Not How It's 'Post To Be' (Being Accountable For What Our Music Says About Us)

"The beat is crazy though!" "This song just gets me hype!"

In his 2004 comedy special "Never Scared", Chris Rock talks about growing tired of defending his beloved rap music. While highlighting the songs, he mention how fans of hip hop overlook how incredibly tasteless, misogynistic, and crude some of the lyrics are:

While I laugh insanely at this clip and the special every time I see it, my recent involvement with music causes me to laugh to stop from crying (or the infamous, "ha hah...not really funny"). As I've grown older and have become more aware of the music and its ramifications, I can't just laugh it off. I can't just dance to this music because "the beat's hot" or "it's so catchy". I'm not grooving just because Chris Brown is on it anymore. I've supported Usher for years but bruh I DO mind. I mind that you're not pushing our women to have employment that speaks to their greatest asset: their resolve. She can dance at home. I've been to the club, and you should definitely mind. 

Just one image of the geniuses who were cognizant of
their importance to their culture.

Music can speak to us in ways you never knew possible. It's there before the big game to push us to victory, to celebrate after or console us in defeat. Music brings my family together and reminds me of the work God's doing, especially those Sundays I sleep a little later than I should. I'm not very gifted as far as playing an instrument or singing (though I'm top 5 when nobody else is around), but in this crazy world, when I need a reminder of what is important, my music catalog is the voice of wisdom. That said, it's so important that as African Americans we are conscious of the music we take in and put out. It's not fair, but it's hard to defend ourselves in a world of prejudice when our most popular artists come out the gate talking crazy. If our music portrays us as beasts who kill, invest in drugs, and "eat the booty like groceries", then the world will view ALL of us in that way and think that's the way it "Post to be" (Can't even
spell 'supposed' all the way out).

At this moment, no matter how much that beat gets you "turnt up" or "hype", the lyrics in much of our music are the equivalent of the fat lady singing, telling you to give up and give in to all your favorite demons. Furthermore, this music is advertising all of the behavior that racists and prejudice people use to profile, harass, demean, and KILL our people. Hey I get it, we need to relax sometime or just get that ignorance we all have out. That's cool, but no beat is worth advertising myself, my brother, or sister as less than equal...I don't care if "Mike Will Made It". Our Black men without celebrity or money are denied for jobs, locked up and killed, while those with celebrity get bothered and their reputation destroyed...with the possibility of still getting their ass beat. Thabo Sefolosha is a Black man from SWITZERLAND and the cops broke his leg. My point? The people in power DO NOT CARE ABOUT US. If we don't care about us, it just makes it all the more easier for them to continue their destruction and genocide. While no one wants to believe this is people's thought process in 2015, this mindset is more relevant than ever. These incidents are not coincidence (my rhyme play is impeccable), and in defense of their malicious and intolerable behaviors, these people in power point to ours. 

"Look at how you kill your own", "Watch and listen to how they talk about their women...look at how 'you people' carry on." 

As long as you want your kids acting like this,
I have no problem playing "Truffle Butter" for
you. I hope you know what it means.

Like most races, these 'people' they point to are disproportionate to the millions of law abiding model African American citizens. Yet we have the unfair distinction of being the race who is primarily categorized by the negative images and sounds of ourselves in the media, with social media making these notions spread even faster. No we're not saints; we all have our issues, from outside the church all the way to the Pastor. ALL people fight their individual battles; I'm fighting temptations like Cuba Gooding and Beyonce. But despite the way the majority of our music would tell it, these challenges are not definitive of who we are as a race. We are multi-layered, complex human beings trying to find ways to survive a system that is trying to break our spirit. Yes we can be sexual creatures, but that's not our whole life. Yes we love to have a good time, but it is not specific to the consumption of drugs and alcohol. We do get upset, but it is not the thought of all African Americans to be violent and destructive.

We have dreams, aspirations to be great just like any one else. We are a creative, intelligent, and beautiful culture, not restricted to the beliefs of some rich pricks sitting behind a desk. At some point this story needs to be re-told and music is the first five chapters.

So what's the solution? If there is one, it starts with self. I can't tell you to stop listening to Queen Bey feeling herself; that's on you. But the supply meets the demand. While artists like Janelle Monae, Jill Scott, Andre 3000, Kendrick Lamar, Mark Ronson, and others take it upon themselves to go beyond the status quo, most artists are slaves to the industry and have no knowledge or no conscience about how they are representing themselves and Blacks on a larger scale. So we (as the parties affected) must hold them accountable, just as we now restart to hold these politicians and police officials of a different color accountable. NO ONE is above being responsible for their actions, except babies because they don't know better. If you know better, do better. As I read in a blog a while back, there is no correlation to destructive lyrical content and good music. Michael Jackson never called a sista a "thot" in nann (thank you Trick Daddy) one of his songs (he infers that Billie Jean is one though...but with a name like Billie Jean, she might not have been a sista) and every time he comes on, we still rock the night away. It's time to go beyond the beat. If the beat that damn hot, go buy the instrumental.