Hip Hop Contradiction

"Hip hop becomes a product. And when it becomes a commercial product it gets pressed into the service of the history of images and representations of African Americans. The greatest irony of what’s happening in commercial hip hop is that it now begins to reflect the prime stereotypes about African Americans that drove the justification of slavery, the justification of Jim Crow and the idea that we’re in a post race society."

- Professor Tricia Rose, author of Hip Hop Wars

While I agree with several of Rose's views, I find her above sentiment simply ridiculous, borderline appalling. To claim that degrading lyrics and images found in commercial hip hop (and across pop culture for that matter) form stereotypes that trace back to the justification of slavery is ludicrous. This notion feeds the same ignorance that scapegoats hip hop for society's ills.