The film Crash places some very serious issues at our doorstep. One of the better scenes in the film is when Tony Danza’s character, Fred, has a unique, but all too common conversation with Terrence Howard’s character, Cameron Thayer. Both Cameron and Fred are producer sorts for a major studio. They are both working on a show that has Black characters in it. Fred begins by asking Cameron if Jamal, one of the actors, is taking speech classes. Cameron, a bit set back and a tad nervous responds “No, why do you ask?” Fred then returns by stating that the line Jamal stated didn’t sound “Black enough.” Cameron, unfortunately, is put into a dire position; does he speak up and potentially lose his job, or does he just grin and “take it?” These are tough questions to answer, for anyone, even more for someone who is of color, in a moderate position of power, and dealing with subversive racism.

Hip Hop is not without this issue either. Something that has been on my mind for a long time is the emergence of 21^st century minstrels within rap videos. Now, for those of you who are even wondering what the term minstrel even means, let me explain. The term has several different meanings; it can mean servant, or “a person employed by a patron to provide entertainment by singing, playing music, storytelling, juggling…” (Oxford English Dictionary). Historically, the term was used to describe Black Showman who were “employed” by slave owners to “entertain” the master. These Black slaves would then dress up in literal Black face covering, paint their lips white, over extenuate each word in speech, and use stereotypical mannerism’s to please the master. Later, the slave owners got tired of the slaves and began painting their own faces Black with the white lips to “entertain” themselves. These were the minstrels. In contemporary American mainstream rap music, it seems, has taken on much of those mantras. It would also appear as though things have not changed that much.

Rappers like Flavor Flav, Soulja Boy, Trick Daddy, and most other rappers who continue to promote the same ol Bling Bling, every woman is a servant, and look at the ice in my mouth have all but killed good rap music on the radio. Now, this is nothing new, just go to YouTube and you will find this debate currently being had. My problem is that the stereotype of Black people continues to be promoted, and it’s not White people that are doing it, its Blacks doing it to themselves.

When I enter any of my classes at Azusa Pacific University, I ask my predominantly all White classes if they have ever heard of rappers like Snoop, Dr. Dre, Eazy E, and Tupac. Stereotypically some might think, no, how can White folk know that much about rap? How wrong they are. Resoundingly, 90% of the students in my classes, each semester, know each and everyone of those rappers plus others I’ve never even heard of. (This is cause for another blog coming soon!)My overarching question is what image of Black popular culture, Black people, and Hip Hop culture in general are these types of students walking away with? Is it the image that B-Rad got in the film Malibu’s Most Wanted? Now, don’t get it twisted, I love that film. I show it in many of my classes to discuss the importance of cultural identity. But just beneath all the comedy, and the hilarious comic stylings of Jaime Kennedy there is the stinging truth that a lot of Whites, especially those that live in sheltered communities (with cable no less) and have little to no contact with different ethnicities, come away with the 21^st century minstrel image of Black people and the urban community. Overwhelmingly, when I give students in these classes the opportunity to draw out what they think a “gangsta” or rapper looks like, it almost always comes back as someone who is Black.

Now, you might say, if the shoe fits, then…Yes, I would agree, to a point of course. Heck, all of the major record labels (not Indy or minor labels such as Death Row) are run by White men. So, as Byron Hurt has suggested, why would you “bite the hand that feeds you?” When rapper David Banner witnessed the destructive forces of hurricane Katrina and the ensuing wretched response from the government on his hometown in Mississippi, he decided he needed to talk about it in his raps. Banner put some great socio-political raps together and began on his next album. When his record label got notice what he was actually doing, they gave him the ultimatum that most rappers get: either you go back to talking about big booty’s and ho’s, or we drop you from the label. What’s a rapper to do? Kanye, Ludacris, Snoop, and even 50 cent have all been told to “cool it” or “loose it.” This compounds the problem. But what most people enjoy seeing is the 21^st century minstrel dressed up in bling, mouth full of gold, pants down to the ankles, and shaking that money maker all over the video.

Now, don’t get it twisted, I keep a sag. I wear jewelry. And I love Pro Club long white T’s. However, once we begin to sum up an entire culture in one song, Soulja Boy’s Crank Dat, then we have problems. This is an on going issue. The image of the nigger (There is a difference with the word Nigga, more on that later) is still alive and well in America, its just harder to see than it was 40 yeas ago.

Flavor Flav disappoints me. He was once part of one of the most revolutionary rap groups around, Public Enemy. Now look at him. He’s got a show on My13, Under One Roof, which fits the category in which director Robert Townsend was talking about in the classic film Hollywood Shuffle. It is also the issues raised in the Hip Hop film classic Brown Sugar: do the right thing or do the thing that gets you paid? Under One Roof is nothing more than a stage to show off 21^st century niggers. I wonder what the character Cameron would do here? On the flip side again, it is employing a lot of Black actors…hmm.

I still have problems when a show denigrates an entire culture only to make a buck. On the flip side, again, what are Black, and other actors of color, to do? One of my friends is an actor who is also a great spoken word artist. She told me of the struggle she has had in Hollywood. She said, “Hollywood ain’t no joke. They’re at least straight up with you. I once had a part to play in a major television show where the character’s name was big booty Black ho. I had to decide then what was I willing to do and what I was not willing to do.” This is a huge decision.

Now, I love Hip Hop. I consider myself a Hip Hop head. But it is not without its faults. And one of the things that is killing Hip Hop right now is the party/ strip club rap genre we are currently stuck in. It seems as though rap is sold out to the highest label wanting to make that bling on the backs of the Black faced rappers. It sends strong messages to young people and it sends strong message to White America—especially people who have little to no exposure with other cultures and ethnicities. This is just something that I will continue to write about. It is a deep subject for me, especially when I walk into all White classes and the first question to me is “What’s the different between a Black man and a nigger professor?”