The Occasional Observer

WARNING: THE BOTTOM HALF OF THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS HIP-HOP LYRICS RAW AND UNCENSORED. THEY ARE INAPPROPRIATE FOR EVERYONE, MYSELF INCLUDED.

This is an interesting little case study.

Step 1: Write an article that is purportedly about how hip-hop (and the hip-hop "community") will either be a boon or a millstone for Obama.

Step 2: Before answering the purported main point of the article, fire off a bunch of statements, in the guise of premises, which are of dubious truthfulness (see below, on the nature of hip hop). But since you're still waiting for the "answer", you aren't really paying attention yet.

Step 3: Having filled the reader's brain with false premises, conclude by never answering your own question. There is the hint that hip-hop is probably a boon to Obama, b/c the artists can "build his brand", but the author leaves it in the words of Simmons. Hence, nothing to argue with if you're on media watch.

My favorite part is the false premise, under the cover of a quotation, which has the double-whammy effect of painting those who don't like hip hop as racist, since they "don't udnerstand it" and must be assuming the worst for racial reasons:

"Hip-hop's public image makes it a hot potato," said Bakari Kitwana, of the Study of Race, Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago. "People don't know what it is so they equate it with hyper-sexuality, violence and drug culture."

Yeah. Don't know where I got that crazy idea.

Just to put Kitwana's theory to an unscientific test, I surfed over to BET.com and sampled from the first few hyperlinks that presented themselves to me. Behold:

Hypersexualized? Nah...
The first 20 seconds of Pitbull, who was #5 on their "hot 5" list. By 20 seconds in, he lets you know that he f**ks like a porn star.

Mike Jones w/ Hurricane Chris. Since I couldn't figure out what he was saying, I took the liberty of going to rap basement.com to get the lyrics. This man can rhyme:

SHE KNOW WHEN I GET INSIDE IMA F**K UP HER WALLS MAN...

NOW PUT YO RIGHT HAND IN THE AIR
PUT THE LEFT ONE IN YO UNDERWEAR
NOW TICKLE DAT CAT,TICKLE DAT CAT
NOW TICKLE DAT CAT,TICKLE DAT CAT
OOOOH SHE ACT A FOOL ON THE DICK
FOOL ON THE DICK SHE ACT A FOOL ON THE DICK
FOOL ON THE DICK NOW GET SICK WITH IT


Violent? Nah...

Here's my man Ace Hood (at least there's some truth in advertising):

eh knock knock, bang bang
where the cash at
if u ain't got it leave you bloody like a tampax
come up swinging at you thugs aflac
then i fall in the sway back may back
see im back for da money like i left dat
see i be runnin on the route where da cash go (where da cash go)
and any nigga interfering with the cash flow so he can get pumped on like Citgo
make his body bounce bounce like a 64
tall clips chrome lips see the big gold
im a duffle bag boy like i move coke big crack threw tha music so the flow dope
i keep my money ova bitches til da door close
i need money like a bitch need dick mo
im tryna c it like a muhfuckin castro rubber bands in my pants and a swift bankroll

Drug Culture? Nah...

Enter Huey with his "Tell Me This":

Committee, how we living, never tricking that’s a felony
I stay so hi-i-i-i-i-igh

The amazing part about pulling these lyrics is I didn't have to know a thing about hip hop. I went to BET, and checked out the songs they were featuring ON THEIR FRONT PAGE. Here are the dang screen shots.