"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing themself." Leo Tolstoi

I am so inclined to share how disappointed I was that it was an all-male panel on day two of Oprah's time to the subject. Russell and crew didn't think at all to include a female exec or an emcee or a producer to represent with them? But will trying to change them make a difference?

I am inclined to say that those men took no real responsibility for the images (not the poetry) that are defining how men see women among 4 year old boys and girls who will have to wait til their 40 perhaps to undo the valid though unproductive perceptions of a male-slanted view of black culture.

I could go on. But instead I've been collecting data.

Did you know that black women and men are still being dismissed from their jobs or are being threatened with losing their jobs for their "nappy" natural hair styles? As recent as Jan 07, the Baltimore Police department passed a dress code that states you cannot wear dreadlocks as an officer. The rationale being you can't tell the difference between the criminals and the cops. Trade you locks in because the badge doesn't mean anything anymore.

Onto "hos". Whores in convential English. Byron Hurt should have been on Oprah with that male line up yesterday. The gay men who featured in his film should have been on that stage with Oprah 'n' em.
It would have been a much different conversation don't you think. Let's break out of this heterosexual slant and break open the mold. Heterosexual men are not standing for heterosexual women. Look at the rapidly growing number of AIDS cases among hetero black women! If they won't stand for influencing (not censoring) the majority of rap videos, why should we expect anything when its about AIDS and our youth's future as leaders who know themselves whether male or female as connected inextricably to the opposite sex.

My book THE GAMES BLACK GIRLS PLAY: LEARNING THE ROPES (2006) has more to say about this issue than most. Why race trumps gender. How hip-hop, which is often overlooked as a music rather than some bad lyrics, actually is connected to a long lineage of complex musical expressions from the African American tradition including jazz, hamboning, and other syncopated and embodied traditions laced with poetry, chant or rhymes. I argue that girls' musical games are the earliest formation of a black popular music and that girls and women love hip-hop because they hear their games inside the musical elements of rap, sampling, and percussive approaches to melodies and rhyming.

Why hasn't there been one black music scholar like myself, Guy Ramsey at Penn, Cheryl Keyes at UCLA, Maureen Mahon at UCLA, or Portia Maultsby at Indiana who actually either researches and teaches hip-hop or grew up participating in the culture who can truly represent both the social and the musical issues that are being laid aside to support some booty shaking videos. And why aren't the directors being implicated in all this. THis is a naive question. Haven't looked at this yet but did Nelly direct Tip Drill? And why didn't Russell and Lyles as well as Chavers and Common say unequivably that they will not support women being called bitches, hos and chickenheads and the such anymore. That would go such a long way and they wouldn't be censoring anyone. Folks still have to choose for themselves but it would have sent a message to young and old what counts.

Last point: I love that this issue has come up and that we are faced with having to choose powerfully where we stand. Some will never choose. Others will really struggle with themselves (rather than others) and consider something new on the other side. I am for that. I am for empowering others with hip-hop and allowing full self-expression but also allowing that when someone is offended by your actions there is grace is owning that. Not because you were wrong, but because they felt something that your words triggered for them. And you could actually be with that. Not doing anything about it, just really be with it. Imus couldn't. He deflected. Oprah didn't in the past, she too deflected and dejected hip-hop (excluding Mary J). Bill Cosby couldn't be with it and seems like Russell, Lyles and the HSAN are being with what women have been saying for decades now.

None of this has ANYTHING to do with what Afrika Bambaataa created with teh Zulu Nation. I was listening to "Unity" by Bam from the Rap Mania compilation I bought a few years back.

Having fun at the expense of women ain't bringing the black community or humanity together. And I really value the ideals of the Zulu Nation (whether it always was practiced or not). Knowledge, wisdom, understanding and (what we always omit in memory) having fun. (READ JEFF CHANG'S BOOK Can't Stop Won't Stop!)

The chorus to UNITY is a fitting last thought:

PEACE
UNITY
LOVE
and HAVING FUN!