Archive for August 26th, 2004

Put out some rough stuff today. To cool it off for the night time, I thought I’d take it down a notch. This is something I saw the first day I started blogging. I did a cut and paste and put it into Word, so I don’t know where I got it. It’s hot, though. Check it out.

Kids will be kids. Pure, innocent, naive.. That’s what makes them lovable. Enjoy.

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year olds, “What does love mean?” The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:

“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.” Rebecca - age 8

“When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know that your name is safe in their mouth.” Billy - age 4

“Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.” Karl - age 5

“Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.” Terri - age 4

“Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.” Danny - age 7

“Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss” Emily - age 8

“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen,” Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)

“If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,” Nikka - age 6

“There are two kinds of love. Our love. God’s love. But God makes both kinds of them.” Jenny - age 8

“Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it every day.” Noelle - age 7

“Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.” Tommy - age 6

“During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn’t scared anymore,” Cindy - age 8

“My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don’t see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.” Clare - age 6

“Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.” Elaine-age 5

“Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.” Chris - age 7

“Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.” Mary Ann - age 4

“I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.” Lauren - age 4

“When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.” Karen - age 7

“Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn’t think it’s gross.” Mark - age 6

“You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget,” Jessica - age 8

And the final one — Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.

The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman’s yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked him what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, “Nothing, I just helped him cry.”

“They get mad when I put it in perspective
but let’s see if my knowledge is effective” - Ice Cube

Misogyny is one of those words like “racism” that has a nebulous, broadly understood meaning, but is much more slippery when it comes time to actually grab it. There are lots of things we can agree are misogynistic, but are they really, or is it just some behavior that takes a misogynistic form but holds no content? Take using the word “bitch” for instance. For most people, that’s a pretty good indicator of some misogynistic tendencies. (And if you keep wondering why I keep writing ‘misogynist,’ it’s just because it has a ‘y.’) But does it really mean anything? Ice Cube, to use a prominent example, penned the song, “A Bitch Iz A Bitch,” dropping the gem,

A bitch iz a bitch
So if I’m poor or rich
I talk in the exact same pitch
Now the title ‘bitch’ don’t apply to all women
But all women have a little bitch in ‘em
It’s like a disease that plagues their character
Takin’ the women of America
And it starts with the letter ‘B’
It makes a girl like that think she better than me
See, some get mad and some just bear it
But yo, if the shoe fits, wear it.
It makes ‘em go deaf in the ear, that’s why
When you say hi, she won’t say hi
Are you the kind that think you’re too damn fly?
Bitch, eat shit and die.
Ice Cube comin’ at you at a crazy pitch.
(why?) I think a bitch iz a bitch.

And don’t worry, we’ll get into the actual words in a minute, but first I need to set up some boundaries. Now, according to some people, the above verse represents views that are hateful to women. Only thing is, Ice Cube’s manager was a Black woman. On “When Will They Shoot,” he rapped, “A Black woman is my manager, not in the kitchen/ so could you please stop bitchin’.” What’s more, on Amerikkka’s Most Wanted, he has a skit towards the end that’s dedicated to “the pretty young ladies who wouldn’t give us no play before the album” which is a collage of rappers saying the word “bitch.” (And also the first place I heard my catchphrase of 10th grade, “Back up off my tip for the simple fact you on it like a gnat on a dawgs dick…” If I had been a senior that year, I probably would’ve tried to make that my yearbook quote.) But here’s the wrinkle: after all that bitch-calling, there’s a voice saying, “Wha’chu say about my mother, man?” Like I said, easy to see but hard to catch.

To bring it even closer to home, I’ve said before that while I was in high school I, like Cube, “spelled girl with a ‘B’. At the same time, like Posdnuos, I “never played a sister,” so what’s the deal? Did the use of the word bitch constitute some real misogynistic feelings, or did it was it just a linguistic feature that some could argue took a misogynistic form? Like I said, just trying to sketch out the boundaries before I start painting.

Now, on the real, Ice Cube’s verse in “A Bitch Iz A Bitch” is probably fairly lightweight as far as misogynistic expression in hip-hop goes. He says the word “bitch” but that’s about it. I don’t even necessarily disagree with him that the title doesn’t apply to all women, but all women have a little bit in em. (Some of us just know how to bring it out, I guess.) Either way, there’s much worse out there. There are several questions that stem from this:
• Where does this misogyny come from? Does it originate in hip-hop?
• Is it confined to rappers’ words, or does it extend to their actions?
• To what extent is misogyny in hip-hop reflective of the larger culture?
• Do female MCs challenge these roles/norms, or do they support them?

