What ever happend to the music?

It's been awhile...

I was reading an editorial in the Miami newspaper from Leonard Pitts Jr. talking about black images saying black folks are partially to blame for the images we have (he's black too). He brought up a point when talking about music comparing th "black empowerment" song "I'm Black and I'm Proud" by James Brown, or Aretha's call for "R-E-S-P-E-C-T." Now much of what we have if "I wanna sex you," "Give me some head," "Look at my teeth...they're shiny," and, to take a line from Chris Rock, "They spinnin Nigga, They spinnin."

Not much that goes out over the airwaves is very eimpowering. No songs to fill you with pride. Nothing that lets you keep your head up. Nothing telling folks how to get better, or that they can do better. Just images of Beyonce shaking her ass, girating on Jay Z's crotch, when she should be promoting her voice. Tired I am of booty shaking and bling dropping. Whatever happend to hip hop back in the day when it was about story telling. The Doug E Fresh's and Slick Rick's of the word. MC Lyte, and Queen Latifah. Even in Regulators with Nate Dogg and Warren G, it was telling a story. Now it's about fame, fortune, and capping people.

Now there are still those out there that do a little of both. Kanye, Common, Wyclef. They cuss a little and talk about stuff they have, but they present a message at times that deals with social conscieousness. We need more of that in the hip hop world. More folks telling the young they can make it in the world. More critical thought, less ass in your face. That's one of the ways the youth will have a shot. Otherwise it's the same song just a different era. They Spinnin Nigga They Spinnin.