Also understanding the marketing power of hip-hop artists, young rapper Chief Keef recently boasted that his next album is going to raise the murder rate in Chicago. These artists, some of whom are a lot like highly-intelligent hookers, know their power to influence the minds of young people. The problem is that they have been taught to worship the dollar bill so much that they are willing to terrorize their own people in order to buy a nicer car.
When I had a debate at Brown University with my friend Michael Eric Dyson, one of the points that Michael brought up is the importance of preserving artistic freedom of expression. I agree, since I also enjoy expressing myself in a free and unfiltered manner. But the problem is that many of the rappers who are owned by corporate America have almost no artistic freedom, since they are compensated for sharing a message that ultimately serves to destroy and enslave the black community.
Independent rappers like Ice Cube and Immortal Technique also engage in free and sometimes offensive expression, but it usually comes from a place that is relatively unpolluted by an oppressive obsession with no-holds-barred capitalism. You notice the difference in their music, which seeks to encourage black men to be stronger rather than weaker. If you’re reminding brothers to get high and drunk and kill each other, you are pushing them to become worthless, lazy, self-destructive addicts who are ultimately no good for their community. These are not the kinds of black men on which you can build a nation.