Take that, Bill O'Reilly! You think you know hip hop? You don't know hip hop, the Rev. Al Sharpton said today at TV critics' press tour, discussing BET's fall "town hall" program "Hip Hop vs. America." That lively cable debate, planned as a two-hour special, has turned into a "multi-episode" event, announced BET programming chief Reginald Hudlin, because the conversation among a broad spectrum of black voices proved so fruitful.
"To have Nelly and I on the same stage," Sharpton said, "to have TI and Stanley Crouch on the same stage, and talk, that could only happen in this kind of a format. You can't get that on Bill O'Reilly."
Ever-thoughtful Roosevelt rap pioneer Chuck D [right] of the influential '80s group Public Enemy sat alongside Sharpton at the press conference, and they're joined in the BET show by a virtual who's-who of contemporary music and cultural commentary. In addition to those mentioned above, the 30-person slate includes Master P and MC Lyte, NPR's Farai Chideya and journalist/filmmaker Nelson George, TV judge Mablean Ephraim and religious leaders, magazine editors, DJs and activists.
It's an inside-the-community extension of the debate unleashed this spring by white radio host Don Imus' insensitive "comedy" routine about the largely black Rutgers women's basketball team. The syndicated morning personality said he believed he could employ the racially and sexually incendiary descriptions, which eventually got him fired, because they had become such common language in hip hop culture. Fingers of blame were then pointed every which way -- yes, even on "Oprah" -- but often without much understanding of how that language became so pervasive and how its impact might resonate.
Chuck D said he and other BET debate participants from the music world were able to finally hash over "things we felt deep inside these issues. There are some areas of their music they wanted to talk about, and some areas the record companies wouldn't allow them to deal with. The show has great potential because it deals with the inside of the artist." He also appreciated the opportunity to explore "accountability" for cultural depictions. "These artists signed mainly with a corporation to be broadcast," he said. "You have a lot of hidden hands and a lot of hidden faces in the history of this hip hop genre. That's why I nodded my head yes [to join the debate], as a progressive step."
Sharpton thinks today's controversy over hip hop echoes those of groundbreaking pop culture genres from previous generations, where the new form can be misunderstood by those to whom it feels so alien. Diverse exponents tend to be lumped together, this time under the "hip hop" umbrella. "It's not true that there's one monolithic messenger," Sharpton said. "There never was, and there never will be. The genius of this program was that it got every messenger on stage to say what they had to say, and say it to each other."