Professor Tracey, WAOD Contributor
This Week's Wagging Finger of Shame Award Goes to Mara Schiavocampo and her entire hip hop panel participants except for Kendra G - because nobody knew who in the hell you were. Another segment disguised as being about black women, but ended up being dominated by the black male prespective. I am sick and tired of the media covering rap music and hip hop culture by picking the worst represenatives of the genre they can possibly find.
Mara Schiavocampo – For not doing her research and for putting together one of the worst group of panelists I have ever witnessed. What was the actual point of the segment? Why wasn't there at least one person on the panel that could be considered doing something positive to combat the negative images of black women in hip hop? Why were black men present in this discussion at all? Was Danyel Smith, editor of Vibe magazine, busy? How about Joan Morgan, former Essence magazine editor and author of When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: A Hip Hop Feminist Breaks it Down? How about asking an "actual" female rapper about the state of the hip hop industry? How about asking "average" black women on the street about their views of rap music and hip hop culture?
Hip-hop hotties
Karrine “Superhead” Steffans – Isn’t this woman clocking MAJOR overtime on her 15 minutes of fame?
Dr. Michael E. Dyson – This is my boy, but Gina is right, he is a hip hop apologist and prognostitute. I formally asked my girl Attorneymom to place him on her SYAD list.
Melyssa “Jessica Rabbit” Ford – She graduated from BET Uncut to BET Style, sounds like an outstanding career move to me. She doesn’t have to worry about American black women, she’s Canadian, she can escape hip hop hell in America at anytime.
Irv Gotti – First, for being a complete idiot. I haven’t heard a rapper sound this dumb since Cam’Ron said that instead of informing on the serial killer that lived next door, he would move! Two, for how you used Karrine “Superhead” Steffens like a sexual incentive bonus to close business deals. Three, for being an irresponsible parent, would really be okay with your daughter being a video vixen? Four, for being all too willing to sellout every single black woman in the world excluding your mama to make an exploitative dollar!
Kevin Powell - You have come a long way baby, but damn you're over 40 years old, isn't it about time! And please stop referring to black women as "females" - we are women. Females can be anything; lions, tigers, bears, oh my. I wonder if Mr. Powell still hates his mama.
Overall, the NBC Nightly News series on African American women was not a complete failure, but as Chris Rock would say - "two giant steps back!"
