It's clear that, at bare minimum, the early days of hip-hop were co-opted by record executives in search of the almighty dollah. Any black man wants to do what his momma says, which is "go make money." They go and they do, but look what happens.

Shirley Chisholm told Congress that of all the prejudice she faced as an African-American, nothing was like the prejudice she faced as a woman.

The current educational system tends to favor girls (and boys who can sit still). How can we teach boys and girls that cooperating together is the way to go?

We as black people are responsible...we are responsible for how the world sees us.

youre an idiot. if U don't understand the difference btwixt 'rap', which that otha idiot mr. hurt wuz speakin bout, or REAL HIP HOP, which isnt tha nonsense U hear on tha radio, but real homies thats talkin bout tha luv o da music an da culture, i.e. tha bboys an girls, an how REAL HIP HOP derived itslef from tha chords of Coltrane an tha bars of Hancock, then U have NO place speakin out bout wutchu dont know about. thats called ignorance. 'tis better to remain silent and thought a fool,, than to speak up and remove all doubt'......
StepinFechit whitemansburden@hotmail.com

I feel like everyone's responsible. In the panel discussion some of the audience shifts the blame to the distribution. The distribution (Brown) shifts the blame to the audience. Obviously the music-makers play a role. I think the problem is that we sit back. I hear "Let's Ride" and instead of turning off the radio go and buy it on iTunes.. that song is about absolutely nothing and is supremely stupid. Even some of the untouchable independents fall into the traps of woman-hating, violence, whatever-whatever.

I think the hardest part is making the "break" that M-1's talking about... that you have to take the effort and break with what your environment has made feel natural... the same thing with any sort of resistance, whether it's political dissent, vegetarianism, "I'm not going to talk to this person for a year," quitting smoking, etc...

It takes personal power, but the more people who do it the more support they have from one another and the easier it becomes... I don't know...

While I feel like everyone's responsible, and the producers/artists/execs are the most responsible, I feel like the only people who can be expected to change are the consumers and the independent artists - because it's in their self-interest even though it may not be immediately obvious.

And ultimate it's in EVERYONE's self-interest, but its extremely indirect/environmental for those at the top.


- bijan

The rap artists are responsible, the consumers are responsible, as well as the music executives and the radio stations. Everyone involved needs to take responsibility. I've pretty much stopped listening to the hip-hop stations. I began getting really tired of all of the shallow messages, even the beats and music show a graduale deterioration in creativity. Unfortunately, it's not just hip-hop music that's suffering the creative drought, it's all popular music. Also, it's not just the music business that has been displaying a total lack of integrity. Greed has multipied and seems to be taking over. It's worrisome!
There has always been a divide between the music of the newer genereations and that of older generations.
The difference is now, people are dying at the hands of their neighbor's because of the message in the music.
What can we do? I wish I had an answer to that. My two teenage daughters are well into hip-hop as most kids their age are. If I disallow them to listen to it, they'll just want to more, because all of the kids are listening. I guess all I can do is tell them the way I feel.

I want to say that I am very impressed with this program and I want to give Mr. Byron Hurt my gratitude. I compliment him to the fullest for his intelligence, bravery and astute insights. Bravo to you. This show was fantastic. I only wish it could be seen by more young people.