I think I wanna start with the third question. Let’s work from general to specific.

My general perception is that hip-hop, even at its hedonistic, materialistic, vulgar worst, is actually reflective of America. It’s not about what we claim to be, or what we wish we were, it’s about what we are. We like sex, drugs, guns, and money. Not each and every one of us, of course, but between those three, all 50 states are covered. (Note, I just said ’sex’ not ‘fornication’ or ‘adultery’, so you’re in there too.) Hip-hop is all-American like Allen Iverson is all-American, but just like AI, many Americans are too myopic to see how accurate the reflection really is. See this article, which really expounds on this point. (I may hafta write about AI pretty soon myself. All this AI hate is starting to get to me. Seriously.) So I don’t think it’s right to point out the misogyny that exists in hip-hop without acknowledging that it doesn’t originate there. Whatever your definition of misogyny is, whether you use the hardcore feminist definition, or something decidedly less, my bet is that people were thinking, talking, and behaving that way before 1979. Maybe not, but probably so. As bell hooks writes,

The sexist, misogynist, patriarchal ways of thinking and behaving that are glorified in gangsta rap are a reflection of the prevailing values in our society, values created and sustained by white supremacist capitalist patriarchy. As the crudest and most brutal expression of sexism, misogynistic attitudes tend to be portrayed by the dominant culture as an expression of male deviance. In reality they are part of a sexist continuum, necessary for the maintenance of patriarchal social order. While patriarchy and sexism continue to be the political and cultural norm in our society, feminist movement has created a climate where crude expressions of male domination are called into question, especially if they are made by men in power. It is useful to think of misogyny as a field that must be labored in and maintained both to sustain patriarchy but also to serve as an ideological anti-feminist backlash. And what better group to labor on this “plantation” than young black men

(yeah, you didn’t think you’d be gettin’ no bell hooks, did you?)

Now I ain’t gon’ hold you, I don’t really subscribe to all that talk about patriarchy and sexism and whatnot. I’ll probably take some time and do some writing on gender at some point (promises, promises) but for now, suffice it to say that biological determinism is beyond suspect to me, but the idea that gender is solely a social construct doesn’t exactly pass muster either. Either way, it didn’t start with the “refrigerated gangstas.” It didn’t even start with Funkadelic, who had the jam, “No Head, No Backstage Pass“, or Muddy Waters, the original “Hoochie Coochie Man.” So again, when we talk about this, it’s fine to recognie that there is misogyny in hip-hop, but let’s not act like it started there, or even that it’s more prevalent in hip-hop than it is on other elements of our culture.

Now within hip-hop, I’d say that misogyny is displayed in two ways: lyrics and images. Lyrically, there are a couple different forms. There’s the fussin-cuz-I’m-mad, “Bitches Ain’t Shit” type record, the attempt at defining, “Bitch Iz A Bitch”/”Bitches and Sistas” record, and the pimp record. Of the three, I’d say that the pimp record is probably the most purely misogynistic. The first two, while some things are probably better left unsaid, represent fairly common occurrences. The women in those stories are usually portrayed as gold diggers or hoes (but not actual prostitutes, since they ho for free.) I don’t know too many dudes (read: none) who can listen to one of those songs and honestly say they’ve never felt what the rapper’s expressing. There may be some out there, but I haven’t met them.

The pimp record is something altogether different. Now, I guess I hafta specify that not all pimp records deal with real pimping. Some cats who talk that pimp stuff really mean getting-all-the-girls. But like my friend told me, “It ain’t pimpin’ unless you gettin’ paid.” That’s the case on Jay-Z’s ‘Big Pimpin’,” where’ his lines really belong in a gold digger record,

Just because you got good head, I’ma break bread
so you can be livin it up? Shit I..
parts with nothin, y’all be frontin
Me give my heart to a woman?
Not for nothin, never happen
I’ll be forever mackin
Heart cold as assassins
I got no passion
I got no patience
And I hate waitin..
Ho get yo’ ass in

That’s not real pimping because his interest in the girl is primarily sexual. He’s not trying to get paid off her, he’s just not trying to giver her any of his money. Contrast that with 50 Cent on P.I.M.P.

