Once in a while some of our listeners send us email. Why? I don’t know, not like we read them or anything, (I kid, I kid). Actually we love hearing and reading listener comments about our show, so please feel free, really please, please! (lol). Anyway I felt it necessary to post this email from one of our regular podcast listeners regarding a show we did a few weeks back about the show Oprah had basically about Hip Hop’s affect on society, where she seemed to be trying to blame Hip Hop for being a bad influence due to the language, video images that are portayed etc, some of her guests included Russel Simmons and Common among others. By the way me and P Plus don’t watch Oprah, it was Arcee who enlightened us, since he’s a regular Oprah watcher, anyway, here’s one of our listener’s thoughts:

Freqs,

I’d like to start this off by saying I’m not a racist…not a sexist, I am however racially aware and sexually aware…just like everyone really is, but are generally too afraid to mention it for fear of being branded a bigot.

I have written you guys a couple times in the past. I don’t know if you remember, but I’m the United States Army Ranger that listens to you guys while I’m marching all over God’s green earth.

Sorry that this is about two weeks after your show in which you mentioned Don Imus etc…I was doing advanced mountain training in the Appalachian Mountains so I just got the podcast the other day and was listening to it this morning on another oh so pleasant ruck march around Ft. Benning, Georgia.

Anyway, who’s fault is it? Russell said it was society’s fault, O said it was hip-hops fault…but you guys really hit the nail on the head. Parenting.

If a woman was raised properly if someone asked her to appear in a music video half naked degrading herself, she would say “no”. On the same side if the men were raised properly, he would never ask a woman to degrade herself like that. Where this whole system falls apart is good old money.

Producers know that sex sells and since it does, they use it to push millions of music videos. Parents are using TV as a babysitter and so children grow up thinking that what they are seeing is normal so the cycle continues. As long as we pay for these actions, they will continue. I’m a violator just like everyone else…I watch music video’s and like dreaming of the money and fame that these artists appear to have. Should we censor hip-hop? No…I am against all censorship, if you don’t like it, turn the channel. When we start censoring material we don’t get what’s real…we get a watered down version…a version that will sell records. One of my favorite artists, Immortal Technique, is a VERY raw artist - as I’m sure you know. He is uncensored and because of that…he’ll never be main stream. That is the double edge sword. Being censored & conforming to “what sells” gets you on the radio, being true to the hip-hop nature gets you street credit & respect, but you’ll never be driving those Aston Martins.

I don’t think that hip-hop is to BLAME, but it obviously capitalizes on the short comings of society.

One of you made another good comment, the words “ho”, “nigger”, “cracker” & other racially peppered words were around long before hip-hop and will be around long after hip-hop. Hip-hop didn’t create these words so why shouldn’t artists use them? They are words in the English language and shouldn’t be removed from an artists arsenal. If you don’t like a word for one reason or another…don’t use it.

Anyway guys, sorry for the long rant, but censorship is something I’ll carry a torch for.

Keep up the good work! I’m looking forward to the next installment!

-P

Thanks for your email Andrew, we couldn’t agree with you more! Personally (this is Inzane talking) we have to stop pointing fingers and start looking at ourselves, what are we doing to make this better? Start there first, teach your kids, explain what these images and words are so they know the difference of right from wrong (whoa feel like a preacher or something, enough of that). All is not good out here there’s good and bad, we need both for balance. We just need to learn how to keep the balance.

Feel free to hit us up with your comments, or you can email us at therealfrequency@flow935.com.