Geraldo Rivera made some bold claims in a recent Huffington Post Live segment.
After describing himself as a “militant moderate” Rivera went on to say “Hip Hop has done more damage to black and brown people than racism in the last 10 years.”
The Fox News contributor stated that not everybody can be successful in the music industry and urban trends like sagging pants and tattoos prevent young people from having a career in other avenues of life. Rivera – the recent runner up on Celebrity Apprentice – blamed cultural leaders like Russell Simmons for creating such an outlying lifestyle.
“I love Russell Simmons, he’s a dear friend of mine,” Rivera says. “I admire his business acumen. At some point, those guys have to cop to the fact that by encouraging this distinctive culture that is removed from the mainstream, they have encouraged people to be so different from the mainstream that they can’t participate other than the racks in the garment center, those entry-level jobs. And I lament it, I really do. I think that it has been really destructive culturally.”
Watch the full interview below:
Err no, Hip Hop is NOT more damaging than racism. Hip Hop has helped the black culture in many ways. Hip Hop empowered black people by basically telling them to vent out what they had been holding back on a record for listeners to appreciate struggle and reality. I feel as if racism is being dodged by white people and are using hip hop to further say the ‘black people are damaging black people’. In my eye it is the other way round. I have black friends who appreciate hip hop in its older form obviously and feel it has empowered them, got them thinking and feeling more important. Hip hop to me is still a black thing and will always be a black thing (Em being an exception and few others). But when you have a white man saying hip hop does more damage than racism, then it speaks volume that the white community feel threatneded byt hip hop. My view anyway.
No. geraldo is right
Sure he is bud
More damage than your plastic surgeon….I THINK NOT
I would disagree, Hip Hop is not damaging to the African American community. Rap or whatever the garbage you call it now is damaging to the African American communities through out the country. It encourages senseless violence, the objectification of women, rabid drug use and the frowning upon of intelligent individuals. It is now a mob mentality to where if you are even the slight bit different you are cast out immediately for being weird or “acting white.” Hip Hop was the voice of the impoverished and struggling youth in the early 80’s to the mid 90’s. That’s when Hip Hop spoke about what was going on in the cities and calling for action, speaking out against police brutality and corrupt politicians. The music you hear now has been sold out to corporations and greedy businessmen profiting off of a once rich and creative culture. This of course you can blame on the white man but you also have to look in the mirror to see who else participated in its deterioration. If Hip Hop were to have not been commercialized and pimped out we would be looking at strong independent African American neighborhoods that long ago would have equaled or surpassed white suburban culture and empowered the youth to change their environment for the better.
This is an absolutely disgraceful opinion. It presumes there’s only one culture that a person would logically want to follow – that of white, mainstream values. Here’s news Gerado – that’s a racist view! It assumes the supremacy of white/mainstream values and knocks others for identifying with a culture of their own making.
His sympathetic “lament” is so disingenuous; this is so frustrating.
I mean hip-hop today sucks, don’t get me wrong. But for this ass clown to come out here and say music is more damaging than racism is a slap in the face of all before us and after us that has dealt with racism. Nevermind the fact this guy said it was those kids fault they got shot by the police. WAKE UP people, stop worrying about coco and see that the racism right wing media is trying to put us back on the cotton fields!
Just means that “mainstream culture” needs to value things like actual qualification as opposed to what brand of shirt I wear.
I hate to say it, but he’s right; especially with this new generation. Too many followers, and not enough leaders.
yup.
yeezus and jaden smith will cleanse our souls.
You could write an entire book on how WRONG Geraldo is. First of all racism is a mind state that is in itself completely negative. Racism is the reason why Black Men still are being killed regardless of whatever music they enjoy. Racism is the reason why a predominately black form of music like rap is demonized by whites but rock and country are praised even though they can contain the same content. Racism is why Geraldo Rivera can open his bigoted mouth and say a statement so overwhelmingly off-base. Racism and greed is the reason why Africans were uprooted enslaved, beaten and killed with no repercussions. Let’s all be clear on Geraldo Rivera don’t know a damn about racism. He’s a privileged white man.
This is a completely ridiculous statement that Geraldo made and just sounds like a justification for his own racism. He don’t like Black America. He don’t like the way we talk dress or our attitudes. He don’t respect our culture or our struggle. He the enemy. White America want us to bow down to them and hand over to them everything we created. Every successful thing we have worked hard to build they have convinced us it was ‘bad’ right before they stole it from us.
