When asked during a BET press conference Thursday if, amid the post-Imus furor over rap lyrics, he’d remove sensitive words from his music like Master P has, 50 Cent gave a big hell no. Besides, "Master P doesn’t sell CDs anymore," he said. 50 said rappers write lyrics in response to what already exists in their environments, explaining, "If I ask you to paint a picture of the American flag and not use the color red, you’re gonna have a difficult time." True enough. He also managed to plug his new album twice. Watch it here.
In the wake of any racist or sexist controversy — or actually, at any time — how realistic is the expectation that artists should self-censor their lyrics? And does 50 deserve props for candor and for standing his ground, or criticism for opportunism and insensitivity?
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“If I ask you to paint a picture of the American flag and not use the color red, you’re gonna have a difficult time.”
Wha? Either way…I don’t look for cunning logic from 50 cent.
Who cares? Why even listen to 50 Cent when we have real talent in the world?
I give props to 50. The artist’s only true responsibility is to their artistic vision. If social or other circumstances cause artists to change their personal expression of that vision (e.g. Paul Mooney) that’s fine. But self-censorship to merely bow to the forces of political correctness, not good.
The public makes a separate choice to accept or reject art placed before it. 50 can and should produce whatever he wants, it’s our choice to buy it or pay attention to it. That choice should not be confused with an artist’s responsibility to express artistic vision — be it controversial, offensive, or otherwise.
Better question, why is a guy that lived the life of a simple street thug given credibility and respect simply because he strung some words together?
whol, I think 50 Cent is saying without using the color red, it’s impossible to paint an authentic American flag if someone asked you to do so. It’s a wonky analogy but I can understand where he was going with that comparison. Censorship restricts an artist’s mode of expression, just like restricting the color red when you’re trying to paint an American flag. Granted, 50 Cent is far from an intellectual rapper (though his debut album ‘Get Rich or Die Trying’ wasn’t half bad), but you were thinking way too hard, dissecting his statement.
I understand writing about what you know and see and writing your truth, but at the same time how will things ever change? If you write about that stuff, it just continues the cycle and nothing changes. If more people start writing about things respectfully, it will change how we as a society communicate. Children mimic what they see and hear.
wow 50 cent needs to get over himself. the american flag is a symbol of the country. his music symbolizes crap. it’s stupid rappers like these that get people like imus to say hurtful things. and then u know the moron al sharpton will be there practicing his hipocracy. rappers need to learn how to be artistic without being offensive.
it might be our choice to hear it or buy it, but when rappers like 50 cent say those things, younger kids will less it to it regardless, because he’s “in” or “cool”. adults might be smart enough to boycott, but that won’t stop the kids from downloading his music or requesting it on the radio.
The thing is, when it comes to popular culture, our only choice is often to take part, or not to. Music like Fiddy’s is not a matter of pure taste/choice/art — it’s marketing. Radio playlists, coverage in magazines, music videos, personal appearances — all an attempt at manipulating the market’s desires. Now, I ignore that entire subset of pop culture, but then I recognize my freely-chosen slice of culture is somehow diminished.
Yes 50 cent can put decent words. But is he smart enough to use more intelligent words to get his message across without using particular words. If they are not smart enough to come up with other words then , H%%s, B*****S, N&^&*s, they shouldn’t have a record contract. There is a thing called a dictionary, try alternate words that are not so harmful.
Dom Imus was fired and no talent bums like this are still working. How ridiculous. I hope Imus takes those bast*rds to the cleaners in his lawsuit.
As far as censorship goes, let these guys write what they will (just as Imus should be allowed to say what he will). Let the market decide what makes money (as last time I checked, we were living in at least a partial democracy here).
50 cent and others like who are too lazy and too cowardly to try and write songs without being offensive, sexist, homophobic and filled with hate. They have taken a genre of music that could be used for fun and a positive message and turned it into a medium to pass on their negativity and ill will. This BS about writing about the “truth” is an excuse for him and other rappers/hip hop artists to be as mean spirited and ignorant as they want. Rather than fight for the greater good, they prefer to appeal to the lowest common denominater. Its much easier to follow the crowd of mindless rappers who are butchering the English language, hating anyone who isn’t a part of the thug culture, and representin’ your street appeal than stand up and do something different than the others—namely, rap or sing with a positive, socially relevant message….or whatever happen to music just being fun? I refuse to waste my money or time on any of these losers.
