CHARLAMAGNE THE GOD WEIGHS IN ON THE CURRENT STATE OF HIP-HOP!!

Charlamagne Tha God, sidekick to Wendy at The Wendy Williams Experience, posted a blog entry on his myspace page regarding Don Imus and the downfall of the Hip-Hop culture.

I got a lot of respect for this dude and with his permission, I proudly post his opinion on what the hell is going with us as a people as it relates to hip-hop.

"The chickens have come home to roost!" This statement was made by Malcolm X after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It is being uttered again, by me, before the death of a culture that we created but corporate America exploited called Hip Hop. Let it be known this culture wasn't always the way it is now, at one point, it stood for something. Brothers and sisters used to rap about things of socially redeeming value. Artist like Chuck D, Brand Nubian and Big Daddy Kane established a sense of black pride and black power within hip hop.

Queen Latifah refused to let you call her a bitch, but now we (me included) have embraced all the negatives of the black culture and tried to turn them into positives and truthfully it can't be done. Nigga means Nigga and you never realize it until you hear another race say it. We must look like total and complete idiots to white people whenever they hear us using it amongst ourselves as a term of empowerment, but when another race calls us that then we are ready to go to war! It's what I call the mirror effect. Far too often, we look in the mirror and see everything that is right with us, but for some reason it's hard for us too look in the mirror and admit what is wrong with us. That is one of the greatest problems of our culture. That is the reason that hip hop is about to be attacked in a fight that we can't win.

Let me explain, this whole Don Imus situation that I'm sure you are aware of may seem like a victory. I see you out there pumping your fist talking about, "Yeah, he called them girls a bunch of nappy headed hoes, fire him!" "He needs to be dismissed!" You all got your wish, he was terminated, but do you understand that this situation just exposed our black leaders, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and made them both look like total hypocrites? The Christian Defense Coalition is already criticizing Al and Jesse about why they are not protesting outside of record labels and radio stations who release and broadcast the same kind, if not worse messages than what Don Imus is under fire for. Do you understand that by Snoop Dogg trying to justify why it's okay for him to call women bitches and hoes but Don Imus can't makes him look like not only a hypocrite but a jackass. He is the one rapper who really shouldn't have anything to say on this matter because he has degraded black women and called them much worse than nappy headed hoes.

Ladies and gentlemen this situation is bigger than Don Imus in fact it's not about him at all, it's about us. If you call what Don Imus said about the Rutgers Ladies Basketball team racist and hateful then that means every time you call your homeboy your nigga or a woman you're dealing with your bitch or you're ho, then you are practicing self hate! Let's be clear I'm not for Don Imus, I'm for equality and if we're going to attack Don Imus, to avoid looking like hypocrites, we have to attack ourselves. Hip Hop is about to be held accountable for all the negative images that we have put out for the past decade. There is going to be a zero tolerance policy when it comes to insensitivity towards race and gender and I agree with it totally because I am personally striving to stop using the word nigga and referring to my women as bitches and whores.

I encourage all rappers who are profiting off the degradation of our culture to clean up their acts because the powers that be have already started to flip this around on us and when the shoe is placed on the other foot I would love to see what our people come up with to defend the negative images hip hop has put out. The powers that be are going to make an example out of some one. Don't be surprised when Snoop, 50 and a lot of these other rappers start losing endorsement deals when a little pressure is applied by the good ol' boys. Don't you think they would sacrifice a Don Imus just to have a reason to really go after hip hop? Don't you think they would say, "Listen Don, we are going to let you go and let them win this battle but we are going to win the war." They have a reason to attack us on all levels now and there isn't a thing we can do to defend ourselves.

How can I explain a song like "Bitches Ain't Shit but Hoe's and Tricks"? What are you going to say, Snoop's a reformed gang member who coaches little league football? Yeah, but he is also facing 4 years on gun and drug charges! 50 Cent has his G Unity foundation and he gives to the charity all the time…so what? He also glorifies the gun and is alleged to have ordered the smacking of a 14 year old boy. This whole Don Imus situation has us looking like one big contradiction it makes us seem like we are the racist because we never go after our own, always after others who say and do to us just as we do to ourselves.

Hip Hop is under fire and when they start calling for record labels and corporations to drop certain artist, for the same reasons they asked MSNBC and CBS to fire Don Imus, how are we going to say their not justified in their actions? The bottom line is we can't respond. The bible says you reap what you sow. All I can do is pray for repentance, change my ways and hope the consequences of my actions are not too much for me and Hip Hop to bear. Hip Hop I want to have your back on this one but I can't.......