A story that slipped the front-page headlines earlier this month, amidst Alberto Gonzales' retirement and Britney Spears' return, was the outrage-mostly media manufactured-over a little song called "Read a Book."
The cartoon video, created by BET with Bomani "D'mite" Armah's song, is a parody of everything wrong with modern rap culture.
The beat and lyrical flow is purposely simplistic, a "homage" to the crunk and snap music that made Nas declare the death of hip-hop. We are all guilty of tapping out feet to "Get Low." Heck, most of us have pointed to both the window and the wall on Lil Jon's command.
The content is friendly and innocuous. D'mite encourages listeners to read books, raise their kids, drink water and more universally agreeable advice. Arguably, the advice plays into negative neo-gangster stereotypes of black Americans, but Armah argues that it is aimed at the way the rap industry creates and cultivates such stereotypes.
Although the advice the lyrics provide is family-friendly, the verses are littered with a consortium of curses, another trademark of the Crunk genre Armah mocks. Combine that with a video with animated hos and chrome-obsessed homies, and you have a satire worthy of Swift.
Apparently, parents are outraged that such lyrically explicit (although censored) videos are available to children on BET in the afternoon. And because it is animated, it is clearly aimed at kids (insert my obviously witty response here).
I don't have time to rant about at how ridiculous this "outrage" is. Attacking someone who tells the truth is a way for any community to avoid problems.
T.I. had children sing chorus parts in "Rubberband Man" (use Urban Dictionary) and he gets Duke money. Armah tries to enlighten and gets slammed by CNN. It's frustrating enough to make anyone want to quit T.V. and "read a m- f-ing book."
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