Top Five
1. Drake – Best I’ve ever had
2. Keri Hilson – Knock You Down
3. Young Money – Every Girl
4. Jeremih – Birthday Sex
5. Jamie Foxx Feat. T-Pain – Blame It
These are the top five “Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay” songs on the radio this week according to Billboard. These are club bangers, I’ve played that Drake song in my head like a million times and he’s a very talented musician/artist that can get the party started like no other. But let’s take a little deeper look at the lyrics, the words of the song. I’ve researched all of the lyrics of these songs and all of them are sexually explicit. None talk about being in committed relationships except Keri Hilson and she’s cohabitating in her song. They never sing about the consequences of the actions, the babies not cared for, souls being drained or the sexually transmitted diseases being contracted. Why did they choose to sing about that?
* African Americans account for 48% of new HIV infections
* AIDS is the leading cause of death for African American women aged 25 to 34
* At least half of new infections are among people under the age of 25.
*70% of Black women are single.
*57% of black children are raised in single parents homes
Now are we singing the right songs? With stats like that facing us, I would surmise we are not. In 2008 we had in historical event, the first ever black president was elected to office. It was a crowing moment, but we can’t take our eye off what is important. If I could lower the single parent percentage from 57% to 26%, maybe we could have had a black president a decade earlier. If I could lower the infection of sisters being infected by HIV, we could in theory guarantee that there will be more Secretary of States who will be black women.
It makes me wonder about the disconnect between our popular artists songs and the reality of black people lives in America. If they were to really write songs about what we needed, what would be the title of some of those songs? “Married and Committed”, Being a Father no matter what” would be hits in urban America. There is room for conscience music. But you have to wonder about individuals who will give you songs about pleasing themselves, but never talked about the consequences of their choices made by them and others. This is irresponsible selfish lifestyle is direct result of our alarming HIV infection rates. Sleeping with some without a condom is a choice, not caring about your own HIV status is a choice, not caring for your child is a choice, listening to certain music is a choice.
Whenever I bring up this subject, my cohorts say “Man is there is no positive music”. Well here are the five songs that I find inspirational about black culture and life in general.
1. Black Is – Fertile Ground
2. You – Fertile Ground
3. In Due Time – Outkast
4. Liberation – Outkast
5. The People – Common
Some of these songs are from artist that we know and some you may not know, but they address common issues in the black community and all of our cultural differences. I find it hard to believe that artist would promote social irresponsibility through there music in the midst of our deteriorating human capital. I don’t need racist white people to call me a nigger, brothers do that everyday to one another by there treatment of each other. There was an outrage when Don Imus called the girls of the Rutgers basketball team nappy headed hoes, but I’m pretty sure those girls have danced to songs in clubs that called them worse, created by black hip-hop artists. Why the uproar when a white guys says something and we don’t bat an eye when some one from the same struggle calls me the same thing?
We control whether or not we reach the pinnacle of success, we have to make better choices to reach that pinnacle. We can’t keep condoning destructive practices and people who celebrate those practices while trying to pull ourselves up, it’s a zero sum game. It’s time to start playing this game with positive numbers.
