Hard for Kids to Reject Hip-Hop Culture

It’s hard for kids to reject hip hop culture
By JASON WHITLOCK
The Kansas City Star
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If you read my columns, you know I like rap music. I use some of the slang in my writing.

If you know me personally, you know I’m friends or friendly with many of this city’s rap artists. You may have seen me out socializing with Tech N9ne, Krizz Kaliko, Big Scoob, Skatterman, Snug Brim and the Rogue Dogg Villians. Rich the Factor and I hang out at the same spot before we hit the casino. I’ve never met him, but I think Ron Ron might be Kansas City’s breakout mainstream rapper.

Scoob, Skat, Snug, the RDVs and Rich would all be classified as gangsta rappers. Their music is sexist, violent, filled with stories about drug dealing and laced with the N-word. Scoob has a song with Memphis rappers 8Ball and MJG called “Only Know Hard,” and it is, in my opinion, one of the best gangsta rap songs ever made.

My reputation is that I hate and don’t get gangsta rap music. I don’t hate it, and I definitely get it. I understand its power to corrode values and reinforce negative values of young people.

I’m a grown man. I was raised by two street-smart, employed parents with strong values. I had the support of an older brother, two grandmothers, two uncles, a college-educated stepsister and countless others. As a kid, we moved from the ghetto into a suburban apartment complex. I lived there for nine straight years. My upbringing — except for my senior year of high school — was stable, and then I moved to a college campus.

Rap music entertains me. It does not influence my values. It does not inspire me to adopt the values of gangsta hip-hop culture. My family provided me an unshakable foundation.

We all know that is not the case for a lot of kids in America. A lot of kids, particularly African-American kids, grow up in unstable environments without the support of two parents. A lot of kids today — regardless of race — are raised in front of a television seduced by MTV, BET and VH1. These kids drown out their parents and everyone else by strapping on an iPod and entering their favorite musician’s world.

Gangsta rappers make a living convincing kids that their tales of violence and law-breaking are authentic and a reflection of how real black men should carry themselves. Listening to rap music is not like watching a movie. Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn’t want a kid to believe he’s the Terminator in real life. He wants kids to believe he’s a good actor.

OK, how does all of this relate to the brawls between Kansas basketball and football players?

In pursuit of victories, Bill Self and Mark Mangino have both been recruiting more kids from tough backgrounds. I am not vilifying either coach or the kids they’re bringing to campus. I’m stating an obvious fact. Jacque Vaughn and Sherron Collins have two distinct personalities.

From all the reports I’ve read and a conversation I had Thursday with a former KU football player, the feud between the basketball and football teams has been ongoing for at least two years. It’s not typical college stuff, guys fighting over girlfriends.

A typical college brawl transpires at a bar or a party and alcohol is usually involved. When groups collide at 10 a.m. in the middle of campus, that sounds like gang activity. I’m not calling the basketball and football teams gangs. I’m saying some of the kids are mimicking the behavior of gangs.

And some of these kids grew up in gang-invested neighborhoods. They may not be adopting the values of a college campus. They might instead pollute a college campus with the values derived from their old neighborhood.

Gangsta rap music is anti-assimilation. Keep it 100 (real).

In the lead-up to the latest brawls, Tyshawn Taylor, on his Facebook page, quoted rapper Lil Wayne: “(N-words) be muggin me... you know I’m muggin back.” Taylor also wrote: “real (N-words) do real things.” And after a different status update about always “being a G about it,” teammate Markieff Morris responded by writing, “say no more cuz.”

Let me translate these ramblings. Taylor is saying N-words are staring at him in a menacing fashion (muggin) and he’s returning the mean glares. Taylor also is saying he’s always a gangster (G) about it. Morris’ use of the word “cuz” is interesting. As far as we know, Taylor and Morris are not related. Young people now refer to their closest friends as “fam” (short for family). About the only people still using the slang “cuz,” which was popular in the ’80s, are the Crips, a popular street gang. I’m not calling Morris a Crip. I’m saying he might be mimicking the behavior of Crips.

On Thursday, when Taylor and Collins met with the media, they downplayed Taylor’s Facebook posts, suggesting they were misinterpreted by the media. Taylor said he constantly posts rap lyrics on his Facebook page.

“I listen to my iPod all day,” he said. “If you know me, you see me with my headphones on all the time.”

When asked about his use of the N-word, Taylor hesitated and fumbled to explain. Collins intervened.

“It’s like second nature to us,” Collins said.

Taylor added: “It’s a word we use on a regular basis. It’s accepted when we’re talking to each other.”

Finally, Collins tied the whole thing together.

“Jay-Z uses it. Lil Wayne uses it,” Collins said. “These are rappers we look up to and listen to their music.”

They’re kids. They’re swept up in a culture that preaches to them on their iPods that the way to handle any dispute is with violence. Rep your ’hood (team). Never hesitate to put a N-word on his back. Bitches ain’t (spit).

It’s a dangerous culture that entertains those of us not in it and destroys the young people who buy into it.

Despite the somewhat dismissive, official statements from the Kansas athletics department, Lew Perkins, Bill Self and Mark Mangino are not fools. They know there’s a real problem. They’re trying to fix it without sacrificing the kids (or potential victories).

The reality is, they’re three white guys trying to convince black kids to reject a culture Perkins, Self and Mangino justifiably don’t understand or respect and many black kids think is the end-all-be-all.

It’s a battle being fought in grade schools, high schools, college campuses and homes all across the country.