The Hip Hop Dilemma

Anyone who knows anything about hip hop – or, for that matter, knows nothing about hip hop – knows that the most controversial aspect of the genre is its language. The ‘f’-word, the ‘b’-word, the ‘n’-word, the ‘s’-word – hip hop lyrics contain a veritable alphabet of vulgarity. And rappers often use this language to describe situations that glorify misogyny, drug dealing, homophobia, or all of the above.

When confronted with this criticism, a rapper will frequently brandish the “product of my environment”-defense. Because the rapper grew up in an environment pervaded by crass language and morally questionable situations, the logic goes, the rapper is merely recounting his own experiences. Furthermore, by drawing attention to these types of realities, the rapper is actually doing us all a public service.

But let’s wait just a minute before thanking these rappers for their courageous exposés. All human beings are, to some extent, products of their environments. But when a person acquires the ability to influence a large number of people, that person also becomes a shaper of his environment. And, like it or not, with that new role comes a new set of ethical responsibilities. Chief among these is the obligation to set a positive example for others. Charles Barkley was wrong – when someone acquires power and influence, he most certainly is a role model. The critical question is what kind of role model that person will be.

With a handful of notable exceptions – Common, Lupe Fiasco and, to some extent, Kanye West come to mind – rappers have largely been the wrong kinds of role models. And that is a shame. Hip hop needs to look itself in the mirror and realize that it possesses an incredible power to improve the world. And, as a good first step, rappers need to stop swearing.

Unfortunately, this is not a remote possibility. For whatever reason, foul-mouthed hip hop is commercially successful. (Though, it should be noted, crude language is empirically not a requirement for producing a lucrative record.) Only a widespread boycott could force hip hop artists to tone down their lyrics, and that seems about as likely as the chances of seeing Dr. Dre’s Detox album anytime in the next three years.

All of which leaves OnHipHop in a delicate situation. We understand the moral imperatives involved here, so maybe we should boycott indecent hip hop. And yet, this is not the path we will take. The truth is that hip hop music brings us so much joy that we refuse to divorce ourselves from all but the most upright MCs. So we will favor our own happiness over what is probably the ethical thing to do. We will choose mirth over morality.

Maybe that makes us immoral, and especially so because we are aware of the right thing to do. Or maybe we’re innocent, given the disparity between the tremendous pleasure that hip hop brings us and the relatively small impact our boycott would have. OnHipHop has no answers here. Such is the dilemma of the principled man who can’t stop bumping 50 Cent.