I bet Geraldo wouldn’t have a problem with Hip-Hop if it was white music.
He don’t understand or care to understand our culture or our music and with that being said Geraldo Rivera you sir, are the purest definition of white trash. Someone needs to roll him up and wipe there ass with him.
Sounds like you could use a hug!
I think his haircut is more damaging than racism.
hairplugs*
His comments weren’t as bad as I thought-or like the headlines made them seem. Haha. He is partially accurate. However, what he is referencing is not just specific to hip-hop. Someone heavily influenced by biker culture and motorcycles could run into the same shallow discrimination that their hip-hop counterparts would. He singles out hip-hop for a reason. Too smart of a guy not to realize he won’t ruffle a few feathers. He wants to get everyone talking about it, and maybe some good will come out of his comments. He’s shamelessly race baiting and leveraging the media to advance his own selfish purposes. I can see that much, whether he does or not. Geraldo makes condescending comment about black culture and a musical artform, of which he is dreadfully ignorant about, followed by……….
The only person who saw it. If you don’t know Geraldo’s tactics you must be young or naive.
So hip-hop that has been around for 40 years has done more damage then a system that has been in place for over 400 years? His comments are stupid plain and simple. Just watch a behind the music special on any rock band and their debauchery , Objectification of women and violence will put any rap artist to shame.
Um, racism has gone on a bit longer than 400 years my friend. When was the first human being on Earth? Because sure as fuck that nigga was a racist. Don’t bother blasting rock either like it is worse than rap. It’s not. It’s the same. Every position in life where you get a position of power there is a chance to use it for violence and objectifying women. Are musicians guilty? Certainly from rap to rock to old-school blues, etc. How about politicians, military, police officers, etc? Most certainly the fuck yeah. You gotta take the power away from these dumb motherfuckers that dont deserve it to see any resolve. Good luck with that.
As much as I love my Hip Hop and couldn’t imagine not growing up without it, he does have so valid points regarding the “damaging”. Because, believe it or not, Hip Hop has taken a lot of lives and I don’t just mean rappers. I’m no great debater, but I’m sure someone else can debate the other side of good Hip Hop has brought.
Hip Hop has taken a lot of lives? Where did you get this foolish information.
Geraldo just doesn’t like the presentation of HipHop. This is nothing new.
In the 90’s, gangsta music was glorified, when it was glorified it fueled gang violence in america.
Hip-Hop culture has been damaging to the black community this is true. When drugs,gang-life strippers,casual sex living beyond your means, thuggery and illiteracy are promoted as normal and cool, it will definitely have a detrimental effect.
Black people, we let the white corporations control our music so we are only reaping the fruits.
I love hip-hop but it has been used for evil in our communities. It could have been a force for alot of good and empowerment.
Everybody shut the fuck up… -_-
What Geraldo said is true. It is better to be a piece of shit, conniving, lying, racist, trash ass motherfucker like himself if you want to advance in the white man’s world.
I’m a black man who listens to rap all the time…And I agree with Geraldo 100%. Its the inconvenient truth. Rap has its good qualities but overall, via the media, it is destructive in the ways that it portrays black “thugs” as cool and disrespects black women by referring to them as “bitches” and “hoes”. I think deep down we all know the rap game is kind of disgusting. It degrades my worth as a black man. It makes black men and women feel as if they have to have riches just to be somebody. The rap videos, the vixens, the gun talk, the beefs, the pants sagging, the weed smoking. Its old. Wish it would change. At some point as African Americans we need to really grow culturally, mentally and spiritually. The question is…When will we band together to stop or change it?
I Agree!!!! We degrade our women, call each other the “N” word and glorify violence and ignorance. What other music does that? What other people do that? ……. Yeah, just us. We are doomed to fail because we consistently glorify ignorance.
Not “true” at all, misleading, incomplete, and dangerous when repeated by every Blog, Dick and Harry without bringing in an intelligent opposing rebuttal. The flakes of “truth” to what he says NEEDS to be qualified and explained, otherwise, the rest of the world lumps everything rap/hip hop/black/urban under “hip hop”… but nobody wants to do that work. Easier to lazily and ignorantly criticize and then lazily report on it, letting the trolls come out to play.
Geraldo does make a few (a few) valid points but there is no way Hip Hip is more damaging than racism. period.
Hip Hop does maintain it’s fair share of ignorance but more damaging than racism, a practice that has been around for hundreds of years and manifest it’s self in different ways and to different ethnic groups? Hell Nah, way off base with that one Geraldo Rivera.
