porn. But these acts never appealed to a particularly broad audience. Today, some of the biggest names in the business are involved. Artists like Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent and Lil Jon are fixtures on MTV; in fact, the network is even developing a Lil Jon cartoon.

Of course, many of these acts' fans are teenagers. Mr. Mann, of Video Team, recalls hearing Lil Jon's "Get Low" played over the loudspeakers during halftime at his 10-year-old son's football game. "The little cheerleaders had actually made up cheers to the tune," he said. Mr. Mann and Lil Jon both insist that their video won't be marketed to underage consumers. But that attitude may be willfully naïve. In an age when teenagers scour search engines and file-sharing networks, snapping up anything they can find by their favorite rap stars, the wall between adult and youth entertainment is irreparably porous.

Mr. Leach of TVT Records, Lil Jon's label, recognizes that the majority of Lil Jon fans are "kids who come from homes that are a little more conservative." But far from discouraging Lil Jon's porn venture, TVT is planning to put out its own racy Lil Jon DVD, titled "Too Crunk for TV," which will feature nude girls in the style of the enormously successful "Girls Gone Wild" video series.

Another issue for these rappers is whether their porn projects will jeopardize their even-more-lucrative corporate endorsement deals. Snoop Dogg has recently appeared in television commercials for Nokia and AOL, and in November, Reebok released an enormously successful 50 Cent sneaker called the G6.

In 2002, Pepsi pulled ads featuring the rapper Ludacris after Fox News's Bill O'Reilly chastised the company for promoting a "thug rapper" whose songs contain sexually explicit lyrics. Now Mr. O'Reilly has criticized Reebok for partnering with 50 Cent: "They don't care what he says on his records, and they don't care that he's marketing porn and drugs and all that other stuff," Mr. O'Reilly said on a recent episode of his show "The O'Reilly Factor." "They're liking his selling shoes."

Since then, 50 Cent has quietly distanced himself from the porn project. The original press release announcing the deal characterized it as a partnership between Digital Sin and 50 Cent. A revised release, put out by 50 Cent's management after the "O'Reilly Factor" broadcast, billed it instead as a collaboration between Digital Sin and Lloyd Banks, one of 50 Cent's partners in the rap group G-Unit. 50 Cent's name appears only in the final sentence of the release, which states that he and G-Unit "won't be engaged in any sexual behavior but may make general appearances."

For rappers who want to be involved in pornography, the decision may come down, in the end, to a simple matter of opportunity cost. "Our core consumers are minors, so we're not driving it that way," said 50 Cent's manager, Chris Lighty. "We're in the business of selling clothing and sneakers. We're going to have a $100 million business by the end of this year. This isn't something we're jeopardizing."

Martin Edlund is the pop music critic for the New York Sun.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

[iyah360]

"
. . .

See how them teaching the youth to play
Cookie monster making a mess everyday
Bugs Bunny is a transvestite I say
Yosemite Sam pull his gun, when he can’t get his way

Banking in the pig
Banking in the filthiest thing
And then they call I man the sons of Ham
And call man color pigmentation
Man thief money and he’s a swindler
Why them love the swine
Couldn’t be no simpler
Piggy bank is a psychological thing
Implication is only the filthy win

Oscar the Grouch living in a trash can
Nintendo teach them how to decapitate man
Oh generation of vipers is their creation
Them filthy up and falsify the Holy Land
. . .
"

- form Midnite "Banking in the Pig"

[gman]

"hard, aggressive, crunk, edgy youth"
I'm laughing my buttocks off at that lil phrase.
None of this is any great shock, sex sells, and capitalism appeals to the lowest common denominator.
The problem is the youths ain't getting no exposure to the conscious side of hip-hop because it's only the brainless sex and/or guns songs that are pushed on the radio/media.
dead prez got a song with Jay-Z on their new CD, some people object to that but as far as I'm concerned it's a good thing, lots of people listen to Jay-Z so now maybe some of them will start listening to dead prez as well. Then maybe we gone hear some youth hollering out "the only good cop is a dead cop, police brutality has got to stop" instead of "To the windOOOOWWW... to the WAAAALLLL.. AAAALLL these females crawl..."
I gotta say though I love that song "Get Low", it's a nice beat and those have got to be some of the most sublimely idiotically ridiculous lyrics/delivery ever. It's so incredibly stupid it's brilliant. Me and me girl always used to yell along with that song while we cruised through town in that old Nissan Sentra. Brings back memories man...

