After comparing/contrasting country and rap music in class we listened to a song by Brad Paisley and LL Cool J entitled 'Accidental Racist'. This song ended up causing quite the controversy in pop culture because of some of the words used to describe the history of race relations in America, and also the stereotypes that come along with rap artists and the hip-hop culture.
One of the topic of discussion by the media was the choice of words by LL Cool J about his gold chains, do-rag, and baggy clothes. There were a lot of people that were bothered by this because it conveys a negative stereotype about black people that many find is not true. Not all black people fall under the 'gangster' stereotype, and some feel very insulted by it. People were also bothered by the fact that LL mentioned that perhaps he could 'forget' about slavery which is wrong on so many levels.
Another topic of discussion by the media was the ideas of Brad Paisley and the fact that his confederate flag shirt supposedly was not supposed to represent slavery, just the fact that he was a fan of the southern band Lynyrd Skynrd. There were quite a few people who disagreed with that, saying that the confederate flag will always represent slavery and people need to remember that when they choose their clothing.
I personally think that this song was a good effort to patch up race relations, but it seemed so thrown together and not very well thought out. I think that they could have done a little bit better job with word choice as to avoid controversy, but it was a good idea to reach out to a very diverse and cross-over audience.
I agree with your stereo type with the baggy clothes, it is not a fair representation of the African American culture, as many are educated and dress like the average American. We don't have to forget about slavery but we do need to forgive and move on, we will never really blend races and negate racial lines unless this generation FORGIVES! We did not enslave so we should not pay for what our ancestors did. For a race to be so angry; but yet they still enslave their own race in their ancestral county bewilders me.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct in that it was a good idea but they could of done a better job relaying their message to the audience. We need more people to be so bold.
I thought the same thing about the stereotyping when I was listening to the song. I also thought that the song wasn't complete and very well thought out.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the song was a good idea. It really could have been a good thing. They just did not plan it out as well as they should have. They really needed to look over the lyrics and think about how people would react to it before they put that song out there.
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