By Aria White | SACOBSERVER.COM WIRE SERVICES

WASHINGTON (NNPA) - Ask most Black women what they think about Hip Hop or Rap lyrics and most will likely say they are degrading. But, some Black men express mixed emotions on the issue.

“It’s freedom of speech. We shouldn’t be trying to tell rappers what to rap about. It’s just music. It isn’t hurting anyone,” says Ben Silsbee, 20, a self-proclaimed avid rap listener, part-time DJ and student at the University of Maryland.

On the other hand, Silsbee says, while he will continue to listen to rap music with questionable lyrics and defend the artists’ freedom of speech, he doesn’t necessarily agree with the message the music sends.

“When I was in Spain last year, people thought the ‘N-word’ was acceptable because of rap music, I think that’s terrible,” Silsbee said.

A large majority of rap music’s fan base is made up of young Black men. Clinton White, 21, from Sarasota, Fla., said as a young Black man he knows he is promoting the bad message by just listening to it.

“I know it’s degrading and I don’t necessarily agree with what is said, but it’s still good music and I still like to jam to it,” White said.

When radio host Don Imus called the Rutgers women’s basketball team, “nappy-headed hos,” the critical eye of Black America turned not only on him but on the rap industry as well.

Following the Don Imus situation, rap music is being targeted more for its degradation of women. Instead of just focusing on White people who degrade Black women, Black leaders and organizations are beginning to also go after Black people who degrade Black women and Blacks in general.

Anwan “Big G” Glover, from the Backyard Band and the series “The Wire,” spoke to University of Maryland students about the negative messages in rap songs and videos. A clip was shown of a rapper sliding a credit card in a woman’s butt. And this kind of graphic was not uncommon for a rap video.

“It’s disgusting, the videos, the songs, but it’s the music I listen to. It’s what’s popular,” says Darian Scott-Carter, a young Black man from Baltimore who listens to rap music regularly.

Scott-Carter said everyone knows it’s wrong and degrading, but everyone continues to listen to it regardless. He said he doesn’t usually even listen to the lyrics. For him it’s all about the music behind the lyrics.

“I love rap music. It’s degrading and it’s nasty but I love it,” says Ain Welmon of State College, Pa. “I’m not saying what they rap about is right or anything. But I’m not going to go around signing any petitions to clean it up either.”

Welmon says he’s been listening to rap music since he was a teenager. And while he’s noticed the music getting dirtier, that hasn’t stopped him from enjoying it. He said rappers use songs to express themselves and there’s nothing wrong with that because it’s just music.

Rapper Snoop Dogg was quoted recently defending rap lyrics in an MTV interview in which he said that rappers are not talking about women who are doing things with their lives, but rather “‘hos” who aren’t doing anything.

In that case, no woman should be degraded, says John Smith, chair of the National Newspaper Publishers Association. He says the young Black men appear to have little knowledge of the sacrifices and contributions that Black women have made to the progress of the race and to the support of Black men. But, he says, Black women must also stand against degradation of themselves.

“The Black females have to stand up just like C. Delores Tucker and the ladies at Spellman College and stop allowing money, in particular, to dictate to them and their sexuality. They need to withdraw from allowing these people to utilize them in these videos. The almighty dollar ought not to dictate to them their values,” says Smith. “The rappers don’t understand the importance of Black females and their being…Yet, all of a sudden, they started degrading them.”

Even women appear duplicitous on the topic, says Silsbee: “If women are willing to shake in front of cameras for rap videos, then they can’t complain about the lyrics of the songs.”

Aria White NNPA special correspondent.