[iyah360]

I'll agree, a lot of these mainstream hip-hop songs with a lack of anything of substance have some really really nice rhythms behind them. It is too bad that so much money goes into making stupid shi* sound so damn good.

[sisMenenI]

For real, Lil John and the Eastside boyz are running things for mainstream rap music, but more influentially, the youths. That's why more than often there will be a car outside with it's doors and trunk open and rims still spinning bumping "Shake it like a salt shaker".. with these youths dancing like the naked girls on the music videos. It's a sad thing, but just as the I's have said, the beats are too good, they've got something that makes people move.. especially Lil John with those rough beats... and he's got the key: bringing in other artists like Too Short and Usher on the new tracks.

The artist to check is KANYE WEST. He has something like 3 tracks on the mainstream right now and the newest one, "All falls down" (from beloved Lauryn Hill's unplugged- yet different singer) is actually saying something to these youths...

ALL FALLS DOWN feat. Syleena Johnson

Oh when it all, it all falls down
I'm telling you ohh, it all falls down

[Verse - Kanye West]
Man I promise, she's so self conscious
She has no idea what she's doing in college
That major that she majored in don't make no money
But she won't drop out, her parents will look at her funny
Now, tell me that ain't insecurrre
The concept of school seems so securrre
Sophmore three yearrrs aint picked a careerrr
She like f*** it, I'll just stay down herre and do hair
Cause that's enough money to buy her a few pairs of new Airs
Cause her baby daddy don't really care
She's so precious with the peer pressure
Couldn't afford a car so she named her daughter Alexus (a Lexus)
She had hair so long that it looked like weave
Then she cut it all off now she look like Eve
And she be dealing with some issues that you can't believe
Single black female addicted to retail and well

[Verse - Kanye West]
Man I promise, I'm so self conscious
That's why you always see me with at least one of my watches
Rollies and Pasha's done drove me crazy
I can't even pronounce nothing, pass that versace!
Then I spent 400 bucks on this
Just to be like nigga you ain't up on this!
And I can't even go to the grocery store
Without some ones thats clean and a shirt with a team

It seems we living the american dream
But the people highest up got the lowest self esteem
The prettiest people do the ugliest things
For the road to riches and diamond rings
We shine because they hate us, floss cause they degrade us
We trying to buy back our 40 acres
And for that paper, look how low we a'stoop
Even if you in a Benz, you still a nigga in a coop/coupe

[Verse - Kanye West]
I say f*** the police, thats how I treat em
We buy our way out of jail, but we can't buy freedom
We'll buy a lot of clothes when we don't really need em
Things we buy to cover up what's inside
Cause they make us hate ourself and love they wealth
That's why shortys hollering "where the ballas' at?"
Drug dealer buy Jordans, crackhead buy crack
And a white man get paid off of all of that
But I ain't even gon act holier than thou
Cause f*** it, I went to Jacob with 25 thou
Before I had a house and I'd do it again
Cause I wanna be on 106 and Park pushing a Benz
I wanna act ballerific like it's all terrific
I got a couple past due bills, I won't get specific
I got a problem with spending before I get it
We all self conscious I'm just the first to admit it

JESUS WALKS

Yo, We at war
We at war with terrorism, racism but most of all we at war with ourselves
(Jesus Walks)
God show me the way because the Devil trying to break me down
(Jesus Walks with me) with me with me with me [fades]

You know what the Midwest is?
Young & Restless
Where restless Niggaz might snatch your necklace
And next these Niggaz might jack your Lexus
Somebody tell these Niggaz who Kanye West is
I walk through the valley of Chi where death is
Top floor the view alone will leave you breathless Uhhhh!
Try to catch it Uhhhh! It's kinda hard hard
Getting choked by the detectives yeah yeah now check the method
They be asking us questions, harass and arrest us
Saying "we eat pieces of shit like you for breakfast"
Huh? Yall eat pieces of shit? What's the basis?
We ain't going nowhere but got suits and cases
A trunk full of coke rental car from Avis
My momma used to say only Jesus can save us
Well momma I know I act a fool
But I'll be gone til November I got packs to move I Hope

