April 23, 2007
The Rap on Hillary Clinton (Ron Christie)
If you haven’t seen it already, I urge you to look at Washington Post columnist Colby King’s column on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) hypocritical stance regarding the firing of shock-jock Don Imus.
Clinton, you’ll recall, helped lead the charge against Don Imus for his deplorable and now-infamous remarks regarding the Rutgers women’s basketball team. I didn’t like Imus’s comments and I thought they were racist and indefensible. What I didn’t realize, as Mr. King points out, is that Mrs. Clinton raised more than $800,000 at the home of a rapper called Timbaland — a fellow who makes Imus’s comments look like child’s play.
As I read Mr. King’s column I realized that Timbaland’s vile lyrics are just the type of negative and destructive words that perpetuate an image of African-Americans as violent, poor drug dealers who regard human life and the status of women in low regard. Consider the following that Timbaland has to offer — I’m quoting directly from King’s column from the Post this past Saturday:
Here are lyrics from the track "Come and Get Me":
"Nigga your time is up, I ain’t come to kid you
I knew you niggas was dumb, but how dumb is you? …
I'm a ride-or-die nigga, I be tearing [expletive] up
We ain’t like them other fools, who don't compare to us
All the hoes love a nigga, they be backing it up
But me I love money I be stacking it up …
I'm rich I can pay to have you six feet deep (nigga)"
And from his track "Kill Yourself":
" . . . Most of u rap niggas is hoes to me,
Wherever you from
The question I ask
Is do you think I give a [expletive] . . .
You mad at me? Cuz I’m getting rich,
We’ll put the pistol to your head and empty the clip, pop nigga!"
And how about this little ditty, "Considerate Brotha," from an earlier recording:
". . . Hoes coming up short? Hoes finna get cursed out!
. . . Slam the mask out of these hoes and they say, 'What is that, velvet?'
And they betta meet they quota, betta yet betta meet they deadline . . . I'm a pimp all around
A pimp of the town — we pimpin’ 'em up, hoes down!"
Are you kidding me? I think that for a politician from either side of the political spectrum to actively speak out against Mr. Imus and then collect nearly $1 million from an artist who spews such hurtful and hateful language is truly the zenith of hypocrisy. I am tired of the moral outrage expressed by politicians when it only suits their own political agenda. Not only do I think that Sen. Clinton should give the money back if she was so offended by Mr. Imus’s remarks, she should call for increased pressure on record labels and others in Hollywood who seek to profit at the expense of negative stereotypes of blacks. That won’t happen, of course, given the desire of many politicians to ring the cash register known as Hollywood rather than stand up for what is wrong — even when it hits them where it matters most: their bank account.
This is only part one on my discourse on this subject. I’ve been steaming all weekend. Next, I’ll tackle how the so-called leaders of the black community, namely Messrs. Sharpton and Jackson, have been painfully silent on speaking out about these destructive lyrics when they could have demonstrated real leadership.
For now, Mrs. Clinton, take a stand and give the money back.
Permalink TrackBack
Email This Post
Share this post
What's This 7 Comments
»
The Hill welcomes comment from anyone and will almost always post it whether it is favorable or critical, as long as it is substantive and advances debate.
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Ron: Great analysis and I can't wait to see Hillary's press conference to give back the money received from Timbaland. And maybe an apology to black women across this nation? I will be holding my breath. Not a good idea you say? I look forward to your analysis on Sharpton and Jackson. I have been a critic for years of the hypocrisy by the media and these two "leaders".
http://www.whoisRichHand.com
Comment by Rich — April 23, 2007 @ 6:19 pm
Democatic President Barack Obama will do more for African Americans and their struggle to achieve deserved respect and self-esteem than any fake southern drawl or pandering-to-rap (I can't call it "music") money by a calculating back-bench white-woman Senator could ever hope to accomplish through phony "anti-flag-burning" and "violent video-game" crusades.
And all that goes double for what efforts President Obama will have to undertake to erase the damage Sheriff Dick Cheney and Deputy Dubya Bush have done to African Americans through their cynical humiliation and ruination of Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice: now two national step-and-fetch-it jokes instead of the accomplished civil servants they might have become under less benighted mismanagement. Face it: Powell and Rice have only managed to prove that Black People can lie and royally screw the pooch every bit as brazenly as white people do.
Comment by Michael Murry — April 23, 2007 @ 11:53 pm
Ron:
I'm amazed that this suprises you.
Hillary Clinton would eat a bowl of bull scrotums to get the cattleman's vote.
Comment by David Hamlin — April 24, 2007 @ 11:44 am
Mr. Murray — Barack Obama has a long way to go to earn the title "President", he's not even close. Besides, he's as much a hypocrite as Mrs. Clinton, plus some!
Obama claims that he will refuse PAC money, yet FEC records show that he already accepted PAC money in this election and he has millions of dollars sitting in his bank from PAC money he accepted for his Senate election, which he as yet to give back.
Also, he is friends with the rap community too. He had a personal meeting with Ludacris some time ago. Did they talk about Ludacris' sexist lyrics that are degrading to women? No. DId they talk about his racist lyrics? No. They talked about his charity work and ignored his racist and sexist lyrics.
At least you know where you stand with Hillary.
Comment by Laurence Socci — April 24, 2007 @ 2:13 pm
Obama's happy talk about personal involvement and working across ideological lines will not fool anybody. Whatever record he does have in the Senate is that of a left-wing radical that he is. He is the most reckless of the three Dem front-runners, and that's saying something with Hillary in the running.
Comment by Igor R. — April 25, 2007 @ 11:58 pm
I'm intrigued by your suggestion that Democrats have some sort of responsibility to pass legislation banning sexist, racist rap lyrics.
Seems to me it's more like Republicans to try to legislate "moral" judgment & "sanitize" the public square. (And to hell with the 1st Amendment).
So why didn't they? Seems you were in a very advantageous position to propose & influence such a policy yourself. Why didn't you?
Comment by Liberal Lawyer — April 29, 2007 @ 5:28 am
Um…forgive me for pointing out the obvious, but if these lyrics are so "hateful and hurtful", why do they sell so well?
Don Imus made a mistake and outraged the black community because he was white.
Timbaland uses the same kind of language and many in the black community buy his albums because he's black.
It's the same old rules that everyone (esp. members of the black community, judging from how many of them continue to buy Timbaland and other similar artists' music) plays by: it's okay for you to call your own people names, but if someone else does it, they're toast.
Quit going after Hillary over something irrelevant. Next time, say something substantive.
Comment by Zach — March 11, 2008 @ 3:18 pm