Oprah's Town Hall Meeting - Day 2:The Hip Hop Community Responds

Oprah on Imus (Public forum with Spike Lee and others)



Oprah on Imus (Public forum with Spike Lee and others) 2



Oprah on Imus (Public forum with Spike Lee and others) 3



Oprah on Imus (Public forum with Spike Lee and others) 4



In light of the Don Imus issue, Oprah formed a “town hall” meeting with a panel of experts who discussed the issue, opening up about racism and the denigration and sexual exploitation of women. A conversation that needed to be brought to attention.

Part two of the town hall comes just a day later. This time the hip hop community has it’s chance to speak with music mogul Russell Simmons; record exec. Kevin Liles; Dr. Benjamin Chavis, former CEO of the NAACP and current President/CEO of the Hip Hop Summit Network; and Grammy-winning rapper Common as their voice.

Russell Simmons stated that “it is historically incorrect.. Black people didn’t invent ‘nappy-headed hos.’ Don Imus’ statements were offensive to everyone.” He then went on to [almost] thank Imus for making such a statement, since it sparked the discussion that’s been needed for some time.

“The hip hop community is a mirror, a reflection of the dirt we overlook. The violence, the misogyny, the sexism. The need to be discussed,” Russell said emphasizing that the music does not CREATE the conditions of the world [or celebrate them], but rather discusses them frankly.

Dr. Benjamin Chavis was the first to “defend” hip hop as the questions from Oprah and statements from audience members turned towards it’s inevitable blame.

“Hip hop artists are NOT responsible for what Don Imus did. Don Imus was a racist! Don Imus was a sexist, and there’s no way that Don Imus can blame hip hop for what he did.” Not fully taking the weight off of hip hop’s shoulders, Chavis continued, “That is not to excuse hip hop. Hip hop is not perfect. We’ve got to make it better. But we make hip hop better by making society better, because hip hop reflects the contradictions of society. There’s too much poverty, there’s too much injustice and there’s too much bad treatment of women in our society.”

Chicago rapper, Common begins speaking about his earliest memories of hip hop, “Hip hop was telling stories about consciousness … I learned about the Bible through hip hop. I learned about … uplifting black women. I started changing my way of thinking because of hip hop.”

Despite being one of the artists that does in fact stray from the denigrating of women in his rhymes, Common admits that hip hop has taken a turn. “Hip hop has been this child that we had. Our elders kind of abandoned the child at a young age and said, ‘okay, we don’t really understand this. We don’t relate to this’ … and now as hip hop has evolved and grown up, our parents are expecting hip hop to be perfect and to be right.”

Cutting to the big screen, where a group of seven women who attend Atlanta’s Spelman College were ready to point the finger. Keli, a student, began with, “There is a lack of accountability. As rappers, I feel that accountability should be taken into consideration, as well as with Don Imus, from a racial standpoint. Rappers from a sexist standpoint. It all needs to be addressed and we need to quit talking around the issues.”

Common acknowledged the problem and stated that women have been treated unfair for over 300 years. When asked if it’s ok to continue, Common said no.

“Let me say to the sisters from Spelman we acknowledge there’s a problem and we want the help. When I talk to cats on the street, they don’t want to be in that situation. We don’t want to be in this painful situation … and we are apologizing for the disrespect that does come from the mouths of men to women,” Common said.

Even though he isn’t included in the group of rappers who disrespect the women throughout every song, Common refused to abandon the culture. “I’m going to ride with my hip hop people, because if I divide myself that’s going to continue to keep the problem going … if criticism came with love, we can make some progress.”

Diane Weathers, former editor in chief of Essence magazine, says women must take the lead in the fight against misogynistic images of women in hip hop. “You cannot go to the industry, people in the industry, and expect them to fix this … woman have to say, NO.”

Simmons cuts in with his thoughts that the industry shouldn’t promote the “dirty behavior on any part.” But “they have a right to say what’s on their mind. I’m not saying we have to put them on the radio … the idea [should be] to lift up each voice to say the most positive things.”

Oprah cuts to a clip from part one of this discussion (Monday, 16th) in which Diane Weathers stated that rappers should face consequences for their derogatory language. “They have to know that it’s not acceptable if you keep doing this kind of music. The contract is off.”

In quick reponse, Simmons says taking away record deals could actually make an artist more popular and that most artists could distribute their own albums. “They’re just as big without the record company.”

Londell McMillan, an entertainment lawyer (who has represented the likes of Prince, Mos Def, Lil Kim, Stevie Wonder and Usher), says that record companies have a responsibility about what they choose to release. “The companies are the owners of the product. They also, in these contracts, have rights to what product they would like to distribute. That doesn’t mean they should jump into the creativity of artists, but certainly there is responsibility there.”

Londell understands that the industry is dabbling with a “very profound and complex issue,” but he points out there are many outlets in which change can take place. “At the hip hop table, Oprah, you’ve got corporate America, you’ve got the artists and producers, you’ve got the consumers, and let’s not forget radio. Radio plays this music, and just like they stopped Imus, they have an ability to stop music that offends young people.”

Dr. Benjamin Chavez brings up that if we eliminate poverty we can eliminate negative images in hip hop. “I know that we need to solve this problem so that we can treat each other better in the home, in the community. What we’re saying is you want to sanitize poetry and lyrics and videos and no deal with sanitizing our community and not dealing with the inequities that we have to face every day, the problem is going to come back. Let’s not put a Band-Aid on this. Let’s deal with this substantively.”

This point, sparked New York Daily News columnists, Stanley Crouch, to stand up and announce that there is a double standard. “There’s an extraordinary double standard here because most of the people who were in the Ku Klux Klan were what they call ‘poor white trash,’ who were at the bottom of society. Nobody ever makes an excuse for them blowing up little girls, for the being racist. When you get these clowns in your guys’ arena, then suddenly, oh, these are just marionettes. They can’t make any decisions, so the corporation decides society, slavery. All of these things lead up to these people consistently calling people niggers, bitches and hos as though they’re helpless guys who can’t do anything. And I’m not buying it.”

Oprah forced to take a commercial as it’s blatant that Kevin Liles took major offense to Crouch calling him a clown.

A now [somewhat] calmed down Liles, disagrees.”What I’ve done my whole life, now that I know, now that I’ve experienced different things, is to uplift the community, is to teach them to say different things. Do you think I want them every single day to say bitch, ho, ‘n’ this, ‘n’ that? I don’t want them to say that. I have NOT told an artist ever, ever to say that. And I have gone out of my way to explain to them there’s other ways that you can communicate the same message.”

With the issue becoming more and more heated, is there a solution?

Bruce Gordon, former president of the NAACP and current CBS board members, says there is. “The solution is not to blame. The solution is to collaborate and find the answer together.”

Ending the show, Common says a solution will come once everyone acknowledges the need for change. “We want to change this world and it starts with us. The way we think, the way we speak, the way we act towards ourselves and towards others, because when we've got that love for ourselves, we're going to look at each other no matter what color, no matter what gender, no matter what mistakes the other person made and say, 'I love you." We want change for this world. And it starts with our hearts."