(Jesus Walks)
God show me the way because the Devil trying to break me down
(Jesus Walks with me)
The only thing that I pray is that me feet don't fail me now
(Jesus Walks)
And I don't think there is nothing I can do now to right my wrongs

(Jesus Walks with me)
I want to talk to God but I'm afraid because we ain't spoke in so long

To the hustlas, killers, murderers, drug dealers even the strippers
To the victims of Welfare for we living in hell here hell yeah
Now hear ye hear ye want to see Thee more clearly
I know he hear me when my feet get weary
Cuz we're the almost nearly extinct
We rappers are role models we rap we don't think
I ain't here to argue about his facial features
Or here to convert atheists into believers
I'm just trying to say the way school need teachers
The way Kathie Lee needed Regis that's the way yall need Jesus
So here go my single dog radio needs this
They say you can rap about anything except for Jesus
That means guns, sex, lies, video tapes
But if I talk about God my record won't get played Huh?
Well let this take away from my spins
Which will probably take away from my ends
Then I hope this take away from my sins
And bring the day that I'm dreaming about
Next time I'm in the club everybody screaming out

(Jesus Walks)
God show me the way because the devil trying to break me down
(Jesus Walks)
The only thing that I pray is that me feet don't fail me now

http://browse.lyrics.astraweb.com:2882/browse/bands/25/Kanyewest.html

[Oshun_Auset]

Kanye West is somewhat of a breath of fresh air...in comparison to the crap a lot of other rappers spew lately...BUT he is coming out with a line of jewelry with the notorious "Jacob the Jeweler" that depict Yeshua with porcelain skin and a lot of diamonds. The combination of a white Yeshua and the "bling-bling" is just too much for me to stomache. He actually stated "the porcelian skin was my idea to make Jesus look realistic...it looks like his real skin!   We will be coming out with a darker Jesus later this year."....Why he didn't come out with an image of god that looked like him(or like the real Yeshua) first is sooooo telling of where this brothers mind is at. But then again he is Catholic...

The brother is pretty good when it comes to U.S. social issues, but he has some catching up to do on African History/spirituality and the current neo-colonialist/zionist exploitation of Africa's natural resources. Those diamonds have how much African blood on them? He must not know.

[Bantu_Kelani]

You are right Auset. I really don't know why Kanye West is getting all the hype.. IMO he's not "the most conscious brother" out there. There are many classier one's such as Mos Def, Talib Kweli and Common to name a few that do address  important issues faced by Black people.

Wait for the next albums and when Kanye West is really loaded, then we'll hear about the booty, bling-bling and bang-bang ..

Now let's tell the truth, Rap/ HIP HOP is out of control, because the Black community is out of control. Snoop, 50 cents, JaRule, Ludacris, Mystikal etc. raps about sex, drugs and guns because that is what they know, they are ignorant, but not by choice. Their community, their environments make them ignorant. In fact, HIP HOP wouldn't be where it is today if the Black communities were not in such pitiful state of "Niggerism" and "ghettoism" ... Talib Kweli and Mos Def type of rappers are not getting the praise they deserve and this is DESTROYING the young Black minds out there.. SEX sells and society is basically attracted to negativity for the most part anyway. SAD!


Bantu Kelani.

[Oshun_Auset]

I agree Bantu, unfortunately "Niggerism" is rampant, and is being promoted by the powers that be via the "edutainment" proccess. Capitalist indoctrination is a m.f.(I apologize for the language) Personally I like Dead Prez better than Common...Talib Kwali is good as always...same with Most Def...Wycliff is completely commercial now...Lauren is great...but then again do they really get that much air play anymore if they are possitive or consious? Dead Prez's videos are BANNED from MTV for being too "controvercial"(a code word for honest and political)...but we can have ass and titties shoved in our faces all day and that's supposed to be O.K.!

