If Rap is Dead, Are Blacks Too?

by Seke Ballard

Living in a foreign country I seldom get the chance to update myself on today's pop-culture. When the opportunity presents itself, however, my reactions have ranged from being hurt (by the death of James Brown) and amused (by media fascination over Britney Spears) to being absolutely baffled (by Soulja Boy's "Crank That"). In particular, it was the lyrical brilliance of Soulja Boy that left me wanting, not so much for his harmonious tones, but instead for an explanation. If the reader accepts it as generally true that pop-culture is a reflection of societal values and, in the words of Spike Lee, rap is indeed dead, then my question is have the ‘souls of black folk' met a similar fate?

When talking to my ole school friends and relatives about music, nostalgia for the days when rap was about something is an unavoidable topic. The differentiation, as they see it, is that rap had its origins in describing the plight of black people while, counter to that, today's rap is more about glorifying the plight of black people. Accordingly, it's no coincidence that rap culture thrived during the tale-end of the Civil Rights movement. Like most art forms, it was a creation by the rebellious among us who found current modes of expression inadequate, poor in quality or simply unacceptable. It emerged as an avant-garde reflection of the values of blacks during the time. The issue, however, is how this art form has evolved into what it is now.

The uncomfortable truth about rap today is that it's just as much a reflection of the values of people at present as it was 30 years ago; only now, the dissenters among us have a more outspoken disdain for a portrayal of our people that leaves no hint of moral deprivation uncovered. Rap today is an audio-visual manifestation of a sickness that has taken hold of blacks; one, in fact, that may only be described as counter-productive and exploitive, both of which, unfortunately, are very much consistent with some statistics that we, as a people, must come to terms with.

Up until the 1950-1960s, the US Census counted around 80% of black families as being nuclear families; between 1960 and 2000 that number dropped by more than half. Given the fact that this precipitous drop occurred after the 1960s, slavery and general oppression may be dubious sources of blame. The focus, therefore, should be on blacks specifically.

My conclusion, albeit a reluctant one, is that we as a people are deeply troubled and pop-culture's unabated way of demonstrating such should serve as a warning. Paradoxically, a revolution seems imminent, but unlikely. In some circles, at least those that have always and will continue to be the catalyst for change, the anger is beginning to over-boil. This, of course, is happening while rap music is taking the world by storm and sales have never been higher.

On January 4, 2008, Flo-Rida's "Low" set a single-week digital sales record—moving 470,000 copies and beating out Fergie's previous record of 294,000 with Fergalicious. The situation boldly states that there is an urgent need for change and a swift removal of the current regime if you will. In a word… REBEL!