Gangsta rappers vs. the mainstream black community.

• Author: Delaney, Paul

BLACK AMERICANS and other non-whites always have been, for good reason, extremely nervous about and sensitive to how whites perceive them. From the beginning, they imitated the dominant society in dress, dance, and culture--whether they took it seriously or mocked it. This was because blacks knew that those perceptions made a huge difference in their lives, determining their role and status--for example, which would be field or house slaves or who would rise to company vice presidency or fail.

The media play a vital role in shaping and perpetuating perceptions, helping people make up their minds on racial matters. That is why African-Americans so zealously have kept vigil on what the media say about them. On many occasions, it has seemed an overreaction. Such vigilance and sensitivity, at times, have been the subject of debate within the black community. At the turn of the century, there was deep division over the philosophies of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois on how to proceed following the Supreme Court ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson that "separate but equal" facilities were constitutional. During the 1960s, there was a split between the moderates of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the more militant organizations over the course of the civil rights movement.

There have been serious differences within the black community over social, cultural, and religious issues as well. Many a blues artist who started out singing in the church choir had to overcome strong family objections to performing "Satan's music." Adults in the 1950s complained about dirty and suggestive words in many doo-wop songs, such as the entire "Annie" series of recordings by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, including "Work with Me Annie" and "Annie Had a Baby," and the group's "Sexy Ways." Meanwhile, of course, white parents had to contend with Elvis Presley and equally suggestive lyrics from the 1960s ("Having My Baby") and since.

Then came rap--gangsta rap, to be more precise. Defenders of rap are correct in one thing, that the music mirrors serious urban problems and may be a plea, a warning, to do something about them. Rap came along after the convergence of a host of powerful and sometimes conflicting phenomena: the civil rights movement, progress that resulted from it, and the ensuing backlash; sexual and women's liberation; hard-earned black successes in the media, especially on television and in the entertainment industry, and the fact that much of the exposure and success has been no better or worse than TV fare in general--that is, terminally stupid sitcoms...