I grew up on hip-hop...But outside of Dead Prez, The Coop, and Ras Kas...I moved on to Roots Rock Reggae a long time ago(in my teens) as I know many others had to do... but KRS-1 is still the bomb! The crap that is fed to the youth today is a mental diet of junk food....But then again, the whole industry has been usurped by the corporate "gods"(more like devils)...But like Dead Pez points out about their low level of air play..."The enemy is supposed to hate it!"

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How Hip Hop destroyed Black Power

by Min. Paul Scott

FNV - From the moment Stokley Carmichael (Kwame Ture) grabbed the mic and yelled Black Power! the phrase has struck fear in the heart of white America. Not that they were overly concerned that we posed some sort of military or economic threat, as the white power structure had those two options on “lock,” but the possibility that the phrase would galvanize the masses of Black youth to action. Motivating them to do more than get their groove on Saturday night and their praise on Sunday morning sent chills up the spines of those who had a vested interest in holding the Black community down. Something had to be done to destroy this uncompromising desire for FREEDOM, JUSTICE and EQUALITY.

The blackploitation movies of the ’70s were a good try as they served as a funkier alternative to the Black Nationalist struggle. However, even the pimps and pushers were Struggling against “the man.” Also, during that period, the blood of the Black Panthers and our other martyrs was still fresh on the pavements of many neighborhoods of Black America.

So the weapon of choice was a movement of young Black teenagers who had developed a system of organization that could do anything from educate children about the historical struggle of African people to turning the deadliest gang rivalry into a break dance competition.

First, the power structure tried to ban rap music altogether by strengthening indecency laws in states where rappers performed and forcing them to place parental guidance stickers on their albums. But the contradiction of having those who have robbed, killed and murdered every culture on the planet serving as morality police was too much to swallow. Also problematic was the fact that to them the members of 2 Live Crew and Public Enemy were interchangeable.

So they fell back on their old standard “if you can’t beat them, corrupt them.” It was not an overnight hostile takeover but a slow, cunning infiltration, kind of like the annoying scratchy throat that you ignore until it has you sick in bed for two weeks. By then it is too late.

What arose was a Hip Hop nation that held no allegiance to the Black Nation, as the Hip Hop nation was all inclusive, and anyone regardless of race, class, religion or political views where anyone who had 15 dollars to buy a CD and could imitate the style of dress from glossy magazine covers could be down.

There is a saying in Afrocentric circles that when the European missionaries came to Africa, they had the Bible and we had the land, and when they left, we had the Bible and they had the land. In terms of Hip Hop, when the white missionaries in the form of corporate executives came to the ’hood, they had the 20-inch rims and Courvoisier and we had the music; when they left, we had the rims and Courvoisier and they had the music. We traded our dashikis for Rockawear, our African medallions for platinum chains and our souls for a moment to shine in front of white America. As it is said, we crossed over and couldn’t get black. Black Power became an example of racism in reverse, and a term that should have gone out with the Afro pick.

Hip Hop should serve as the background music for the Black Nation and should be heard pumpin’ through speakers at every uprising, protest, or demonstration.

However, the forces which control Hip Hop have taken measures to make sure that the Hip Hop Nation and the Black Power Nation never unite. While most rappers would swear on their mammas’ graves that they are in control of their Hip Hop destinies, I cannot help but think that behind the back stage curtain at every rap concert is an old white “Wizard of the ’hood” carefully manipulating the lives of our children.

What we have here is a failure to communicate; a conversation that never happened. A dialogue between the Black Nation and the Hip Hop Nation has been skillfully blocked by the white power structure. While talk shows often pit Harvard educated, middle class journalist Bob Smith against straight up gangsta MC Cut Throat, I have yet to see a debate between “MC Cut Throat” and straight up Black militant, revolutionary “Bro. Shaka Zulu.”

We must not be afraid of alienating our children (as many of them cannot become more alienated, anyway) by engaging them to observe Hip Hop against the back drop of the struggle for Black LIBERATION. As many of them pride themselves on being the “realist” and shocking white America with their lyrics that talk loud and say nothing, we must teach them of the ancestors who were really controversial and were rewarded with a bullet in the head or noose around their necks and not heavy rotation on a radio station.

