All About Laughs
People have been trying to feed American citizens that are may be ignorant to the nation’s history that “America is not a racist country.” However, given many of the past and present situations that have been occurring on the daily to Black and Brown people, that statement can easily be debunked. Sadly, there are some rappers who for some reason feed into that narrative as well, or feel as though there is a simple fix for racism.
Hip-Hop is known to be the biggest music genre in the world, so many of its prominent voices definitely make a difference when they speak. The problem arises when the speech that some of these stars choose to say is counterproductive or detrimental to the cause.
Just had a great meeting with @realdonaldtrump @potus besides what he’s done so far with criminal reform, the platinum plan is going to give the community real ownership. He listened to what we had to say today and assured he will and can get it done. 🤙🏾 pic.twitter.com/Q9c5k1yMWf
— Lil Wayne WEEZY F (@LilTunechi) October 29, 2020
Take Lil’ Wayne for instance, who has definitely been known to be one of Hip-Hop’s greats. Wayne has been known to denounce the BLM movement while also proclaiming that he’s never experienced racism. “I have never, and never is a strong word, never dealt with racism,” he said while attending as a guest on Skip Bayless’s Undisputed.
His comments drew praise from controversial Conservative pundit Tami Lahren, who said that she now has developed a “newfound respect” for the rapper. “Even when he was race baited by Skip Bayless, given a shot to claim victimhood and throw down that poor-me, Kaepernick, Beyonce, Jesse Williams, Jada Pinkett Smith race card, he chose to speak his truth,” said Lahren on her show.
“My crowd has always been everybody.” — @LilTunechi #WeezyOnUndisputed pic.twitter.com/dCcpQuqNTF
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) September 13, 2016
She continued by labeling the “A Milli” rapper “the unlikely voice of reason. But of course, the Black Lives Matter Twitter militia just couldn’t help themselves. They labeled Lil Wayne a coon, an Uncle Tom. You can sit on your half-white a** like Colin Kaepernick, you can raise your Black Power fist and that is applauded. But as soon as a black person rejects the victimhood narrative, they lose their blackness in the eyes of many of their fans.”
Not the best co-sign to have, huh? While Wayne stays lost in the sunken place as he chases after former president Trump, other rappers have also shared there views on racism as well.
Remember when Kanye West said that “George Bush does not care about Black people” and the bold passion he had? Yeah those days seem long gone.
Rapper ASAP Ferg also shared a disturbing viewpoint that there was “no such thing as racism” anymore. “There’s no racism with the Internet. Racism only was — is probably like five generations ago,” he said in an NPR interview.
I beg your pardon?
He continued, “Racism is for — I wouldn’t say generations. Yeah, like five generations ago. Racism been over. It’s the old people that keep on holding on to it. We don’t hold on to that s—. We don’t know racism. We all like having — like my brother had white — my little brother had white girlfriends. And that’s regular, like…”
Wow.
Then there is the rapper Common. The sort of “harmless” and “unintimidating” rapper. The Oscar-winning rapper for his John Legend assisted “Glory” which served as the lead single for the film Selma. The rapper has always been given the “conscious” label, but he admittedly says he became more “political” after Legend gave an impassioned speech during their Academy Awards performance.
“There are more black men under correctional control today than were under slavery in 1850,” said John. Common would later say to a room full of journalists that “a seed was planted” following that moment.
So maybe it will make his statement during an interview with Jon Stewart concerning racism more sense? Or, maybe not. The rapper appeared on Stewart’s show where he suggested that the cure for racism could be simple: love. Specifically, Black people extending their hand of love to white people.
Coming off very “Kendall Jenner/Superbowl Ad” like.
Common, real name Lonnie Lynn, said to Stewart, “If we’ve been bullied, we’ve been beat down and we don’t want it anymore. We are not extending a fist and we are not saying, ‘You did us wrong.’ It’s more like, ‘Hey, I’m extending my hand in love. Let’s forget about the past as much as we can and let’s move from where we are now. How can we help each other? Can you try to help us, because we are going to try to help ourselves, too.”
If that were not enough, he continued: “Me as a black man, I’m not sitting there like, ‘Hey, white people, y’all did us wrong.’ We know that existed. I don’t even have to keep bringing that up. It’s like being in a relationship and continuing to bring up the person’s issues. Now I’m saying, ‘Hey, I love you. Let’s move past this. Come on, baby, let’s get past this.’”
With that, what are your thoughts?
