Hypocrisy and changing your stance

So thankfully Rick Ross has given me a lot to talk and type about recently so i appreciate that but one of the things that bothers me is people who do not know the what hypocrisy is.

hy·poc·ri·sy
 [ hi pókrəssee ]   
  1. feigned high principles: the false claim to or pretense of having admirable principles, beliefs, or feelings

Now why it seems on the surface this is what people are doing it isn't, at least not apparently at the moment. While people may be mad at Ross' "rape lyrics" there are others who say t them, wait, he was just talking about killing someone in another song, or selling crack moments ago. You know what, you're right, but accepting one illegal act while condemning another is not what makes you a hypocrite. There are levels of acceptable criminal activity unfortunately and to pretend that every act is the same is pandering and ignoring the truth. When we are talking about criminal activity, it isn't a blanket black or white, right or wrong.

We have all heard of rules of the streets and while the majority of murders committed on wax are bullshit, the fact is many of these street rap artists are framing them in the context of those rules. We can argue whether or not those are right or wrong but first we have to acknowledge that there is a separate set of morals and codes for those engaged in that lifestyle. You want to know what isn't one of them however, rape. So no matter how you cut it you're going to get a certain reaction. Hell, let's talk about one of the most disturbing lines from the Legend Biggie when he raps on his song "Niggas Bleed" 'Don't they know my nigga gutter kidnap kids/fuck in the ass throw em over the bridge' . That is one of the worst lines ever and I ahven't really heard anyone who goes that is acceptable, however it was never controversial like this one for Ross is. Why is that?





One of the things that goes into perception is the situations surrounding what you're hearing or seeing. Number one, unlike many of the more cringe-worthy lyrics, some of which I highlighted when I talked about this earlier, Ross' is on the radio in rotation. That is huge in that it seems to be legitimized by being in rotation. The second is that the new generation and generation I belong in are at a crossroads of understanding. They downplay everything, we realize some of the things we ignored before we should have paid attention to. We see Wayne and Ross and see them solely worried about money and not in any way desiring to move the art forward and in our recollection, the most popular artists were always doing that.

The other thing is understanding depth of language, speaking, and what is beyond the surface. Hypocrisy would be condemning Ross for rapping about rape the going out and committing one or enabling a friend to commit one. That is hypocrisy. People hearing a lyric and saying this has gone too far, is just changing their mind based upon new data. In this day and age, apparently, you can never adjust your thinking when aided by a new thought or perception.

Now another thing that created such noise was the fact that people who were never known to have a criticism about music suddenly caught a conscience. This gives the folks like me a bad name in a way because they are outraged, for whatever reason, but aren't necessarily qualified to express those views. But guess what, it's still not hypocritical. We have to be very careful with our words these days because we throw a lot of things around and create perceptions about certain words and make them acceptable, or not. Calling someone a hypocrite for changing, or drawing a line makes people feel they have to hide their opinions and not grow.

Comments

  1. After thinking about this for a second, I don't think that rape is where hip-hop draws the line on acceptable acts of violence. As you pointed out Biggie had a more violent rape line that everyone accepted as damn good lyrics. What makes Rick Ross different?? Well... his depiction of rape in that line is... cowardly

    Like if came up with a line like... "I smacked that bitch up, then I made her suck a nut (suck a nut)" ... it would be perfectly acceptable within the "morals" or "code of conduct" in the book of hip-hop violence... but as soon as you rap about being passive agressive towards a woman people will look at you funny and rightfully so..

    Rick Ross' lyrics described something that a "bitch nigga" would do... that's why everyone's mad about it...

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    Replies
    1. very interesting point that I hadn't considered, especially when looking at the idea of misogyny in hip-hop. I may need to look into that further. Thanks for the insight.

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