Remoralization of Rap

If you want to truly understand a people, listen to their songs
Anonymous

Today, a friend of mine told me that they were considering going to a rap concert.  I actually like rap and own a significant amount of rap music myself, although I can say with some certainty, that my tastes have not been very current.  Rap is an incredibly powerful means of expression and has represented the voices of many different communities who use rap as a vehicle of expression to the pain, struggle, and hope.

This morning, I took a look at the lyrics of  the artist known as Young Jeezy or more recently, "Jeezy".  Jay Wayne Jenkins, aka Jeezy,  is a 35 yr old  accomplished rapper who has won a grammy award in 2009, 2010, and 2011.  He has a significant following and performs to sold out venues.

A sample of his lyrics: (Warning, profanity and offensive)

I got a bitch named Banana, pussy bananas
That's why I gotta say it again, pussy bananas
My little cool ass bitch, she from the Westside
She let me hit from the back, say that's her best side
Call it her bed side, I call it her wet side
And every time the bitch cum, she holler, "Westside!"

From his song "All we do"

I do not listen to Jeezy, nor have I purchased his music.  While my children are familiar with him, I have not listened or looked at his content until this morning.

Every week, I see young adult after young adult come into my medical office with the consequences of terrible decisions that end up in life threatening and life altering changes.  I see women of color whose understanding of themselves is to be nothing more than an object of some man's pleasure.  Many of give up their virtue so easily because that is what it means to be a woman to them.  The reasons for this are complex but are often unexplored.  Maybe, there's a connection to the media in which they enjoy.

It has been said that to understand a people, you must listen to their songs.  This was true for African Americans via slave spirituals, the tragic-comedic blues, and the innovation of jazz.

I listened this morning, and I haven't stopped crying since.

This is what people died, suffered, and struggled for?  This is what captures the imagination, dare I say, the soul of African-American and young adults today:
             The degrading of women into objects only valued for their ability to please men:
             The glorification of risky, lifeless, exploitive sexuality;
             The use of profanity as an artform;
             The celebration of lovelessness.

I don't know which came first, rap music like this as an expression of depravity, hopelessness, and degradation, or rap influencing culture, but essentially it does not matter.  It must end.  I have nothing against Jeezy and certainly do not advocate censoring his music.  But I am saying that it is time that people of color develop voices that express reality in terms that do not celebrate degradation and cheapness.  It is time for people of color to choose not to support music or art that celebrates the objectification and treatment of women.  It is time for people of color to stop being the modern day ministrels and the butt of the American entertainment joke.  The stakes to are too high.

Theologian Cheryl Sanders (Howard University) speaks of the need for "remoralization" when empowering a people.  It is the opposite of the de-moralization that often occurs due to long term stress, oppression, and tragedy.  There is a loss of morality that needs to be re-established.  The morality is not to set up a police-state that seeks to restrict and repress, but to restore the values and behaviors that define a positive, productive identity. Re-moralization begins when you and I proclaim and demonstrate values  in which we see ourselves and others as made in the image of God.

Its time to make a difference,

Let me know what you think and what you can do,

Pastor M Traylor