The Church is as much or more to blame as Hip Hop

Ever since the ridiculous comments by Don Imus (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF9BjB7Bzr0 ), the media, Al Sharpton , Opera and others, have targeted Hip Hop for its misogynistic lyrics. Many have even gone to the lengths of blaming Hip Hop for many of the ills that affect our youth and community. I would agree that some lyrics by Hip Hop artist don’t reflect the best of the Black community, but I also understand that the sector that engages in these lyrics are a relatively small portion and does not represent the overall art form (although they often get all the attention). I also believe the language and attitude of Hip Hop toward women, in part, take its origin and is a reflection of the hierarchy of the Black church and other historic institutions that are present in the Black community. The Black community as a whole has become highly patriarchal, reflecting a society not of our own, but that of the European.

We can get into a long drawn out discussion about the history of Europe and the role of the men and women versus African or Indigenous population of America. That would be drawn out and kind of dry and I don’t want to hold you hostage to that. So to sum it up in a nutshell, the balance of men and women in places like Africa and early America followed a principle of ma’at, regardless if they called it this in their language or not (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma ), meaning balance. Men had certain roles, and women had certain roles, but it wasn’t a situation where it was said that women can’t play this role or that. In fact, the roles were designed for the survival of the unit, as opposed to upholding some sort of tradition or hierarchy, the opposite of this reality is present all throughout the history of Europe. The ideology of balance is reflected in a number of places in our history, whether it be female pharaohs such as Hatshepsut
http://touregypt.net/historicalessays/hatshepsut.htm, or female generals like Dahia- Al Kahina http://www.swagga.com/queen.htm . The role of women in African society is well defined, but our original tradition definitely not being reflected now.

The role of indigenous women to America was similar to that of Africa. This in fact is reflect in the role of Mayan Queens http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Post/106590 , who where responsible for the calendar and the concept of zero. They also had a number of women religious leaders who played a role in the faiths that were present at the time (http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2005/1524489.htm ). At some point we lost our concept of reality, and adopted an outside concept. Religion was the leading role in creating this shift in ideology, and the European is the cause of this change.
The question remains then in 2007, why are Black and Latino women displayed so negatively in the music. In my opinion, I believe it stems historically from the church in America and abroad. The hierarchy of most Christian churches was patterned after the Roman Catholic Church which is clearly patriarchal, which is opposite of what Christ would have wanted, but that’s another topic. The hierarchies of most monotheistic faiths have a patriarchal approach (Islam and Judism included). I believe this world view has affected our community in a monumental way. It doesn’t make sense in my mind for Al Sharpton to criticize Nelly for the Tip Drill video, which is very raunchy and inappropriate for individuals under 18 years of age in most cases, when women everyday are not allowed to take leadership roles in the church. I don’t make this argument to excuse Nelly from a clearly inappropriate video that degrades women in ways I won’t even get into. I make this argument to make the point that the problem is bigger than any hip hop video. With that being aid, I also think that one video shouldn't define his whole carrier. Nelly has contributed greatly to bone marrow reserch in the Black community, (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_3_104/ai_105556882 ,but but accomplishments like this get very little attention.

The problem of misogynistic behavior in our community is older than 25 or 30 years; the length hip hop has existed. The root of our misogynistic behavior, in my opinion, takes its root in the churches hierarchy, which takes its root in the European falsification of the revolutioary practices that Christ implemented. I would like to get more into the discussion around Christ role realistically versus, what the European has converted it to be, but that is another conversation to be had in the future. Today, I want to make the point that women everyday are subject to second class citizenship in the church, although they make up more than half of the churches population.

Women are blamed historically, for the downfall of man. Mary Magdalene was accused of being a whore, when the Bible doesn’t mention that about her at all. The list of mistruths about women goes on and on. You don’t have to call a woman a bitch to treat her like one. The church does this day in and day out, and refuses to admit that this practice exists.

The Hip Hop generation has taken its cues from the generations that have preceded it. Evidence is found in the heavy use of samples, and the homage that it pays to older Black forms of music like jazz, funk, blues, rock n roll (Yes Rock N’ Roll was created by Black people in America, then stolen by Elvis and others), and GOSPEL. The church is one of the oldest institutions in the Black community, and has influenced almost every aspect of Black life in America and abroad. Hip hop often takes the best and worst aspects of Black life and puts it on steroids, then throws it in your face. LOOK AT WHAT YOU HAVE MADE!!! The Hip Hop generation came post the Civil Right Movement, post the revolution of the 60’s, Hip Hop was conceived during the crack wave of the late 70’s and 80’s, reared in the 90’s, and is still grow more mature every day. Mos Def said during the introduction of his classic album Black on Both Sides, “If you want to know where Hip Hop is going, ask yourself where I am going, what am I doing? If you are smoked out then Hip Hop will be smoked out”, if you treat women like trash Hip Hop will be treating women like trash. The argument I make to the church folks, is that we have a systemic problem in our community of misogynistic behavior. Hip Hop is influenced by the community, not the other way around! We have to purge ourselves of a way of life that is contrary to our existence in our community.

Dr. Amos Wilson (http://authors.aalbc.com/amos.htm , http://www.afromerica.com/knowledge/culture/history/amoswilson.php ) wrote in his discussion around the psyche of the Black community in the Eurocentric Political Dogmatism, Its Relationship to the Mental Health Diagnosis of Afrikan People that
“The patient’s face (hip hop) is a mirror. And in that face we see our own madness. It mocks us. We feel a compulsion to break it into a thousand pieces. We want to shoot it, and destroy it, because it tells us something we don’t want to hear about ourselves. We want to lock them up, and put them away, because they indicate our own failings (and triumphs) as a society”
This is what I believe is happening in our community in regard to Hip Hop. Dr. Wilson goes on to say, that “The Black bourgeoisie is as much a creation as is the Black criminal (not that the Hip Hop generation are criminal, although this is how they are often displayed); they are both reactionary styles, and both means of dealing with the dilemma of white oppression.” Both parties in this discussion around Hip Hop have been deeply affected by outside influences. That influence, primarily is the white power structure. We need to begin to fix all of what is wrong with our community, independent of if “they” ever get it, in fact we shouldn’t concern ourselves with “them” at all in relation to our sanity and liberation of our community. Turning inward and taking a real look at our entire community is essential to our liberation, anything else is a tool of the white power structure to create an even deeper wedge between different facets of our community. The Willie Lynch Syndrome (http://www.thetalkingdrum.com/wil.html ) lives on if we allow this to take place. Women like Michelle Obama, who is on t the front line with her husband Barack Obama everyday, are over looked because of the society in which we live. The senator from Illinois will play a major role in creating the democratic space for real talk about liberation to take place. Michelle, will play an intricate role in opening that conversation up to the "Black community" and especially the women who are often subject to marginalization.

I added this clip at the end. I didn’t want to skew anyone’s opinion of the church prior to reading the blog. If this doesn’t prove that there is a thin line between the church and the street, I don’t know what will. We all need to "separate ourselves from mental slavery", as Lauryn Hill (Hip Hops first lady as far as I’m concerned) so eloquently said.

http://hellonegro.wordpress.com/2007/08/18/black-folks-fighting-outside-the-church/the-church/