mdpm99
06-02-2003, 04:10 PM
This was sent to me from David Leifer.
Your Wall Street Journal Editorial - "Mean Street Theater"
To: johnmcw@socrates.berkeley.edu
Dear Professor McWhorter:
I came across your editorial in Friday's Journal, and felt compelled to respond to some of the points you made. This was the only e-mail address I could locate for you, and even though you appear to be on leave from Cal this semester, I hope this reaches you nonetheless.
First of all, I'm not really sure what the intent of your editorial was. Another black neo-con lamenting the negative image of blacks conveyed by gangster rap. Wow - what a shock! I bet you don't like affirmative action either! You may not personally approve of what rap artists are saying, but what do you actually propose to DO about it? The fact is, nothing CAN be done (at least until your beloved President Bush succeeds in wiping out the last vestiges of the First Amendment). There is an audience for this music, and the producers and artists are merely catering to that lucrative market. The fact that you don't condone their message is frankly irrelevant. As long as the cash registers keep ringing, they'll keep cranking it out.
You then move from mere irrelevance into outright misinformation. Your statement that rap rivalry "likely led to the deaths of Tupac Shakur and 'Biggie' Smalls" is directly contradicted by the investigation of former L.A.P.D. Detective Russell Poole, who found that both murders were directly linked to Suge Knight and various corrupt members of the L.A.P.D. who moonlighted for his Death Row Records. This theory is explored in exhaustive detail in Nick Broomfield's documentary, "Biggie & Tupac." Biggie's mother, Voletta Wallace, is currently suing the L.A.P.D. for its incompetence and likely criminal conspiracy in failing to bring to justice her son's murderer. So instead of perpetuating falsehoods in the pages of a major national newspaper, maybe you should do some investigating first.
I am also baffled by your outrageous statement that in the 1970s "whites were making the sourest, nastiest pop music while blacks were making the sweetest and truest. White kids listened to hideous screaming [sic] while funk and soul were black America's soundtrack."
Are you serious? ALL whites listened to hideous screaming? And ALL blacks listened to funk and soul? What about Sly? What about Jimi Hendrix? Didn't SOME white people like them? It seems like there were hundreds of thousands of white kids grooving to Sly and Jimi at Woodstock. Watch the movie some time.
So white groups in the 70s only made sour, nasty music and blacks only made sweet and true music? In the hands of a white writer, this statement would be deemed offensively racist. It is no less so coming from a black man. You may have some expertise in linguistics, but your knowledge of popular music is woefully limited. Perhaps you should leave musical criticism to those qualified to offer it, rather than making idiotic, unsupported generalizations with no basis in reality.
Finally, the violence in the rap community is intrinsically linked to the violence in the black community as a whole. The music does not exist in a vacuum - it reflects the values and circumstances of its surroundings. Just ask Eazy-E, Tupac, Biggie, or Jam Master Jay. Well, I guess you COULD ask them if they weren't all dead. When the circumstances of the inner city change dramatically for the better, only then should you expect rap music to reflect those changes.
Maybe welfare reform and "faith-based initiatives" will be the ultimate salvation of the black ghetto - but I wouldn't hold my breath.
I hope one day you will see the light, my brother. It is sell-outs like you and Clarence Thomas who are keeping blacks "in their place," not Jay-Z and Snoop Dogg.
Peace,
David Leifer
DJL461@aol.com
[ June 02, 2003, 05:19 PM: Message edited by: david mancuso ]
Your Wall Street Journal Editorial - "Mean Street Theater"
To: johnmcw@socrates.berkeley.edu
Dear Professor McWhorter:
I came across your editorial in Friday's Journal, and felt compelled to respond to some of the points you made. This was the only e-mail address I could locate for you, and even though you appear to be on leave from Cal this semester, I hope this reaches you nonetheless.
First of all, I'm not really sure what the intent of your editorial was. Another black neo-con lamenting the negative image of blacks conveyed by gangster rap. Wow - what a shock! I bet you don't like affirmative action either! You may not personally approve of what rap artists are saying, but what do you actually propose to DO about it? The fact is, nothing CAN be done (at least until your beloved President Bush succeeds in wiping out the last vestiges of the First Amendment). There is an audience for this music, and the producers and artists are merely catering to that lucrative market. The fact that you don't condone their message is frankly irrelevant. As long as the cash registers keep ringing, they'll keep cranking it out.
You then move from mere irrelevance into outright misinformation. Your statement that rap rivalry "likely led to the deaths of Tupac Shakur and 'Biggie' Smalls" is directly contradicted by the investigation of former L.A.P.D. Detective Russell Poole, who found that both murders were directly linked to Suge Knight and various corrupt members of the L.A.P.D. who moonlighted for his Death Row Records. This theory is explored in exhaustive detail in Nick Broomfield's documentary, "Biggie & Tupac." Biggie's mother, Voletta Wallace, is currently suing the L.A.P.D. for its incompetence and likely criminal conspiracy in failing to bring to justice her son's murderer. So instead of perpetuating falsehoods in the pages of a major national newspaper, maybe you should do some investigating first.
I am also baffled by your outrageous statement that in the 1970s "whites were making the sourest, nastiest pop music while blacks were making the sweetest and truest. White kids listened to hideous screaming [sic] while funk and soul were black America's soundtrack."
Are you serious? ALL whites listened to hideous screaming? And ALL blacks listened to funk and soul? What about Sly? What about Jimi Hendrix? Didn't SOME white people like them? It seems like there were hundreds of thousands of white kids grooving to Sly and Jimi at Woodstock. Watch the movie some time.
So white groups in the 70s only made sour, nasty music and blacks only made sweet and true music? In the hands of a white writer, this statement would be deemed offensively racist. It is no less so coming from a black man. You may have some expertise in linguistics, but your knowledge of popular music is woefully limited. Perhaps you should leave musical criticism to those qualified to offer it, rather than making idiotic, unsupported generalizations with no basis in reality.
Finally, the violence in the rap community is intrinsically linked to the violence in the black community as a whole. The music does not exist in a vacuum - it reflects the values and circumstances of its surroundings. Just ask Eazy-E, Tupac, Biggie, or Jam Master Jay. Well, I guess you COULD ask them if they weren't all dead. When the circumstances of the inner city change dramatically for the better, only then should you expect rap music to reflect those changes.
Maybe welfare reform and "faith-based initiatives" will be the ultimate salvation of the black ghetto - but I wouldn't hold my breath.
I hope one day you will see the light, my brother. It is sell-outs like you and Clarence Thomas who are keeping blacks "in their place," not Jay-Z and Snoop Dogg.
Peace,
David Leifer
DJL461@aol.com
[ June 02, 2003, 05:19 PM: Message edited by: david mancuso ]