Is Hip Hop an Art Form or Hate Speech?

This was a question posed by the African American news periodical The Florida Courier. With the recent events surrounding the Don Imus incident firmly in mind, it does dredge up a question, but not whether or not hip hop is art or hate, but what are the origins of this characteristic black indifference anyway? Is it 'inborn' or psychological? That is the subject matter of this article, and the focus of a subsequent work to be undertaken in the very near future.

First, direct your attention to the history of the African American. Aggressive hip hop artists such as Fifty Cent and the like are making an unconscious statement about themselves to white people. The intent of its message, however, is misdirected , as it is instead aimed at other blacks. This message is outrage wrapped in the guise of hate. Hate it is not, anger-in abundance-it is.

As slaves, blacks were conditioned to hate and mistrust other blacks in order to reduce the likelihood of an uprising, and since there has been no formal conditioning to undo the previous conditioning, blacks continue to conduct themselves as they have been conditioned to. The treatment standards that existed then, exist now, albeit in another form entirely: Inequality. That is to say, the slave treatment of early America, based on the perception of white superiority, still exists as whites continue to perceive themselves superior to blacks and other non-whites in almost every important category.

We have come not one step farther today than we have been allowed to come, since the day we were first proclaimed 'free'. Is it any wonder that, those of us who have risen to the top of the barrel, so to speak, lord it over those who have not? It is what we were conditioned to do as slaves, and since that traumatic period in our history has never been dealt, it has manifested into a form of violence and aggression, almost exclusively against other blacks including social glorification of violence and violent themes.