Hip Hop In The Wrong Hands

Hip Hop is a powerful tool, and its list of positives far out weight its negative labels (What other artform has had the same cultural impact as hip hop in as much time?) That said placed in the wrong hands hip hop is a very distructive device used to exploit women, espouse hate and ignorance. Hip Hop can be used to help educate, but one really needs an education to understand if they are being entertained or manipulated (This is why its important that adults monitor and challenge the lyrical and musical content of 50% of the songs their children hear)

Case in point
Do your chain hang low Do it wobble to the flo Do it shine in the light ...
If ya hot, it make ya cold Do your chain hang low Is that your chain!? Do it
shine in the light Is it platinum, Is it gold Could you throw it over ya
shoulda If ya hot it make ya cold."

Do your chain hang low are some of the
lyrics to the rap song Chain Hang Low, the debut single by Jibbs from his
debut album Jibbs feat. Jibbs. The song has gone on to rack up more than
20,000 ringtone downloads in a span of 2 weeks. The video shows adolescents
doing the snap dance. Chain Hang Low has reached number 7 on Billboard Hot
100. However most don't realize it is the jingle of one of the oldest
blackface tunes in the American repertory.

KELEFA SANNEH writes for the New
York Times "In the 19th century it was a minstrel mainstay known, depending
on the lyrics, as "Zip Coon" or "Turkey in the Straw." More recently the
same tune has been appropriated for a children's song ("Do Your Ears Hang
Low?") and for the ice-cream-truck jingle that you may be hearing for a few
more weeks. And now, thanks to the St. Louis rapper Jibbs, the old song
provides the basis for a new hip-hop hit, "Chain Hang Low" (Geffen), which
should still be playing on the radio long after the ice cream trucks have
gone into hibernation.

He raps - brays really - the verses and a chorus of
children sings the refrain ("Do your chain hang low? Do it wobble to the
flo'?/Do it shine in the light? Is it platinum? Is it gold?"). Perhaps
without meaning to, Jibbs has updated one of the most popular melodies of
the blackface era, reprising a song that has been stuck in American heads
for a few centuries."

watch the video


ORIGINAL SONG



Zip Coon has a chain too...

Zip Coon
(Turkey in the Straw)

Words & music: ( ? )
(published by J. L. Hewitt & Co., N. Y., ca 1835)


1.
(3x) O ole Zip Coon he is a larned skoler,
Sings posum up a gum tree an conny in a holler.
(3x) Posum up a gum tree, coonny on a stump,
Den over dubble trubble, Zip coon will jump.

Chorus:
O Zip a duden duden duden zip a duden day.
O Zip a duden duden duden duden duden day.
O Zip a duden duden duden zip a duden day.
Zip a duden duden duden zip a duden day.

2.
O ist old Suky blue skin, she is in lub wid me
I went the udder arter noon to take a dish ob tea;
What do you tink now, Suky hab for supper,
Why chicken foot an posum heel, widout any butter.
Chorus:

3.
Did you eber see the wild goose, sailing on de ocean,
O de wild goose motion is a berry pretty notion;
Ebry time de wild goose, beckens to de swaller,
You hear him google google google google gollar.
Chorus:

4.
I went down to Sandy Hollar t other arternoon
And the first man I chanced to meet war ole Zip Coon;
Ole Zip Coon he is a natty scholar,
For he plays upon de Banjo "Cooney in de hollar".
Chorus:

5.
My old Missus she's mad wid me,
Kase I would'nt go wid her into Tennessee
Massa build him barn and put in de fodder
Twas dis ting and dat ting one ting or odder.
Chorus:

6.
I pose you heard ob de battle New Orleans,
Whar ole Gineral Jackson gib de British beans;
Dare de Yankee boys do de job so slick, creek.
For dey cotch old Packenham an rowed him up de first.
Chorus:

7.
I hab many tings to tork about, but dont know wich come
So here de toast to old Zip Coon before he gin to rust;
May he hab de pretty girls, like de King ob ole,
To sing dis song so many times, 'fore he turn to mole.
Chorus:

One has to wonder how the 15 year old St Louis rapper would gain access to such dated material.
But we now have a Young Urban Male spreading poison to other Urban Youth
which begs the question what will the response be when Youth that are not African American recite this song?

Ultimately, parents are going to have to understand that the Music Industry is out to destroy the minds of the very audience they claim to serve Parents will have to do their homework and home school their children on whats really Up

Parents need to understand that the Stations can pull inflamatory songs such as Jibbs and let the industry know that they will not promote poison
You say they can't do that?

They were able to take those actions toward a song that encourage Urban Dwellers to get out and vote click here

A year from now we may not even remember the name Jibbs but the song will have already done damage on our collective conscious

I recommend that parents that want to indoctrinate their children witht he right stuff start with the Soul of Black Folks by WEB Dubois click here to read a sample