an open letter

The following is a response to a letter that was written by a concerned sister on allhiphop.com regarding hip-hop "beef" and the state of the Black male.

My Sister,

I read the letter that you wrote to my brothers and I regarding “rap beefs” and the lack of respect that black men have for each other. I agree with you, brothers do need to have peace and respect for themselves and others. Brothers need to work it out. There has always been and will continue to be issues such as high crime rates, unemployment, gentrification, police brutality, etc. if we as black men do not learn how to deal with our problems effectively. It seems that as black men we believe that we are less masculine if we attempt to talk about our feelings instead of acting them out physically. This problem needs to be addressed because if we continue to put up this façade of false ego, we are leading ourselves, as black men, further down the path of self-destruction

Moreover, we have allowed the “gangsta” mentality to permeate the business side hip-hop. This is what happened to B.I.G. and Tupac. Not only have we let the music industry pimp us, but we continue to promote the stereotypes that have been created for us. This has caused us to let our “crews and cliques with guns”, who don’t know how to do much else, attempt to solve our problems for us.

However, I have to disagree with you on the issue of “rap beefs”. “Beef” or competition is not the problem with hip-hop. Rap music has always been about competition. Black culture has always featured “lyrical contests” involving rhymes. The Dozens, testifying, signifying and schoolyard rhymes. The object of a lot of these games was to see who could come up with the best rhyme.

Every person who has the nerve to record believes that he/she is the best at their craft and there comes a time when they have to prove that. It is the same as playing a sport or even being a student. There will always come a time when you must exercise your skills against another emcee. When someone challenges you lyrically, you have to ‘show and prove’, or you will be just another wannabe, no-name emcee.

Competition weeds out all of the wack MCs. If there were more battling, there might be fewer rappers, and t he quality and content might be a lot better instead of the watered down Hip-Hop that we hear on the radio and see on BET and EmpTV. Competition makes cats STEP THEIR RAP GAME UP! Maybe then we can be rid of these non-lyrical emcees that claim to bless the mic, but instead do more damage.

If emcees were challenged more, maybe their lyrical skills and their content would expand. Maybe we would be left with rappers who could rap about more than guns, drugs, sex, violence, and money. Maybe they would spit about who was actually the best lyricist as opposed to who has the most guns, girls, and grillz. If emcees were forced to showcase their lyrical skill, instead of their persona (real, imagined or otherwise) they couldn’t rap about nonsense.

Lyrical competition in rap encourages new and innovative ways to practice the art. The competition and conflict encourages change and innovation lyrically and musically. Without “beef”, Hip-Hop would not be what it is or where it is today. What would Hip-Hop be without Kool Moe Dee v. Busy Bee, BDP v. The Juice Crew, or L.L. v. Canibus? Do we consider these battles forms of Black on Black violence? Additionally, until brothers learn to cope effectively with our problems or “beef” (whether they are real or manufactured), I would much rather see brothers expressing their anger through rap songs than through gun shots or fisticuffs. I’d much rather have “Takeover” and “Ether”, “South Bronx” and “Kill That Noise” or “Wanksta” and “Clap Back” than read about another dead brother in the street.

Whether or not Jay responds is of no consequence. If this were conflict-resolution, it would be appropriate for Jay not to respond. This is not conflict-resolution. This is Hip-Hop. It’s not Hip-Hop to ignore a challenge. You said it yourself, Hip-Hop is just music. “Dis” records are just music. And this issue, it’s bigger than hip-hop.

Sincerely,
Akil E. Kennedy