In the AUC, forums were actually kinda the place to see and be seen, depending on the topic and who was hosting. Minus the cute guy, I actually miss forums. Now, I'm left to my only devices, which is watching them, and I had the opportunity to watch two of them yesterday. The first one, hosted by ESPN, was about the whole Michael Vick issue. The panelists were various Atlanta area journalists, and some former players that knew Vick. Blacks made up most of the audience. I was really happy about that. Not necessarily because I was just happy to see Black folks out, but because for the most part, they were able to offer the type of insight into the the matter, one that has been ignored and misunderstood throughout this whole dogfighting ordeal. It's the type of insight that, I feel, is the most relevant, fair and accurate.
The Black folks weren't there as football fans, so to speak, but as supporters of Michael Vick the man. They were able to distinctively draw a line between him as a person, and his job as a professional athlete. Neither of which, have anything to do with the other. The general consensus, among them, at the end of the forum was simply that Vick will pay his debt to society, and should be given another chance. I agree.
The second forum I watched, was one on Hip Hop broadcasted on BET. Now, I will say, I am happy BET finally decided to do something like this. Because, for the longest, VH1 has been holding down the shows on Hip Hop culture. This was long overdue, but finally here, nonetheless. Last night was Part 1 of the series. I wasn't too particularly fond of the panelists, as is, I think there could've been a lot more diversity amongst them. But it truly showcased an interesting dynamic among its lack of diversity.
Every now and then, they rotated in/out some panelists. For one, I really felt like T.I. didn't need to be up there as long as he was. I felt that there should have been more women up there, instead of one at a time. I also think there should've been Latinos on the panel as well. The hip-hop culture, from jump, has always been shared by us. One thing that especially stuck out with me was that the women on the panelist had very few opportunities to speak, never spoke out of turn, and when they were finally given the chance to open their mouths, they were constantly being cut off and talked over. Certainly not just a hip-hop thing, but one from the beginning of time, is the disregard for women. Who knows, I don't think it was done with malice, but that type of behavior, that disrespect for women, is truly reflective in the culture. You have male rappers that demonstrate the disrespect and women who allow the men to further perpetuate it by, oh let's say, letting someone swipe a credit card down their ass. Everyone is guilty.
I was glad, though, to hear someone make the very valid point that Hip-Hop needs to bear more responsibility. You can't keep blaming society or the government. We all know that the hood is still the hood it was back when rap music first hit. The crack epidemic was worse in the 80's than it is now, and we definitely had good rap music then. Misunderstood, yes. Powerful, infinitely. Glorifying the hard life? Hardly. People wanted a way out of that world, and music was their ticket. I have a hard time understanding why people want to go back to that, in real life and through music.
I'm eager to see what tonight's part of the series has. I'll probably post more on that tomorrow.
P.S. If you love Hip-Hop as much as I do, check these dudes out, Pacific Division. Kinda remind me of The Pharcyde, it doesn't sound like your usual Cali-pimp shit. It's very nostalgic of the real hip-hop days :-)
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