Oprah And The Three Bears

Rappers 50 Cent, Ludacris, and Ice-Cube have all complained about being dissed by Oprah Winfrey. In the May 2006 issue of GQ Magazine, Ludacris complained that a number of his comments were edited when he appeared on an Oprah show about racial discrimination. After taping he said that “she pulled me into a room and we had a five-minute conversation. What I got was that by having rappers on her show, she feels like she’s empowering them.”

Ice Cube has complained about being dissed by Oprah. In the May issue of FMH Magazine he lamented "I've been involved in three projects pitched to her, but I've never been asked to participate. For Barbershop, she had Cedric the Entertainer and Eve on, but I wasn't invited. Maybe she's got a problem with hip-hop. She's had damn rapists, child molesters and lying authors on her show. And if I'm not a rags-to-riches story for her, who is?”

50 Cent isn’t feeling Oprah either. In an AP article he shrugged off Oprah with the comment, “I think she caters to older white women." I believe the crux of the issue in this case is, and borrowing a line from one of my favorite movies (Cool Hand Luke) delivered by one of my favorite actors (Strother Martin) “What we have here is a failure to communicate." Whether Oprah has an issue with hip-hop or not, she is arguably one of maybe two or three African Americans that could bring about a much needed nationwide dialogue with all facets of the African American community on Rap and Hip-Hop.

We can no longer afford to dismiss certain elements within the Hip-Hop community just because we may find them to be less than what we expect them to be. Ice Cube, Ludacris, and 50 Cent are major players in an industry that is global in concept and scale. Based upon that fact, it is time we sit down at the table of discussion with all interested parties and break the bread of honest and frank dialogue with one another. As I pointed out in Faking The Funk “It’s as if there is some type of disconnect between the reality that is Urban America and the causes that brought Urban America to its current reality. The reality of Urban America (the negative and yes, the positive) is what gave birth to Rap and Hip-Hop. By dismissing that reality, we abdicate responsibility to determine its path.

We failed to address the genesis of overt poverty and economic genocide within Urban America. We did not raise our voices loud enough when our urban communities were overrun with drugs, violence, and mayhem. We ignored the negative socio-economic impact that the loss of schools and viable businesses had on Urban America. We did nothing when our young boys and girls brought children into this world out of wedlock.

Ice Cube, Ludacris, 50 Cent and other well known rappers are the progeny of our own benign neglect and however one feels about their music or about them personally, they are looked upon as leaders and role models to millions of fans and wannabe rap artists within the industry. Like Oprah, they too were fortunate enough to rise above the urban dysfunction and succeed despite existing within the midst of it. However for every Oprah and Ice Cube, or a 50 Cent that made it, there were/are thousands that continue to have no choice but to succumb and capitulate their dreams to survive and that cannot continue. Can you feel we?