White people have been “really destructive culturally”, just go back and look at history.
It’s convenient that he leaves out the corporations, who use hip hop to make money, to take any responsibility. It’s certainly possible that if radio stations, TV, media didn’t promote / play all the terrible rap out there that has a negative message, you wouldn’t have as many kids idolizing the wrong type of rapper.
also, Fox News set our country back way more than hip hop. They are among the leaders of diving this country with their fear mongering and hate propaganda.
Why blame the corporations, when blacks deliver self-suppressive music to their awaiting hands? The only person to blame is the artist who has no self-respect, dignity, or can care less for the damage that their music is doing to fellow blacks. Blacks are the only race in this country with a mainstream musical genre based around violence, anger, misogyny, and self-suppression. Granted, not all artist, but enough that the residual affect is quite evident within the black lower-class. The corporations can’t take what we refuse to give them. I see the residual affect each and every day in black neighborhoods in NYC – teenagers and young adults running around with their pants hanging off their behind, with tattoos on the neck and hands to point that they are limited in terms of how far they can go in life. Even worse are the girls with tattoos – typically a cluster of stars – running along their hands, along with tattoos on their arms like sailors. Geraldo’s hit the point on the nail on this issue. And the general behavior – calling each other the N-word in every other sentence is sickening.
What “these” guys don’t understand is that what they are seeing is simply a microcosm of what is going on amongst what is now *MAINSTREAM* youth culture; they make it seem like hiphop/rap is the at the root of it when the hiphop/rap is simply a reflection; an output/expression of the actual life that some people are living based on other variables that determine their environment. Social conditioning.
It’s social conditioning to their detriment. It doesn’t have to exist. Blacks are not being forced to create self-suppressive music. There was a time when blacks, as a whole, worked to overcome oppression. Now, you have a sub-group of blacks that perpetuate negativity, and the social conditioning that you describe is their primary problem – two parents who bring a child into the world when the capacity to raise that child is not present, particularly within a society that often disfavors blacks. Also, the mainstream youth culture that you describe, is actually limited to the lower-class, although fueled in large part by white consumers. Mainstream young blacks that are making something out of their lives attend Morehouse, Howard, Hampton, Fisk, et al, not to mention other non-black colleges. Some may listen to the music, but they will eventually grow out of it, unlike the uneducated pants-sagging tatted-up child that failed to hit the parent lottery, and is adversely affected by the negativity that serves as the engine of hip-hop. Jay-Z, Puff, Simmons, and the rest don’t give a damn about the black lower-class because they’re too busying pimping them.
Rivera has a point, especially regarding the so called hip-hop of today. I mean look at all of the clowns running around in the game nowadays. They really do look like clowns and rap about absolutely nothing.
Hip-hop was born from RACISM stupid moron.
Sony, Universal, Warner Bros….put out ALLL the music..and THEY promote garbage rap…kids like bobby shmurda know rapping like common won’t get em out the hood, so they rap like gucci…Don’t blame US, white man…
The powers that be (White folks- FBI,CIA,Industry execs who know nothing about REAL hip hop culture) are the ones who are damaging black and brown people. They have hijacked the art form and culture and used it to perpetuate negative stereotypes of black and brown people. Now very few people even know the difference between hip hop and rap music…
Sure, rap music is damaging not only the african american youth but the hispanic, white youth ect… also, hiphop is music with meaning and shouldn’t be confused with rap music which glorifies violence and goes against everything hiphop stands for. As human beings we need to learn from past mistakes and treat everyone as equals yet we lash out at all whole races/religions over a few ignorant people. We need to learn to stand together and use our differences to bring us closer instead of bridging us even further apart. Sure the white evil mfers at the top are one of the main reasons the african american community is being plagued by bullshit but as I white person myself I dont want to nor do I have anything to do with those evil greedy bastards. Just please don’t lump us all together in groups because alot of us don’t see color the way others do, I got love for all people black/white, muslim/Christian. It doesent matter because in the end we ALL pass and when we’re cut we ALL bleed the same color, whether my opinion gets accepted or ridiculed it still doesn’t change the fact that I have nothing but love for all of us. Good luck to you all during these tough times the world has placed upon us and know that some people care more about moral character then how much money you have or what skin color you are. We’re all truly one in the end, remember that brothers.
Baking soda… Baking soda. I got baking soda ….baking soda