Fire Imus? Fire the Rappers

Whatever a person thinks of radio shock jock Don Imus’ rude remarks about the Rutgers women’s basketball team, any thinking individual must ponder if the public outrage over offensive remarks is applied even-handedly.

Put more bluntly: Why don’t the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson demand apologies and acts of contrition from African-American rappers who routinely say far more offensive things about women in their lyrics than “nappy-headed hos?”

And, as Imus himself noted on his radio talk show this morning, when will Sharpton and Jackson demand that the Raleigh, N.C., exotic dancer publicly apologize for falsely accusing three white lacrosse players from Duke University of rape?

Imus has paid dearly for his inappropriate behavior. MSNBC Wednesday suspended the cable TV simulcast of his radio program for two weeks, and today the CBS radio network axed the long-running show altogether.

Syndicated newspaper columnist Michelle Malkin wrote this week about the hypocrisy of the clergymen not denouncing some rappers. As Malkin notes on her Web site, she dislikes Imus but she dislikes some rappers even more. Among the many hit songs whose lyrics are noted by Malkin, this gem is from the tune, I’m A Flirt, by Bow Wow and R. Kelly.

“I’m a b pimpin
I don’t be slippin
When it come down to these hos
I don’t love ‘em
We don’t cuff ‘em
Man that’s just the way it goes
I pull up in the Phantom
All the ladies think handsome
Jewelry shining, I stay stuntin’
That’s why these niggas can’t stand ‘em
I’m a chick mag-a-net
And anything fine I’m bag-gin it
And if she got a man, I don’t care
10 toes and I wanna be, cause I gotta have it.”

As Malkin writes, “One dumb radio/television shock jock’s insult is a drop in the ocean of barbaric filth and anti-female hatred on the radio. Imus gets a two-week suspension. What kind of relief do we get from this deadening, coarsening, dehumanizing barrage from young, black rappers and their music industry enablers who have helped turn America into Tourette’s Nation?”

Before any bloggers misunderstand my point, I’m not advocating censorship of the rappers. What I am saying, however, is that self-appointed monitors of cultural acceptability ought to criticize and condemn anyone who, like Imus, veers into misogyny or makes inappropriate racial remarks — and not just go after the easy targets. Do Sharpton and Jackson not condemn certain rappers as aggressively because they know it would upset or alienate part of their political base?

The Hip Hop community is in a serious state of denial on the issue.

Snoop Dogg, a talented performer whose raps I sometimes like, offered a lame excuse to MTV. “It’s a completely different scenario,” he said. “(Rappers) are not talking about no collegiate basketball girls who have made it to the next level in education and sports. We’re talking about hos that’s in the ‘hood that ain’t doing shit, that’s trying to get a nigga for his money. These are two separate things. First of all, we ain’t no old-ass white men that sit up on MSNBC going hard on black girls. We are rappers that have these songs coming from our minds and our souls that are relevant to what we feel. I will not let them muthafuckas say we in the same league as him.”

Snoop might have smoked one too many blunts. Perhaps Imus’ remarks were relevant to what he feels. Regardless, Malkin replies: “Translation — only black rappers can call women hos and bitches. Only black rappers can call black people niggas. Because it’s coming from their minds and souls.”

If, as Sharpton is quoted as saying, “this is only the beginning, we must have a broad discussion on what is permitted and not permitted in terms of the airwaves,” then let’s make sure the discussion is an honest and frank one.

— Kevin Osborne

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