99 problems

these past few days i have had the opportunity - thanks to hubbs - to listen to quite a lot of hiphop. which is fine by me so far, i have developped a taste for one or the other hip hop artist, for example xzibit or nas.

now, this being a blog with a topic, you can guess what i am about to note. i don't usually pay attention to the lyrics - if the beat is funky, that's good enough for me, and a rhyme's a rhyme... but every now and then, a whole sentence wriggles its way through my ear to my brain, and i stop to think.

it may be that i turn a blind eye on my named favourites, as i never noticed true mysogyny in either's lyrics. or maybe i have some allowance for "hood culture" - the word "bitch" has lost its negative connotation, and even "hoe" i'm led to believe has nothing to do with the semi-homophonous "hole" or "whore". but there are also hiphop artist whose music really appeals to me, while hearing their lyrics - some times more than others - makes me cringe. for instance snoopdogg with his crude romanticism on the one hand and the chauvinistic dismissal of females on the other, or mystikal with his plain proletarian objectifying fun machismo.

of course i'm aware that african-american culture is completely different from my own background, but then, it is part of western civilization. it may be i'm just a fussy white bitch with an issue and no life, and african-american women, or women "in the hood", feel very different about it; they may even enjoy the sexualized lyrics, as being a "real woman" might be defined as being an object of masculine attention, no matter how.

now, please don't flag me as inappropriate, i'm just toying with ideas here. but these sometimes incredibly aggressive mysogynyst lyrics really make me wonder what the hell is wrong with those guys. have they been mistreated by their mothers, turning them all into norman bates? of course not. they enjoy sex too much for that, even if it is often connected with humiliation or disregard of women.

so as i'm really spinning this around in my mind, it dawns on me that these horrifying lyrics are a product racism and ethnical suppression: after centuries of segregation and emasculation by white folk, the male african-american soul of todays hiphop artist is in an uproar close to psychosis. the long and sad history of african-american culture itself is that of humiliation and disregard, and i feel confident to say that any male psyche would suffer under this and will react with aggression and dissipation of negative energy. so the target of course are women as the "weaker sex" (or, as an alternative, another even more vulnerable group: homosexuals... but that is another topic, as homosexuality actually only exists in hiphop - as far as i can fathom - as an insult. real homosexuals don't exist, the word "faggot" is used to insult those who surely aren't homosexuals).

i hope, having understood this (or at least making it work as an explanation for myself), i can relax more when hubbs is playing hiphop. but i can't be sure. because having a history does not excuse, for me, the lack of development. so i'm torn between compassion for a troubled african-american soul... and impatience: grow up, you suckers! this is the 21st century, and still being victims of racism does not make it okay to victimize, mistreat, insult and violate others for their sex. actually, it does make you as bad as those who do it to you for the colour of your skin.

think, men! they are your mothers, sisters, daughters, spouses, lovers and friends. they fight your battle and they work hard. harder than you, i can imagine, because they bring home the bacon and they fry it, feed it to you and the children, then do the dishes and the laundry as well. and many times, they even find it in their heart to let you have it. so think before calling them whores who are only after cash and a large cock, think before you suggest that only a dead one is a good one, and think before you denounce them and depict them as puppets without a will of their own. think - and treat them as equals. stop being kkk to the double-x.