On Lil Wayne and Others

This is a profound thread indeed. There's a part of me that says we really can't "knock" a man when he is down, for me it's not good karma. If we turn the conversation to society, commercialism, free market and of course, supply and demand, well, Wheezy, along with a boatload of other artist would have to stand accused for the proliferation exponential negativity being spread in the popular culture. HipHop culture, not exclusively the music, is organic. It's not just the artists making music, but it's a cannon of texts which we must look at for varying functionalities. The texts are not simply to entertain; they also operate as agents of political discourse, education, the dissemination of spirituality, the display of public grievances, and even the informing of threats to our safety and well being. It goes to what McLuhan discussed in his thesis, the medium is the message, which simply states media operates as a mirror of culture so to speak. Can we blame an artist 100% for provocative lyrics, when those same provocative lyrics have serious meaning to their reality. Can we blame an artist for replicating what they may see as a vehicle for economic emancipation? Please don't misunderstand me or my opinion on vulgarity and what I deem obscene. When I first Karate Chop, I was one of the first in line to want to knock some sense into their heads. When I heard Ni%%as In Paris, again I was ready to go shell. I caught myself though because that type of action doesn't help anybody; instead, I looked at it as learning opportunities to teach my students, audiences of Lil Wayne, Kanye and Hova about Emmett Till, the Harlem Renaissance, Negretude. In many cases, the young artists who are the most "out there" are really man children who have been alienated by elders and the Black Bourgeoisie who in my honest most candid opinion reneged on their part of DuBosian social contract known as The Talented Tenth. Now we fear, and in some cases work to eradicate the already marginalized. We problematize those who have been civilly muted as opposed to problematizing the systems and structures which enabled this cacophony of chaos...
Indeed, we do have work to do...
Just my opinion.. Thank you for reading...