Pimping Ain't Easy

For the past week, the Oscar win of rap group Three 6 Mafia for its song "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" has been praised and panned. Praised because the win was a historic moment for hip-hop, the first all-black rap group to perform at the usually unhip Academy Awards and to win the golden statue.
Panned because some were embarrased that a song about pimping (i.e. the sexual exploitation of women by men) was rewarded.
Part of me did cringe when the winner was announced. Too much of mainstream rap music glorifies pimping; the music videos are filled with booty flesh and the lyrics are full of sexual boasting at the expense of women.
But another part of me was thrilled. It was a genuine surprise and an indication that hip-hop has truly entered the mainstream. The culture cannot be dismissed or ignored anymore.
That says to me a couple of things. Hip-hop has been and continues to be a powerful force in the world. And hip-hop artists have a responsibility to bring balance to the music.
See, I don't expect every song that comes out to be self-righteous and consciousness-raising. Not every rock-and-roll song is that all the time. Never has been.
What I do demand is that rap music doesn't become bogged down in monotony. Spoken-word artist Saul Williams said it best when he said he simply wants to hear something different. Enough with the ice and the women and the guns and the beef.
Rap about something real. Rap about you, not what the corporate suits think is you or what they think the public will buy.
But in the end, what Three 6 Mafia won is an award. That's all it is. Cuba Gooding Jr. won one of those golden statues for his performance in Jerry Maguire. What the hell happened to his career?
Adrien Brody won for The Pianist. You see he didn't get any nominations for his recent turn in King Kong.
Awards don't change anything. People do.
And one final thought. The song, "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp," fit the movie, Hustle & Flow. The movie is predictable, your basic Rocky formula, except that Rocky is a pimp. But Terrence Howard's performance elevated the movie a bit, made DJay human, complex and real when he could have easily turned that role into caricature.
Howard may not be a pimp in real life, but let's just say he really pimped that role, and it wasn't easy.