Mychal Thompson and Da Pimps
Leo quotes from people talking to Avis Thomas-Lester:
When Christine Smith heard the song "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" announced as the Oscar winner for best original song on Sunday night's telecast, she almost fell off the sofa in her Arlington living room.
Deborah Veney Robinson of Silver Spring had pretty much the same reaction. So did Juaquin Jessup of Northwest Washington....
"It was just like during the time when all the blaxploitation films were coming out with African Americans being portrayed as pimps and hos and gangsters," said Jessup, 51.
"It was another example of how they pick the worst aspects of black life and reward that. There are more important things in our culture that need focus more than the hardships of a pimp," he said. "The only place many people see our culture is through movies and on television, and at the same time, this country is experiencing an influx of people coming over here from all over the world, and the only thing they see of black America through the media is . . . pimps and gangsters and all of that. It's always some low-down brother or some welfare mother."
I was able to hear part of the Loose Cannons show on Monday, and they spent a great deal of time discussing this, with Mychal Thompson asking why the pimp-talking singers couldn't sound more like Otis Redding. A significant minority (but not a majority) of the callers derided Thompson as old-fashioned.
There is discussion all around. In a blog entitled Is Stepin Fetchit Dead?, this was said:
I know that some folks are upset with the Oscars. Denzel had to call a white boy a nigga to get an Oscar. Halle had to bang a white boy to get an Oscar. A rap group had to rap about a pimp to get an Oscar....
The media is a very powerful tool and does shape perception. Therefore, when the only images of the black community are depicting us as violent, shiftless and possessing nothing but moral deficiencies, it’s hard not to get a little upset with seeing Denzel and Halle, two of the biggest black stars in Hollywood, portraying the characters that won them Oscars. It’s hard not to feel a tinge of pain when watching Three 6 Mafia perform “Hard Out Here for a Pimp” for an audience of white people.
Comments