Are We Too Hard on Black Musicians to Be “Perfect” Role Models?

Musicians appear to be held in high regard in the black community, particularly in Hip-Hop when it comes to serving as role models for younger generations. Unfortunately, you have no control over who you influence or who looks up to you as a popular entertainer. You can try to reach a specific group of people, but in the world of social media, anyone can be looked up to as a role model. Is it fair to say that these artists are to blame for some of the problems in our community?

King Von (!00k Management)

One thing that is frequently discussed is the detrimental effects of rap music and how it glorifies and even encourages violence. When people question why there is so much violence in the community, rap always often tends to get the blame. To pretend that the lyrics of some rap songs wouldn't motivate or inspire others to adopt that lifestyle would be ignorant. However, I believe that in this narrative, the negative impact of Hip-Hop overshadows the positive.

Hip Hop music has been around for decades and despite how people view the genre now, it is not fundamentally rooted in violence.  It honors regional experiences and artists using lyricism to discuss topics they encounter in their everyday lives. Culture, which is what keeps everything and everyone moving, is what hip hop is. From the music style to the fashion style, even non-hip hop enthusiasts obtain inspiration from it.

Because people who don't look like us will always point out the negative aspects of our community, I believe it's critical that we remain cautious while discussing some parts of it. Non-Black individuals who are not part of the hip hop scene pick up the slang, enjoy the music, and are always attempting to imitate the style and impact. Over the years, rap has been the inspiration for a great deal of creativity and art in general. Rather than being associated solely with violence, hip hop deserves to be discussed more in a positive light.

On the other side of the hip-hop scene, there is a lot of discussion about the negative impacts of female rap. Sexyy Red is a well-known female rapper who has gained attention in the past year and has worked with musicians such as Chief Keef, Drake, and Nicki Minaj. Her extremely erotic demeanor and song lyrics have caused her to stir up a lot of controversy lately. She is considered distasteful, indecent, and vulgar by some people. 

Sexy Red (Chris Allmeid/Billboard)

It's reasonable, in my opinion, to believe that someone are just a poor role model, particularly for young people. On the contrary, the more nuanced discussion is that some black people find it shocking when someone like Sexyy Red shows up because they perceive black women as a monolith and believe that we should all conduct ourselves in a certain way based on societal standards. Anything that is perceived as "ratchet," "inappropriate," or "too much" is inherently seen as undesirable and therefore not to be brought to light.

Rapper Lil’ Kim went through something similar to this in the late 90’s when she was accused of sexualizing children because of the nature of her music. Lil' Kim went on to inspire a whole new generation of female rappers and set the standard for many successful female rappers today, in spite of all the criticism she faced. The debate over whether or not explicit lyrics in songs harm young people is not new, particularly among women.  Men are rapping and singing using provocative lyrics which ironically doesn't seem to get much fuss. Trying to turn these musicians, who create music for adults, into role models for children is not practical. Though I do recognize that there are a lot of potential exposures for children to experience when they get their hands on a phone—parents are ultimately responsible for that, not musicians—if the children are the concern, then it begins at home. 

I believe that rather than attempting to mold black women into the types of people that white people expect of us, we should celebrate our uniqueness and distinctions. Since black people don't present one specific way, some may find it difficult to relate and understand people that are different from them. Each of us has a unique perspective, comes from a different background, and we should all be uplifted and celebrated because when we do so we are helping others within the community feel seen.