Thursday, August 30, 2007
Editorial: Bad rap, but right call
Pulling rapper Nas from the Tech concert lineup would prejudge an artist who may do the right thing.
From the RoundTable blog
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The gun-toting, shoot-'em-up lyrics that have permeated rapper Nas' songs help fuel the image of hip-hop music as a violent, gangsta genre.
So one can understand why the artist's scheduled appearance at "A Concert for Virginia Tech" would anger family members of victims of the April 16 shooting rampage. Music that has the power to conjure relatively fresh, traumatic memories has no place at such an event.
But Tech administration was right to decide against revising the lineup, as were concert promoters, who say they have no intention of yanking Nas.
Doing so before he has set foot onstage would assume that he lacks the good sense not to bust in and callously perform songs that contain lyrics laden with guns and violence. That kind of prejudgment would be wrong.
Who is Nas? According to a biography on sing365.com, Nas, the son of a jazz musician, has gone from "being a young street hustler to a boastful gangsta to a self-proclaimed poet/prophet to a re-born encapsulation of himself."
He was tagged as a pioneer of the socially conscious rap movement before joining forces with the rap music industry's more mainstream side. In doing so, he fell for mass-marketing and the unfortunate tough-guy image that has become part of the act.
But the act itself can breed violence, or at least remind people of its impact. The Virginia Tech community needs no such reminders at an event organized to help people heal.
On Sept. 6, Nas will join the Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer and Phil Vassar before an audience of people who are still feeling the pain of tragedy.
We would hope an artist whose tracks bear such lines as "Got yo'self a gun" and "I'll put an extended clip inside of my AK" would realize their inappropriateness in that setting.
And if Nas knows no better, cut the mikes, turn up the lights and remove him from the stage.
