Black Women Want Respect from Rappers… Oh, Really?

by Maria Lloyd

 

I ran across an article written by blogger Bené Viera discussing her disappointment with rappers’ infatuation with white women. She highlights her sadness for the loss of “real” hip-hop that actually reflected the issues of the black community instead of glorifying rendezvous with white women and degrading black women.  She also mentions that she doesn’t have a problem with rappers being attracted to white women, but wants hip-hop to love its black women the way they love it. She makes valid points, but I must admit that I don’t have the slightest interest in how rappers view black women. Why? Because they’re not talking about me. In fact, they’re not talking to me either because I don’t listen to their music.

 

The divide between educated African Americans and uneducated African Americans is so wide that we may as well split into two different races. I oftentimes don’t understand what uneducated, “hood” rappers are talking about and they don’t understand what I’m talking about. It’s one of the unfortunate consequences of being an oppressed race. You have some people who bask in the oppression and others whose curiosity leads them to seeking reparations for their oppression via education. I use the term “education” loosely. Education can be acquired through experience and research. It isn’t solely acquired at an institutional level. There are people who have been educated at an institutional level, but are still uneducated as a whole. Being educated simply means to have the ability to think for yourself with conclusions drawn from research and experience. A college degree does not equate to being educated.

 

A rapper’s perception of me is equivalent to the Ku Klux Klan’s perception of Barack Obama: irrelevant and uninformed. The women the rappers are addressing are the women who use the word “b*tch” as a term of endearment. They are the women who have no respect for and/or knowledge of black history. They are frequently making poor decisions regarding their finances and their sexual behavior.  These women will always support rappers because they can relate to the behaviors and lifestyles the rappers are discussing. I can’t.

 

Educated African American women must cease financial support of the music industry (R&B is no different from rap nowadays) and stop frequenting places that play that music if we really want rappers to change. I’ll be glad to join the movement, but I won’t initiate it because I don’t care that much.