The Boogeymen of Rap Hip-Hop
| The Boogeymen of Rap Hip-Hop |
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| Written by Robert ID1262 |
| Monday, 25 April 2005 22:57 |
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Children everywhere used to be frightened into going to bed on time with tales of scary monsters, especially the boogeyman. Now children everywhere, as well as their parents are scared into proper behavior with the threat of America’s new boogeyman—The Black man.
It was disturbing to watch little weak men pretend to be brave when disparaging the name of Marion “Suge” Knight while he was in prison. It is even more disturbing to hear some of them turn their fake lion roars into gentle, nervous whispers now that he is a free man. It’s really sad to see how Knight is not only being villainized, but demonized, as people use his name and image as a symbol to be feared. Marion ‘Suge’ Knight has become a boogeyman of sorts, with people using him as a threat of what could happen if you do the wrong thing.
But before we canonize him in the annals of boogeyman history, let’s take a look at who some of the real boogeymen are.
If you call hip-hop / rap mogul Suge Knight a boogeyman for what you think he did to his Death Row artists, then you must provide the same label for people like hip-hop / rap entrepreneur Master P, who was accused of raping a number of his rap artists and who cheated Rap Sheet out of $20,000 of credit he garnered in the name of being Black.
The music industry boogeyman jacket should also fit Bad Boy Records CEO Sean “Puffy “ Combs, who has been accused of robbing his labels artists on a number of occasions. Total took a radio tour to tell people how they had platinum singles banging on the radio while still living in the projects with their parents. Rap artist Mase embraced college, basketball and Jesus to get away from the music industry and Bad Boy Records. Late rap artist Biggie had a hot album selling platinum but had to borrow sixty grand from Faith one Christmas, and finally, rapper Shyne is currently fighting the legal battle of his life, looking for a “get-out-of-jail” card, after Puffy abandoned him to focus on his own freedom.
Even seemingly clean cut hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons has been fitted with the music industry boogeyman jacket, and by no less than Public Enemy. Chuck D, who refers to his former label as “Def Scam,” and to the label’s founder as “Hustle Scrimmons,” fought a battle with Def Jam, which was Rap music’s equivalent of Prince’s battle with Warner Brothers.
And for pure music industry gangsterism, think about who was present at the start of that industry-The Mafia, which is composed of anything buy Black men.
Now, if you call Suge Knight a boogeyman because of physical violence you believe he may have meted out on a few Black people, then you have bigger boogeymen to recognize, like the terrorists who hijacked commercial airplanes and meted out their own punishment on America. What about the retarded little man who is leading America into division, international enmity and domestic turmoil?
Then there are the police.
How did Black men become boogeymen while the police were passing out beatdowns to the likes of Amadou Diallo in New York or Timothy Thomas in Cleveland, or shooting unarmed children in Los Angeles?
My point is this—there are some real boogeymen out there who are doing some real dirt to people for real. There are some people who are putting in major work to hurt black people. You need to think about that before putting the devil jacket on Suge Knight and labeling him or any other Black man as the boogeyman.
And then, there is a more relevant question here: Do you really have the proper information required to make your negative comments? Most of you who are doing the talking are perhaps the most clueless. I mean, seriously, ask yourself if you really even know the details of the interactions he had with the people he supposedly brutalized, or if you even know those people. I can think of two people he allegedly got physical with whom, quite frankly, deserved to be beaten. Some of you who can’t stop hating Black people need a good beatdown, too.
Here’s another question that needs to be answered: Even if you believe you know details of his actions, have you ever talked to Suge Knight? Do you really know him? I defend Suge Knight not only because I have spoken with him and found him to be far less than the evil man people say he is. I also defend him because some of the same worms who have disparaged his name have attempted to disparage mine as well. None of them will do it to my face or his.
And for those of you who think I am speaking on his behalf because he is out of jail, do your research; I called people out for dogging him while he was still locked up. I was the only one who did so.
I don’t think Suge Knight is the boogeyman any more than I am for writing irreverent, caustic material like this, or for taking people to task and being unafraid to stand on those words in person. Perhaps the real boogeymen are the small-minded weak-hearted freaks of nature who love to talk about people they hope never to meet in person. The funny part is that half of you are running from a man who has more important things to focus on than your sissified comments. Knight is more than likely focusing on enjoying his freedom and rebuilding his record company than meting out revenge on scared little fools.
It is always appealing and popular for this nation to demonize Black people, particularly Black men. We just make good boogeymen. The problem is that we are too quick to embrace the chosen boogeyman of the day, or even to offer one of our own as the boogeyman.
Today, it’s Suge Knight, tomorrow it could be you.
Darryl James is an award-winning author and the founder of Rap Sheet, the only Black owned rap music publication. James’ latest book, “Bridging The Black Gender Gap,” is the basis of his lectures and seminars. Previous installments of the column can now be viewed at www.bridgecolumn.com. James can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
This article courtesy of http://eurweb.com/
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