Is the impact positive or negative?
Does it reinforce stereotypes that blacks and latinos fight so hard to over come on a daily basis? Does it do more harm to the image of black and latino men and women in the minds of the average white American?
Who is responsible for what is portrayed in the music and the videos? Is there only one culprit or a collective culprit?
These were just some of the issues raised in the documentary and during the Q&A session that followed the viewing.
The truth is, there is no easy, cut and dry, black and white answer. However, there is an underlying driving force that seems to blind & drive most involved in the making and distribution of these songs and videos. That force, no matter how you look at it, is the all mighty dollar.
The music industry, is after all, a company who's sole purpose is to make a return on their investment. The artist is trying to attain wealth and fame to make his/her life more comfortable in their eyes. The lawyers, video directors, account execs, etc are all people who are trying to make a living off of the artist and the music industry. So common sense and good business sense tells all involved, make what sells and brings in the most money. And before you even finished reading that last sentence, you already knew what the answer was. SEX & VIOLENCE.
So one may ask, why even make the documentary? Why try to find a culprit? Why question an industry who's sole purpose is to provide entertainment to the masses?
Why? Well I'll tell you why. Because in the black and latino communities, these sex and violent images are shown in a disproportionate amount. There is no balance. You can watch 8 hours of TV and see more blacks and latinos waving guns, shooting at people, treating women as objects to be used at will, fighting, stabbing, and rolling through the ghettos in their expensive cars and blinging from head to toe. Now in those same 8 hours, you may see only a handful of positive images of black and latinos doing something constructive and useful. So in that context, the positive images look like the exception while the negative images look like the rule.
If we lived in a society where people used their common sense and were able to decifer fact from fiction and not let what they see on tv form the opinions of how they view people in reality, there would be no need for this article or documentary. But we all know the truth. There are a lot of people from all walks of life that believe what they see on TV to be fact. Especially after they've been bombarded with these images on a daily basis, month after month, year after year.
Now I'm not blaming anyone or pointing fingers. What I am doing is stating a fact. The negative to positive images are out of balance and need to be balanced out. And no we can't expect the music industry or the entertainment industry to do this for us. We have to do it our selves thru indie music, movies, books, and videos. By networking with one another to provide other outlets to obtain these positive images. By working with the kids in the schools and communities to show them life is not about sex, drugs, gats, and money.
Sounds good, you say, but how? Well that question I'm still working on. But to start, watch this documentary and maybe it will inspire you to do something about the situation. Get the mind wheels turning. Come up with some ideas and hopefully spark some movement to put those ideas into action.
I can go on and on forever, but I'll stop here. This documentary got me going and I'm putting some ideas into motion as we speak. Maybe it will do the same for you.
Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rymes
By Byron Hurt
Preview the doc here:http://itvs.org/outreach
View it on:
PBS
Independent Lens
Feb 20, 2007
http://www.itvs.org/outreach/hiphop/index.htm
I'm just sayin'... OMG check it out if you love hip hop
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