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Winfrey finally embraces rap—or at least Shawn Corey Carter.
If I write a book on hip-hop history, Jay-Z’s appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show will be in a timeline of the culture’s high points. I enjoyed it. It made me remember a lot of other hip-hop/Oprah moments. Oprah and hip-hop haven’t been the best of friends.
I remember when Ice Cube took the talk-show mogul to task for having never invited him on the show. "I've been involved in three projects pitched to her, but I've never been asked to participate," Cube told FHM magazine. “And if I'm not a rags-to-riches story for her, who is?" Cube had a point.
I remember when Chris "Ludacris" Bridges appeared on Oprah alongside his fellow cast members from the Oscar-winning film Crash—he was reprimanded by Winfrey for his music’s lyrical content. Ludacris later accused the show’s producers of editing out a lot of his comments. I believed him.
And of course, I remember Oprah’s infamous, two-episode Hip-Hop Town Hall of 2007, a smear campaign waged against the music that Don Imus blamed for his “nappy-headed hoes” remark about the Rutgers women’s basketball team. Seeing Oprah Winfrey and other critics accost geniuses like Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons and the rapper/actor Common for the music’s misogynistic and crime-ridden lyrics was, in my opinion, a definite low point for the culture.
Two years later, though, Oprah is singing a very different tune. Having Jay-Z on her show wasn’t just cool, it was awe-inspiring.
Cool was when I found out Jay-Z was appearing on her show in the first place; awe-inspiring was finding out she invited him to appear on the same day as Barbra Streisand—who is to Middle America what Jay-Z is to my bicoastal America. Cool was when Jay-Z—decked in a cardigan, crisp white T-shirt and dark blue jeans—sat center stage in Oprah’s Chicago studios; awe-inspiring was when the cameras followed Oprah to meet Jay-Z at his old stomping grounds, Brooklyn’s Marcy Housing Projects. There the two of them were, sitting on the stoop of his grandmother’s house, which was also where they did their one-on-one interview that appears in the current issue of Oprah’s O magazine. Cool was Oprah welcoming Jay-Z with open arms on her show and respecting all he'd accomplished. Awe-inspiring was Jay-Z recognizing the gravitas of the moment: He greeted Oprah in front of his old housing project with “I’m going to faint right now.”
For all the Jay-Z fans who tuned in, Jay-Z's answers to Oprah’s questions about his father, or about what he said to Rihanna after the Chris Brown incident—those remarks were old hat. I was tuning in for moments like at the end of the interview where Oprah asks Jay-Z to teach her how to freestyle and over a basic beat he rhymes, “Little boy from Brooklyn, made it from the ‘Stuy/girl from out the South made it to the ‘Chi/Only goes to show that the limit is the sky/if life give you lemons then you make lemon pie.”
I never thought that hip-hop would take it this far. And you know who I'm quoting.
Jozen Cummings is a former editor at VIBE and lives in Harlem. His new blog is Untiligetmarried.
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Clambake: "Once he started as he did, many people wrote him and his ilk off early. Now he says he wants to be good?"
Okay, educate me. When did THIS happen???
I don't know how seriously I can really take you if the first statement in your comments includes one blatant untruth ("I'm not judging Jay-Z") followed by another highly, HIGHLY doubtful assertion (that you're basing your position on "the ENTIRE body of his art work, to date"). Then again, your closing "happy surfin" remark seems to imply that you intend to end your participation in this discourse and leave me with the last word.
I'll take it.
Now, I'm not entirely sure how it's ME who's "acting" as if the song you referenced is some "single instance" when it was YOU who did actually reference that single instance lol. But be that as it may I would like to think that in 2009 it would be reasonable to assume that we wouldn't be quibbling about dirty words in a discussion between two grown men. I'd LIKE to think that. Apparently not. Twice already you've felt the need to repeat that his lyrics can't be printed here without editing. *GASP*! The horror!
I mean, okay, you don't like him. Fair enough. But building a case around the idea that he's a bad bad very bad bad man is kind of unrealistic and somewhat comical. At least it is if based on the "evidence" you present. "Vile lyrics"? I don't know exactly where you would consider yourself on the prude meter, but "vile" to me involves advocating things like genocide, rape, incest, self-serving hypocrisy, televangelism, conservative/Republican values... you know, things of that nature.
But okay, to each his own. I wonder what one who finds Jay-Z lyrics to be so "vile" also thinks of lyrics like...
i'm your mamma, i'm your daddy
i'm that n*gga in the alley
i'm your doctor, when in need
want some coke, have some weed
you know me, i'm your friend
your main boy, thick and thin
i'm your pusherman
Ooooh! He's talking about pushing drugs! Vile? How about...?
N*gg**s talk about f*cking
F*ckin' that, f*ckin' this, f*ckin' yours, f*ckin' my sis
Not knowing what they're f*cking for
They ain't f*cking for love and appreciation
Just f*cking to be f*cking.
N*gg**s f*ck white thighs, black thighs, yellow thighs, brown thighs
N*gg**s f*ck ankles when they run out of thighs
N*gg**s f*ck Sally, Linda, and Sue
And if you don't watch out
N*gg**s will f*ck you!
The "n-word" and cussin!!! Lots and lots of cussin'! And talking about promiscuous sex! How vile is that?
And WHOOPS! Guess what... I couldn't even post those lyrics without editing! I guess I've just got time to waste proving a point to someone who has their mind made up that Jay-Z is a convenient scapegoat.
Now, I picked up that you say YOU could have sold your soul and integrity on the world stage for money. I'll do you one better. I'll bet you a shiny new quarter that you've never had access to the world stage whether it's to sell your soul or not. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Hell, neither have I. The difference is that I'm not mad at those who have made it up from the gutter just because they've made it and I'm not willing to tear them down as "selling their soul" for giving artistically skillful, accurate representations of how things are through their eyes - which IS the job of an artist, isn't it? Cuz to be real... if you lack the skills, star power and savvy to rise to Jay-Z's status, you can pump all the profanity you want into your material and it won't change your circumstances one bit.
Jay-Z went from being a common drug dealer to a media mogul. He went from running thru starlets & groupies to being a respectfully married man. He's made himself an example of what can be accomplished being a thinker as opposed to a thug. He gives back. He gives a LOT back. He remains real. And he's consistently mentioned on most people's "best rappers of all time" lists so he excels at his craft as well. I'd really like to know how in the midst of all that the man could be considered "vile" and for what actions does he deserve that label?
Now it may sound like I'm Jocking Jay-Z (psst... that's a Jay-Z song that came out THIS year, by the way), but personally I'm okay with that. I'd rather give a man the props he deserves than to just be a Hater (psst... that's another one).
very nice post
Martin Luther King, Stevie Wonder and Bill Cosby present themselves to the world as well spoken, refined, educated, honorable, gentlemen of integrity.
Jay-Z doesn't.
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They're playin' Jay-Z.
The music of the spheres!
Baddadanu, I'm not judging Jay Z, but I don't look at him admirably based on the ENTIRE body of his art work, to date. You act as if the prior song I referenced is some single instance. Vile lyrics are a given in much of Jay-Z's music. Once he started as he did, many people wrote him and his ilk off early. Now he says he wants to be good? GREAT! Ain't teachin' me nothin I don't already know. I coulda sold my soul and my integrity on the world stage, as it appears he has, for money.
Take yet another example, amongst a seemingly endless pool, the more recent "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" 2003. Is we clean yet?
Whoops! The censor won't let me post the lyrics and I don't want to waste time editing to prove a point to someone who has their mind made up to justify what's wrong.
Happy surfin'
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