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JASMYNE CANNICK: Thoughts on Ja Rule's Thoughts
"Dating shows that's showing two guys or two girls in mid-afternoon. Let's talk about s--t like that! If that's not f--king up America, I don't know what is." --Rapper Ja Rule
Funny, all this time I thought President Bush was f--king up America. Go figure.
The statement above is from rapper Ja Rule on the September 25th Congressional hearing on the lyrical content and imagery of African-American women in hip-hop.
In a recent interview with Complex Magazine, Ja Rule decided to get political.
"They got my man Doug Morris under fire and @#!*, they got him going down to go speak to Congress about hip-hop lyrics, are you @#*$ing serious?" Ja said. "There's a f--king black kid right now about t o get 25 years for having a fight with some white kids over hanging the nooses over the white tree, let's get to that. Let's get into sh-t like that, because that's what's tearing up America, not me calling a woman a b--ch or a h-e on my rap songs."
"And if it is, then we need to go step to Paramount, and f--king MGM, and all of these other motherf--kers that's making all of these movies and we need to go step to MTV and Viacom, and lets talk about all these f--king shows that they have on MTV that is promoting homosexuality, that my kids can't watch this sh-t," he continued. "Dating shows that's showing two guys or two girls in mid-afternoon. Let's talk about s--t like that! If that's not f--king up America, I don't know what is."
"There's a lot of issues we can address besides hip-hop, but they want to put everything on us like we're the problem," Ja added. "This is going to be a shameless f--king plug, but I said, 'when everyone wants to point the finger, and ask why there's so much corruption, they only need to look in the mirror.' It starts with themselves."
Oh where to start?
Ja is right in his reference to the Jena 6 case going on in Louisiana right now regarding the 6 Black kids on trial after a fight broke out regarding the hanging of nooses on their school campus.
However, that doesn't mitigate the fact that Ja calling women b---hes and h--s in his rap songs is contributing to the destruction of the Black race. Because not only are his lyrics being heard by Black children who then by virtue of the song's popularity began to use those same words when referring to women, but he's also holding the same door open that Don Imus stepped through. Ja Rule and rappers like him that condone the use of derogatory terms to refer to women, in particular Black women, are telling not only Black America that it's okay to use those words but they're also giving the okay to people of other races to use the same language when referring to Black women.
I remember clearly the endless arguments from whites on national television during the Imus controversy about it being ok because "they," meaning Blacks, use the same words.
As for MTV promoting gays, Ja clearly has an issue with gay people and it's a poor argument and an even poorer comparison.
Instead of taking responsibility for using these words, Ja Rule wants to point the finger at the gay community and blame gays for all that ails America.
But what Ja fails to recognize is that the Congressional hearing is about the stereotypes and degradation of Black women (key word) in hip-hop and the entertainment industry, and not about gays on television.
Before Ja started talking out the left side of his mouth, he might have taken some time to come up with a better argument. Perhaps focusing on the film studios for the limited roles available to Black women, as in, why do Black female actors always end up playing roles of prostitutes, drug addicts, welfare mothers, etc?
Gays aren't the reason that many Black families live below the poverty line. Lesbians aren't the reason that our prisons are overflowing with young Black men and women. Can't blame gays for the senseless gang violence in the our neighborhoods that is and continues to take the lives of many Black men. And it's unfair to blame gays for the number of Blacks that are unemployed in America. Oh, and gays weren't the reason that in 2003, he punched a man in Toronto for shouting at him in a crowd because of the 50 Cent feud. Nor were they the reason that in 2004, police investigated whether a feud involving The Inc. led to fatal shooting outside a nightclub party hosted by Ja Rule. Now were they?
But what about little 10 year-old Jerome Jenkins who is sitting in the back seat of the car singing along with his mom who is in the front driving bumping Ja Rule's last hit song from 2001 "Livin' It Up?"
Work with me for a minute…
Baby, this ain't your typical, everyday, one night thing
It's a physical, I'ma fuck you tonight thing
fuck, knowin your name, jump yo' ass in the Range
And roll over, gettin blown while blowin the doja
Bring head to a closure - that's a good bitch
Before it's all over, I'ma meat this bitch
Probably treat this bitch
, mo' betta
Cause if you ain't - know, thugs and ladies go together
Poppin my collar potnah - who in the spot?
Baby, Rule in the spot; and the mug and the watch ugly
Half the h--s hate me, half them love me
The ones that hate me only hate me cause they ain't fucked me
And they say I'm lucky; you think I got time
to fuck all these h--s and do all these shows?
Or flight in the llama chargin white Rolls
Uhh-oh, another episode…
…b---hes, just wanna hold a name that's active
That's why they suck dick with mo' passion than average
And I ain't mad at'cha; never leave you alone
Cause we fucks when I'm home, phone sex when I'm gone
We both grown, both got minds of our own
Plus I freaks off like O-Dog in "Love Jones"
Been in, many zones, baby one h--s, two h--s
From, prissy b---hes to h--s that do porno
But you know, the Rule be livin it up
And got all these h--s, givin it up
I like a, little ooh baby, how cute are you?
With a body that rides on sexual
I got a stick, I'll ride right next to you
Do a doughnut, and cut, then I'll open it up
On the freeway,dick in the mouth, foot on the clutch
Rule bitch, not givin a f-ck
That was Ja in 2001, just imagine what words he's added to his vocabulary in the last 6 years?
So little Jerome, thanks in part to Ja Rule, but mostly to his mother for playing it around him, learns at a young age that women are b---hes and h-s and are to be f---ked. And hey, if momma is singing it and saying it, it must be so. Right?
Now if you ask me, that's what's contributing to bringing down Black America. Our kids are being taught from a young age, by the lyrics of rappers like Ja Rule and by parents who care more about bumpin' their song, than the effects that hearing those lyrics day after day have on their children.
Ja Rule will be releasing his seventh solo album and sixth attempt at a comeback this fall entitled "The Mirror" thanks to Universal Motown Records.
But I'd like to say that Ja Rule would do good to take his own advice and take a good long look in the mirror. There's got to be a reason why he's been attempting a successful comeback album almost every year since the release of his first album. Perhaps if he spent more time focusing on his own personal self development and leave the politics of hip-hop to the artists who actually make it on the charts, he wouldn't have to stage a comeback year and year.
There's an old saying that goes: if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. Somebody must have lied and told Ja he had the solution.
Based in Los Angeles, at 29, Jasmyne Cannick is a nationally syndicated pop culture, race, and social critic…and she blogs too! She can be reached at
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