Dear Editor,
I refer to Dr Ian McDonald’s column, ‘Ian On Sunday’ in Sunday Stabroek, September 21. Dr McDonald’s column touched on many issues, such as the music of today and the decaying times we live in. His criticisms are not without foundation but his diatribe on rap music cannot go unchallenged.
I was shocked that this highly cultured lover of the arts would write off an entire genre in such a passionate way. I would not dare to defend the rap music of today that glorifies guns, promotes misogyny and encourages a criminal culture. But certainly, Mr Editor, one cannot in an unspecific way without reference to period, sign off an entire genre. In fact, I only listen to rap music from the late 1970s to the late 1990s. Dr McDonald did not specify the era of rap or the exact rappers or songs he sees as “music for illiterates.” I wonder, has Dr McDonald ever listened to the works of PublicEnemy, Lauryn Hill, Common, Queen Latifah, Monie Love, McLyte, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Black Sheep, The Roots, The Fugees or Tupac Shakur? I bet the answer is an emphatic no!
Rap began as social commentary in the late 1970s and DJ Cool Herc is regarded as the founder. It was used as a voice for inner city black youths to address the challenges they faced. The 1980s saw the explosion of rap as an art form and in 1989, rap received its first Grammy awards for Parents just don’t understand by Will Smith/Fresh Prince. At this point, mainstream America recognised rap as a serious art form. However, by the late 1990s, rap became commercialised, when the likes of Sean Puffy Combs hijacked this art form for only money-making purposes. The money came and the poetry went.
I presume Dr McDonald is critical of the rap of today, and who can blame him. However, he paints the entire genre with a broad negative brush and this is regrettable.
Yours faithfully,
Ronald Austin Jr
