Congratulations to the women of Spelman College, more commonly referred to as the Spelman Sisters. They have won a small victory against the misogyny and lewdness of “gangster rap.”
At this elite all-women’s college in Atlanta, the students launched a blitzkrieg of attacks on a planned trip by the rapper Nelly, who was set to headline a charity event at this historically African-American college.
The Spelman Sisters organized petition drives and phone campaigns to derail the proposed visit. Nelly, after hearing about the protest surrounding his visit, cancelled his appearance.
What these ladies accomplished was justified. It’s about time that consumers, especially women and African-Americans, stand up to this level of misrepresentation and misogynistic performances.
The women were incensed by Nelly’s new video “Tip Drill,” a name which does not dignify an explanation. In this video, the men swipe their credit cards between the women’s gluteus maximus’, simulating a financial transaction. Climaxing the video is a scene where the men throw money between the women’s legs while the women pretend to have sex.
The “Tip Drill” video is so popular that it is being performed by many campus dance groups across the country, including ones on this campus.
This past weekend I went to the Blue and White Week Greek Show. Here I endured the MC’ing of Shawty, a comedian from BET’s “Comic View.” He also happens to have a cameo role in Nelly’s “Tip Drill” video.
It was still a great show in spite of his performance.
Some of you may be wondering if I just have a problem with rap music, or anything that isn’t advocated by the American Family Association. I don’t have a problem with rap music.
I was raised by a woman who idolizes the late rap icons Tupac Skaur and The Notorious BIG. I did not have a childhood completely sheltered from pop culture.
But I do know when something in pop culture is wrong.
Zenobia Hikes, vice president for student affairs at Spelman said, “Black entertainers have become the new myth makers, showing gangsters and bikini-clad women with hyperactive libidos.”
She went on to say, “For non-black children it creates a gross misrepresentation of the black experience.”
That statement is so true.
Many times I have had to field questions from people about the so-called “Black Experience,” which some na‹ve college student had gotten from BET or a movie and assumed that it is testament to how black people live.
Popular culture does have an effect on the perceptions of various races. It is not getting any better, either.
Another bone of contention that the Spelman Sisters had was with the new BET show called “BET Uncut.” This show features people with fuzzed-out body parts, the ones that we cover so as not to get a lewd conduct citation.
This is the same BET that airs one of my favorite shows, “The Bobby Jones Gospel Hour” the day after showing the aforementioned late night quasi-peep show.
The typical arguments in defense of this lewdness are just the same standard arguments that media usually uses.
Why can’t we just turn the TV channel?
Well, in today’s media, you can’t turn the channel. A movie is not Oscar and a station is not award-winning if the content doesn’t have a sex or bondage scene.
I can turn the TV off, but I know that my niece and nephew are slyly staying up late and watching “BET Uncut” like you and I used to when we were their age.
Another argument is that these women subject themselves to this behavior. No matter how we try to rationalize, it affects all women, including the ones who don’t subject themselves to anything.
But the media continues to exploit women in general for profit. They also exploit the viewers of these shows by causing a hormonal sensation in the viewers in order to keep them tuning in.
Television is the most influential medium of information exchange, for better or worse. The media has a responsibility and accountability to society.
However, the media is not living up to its responsibility. This is where we come in.
When consumers, especially those who are misrepresented, collectively stand up to the smut profit mongers, like the Spelman Sisters did, then and only then will we see better programming and music.
Edward Sanders is a sophomore political science major. He can be reached at [email protected].