Now shorty, she in the club, she dancing for dollars
She got a thing for that Gucci, that Fendi, that Prada
That BCBG, Burberry, Dolce and Gabana
She feed them foolish fantasies, they pay her cause they wanna
I spit a little G man, and my game got her
A hour later, have that ass up in the Ramada
Them trick niggas in her ear saying they think about her
I got the bitch by the bar trying to get a drink up out her
She like my style, she like my smile, she like the way I talk
She from the country, think she like me cause I’m from New York
I ain’t that nigga trying to holla cause I want some head
I’m that nigga trying to holla cause I want some bread
I could care less how she perform when she in the bed
Bitch hit that track, catch a date, and come and pay the kid
Look baby this is simple, you can’t see
You fucking with me, you fucking with a P-I-M-P

Now that’s pimping.

At any rate, hip-hop is loaded with records that describe that gold-digger/ho stereotype. I could probably throw the “chickenhead” in there as a sort of generally dumb road who’s easy to trick into performing sexual favors. Now, I can say from personal experience that gold-digers, hoes, and chickenheads do, in fact, exist. But it’s not a question of whether or not there’s any veracity to what the rappers are saying, it’s a question of the accuracy. Dres of the Black Sheep once wrote, “I talk about a ho/ because a ho I know/ and if you knew the honeys too/ then I guess too you would talk so.” Only thing is, all women aren’t hoes. If you listen to the “definition” records, the rappers even make sure to point out this fact, and delineate the difference between a “bitch” and a “sister” or a “queen” or a “lady.” In little ditty on Jeru tha Damaja’s “Da Bitchez,” Michael Eric Dyson writes, “Of course the main problem is that it’s still a man—relying on the tried and true practice of surveillance and the male privilege of definition—who wants to determine for a woman what kind of female she should be.” For Dyson, there’s some a degree of misogyny, or at least patriarchy, implicit in the attempt by any man to define any woman’s role. Like I said before, I ain’t buyin’ all that. But that’s another discussion for another day.

As far as the definition records go, I’ll just say that I think we’ve reached the saturation point. We already know there are some women who could be described as “bitches” or “hoochies” or “hoes” or “gold-diggers” or “chickenheads.” There’s a juicy discussion to be had on whether those terms should be used at all, but I’m not gonna do that here. (This joint is gonna be long enough as it is.) Just let it suffice to say that those chicks have gotten enough shine. It’s about time for more songs like Black Star’s “Brown Skin Lady,” Tupac’s “Dear Mama,” and Goodie Mob’s “Guess Who.” To be honest, I’ve got ambivalent feelings about definition records, though. As long as somebody is writing from his heart based on his experience, this type of thing will come out. Again, it’s possible that those types of records shouldn’t actually be recorded, or released for public consumption, but there will always be somebody-done-somebody-wrong records, and the definition record is just a subset of that.

Pimp records, on the other hand…that’s dead. I can easily dialogue on the reasons why pimps and pimping have entered the lexicon, and I can say exactly what elements are being spoken to and what’s not. As a matter of fact, I did. And on the real, pimping may never die. That don’t mean we need to keep making records about it. I said before that it’s time for a new paradigm, and that applies to hip-hop too. The days of Goldie, Iceberg Slim, and Willie Dynamite are over. (Although I reserve the right to use the name Willie Dynamite at any point for any reason.) Not saying that pimping still doesn’t go on, but there weren’t that many pimps in the first place, and there are certainly fewer now than there were then. Yet, because people idolize pimps and project some fantastic, lavish lifestyle onto them, we keep hearing these same old stories. Only problem is, if they came out with positive stories, I’m not sure people would buy it.

For part 2…the images.

Need more space, you should move. (c) Robin Harris

A man who found his flat in the city of Metz too small, knocked it into his neighbour’s flat and moved in.

When the man’s neighbour returned from work he found the 28-year-old cooking dinner in his kitchen.

The owner tried to convince the intruder to return to his own apartment, but the man refused, and police were called.

The man insisted to officers the enlarged flat was his. He also told them he was a pharaoh who lived in the labyrinth of a pyramid.

The man has been taken for psychological evaluation, says the gva.be website.

What more can I say? (c) Shawn Carter

Okay. I’m tired of the incessant crapping on the USA Basketball team. I know I had some disparaging remarks before, but enough is enough. Since when is it American to root against Americans in the Olympics? Jason Whitlock has an answer.

