Words of Wisdom From Hov
As racial tensions brew, and race relations remain the topic of conversation, a voice of reason has emerged. While a number of entertainers in the public eye have voiced their concerns about recent deadly police encounters, we turn to a familiar voice of reason that resonates with all races.
Hov
Jay-Z’s recent video featured on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) gives us a profound and alternative perspective on one of the largest sociopolitical issues facing America.
As OWN’s month long segment honoring civil rights leaders continues, Oprah chose Jay-Z to send a clear message that even Hov acknowledges to be rather “strong.” What seems to be the theme consistent throughout this 2 minute snippet, is that society has now used Hip-Hop as a fundamental tool that instead of separating us, has brought us closer together. “I think that hip hop has done more for racial relations than most cultural icons…Once you have people partying, dancing, and singing along to the same music, then conversations naturally happen after that, and within conversations we all realize we are more alike than we are separate.”
Extremely well used imagery by the Brooklyn native. Hip hop listeners are at an all time high, and kids of all colors and statuses are gravitating towards hip hop now more than ever. He’s explaining that given a common ground, we can all begin to understand and appreciate one another rather than judge and segregate.
Racism
He even went further to say “Racism is taught in the home, I truly believe that racism is taught when you’re young. So its very difficult to teach racism when your kid looks up to Snoop Doggy Dogg.” This couldn’t have been more spot on. Sadly, it’s often true that parents engrave stereotypes in their kid’s minds at a very young age, and what Jay (atleast IMO) attempted to subtlety get across is to not bother avoiding the inevitable. Hip hop one way or another will have an impact on your child’s life, and telling him that “these people aren’t role models” while he’s bumping that new Young Jeezy for a week straight certainly is not the solution.
It seems as if the OWN network couldn’t have selected a more prime candidate than Sean Carter for a message of this magnitude. I mean besides having “the baddest chick in the game wearing his chain” and “Obama on the text” who doesn’t love them some HOV?!
