Stop the Misogyny

I want to say a little something that’s long overdue
The disrespect to women has got to be through
To all the mothers and sisters and the wives and friends
I want to offer my love and respect to the end
--Beastie Boys

Rap has touched on some pretty serious subjects apart from partying, and now it should deal with its internal problems. Some lyrical introspection is long overdue in respect to disrespecting women. Let's hope it changes with some pushes from the outside:

At last, women lash out at hip hop's abuses

The most successful black women's magazine, Essence, is in the middle of a campaign that could have monumental cultural significance.

Essence is taking on the slut images and verbal abuse projected onto black women by hip hop lyrics and videos.

The magazine is the first powerful presence in the black media with the courage to examine the cultural pollution that is too often excused because of the wealth it brings to knuckleheads and amoral executives.

This anything-goes-if-sells attitude comes at a cost. The elevation of pimps and pimp attitudes creates a sadomasochistic relationship with female fans. They support a popular idiom that consistently showers them with contempt. We are in a crisis, and Essence knows it.

'Bout time somebody did something about it. Somehow, when rap turned to reflecting the reality of the streets it picked up some bad habits. Right now, it has lost any relationship to reality but with all the poor habits it picked up in the gutter. Essentially, it has the worst of all worlds, content-wise. Even Kanye West, who arguably put out the rap album of the year, used a certain amount of misogyny to sell his albums- In image and content.

Having said that, I'm sitting here listening to Tupac, screaming out:

They wanna know who's my role model?
It's in the brown bottle
Hennessy!

...and some other unprintable lyrics. Not exactly high brow.