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Sports radio takes on 50 Cent
BY MATT ASHARE
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A week ago Wednesday, on my drive to work, I tuned into WEEI 850 AM, Boston’s top-rated sports station, hoping to hear the latest on the Red Sox’ search for a new manager. Instead, I was treated to the sound of radio personalities John Dennis and Gerry Callahan — just back on the air after a two-week suspension for comparing an escaped zoo gorilla to the Metco inner-city children who are bussed to suburban schools — raking Boston Herald music critic Sarah Rodman over the coals for her review of the Ludacris/50 Cent show the night before at the FleetCenter. Rodman reported that the audience had included pre-teen girls in braces. But it was her contention that 50 Cent was "undeniably magnetic" that got her into hot water with D&C. Given that Rodman was just doing her job, D&C were at the very least guilty of shooting the messenger. If gangsta rap has found an audience of millions among young white suburbanites (and we all know it has), that’s hardly Rodman’s fault. 50 Cent’s undeniable magnetism among young white teens was demonstrated by the record he set for first-week sales back last year when Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope) came out. If Rodman was guilty of anything, it was belaboring the obvious — pointing out that 50 Cent is popular is like breaking the news that Anna Kournikova’s form has earned her more money than her forehand. But as is the case with most cultural issues disguised as musical discussions, the flap over Rodman’s review has deep roots in a paradox that pervades gangsta rap: whereas the artists go to great lengths to establish street credibility with the boyz and girlz in the ’hood, the millions of teenagers who fuel their lucrative business are white suburbanites who latch onto the element of danger inherent in gangsta tales of the "thug life." It’s the very sons and daughters of the parents who make up the D&C demographic who provide the consumer base for an industry full of artists who are openly misogynistic, homophobic (now there’s something D&C might be able to get behind), and, in the most extreme cases, full of violent sentiments. Perhaps that explains D&C’s thinly veiled panic over 50 Cent’s popularity. Regardless of whether Rodman or anyone else approves of the content of raps by 50 Cent, Ludacris, or, lest we omit the most controversial of them all, Eminem, to deny that all three have mastered their chosen art is disingenuous at best and at worst a kind of willful ignorance. And though I’d rather not play the race card, it’s difficult to ignore how much harder society comes down on anti-social messages in rap than it does on similar messages in songs by non-rappers (like, say, heavy-metal bands). Race mixed with rock and roll has a history of pissing parents off that goes all the way back to Elvis Presley, who moved his hips in a suggestive (read: "black") manner and sang about sex (!) in a voice that sounded awfully, uh, dark. Skip ahead to Led Zeppelin and you have a band who embraced the blues only to flaunt their misogynistic attitudes toward groupies. At the same time, D&C don’t give kids much credit for being able to distinguish between a fictional tale told in rap verse and reality. Gangsta rap has a cartoonish quality (a lot of gangsta album covers are actual cartoon drawings), and that may be part of its appeal to kids, but it also underlines the unreality of most overblown gangsta raps. But the real irony of the D&C situation is that a lot of kids are drawn to the music their parents find offensive simply because older guys like D&C are disturbed by it. That’s been the nature of the teenage/parent relationship since rock and roll first entered our culture. And though there’s been a steady escalation in the violence and other taboo content that pervades pop music, that’s simply a reflection of our culture, where rules prohibiting sex and violence on television have come crashing down like the Berlin Wall. Rappers will tell you that they’re just painting an accurate picture of the world they live in, but they’re also giving their audience exactly what that audience wants. The real joke, though, is on D&C, who by vilifying 50 Cent played right into the hands of the gangsta rappers who rely on the outrage of middle-aged, middle-class pundits to sell their street sagas as "dangerous." That element of danger ensures that artists like 50 Cent will remain vehicles for teenage rebellion until the next taboo comes crashing down. There’s the hope that some good will come out of all this: with a generation of white kids walking, talking, dressing, and acting black in suburbs all across the country, perhaps we’ll see the emergence of a generation who are less apt to perpetuate a racial divide. In fact, maybe skin color will be the last thing they notice about the person riding next to them on the bus. That would be progress. For now, though, I’d just like to know who the Red Sox have in mind to replace Grady Little.
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