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Read a Book

2 October 2007 3 Comments | written by: Brian

Not sure if everyone is aware of this video, but I thought I would bring it to your attention. I laughed. Will you?

This was shot on BET Animation and 106 and Park. IT IS A SATIRICAL OBSERVATION ON THE CURRENT RIDICULOUS, OFFENSIVE, AND EMBARRASSING STATE OF THE ONCE NOBLE ART OF HIP HOP. THE RAPPER WHO MADE THE SONG IS ALSO SATIRING THE CURRENT POPULAR RAP MUSIC WHICH IS AN EMBARRASSMENT TO EVERYTHING RAP WAS. WHILE MAKING THIS SOCIAL SATIRE, HE ALSO PROVIDE A POSITIVE MESSAGE AND A SOCIAL COMMENTARY.

African Americans, open your mind. This man is not offending us. He’s smaking us in the face and saying Wake Up. This is what they think of us…and the reality is…most of it is true.

Unfortunately I have no connection to the authoring of the video. I merely uploaded it as a show of support and like-mindedness.

I feel that the video was a clever, harsh, striking, and much-needed parody/satire on the current state of hip hop. Hip hop, originated as a black folk style of music, the voice of the innercity. A conscious, aware, if hardened by it’s environment, expression of the life of middle/poor-class African Americans and Hispanic/Latino Americans in America. It has, like EVERY style of music before it, finally succumb to commercialization and thus the current POPULAR hip hop is little more than brain-mush over percolating beats. This song highlights that, with the line: “I used to makes song with concepts and shit, but now I wanna go platinum”. The irony of that line, says it all.

In addition to being a strong satire/parody, it also instills some very strong positivities: reading, hygiene, ownership of things that cultivate wealth and worth (buy some land), responsibility (raise your kids), etc…concepts that popular hip hop is NOT teaching to our youth anymore.

So it parodies viciously, and instructs what is lacking concurrently.

For this reason, as an African American male who is passionate about the origins of hip hop and a purist of the hip hop form sans commercialization, and as a human being in general worried for our future and our progeny, I couldn’t HELP but support the creator of the song and video by uploading it.

What are your thoughts? Here’s a CNN report to further some discussion.

3 Comments »

  • George said:

    and here i though this was the best in afro commentary

    # 2 October 2007 at 7:18 pm
  • James said:

    Wow, that CNN report was wretched. Talk about missing the point. I mean if you really stretch it I suppose you could worry about the implications for African-Americans, but taking the “OMG the children!” angle? Where the hell did that come from? Didn’t the Simpsons destroy the notion that only children watch cartoons back in 1989? How can you miss the point that some of the juvenile tendencies of hip-hop can only be effectively communicated through juvenile means? The title itself made it clear that that the people who this video was directed at aren’t reading in the first place! Crazy pills I tell you, everybody’s taking them!

    # 2 October 2007 at 10:39 pm
  • zoe dune said:

    I went straight to the cnn site and submitted a comment for Tony Harris:

    Tony Harris is completely “out of touch” with how the world works. Watching his response to BET’s ‘Read A Book’ video, he doesn’t seem to get the kind of vulgarity and materialistic life style that rap and rap followers of today encourage and embrace! Read a book takes the intensity of a rap video (probably something he’s never seen either) which is something that is easily absorbed by a rap/hip-hop hungry youth to deliver a positive message… he can’t seem to get to that though and instead treats it like any other pop vulgarity that is shoved into our youth’s faces everyday with even darker messages like, “drink malt liquor and buy some rims and be sexist towards women!”

    Tony Harris must be the whitest black man ever! You sir, are an embarrassment to… pretty much… society and so out of touch..that you can’t be speaking for/to anyone who pays attention.

    # 6 October 2007 at 3:51 pm