To Daryl and Chuck:
Although there’s little I disagree with you on that regard, it’s the state of the music industry and the consumers that’s more to blame. After all, Common’s last CD “Be” didn’t receive as much fanfare as the rote rappers you often hear on the radio. I watched a documentary recently on the recent state of rap, and what impressed me the most was when the director asked for aspiring gangsta rappers to freestyle more intelligent messages behind their lyrics. Surprisingly, all of them passed with flying colors. It’s not that some of these rappers don’t have the potential. It just doesn’t sell so well to the consumers, who are ironically enough upper middle class white kids who probably never many black people in their life. The music is an outlet to an entire subculture that’s alien to them and that’s what sold well (now, it’s club anthem that sell as ringtones).
Everyone still has the right to shut off the radio, but the problem isn’t so simple to solve.
“50 said rappers write lyrics in response to what already exists in their environments . . .” Yes, and then they glamorize it and make it seem desirable. It’s a huge cop-out to say they can’t take what they see and turn it into a more responsible message. And it’s NOT censorship if an artist makes a decision to be more responsible. Censorship is when the government tries to silence people, not when an artist makes choices on his/her own.
I would like to know if he has an education. He may feel that this is all he has. 5o cents, school is a good thing. Buy a dictionary and read it.
You call this music?
To t3hdow:
Yes, I agree with you. The music industry is absolutely guilty of continuing this trend in music as well as the consumers who buy it. A friend of mine actually told me the other day she didn’t listen to the lyrics of rap or hip hop songs, she just liked the music…..which is often what pulls a listener in. Once I got her to listen to the words, she was surprised at what she was singing along to. Its a great genre of music, perfect for self expression and creativity. But the thug culture that has take over it (as well as the consumer lapping it up like a thirsty cat) are perpetuating an art form that has no merit; instead these lyrics brag about money, fame and berate other rappers, put down women, gays and others, use bad language as often as possible and basically make up words to rhyme rather than use their intellect to write a decent song. But again, I agree, until the music industry changes and consumers are fed up, it will not change.
50 Cent and other rappers of his ilk have done more to damage the legacy of civil rights in this country than anyone could ever imagine. The rampant misogyny, materialism, and self-hatred of rap music is deplorable. He is only the symptom and not the disease. I blame the music industry and top 40 radio outlets, these huge media conglomerates that are the “taste makers”(or what passes for art).
In the interest of piling on, I have to say that I agree with Daryl’s comment about the lack of intellect.
Seriously, how clever do you think you are if all you can rhyme is “party” and “Bacardi”? Ooooh, THAT’S breaking musical barriers!
I don’t think this is what rap’s Forefathers had in mind.
50 cents: Two words, College Education.
Agreed that the entire industry’s a little out of wack. Sadly, the rap industry is almost entirely about making money. As Th3dow pointed out, guys with a positive message who more or less respect women (like Mos Def, Common, the J5) don’t sell as many records as Fiddy, Dre or Snoop.
So long as rap continues to sell an image that appeals to angst ridden suburban teens and hipster college students, I don’t see the problem going away.
Russell Simmon’s move and the general call to bring some respect to women into the scene will be usurped by a market forgives mysoginy in lyrics so long as the background music is catchy and the video reminds people of Scarface.
The appeal of rap in part is the “badboy” image of many of these artists. Even corporate jet flying Jay-z still brags about street cred and his former days as a gangster, probably because a job title like “corporate CEO” doesn’t sound as cool as “hustler”. Unfortunately this glorification of gangsters is universal.
