this is a peice of an article form VH1:
The Michael Vick dog fighting case has created many victims. First, you have the alleged victims: the dogs. There are also the Atlanta Falcons, who are out a quarterback. And there's hip-hop. Yes, hip-hop.
Vick's indictment on federal charges related to a dogfighting ring allegedly run on his Virginia property — to which he agreed to plead guilty on Monday (August 20) — has brought the brutal blood sport into the public consciousness. And hip-hop is one of the only outlets in America where you'll find references to it. Dogfighting's presence in videos and lyrics led to critical newspaper editorials and columns, along with on-air berating from Fox News personality Bill O'Reilly.
All of them addressed the same explicit examples: The scene in Jay-Z's "99 Problems" video where everyone is getting ready for a big dogfight just as Jigga goes down, DMX's album Grand Champ (which is the title given to a dog that wins five matches without a loss), and DVDs of dogfights sold alongside mixtapes in some parts of the country.
There was also a lot of grumbling about the less blatant examples: Pit bulls seem to be the breed of choice among rappers, appearing on many album covers and in numerous videos — without direct references to fighting, but nearly always looking threatening. Rappers and video directors seem to love playing up the same features that make the breed so popular with dogfighters.
"That pit bull, it's a statement dog — it's that beast dog that you have to have," said Bow Wow, whose first video, "Bounce With Me," featured the then-12-year-old morphing from a running pit bull. "Those are the go-get-'em dogs that are really going to protect you and get down. When they bite you and lock their jaws, there is no escaping that."
Despite the glamorization of pits in videos and magazines, most of the imagery doesn't actually show them fighting — and it's worth noting that voices inside hip-hop have been critical of Vick. Russell Simmons was one of the first public figures to call on Nike to pull Vick sneakers. Producer Just Blaze posted a scathing criticism of the quarterback on his blog, citing his love for his own dog as justification for his suggestion of throwing Vick "in a pool and [letting him] play catch with a few hair dryers."
My opinion: This is getting extremely old. I'm starting to believe that the media uses hip hop as an excuse for everything bad that happens. It's like the slogan for them is "when all else fails blame hip hop." Its not like every other genre of music is extremely clean and it doesn't influence people. As we just read there are people in the hip hop industry that are disgusted with Vicks behavior.So why are we make it like hip hop was his influence?
1 comment:
I think it is a sad commentary that we, as a culture, our using the Vick story to compare "What's worse?" "What's worse", we ask, "carelessly fathering illegitimate children, or dogfighting?". "Dogfighting or rape?" "Dogfighting or racism?" "Dogfighting or hateful nationalism?" "Dogfighting or (fill in the blank)....?"
Dogfighting is one more piece of evidence our country is in need of a spiritual transformation (please note I said spiritual and not necessarily religious). Animals are sentient beings - they feel pain, and they suffer, just like we do. They are not more important, or less important than human beings, but like human beings, they are important, too.
Every major faith teaches its followers to be responsible stewards of animals and the Earth. Please help us get the word out that caring for animals, just like caring for people, is an important part of just being a decent person and citizen. If we make this a priority, there will be no more dogfighting horror stories, and no more pointless comparisons of evils. Let us all rise, together, to be better people than we are today, shall we?
Chaplain Nancy Cronk
Founder, AnimalChaplains.com
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