Representin’ Conscious Masculinity

Contributed by Courtney E. Martin.
As long as I’ve been loving hip hop, I’ve also been hating it. Like most female fans, I’m drawn in by the lyricism, good dance beats, protest vibe, and, let’s be honest, the hot rappers. But I’ve also been repelled. The video ho culture disgusts me. The violent lyrics make me want to run right back to the Indigo Girls. Old school music is great; old school misogyny is weak.
That’s why I was thrilled that Byron Hurt’s documentary, Beyond Beats and Rhymes: A Hip-Hop Head Weighs in on Manhood in Hip Hop Culture, was at BAM’s Sundance series last weekend. Hurt was refreshingly earnest, if not a bit overzealous, in his 90 minute exploration of masculinity in hip hop.
The film’s got great footage. Hurt captures Busta Rhymes leaving the interview like a coward the second homosexuality comes up. (To my horror, Mos Def followed right on Busta’s heels.) He’s also got the CEO of BET giving him a pointed brush-off the second he brings up video ho culture and Russell Simmons looking like a fool trying to shrug off his own responsibility. In contrast, Chuck D was so articulate and insightful I wanted to elect him president of something important.
My favorite parts were when Hurt hung around with wantabee rappers outside of BET festivals and the like, recording their tired lyricism, then confronting them directly afterwards about their violent/sexist messages. 17-year-old dudes posing as hard thugs a moment before instantly became sweet-eyed boys admitting that they don’t slang rock, they slang water—that this is the only persona they know will get them noticed. Essentially, a generation of teenage boys has decided that putting on 21st century black face is worth it for a record deal.
Go to www.bhurt.com to learn more. Beyond Beats and Rhymes will definitely be playing on PBS next spring.