We must not be afraid to use the term “anti-afrikanism” in describing some of the disrespect that white corporate America gives us in the guise of entertainment. While it may be too early to grill Lil Bow Wow on his views on the mental genocide of Afrikan people, it is not only proper; but also our responsibility, to engage 30-something-year-old Black men on their views on colonialism. If they are able to tell our children about the correct way to sell crack or murder another Black man, the issue of white supremacy should not intimidate them in the least.

Although many would like to write off the age of Black Consciousness as a lost era, if you walk outside on a warm summer night, after the last video has played on BET, if you listen closely, you can still hear the voices of the ancestors shouting black power, Black Power, BLACK POWER!
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But really it is African Power as Stokley Carmichael (Kwame Ture) had also progressed to saying. Black is a colour, African is land, history ,and culture!

Check out the new Dead Prez video "Hell Yeah" on their site...pay special attention to the ending...I love these guys!!!

http://www.deadprez.com/

[sisMenenI]

It's true, Kanye West can't compare to the conscious Hip Hop of Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Poor Righteous Teachers, Dead Prez.. etc.. I didn't know about Kanye West's Bling bling jesus line, cha. He doesn't keep a consciousness throughout his album either, I am just more pleased with the bit of truth he is getting out there to the youths... I know most the youths in this area aren't interested if it doesn't have that catchy beat of mainstream rap. And Yes, Kanye will most likely be another to "sell-out" and dive straight into the dirty lyrics that come out of the whole Lil' John crew... but atleast he is putting out a message in this time, "all falls down" is just about the only tune on the radio that actually has something to say.
I did get the youths into Jurassic 5 for a minute... now I am more turning them to a little Damian Marley vibes... you've got to feed them only what they'll eat

[gman]

SisMenen, truth be told I don't see anything "sad" about youths hanging out in front a car with the rims spinnin listening to Lil Jon or whoever and dancing like the naked girls in the music video or whatever. Nothing wrong with that, that is youths having fun. Only sad thing is the amount of $$ people spending on things like rims, but even then a nice set of rims can be like a rainy-day fund, you can always sell 'em when you hit a rough stretch (as my girl can attest to).
I actually think relatively mindless music about partying/sex etc. has its place. Partying and sex are part of life (or they should be anyway). What bothers me is that there is no balance. All you get on the radio/video is this escapist fantasy world of diamonds and oceans of booty.
I wouldn't write off any of these commercial artists, many of them are ignorant which is no sin, education corrects that, nuff of them at least have the street knowledge which could be the foundation for a critical look at the system and their place in it, some of them probably done come to some of the same conclusions as people like us, but they trapped by their record companise into putting out what they think will make em the maximum $, but maybe some of em will inject some of that consciousness into their stuff with time. Meanwhile conscious artists gotta just push their stuff as best they can knowing they won't get much backing from record companies and radio stations. dead prez doing a pretty good job and starting to get through to people, hopefully more will follow.
One a y'all mentioned Poor Righteous Teachers, I love PRT specially "New World Order" one of the sickest rap CDs ever I think. Whatever happened to those cats?

[Bantu_Kelani]

Great post Auset (like usual..) This article you posted make very good points. Whites and Non-Blacks purchase 80% of all Hip-Hop albums. 80 percent! Mix that with the fact that Black music (Hip-Hop, R&B, soul, blues, Jazz etc.) Black art, Black fashion and Black entertainment is mostly run by White-owned multinational conglomerates (Viacom, Universal, Sony, Disney etc.) and you have the dynamic of a mostly White consumer-base dictating Black culture to White manufacturers and marketers. That's "them" talking to "them" about what they accept from "us" you feel me? The meager 30% or something Black record labels have names like "Bad Boy" or "Murder Inc" no wonder the majority of today's popular rappers on the radio have wicked influences..  


Bantu Kelani.

[Oshun_Auset]

I see the current direction rappers are heading in as modern day mistrelsy...as your post points out... "them" talking to "them" about what they accept from "us"...I definately feel you!