Monday, March 14, 2011

Open Letter to Rapper Lil Wayne


Today, I stumbled upon an inspiring story on the Grio about two courageous little girls from Baltimore. Baltimore stand up! It is great to read about some young people speaking out against misogyny and violence in hip hop. Here are a few excerpts from Dr. Boyce Watkins' article:

"A handful of little girls calling themselves Watoto from the Nile did something that almost no grown man could ever do: They walked up to Lil Wayne and punched him right in the face; well, musically that is. By releasing their song, "Letter to Lil Wayne," the girls sparked a riot of conscientiousness that promises to be the start of something big. Within just one week, the song received nearly one million views on YouTube, and the girls have become an instant Internet sensation. Lil Wayne, one of hip-hop's most magnificent lyrical geniuses of our time, is also one of the most disturbing artists on the music scene. He is a tragic E! True Hollywood Story special waiting to happen, as his misguided life mixes the very worst that rock n' roll and hip-hop have to offer.

"As I listened to the girl's brilliant song about the misogyny and negative messages in hip-hop, I wondered why the adults around them have not been more vocal about stopping the onslaught of destructive imagery in music."




These young girls had the heart to condemn this nonsense. When will the young men in the community stand up and demand more from the artists, the radio stations and the record industry!?!?

No comments:

Post a Comment