Too $hort Love the Kids

Too $hort is a youth career counselor in East Oakland.

Oh, the beautiful irony of it all.

Some might find it hypocritical for the author of "The Bitch Sucks Dick" and "Shake That Monkey" to counsel others about their use of swear words. Still, it's a test of the rapper's humility to let himself be used as a prop in a production whose budget is so low that the video camera is a cell phone.

In the script, the kids are watching Too $hort videos when the real $hort walks in carrying a plate of chocolate chip cookies. They rehearse the scene several times; each time, the number of cookies gets smaller and smaller. As the kids struggle to get it right, the rapper dutifully and patiently repeats the process until the kids have eaten all but two of the cookies. His behavior suggests Shaw has mellowed considerably with age, although his recent recordings certainly haven't shied away from the explicit lyrics that made him an inner-city sensation. "I'll never curse in this building," he says, seemingly more to himself than for the benefit of a reporter within earshot.

Shaw first visited the center last September after learning that his friend Owens was working there. When another friend got a job there, he kept dropping by. "They said, 'Hey, the kids really like you,'" Shaw recalls. "'It seems to be a mutual admiration thing going on — would you like to get involved?'"

As a self-made millionaire, Shaw can afford to do it for the love. "My main thing is that I have no financial benefit from this scenario at all, and I have no intentions of financially benefiting," he says. To him, what's going on at Youth UpRising is about lives being saved: "They're off the streets and they're learning, you know what I'm saying?"

This article is SUCH a good tie in with the following piece.

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So there are going to be congressional Hearings on Hip Hop
courtesy of Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) Ummm. How about a Congressional
hearing on the numbers of Black
Men being murdered in Jersey/Philly/Oakland/N.O.


I guess that ain't sexy enough.

If they want to TALK ABOUT HIP HOP's misogyny
they best talk about misogyny in pop culture as a whole
or risk coming across as credible as the NAACP does
when they go around having funerals for niggas
words.

Ironically, last night the younging , Jane Blaze, sent me a link
to a bell hooks article that I have cited here before, and for that matter
I will probably keep citing. bebe writes:

To see gangsta rap as a reflection of dominant values in our culture rather than as an aberrant "pathological" standpoint does not mean that a rigorous feminist critique of the sexist and misogyny expressed in this music is not needed. Without a doubt black males, young and old, must be held politically accountable for their sexism. Yet this critique must always be contextualized or we risk making it appear that the behaviors this thinking supports and condones,--rape, male violence against women, etc.-- is a black male thing. And this is what is happening. Young black males are forced to take the "heat" for encouraging, via their music, the hatred of and violence against women that is a central core of patriarchy.

Witness the recent piece by Brent Staples in the "New York Times" titled "The Politics of Gangster Rap: A Music Celebrating Murder and Misogyny." Defining the turf Staples writes: "For those who haven't caught up, gangster rap is that wildly successful music in which all women are `bitches' and `whores' and young men kill each other for sport." No mention of white supremacist capitalist patriarchy in this piece, not a word about the cultural context that would need to exist for young males to be socialized to think differently about gender. Staples assumes that black males are writing their lyrics off in the "jungle," away from the impact of mainstream socialization and desire.[oh yes she did honey, mention the jungle]. At no point in his piece does he ask why huge audiences, especially young white male consumers, are so turned on by this music, by the misogyny and sexism, by the brutality? Where is the anger and rage at females expressed in this music coming from, the glorification of all acts of violence? These are the difficult questions that Staples feels no need to answer.

One cannot answer them honestly without placing accountability on larger structures of domination and the individuals (often white, usually male but not always) who are hierarchically placed to maintain and perpetuate the values that uphold these exploitative and oppressive systems. That means taking a critical looking at the politics of hedonistic consumerism, the values of the men and women who produce gangsta rap. It would mean considering the seduction of young black males who find that they can make more money producing lyrics that promote violence, sexism, and misogyny than with any other content. How many disenfranchised black males would not surrender to expressing virulent forms of sexism, if they knew the rewards would be unprecedented material power and fame?

Gangsta rap as a reflection of mainstream values?
Can't believe I usta read this sh*t when I was 17.

Thats why my mouf so smart now. *wink*.

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What do you think of the Congressional Hearings
on G-Rap? I wonder what 50 would say there?

Should they air them in between video segments on BET?

Wait, wait, wait. Congressional hearings on Hip Hop
Live on 106 & Park hosted by 50 and Ye Ye.
Cross Promo for the albums. <<<===I'm demented. Is C. Dolores Tucker turning over in her grave?

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