I rarely watch BET, unless The Game or Everybody Hate’s Chris is gracing the screen. In my opinion, black music isn’t what it used to be and offers me no real enjoyment except for maybe in the club on a late night. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate everything, Alicia Keys, Mary J., Monica, and a few others do satisfy my craving for good, honest, soul-quenching R&B, but most of the videos on 106&Park just leave me feeling empty and embarrassed. Let’s be honest, music is definitely lacking is some way and Nicki Minaj is no Salt-N-Pepa and Lil’ Wayne is no Tupac. Soul music is not just R&B, it’s any music that expresses true emotions where you can feel real passion from the artist. When Tupac made the song Dear Mama, I could feel his honesty and I believed that he really put his soul into his music, whether it was about poverty or sex, he had passion about the things he was saying and really cared about his craft. I’m on a rant, but what I’m really trying to say is that today’s music is missing something. The songs are about women or drugs or cars or money. What happened to music that expressed real love, not just sex or music that talked about what it’s like to live in the ghetto, not music that glorifies death and prison? This is the reason that I don’t listen to the radio, but depend on my collection of Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Mary J., Sam Cooke Faith Evans, and many more to feed my soul. Hearing Lil’ Wayne rap about having sex with every girl in the world just doesn’t do anything for me personally, but that’s just my own opinion.
But I digress.
The real reason that I am writing this post is because of the recent banning of music videos by Teairra Mari(Sponsor) and Ciara(Ride) by BET. While neither song is doing much for women, this is the way that these two young ladies have chosen to express themselves. While Ciara song and video is filled with sexual innuendos and slightly suggestive dancing, does it really show anything worse than what we already see on BET. How can a channel that airs State Property, The Godfather, and Belly really ban anything. And many of the videos made by men on this same channel often exploit the bodies of women, so when a woman decides to use her own sexuality it is a problem. Let’s be serious here, Ciara’s video isn’t any worse than the other videos played on BET. As far as Teairra Mari, I just find the fact that her video has been banned absolutely ridiculous. Sponsor is basically about a woman who depends on a man to get her what she needs and wants financially. Some say it’s a gold-diggers anthem, but whatever the case, how is this song any different from what rappers say. When male rappers talk about spending money on women to get what they want, it’s not an issue. These decisions by BET seem to be sexist and utterly ridiculous. If we are going to ban these videos, why not ban 80%of the videos that come on 106&Park. Speaking of 106, am I the only one who thinks this show is not even half of what it used to be. Rocsi has none of the appeal and class of Free and Terrance has none of the poise and intelligence of AJ. Tell me what you think about everything I have said. This post is pretty scattered, but I had a lot to say today.
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completely agreed.
ReplyDeleteBET has been garbage for some time now. my dad says it went downhill after it lost the late night news....but even during that time they had the 2:00 time slot filled with asses, breasts, asses, breasts, g-strings, asses, asses, and more breasts known as Uncut. the channel has been for some time and continues to be a consumer media outlet that pushes what people want to see which is often no where near being progressive or aid in our struggle.
i think for people that are constantly conscious of the issues in the black community (like myself and many others), BET is just a constant reminder of what little we have done for ourselves and how far we still have to go. i think many of us wouldn't have that much of an issue with BET if there was some alternative for black youths and non-blacks to see that there aren't only light-skinned chicks with weave that are pretty and black men throwing dollar bills at some woman's ass as she shakes it on the floor that have power...that exist in the black community. the black intellectual, the nerd, the activist, the republican, the non-religious, and the black woman that respects herself (without a "sponsor") need a home and need some media coverage as well. BET can have its crowd, but we, as a community, need to be working towards the latter first.
good post. and great blog. =)