Keep this up, y’all gon’ make me tell you why people really hate Allen Iverson. And trust me, I’m the last person you want to get started when it comes to AI.

La Shawn had the hot conversation jumping yesterday when she wrote abou an artist’s plan to lynch the confederate battle flag at the Republican National Convention. In the comments, there was a roiling discussion on whether the cbf is improperly associated with the Republican party, since most of the people flying it in its hateful heyday were hardcore Democrats. Now, that’s historically accurate, but I don’t think any of us seriously believes that the Dixiecrats of yesteryear would belong to the same party as Jesse and Al without a major paradigm shift.

I wrote about my feelings on the cbf earlier this year, but I think I want to expound a little bit.

Basically, the cbf belongs in the same category as Saddam’s flag and the Nazi flag, among others, as the representative of an opposing force that was crushed by the American Army. Period. I would be willing to bet big money that no cbf apologist would fix his lips to say “Iraqi citizens who were loyal to Saddam have the right to fly his flag if they want.” What’s the difference? Moreover, we’re not talking about one of the other flags used in the confederacy, we’re talking about the confederate battle flag. The one they flew as they were fighting to maintain slavery. (And I know, the “War Between the States was not about slavery, it was about States Rights.” Wrong. I may break down the reasons why at some point when I really talk about why DC is the beginning of Down South and express my dismay at the fixation some people have on the Civil War, but that’s not my point here.) And I know, I know, “it’s not about believing in what they were fighting for, it’s about recognizing their bravery in fighting for what they believed in.” But that’s just stupid. What they were fighting for is wrong, and whatever bravery they displayed is sullied because they were being brave in an unjust cause. Put it like this: when you see a Palestinian throwing rocks at a tank, you don’t think about how brave he is, even though I’d say that it takes a certain amount of bravery (and foolishness) to go against an armored vehicle with some hand-sized stones. That ain’t no adulterating woman. Ain’t no stoning a tank. But because most of us side with Israel in that conflict, we see more foolishness than bravery in the Palestinian’s actions and condemn him because he’s fighting for the wrong thing.

The other argument I hear cbf apologists make has something to do with some nebulous Southern heritage. Now, I’ll be right up front and tell you that I love it Down South. Ever since undergrad, I have been planning to move down there at some point, and not to Atlanta. I’m talking about back in the cut Down South. But let me tell you, nothing that I appreciate about the South is represented by the cbf. That’s a piece of the history of the South, but that’s not its heritage. I wouldn’t care if my great-great granddaddy owned a plantation and worked his way up to general in the confederate army, I would still refuse to capitalize confederate and I would still say that no matter how brave he was, he was pure-d wrong. That would be a part of my family’s history, but that don’t make it my heritage; my legacy would not be that of a slave-owning Black man unless I chose to embrace that.

But okay, let’s switch the focus off the past and look at the present. What does that flag represent that’s worth arguing about in 2004? To my friends who are cbf apologists, I ask this question: if you came to my spot and saw the flag of the Black Panther Party, would you make some assumptions about my ideology what I think about white people? What about if I commemorated Huey P. Newton and H. “Rap” Brown’s (still the best nickname ever) birthdays and talked about what great men they were? After all, the Panthers did some good things like feeding children before they went to school. Is that what you remember about the Panthers, though? Could be, but I doubt it. But just to take it up a notch, let’s say that there was an organization that not only voiced rhetorical opposition to whites, but actually had the power in the community to systematically subvert justice away from them; they could drag a man outside in front of his family and kill him, and even though everybody in town knew who did it, nobody would be penalized. And then let’s say that I flew their flag and posted their emblems. You wouldn’t even come to my virtual home, let alone want to associate with me in person. But just to sew it up, here’s the logic: “The klan flew/flies the confederate battle flag…I despise everything they represent….let me fly the same flag as they do.” Come on, now. We can do better than that.

Look, people can do what they want with their private property. If somebody wants to fly the cbf, that’s his prerogative. I’ll even admit that flying the cbf or being an apologist for it doesn’t necessarily mean a person is a klan sympathizer. But why play in that gray area in the first place? Because just like it’s his right to fly that flag, it’s my right to keep a suspicious eye on him and to keep my hand on the nearest (decimal point-named) implement.