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Hip-hop activist devalues 50 Cent's line
An outspoken hip-hop activist whose worldview was shaped by groups like Public Enemy, Biko Baker knew he had to come to Pittsburgh when he heard about the fatal shooting of Shelton Flowers at The Waterfront last week on the opening night of 50 Cent's new movie...
An outspoken hip-hop activist whose worldview was shaped by groups like Public Enemy, Biko Baker knew he had to come to Pittsburgh when he heard about the fatal shooting of Shelton Flowers at The Waterfront last week on the opening night of 50 Cent's new movie at Loew's Cineplex.
"When I heard what happened at the movie theater," he says, "it hit my heart pretty hard. So we set up an opportunity to tell the truth to youth about what's going on in the community and talk about the images they see in hip-hop culture."
50 Cent and the glorification of violence in hip-hop culture were the subjects of a controversial article the Milwaukee-based activist wrote in this month's issue of the hip-hop magazine The Source.
In Baker's eyes, the problem lies in corporate boardrooms, not in the streets.
"Corporate America," he says, "is invested in this thug imagery, is invested in rappers like 50 Cent when there are positive rappers that they could invest their money in. It's not an accident. Sex sells and violence sells in America. If corporate America was putting out rappers that rapped about ending the war, I guarantee rappers would start rapping about ending the war. It's sad but true."
The price of selling 50 Cent, he says, is you "create an environment where violence seems normal. I don't know the details of what happened in the lobby of that movie theatre, but when violence becomes normal, sometimes you don't think twice when you're getting ready to start some beef. When I was growing up, I listened to people like KRS-One and Public Enemy, and it shaped the way that I saw life. It made me proud to be a young African American man. Seven years from now, when the 7-year-olds are 14, I wonder how 50 Cent will inspire them. And I don't necessarily think it's gonna be the greatest thing."
He's at Urban Youth Action today at 4 p.m. to talk to inner-city youth about what's really real in hip-hop and what really matters on the streets in a lecture presented by the League of Young Voters.
"The first thing I'll tell them," he says, "is that they've gotta love themselves. And when they love themselves, they can love other people. A lot of times when we talk about hip-hop, we don't really talk about love. We're too gangsta to love. But we've gotta really start looking at each other as brothers and sisters. And from there, we'll talk about how a lot of what they see is not real. I've been on a lot of video shoots, and the cars are rented, the chains are rented. I know a lot of rappers who are famous that are broke. Let's talk about some of that imagery and then talk about the real-life consequences of some of their actions. I understand what it's like to have to be in a situation where you come from a broken home and there aren't a lot of options, but you've got to be creative. And that's what hip-hop's always been. We've got to start talking to kids about real-life creative solutions to their problems."