It’s all part of the movement to suppress intellectualism. Recent reports have stated that many black children are being forced to dumb themselves down so they don’t face derision and physical threats from their peers. Listen to that: children are telling other children not to learn or else they will be beaten up. That, to me, is the scariest thing to come out of the hip-hop genre, this idea that being smart isn’t cool. If a black kid is smart and tries hard to get ahead, he “sold out” or is called whitey. How do people not see the danger in this? Thanks for trying to make the world a little better, 50. Hip Hop may be a truly American art form, but like our current administration, it’s making us all look bad.
Arrested Development, Public Enemy, EPMD, BDP, Tribe Called Quest, Black Sheep, Grand Master Flash, PM Dawn, Nappy Roots. That’s about twenty years of positive messages – all of which are pretty much ignored now. It’s not that the positive message wasn’t/isn’t there.
I agree that it’s the music industry marketing to this disenfranchised, angry (either real or perceived) subculture – black and white alike.
It really is all about making a dollar, isn’t it?
And Here Is Master P’s Direct response to 50:
http://www.eurweb.com/story/eur33691.cfm
Black youth and the not-so young need to get wise. Being stupid is not hip. Go to school and truly use your brain. Make something of your life. Run away from the negative messages like it is the plague. This goes for the white ones too who enjoy imitating the negativity of the rap world.
This is exactly why Don Imus should not have been fired. His job was to say controversial and offensive things. Was it stupid and ignorant? You bet! But it’s all free speech people, what’s good for the goose needs to be good for the gander. I may not agree with what 50 cent and his ilk have to say, but I still respect their right to say it.
If you’re not black, don’t comment. It’s not your experience. To say Don Imus shouldn’t have been fired because of the comments of rappers is to overlook his influence. Those comments, no matter who’s saying them, should not be said. I don’t think rappers should use the language they use, but their perspective is totally different. This aspect should be taken into consideration.
I’m white, and I WILL comment. I don’t give a crap about anyone’s perspective. There is right and decent, and there is wrong and obscene. I grew up in an area that was 80% black. Most of us (black and white) had the same upbringing, but not every black person came out spitting pointless obscenities.
I have no problem with obscene per se, but it’s not like the obscene is even remotely thought provoking. It’s just ignorant drivel.
Personally I think Imus is an old, dried-up, unfunny, no-talent troll. I couldn’t care less about the loss of his job. His influence is nothing – especially compared to someone of 50 Cent’s popularity.
Ron Mexico: Just because you grew up around blacks does not mean you have the same experience. You will never be black! Yes, you have the right to comment, but you can never feel what others feel because of the color of their skin.
There’s a lot of hypocrisy here. 50 Cent can make all the music he wants to make. It’s up to the consumer to buy it. If you don’t like his message, don’t buy his music. No one is forcing you to do it. If you’re not buying his music and don’t like the message, then know that you are a minority in that most people DO like his music.
People are saying that he’s glorifying these “negative” trends that are present in hip hop music. That’s stupid; when the godfather came out, people were lining up to see it. Even today the DVDs are still selling. If that movie doesn’t glorify violence, then I don’t know what does. Before fingers are pointed at hip hop artists, people should consider asking themselves where the real problems lie; the drugs had to come from somewhere. Those guns didn’t appear overnight.
Saying things like “college education” is also stupid. This guy just got an endorsement deal for $100, 000, 000. That’s more money than any 10 average americans will make in a lifetime.
First off I do believe were in a different time and Blacks should move on and not blame white america for all our problems. I do know that a white person will NEVER UNDERSTAND what it is like to be black in this country. Yeah alot of whites smile and act like everything is all good but at the end of the day were still Negros to them and it’s not b/c of our actions it’s b/c when they see us they see a black person and were already judged. So it’s a mixed message and until whites learn they dont own this damn country that our ancestors built for free damn near we’ll always have this problem. Master P is right, we need to grow up. I respect 50 hustle but he’s childish and dosent care about anyone but himself. P used to be where 50 is and he grew up to raise his kids right. Im a young black male and i’ve encountered racisim many times but i keep it moving. One more thing, quit worring about rich folk, get your own money, their lives are entertainment which means not real
DFrazier