"These lyrics are disgusting, but the oneness of hip-hop culture has transformed many young people in trailer parks around the country away from their parents¹ old mindset of white supremacy. We believe Eminem's apology is sincere and forthright. He continues not only to be an icon of hip-hop, but also has evolved into a good soldier who gives back money, time and energy to the community, encouraging this generation of youth to reach their highest aspirations." This is the statement of Russell Simmons, the Hip-hop generation version of Jesse Jackson.

First HSAN apparently does not understand the definition of White Supremacy. There is no "oneness" of Hip-hop culture! There was never a "oneness of R&B" or any "black music" that went into the mainstream. Rush Limbaugh, Trent Lott, and other bigots admittedly listen to James Brown and Michael Jackson. Their love of Black music never stopped their biased feelings toward black people, celebrities in particular. There is no correlation between loving rap music and anti-racism. American tradition has it that Billy Bob Redneck may like Michael Jordan but despise Raheem. I personally do not think that Eminem is a closet racist but so far he has basically dismissed the "tape discovery" as a racist would. He dedicated more of his press release statement toward blaming The Source. His lack of dialogue can be taken as nothing sort of nonchalant. Slim Shady has been shady in light of the tape find.

In a single statement issued by Eminem on the night after The Source aired the tape publicly for the first time, Eminem said in a brief statement, "The tape they played today was something I made out of anger, stupidity and frustration when I was a teenager. I'd just broken up with my girlfriend, who was African-American, and I reacted like the angry, stupid kid I was."

In 1993 Eminem would have been around 21, I don't personally consider 21 to be a teenager. That is old enough to drink, to vote, to serve in the armed forces, to have consensual sex. And it's old enough to be stupid enough to make a big mistake that you now regret. Eminem, who is this mystery female? Is it possible to have a word with her. Can we at least have a name. I wonder if she is a "dime-piece". Did the two of you actually date or were you simply trying to "hit it" and she refused you so you were upset? I am beginning to wonder if this mystery female even exist. Em's response sounds very convenient. It strikes me as a take it or leave it reply. Eminem's rap colleagues have been virtually silent and tap danced when they did speak. I think Eminem needs to say much more than he has so far. This type of awful thing would go away real fast if he approached it with the respect that it deserves. My suspicion is that Eminem cares what the Black Hip-hop community might say but not what African -Americans in general feel.

The Hip Hop Summit Action Networks was too quick to release a pro-Eminem support statement on the situation. They already had in their mind that they were going to defend him before they had ever heard the tape. Unless he was personally disrespecting Russell Simmons, it was obvious to me that they would ok it. After all the HSAN only interpret right and wrong or good and bad in terms of financial leverage. They are essentially a "shakedown group". Jesse Jackson mastered this technique of dealing with organizations that discriminated in the 80's. It's like "rah, rah you're a bigot, you're a racist" while whispering gimme' the loot and I will make all this go away.

That is why it was of no surprise that the first annual Hip-Hop Summit Action Awards benefit recognized and awarded Pepsi-Cola North America President Dawn Hudson last week. If you recall Simmons and HSAN threatened a boycott of Pepsi after Pepsi dropped Ludacris as one of their image caretakers due to the rallying cry of Bill O'Reilly of Fox 5. These concerned voices said Ludacris was bad and then went and hired the most foul, lewd, and profane person in pop culture, Ozzie Osbourne, a recent White House guest and favorite of President Bush. This is because it was never about injustice to Ludacris (Pass the Courvesiour please). It wasn't personal to Hudson and  it was just business for HSAN. It was easy for them to now honor Pepsi for their outstanding work, and what they now termed dedication to community and youth empowerment.

Chaired by Russell Simmons, (HSAN) is said to be a non-profit coalition of artists, entertainment industry executives and community leaders who advocate social change by leveraging the power and influence of Hip-Hop. What this means in working terms is that they leverage their personal wealth and celebrity status as an action tool to exploit the masses of the poor and uninformed Hip-Hop generation. Russell understands that Americans in general are infatuated with, and under the spell of celebrities.

Eminem probably hasn't had any romantic dealings with any African-American female since 93 (if ever) but as a public relations stunt he might start dating the Brat or some other spotlight hungry female rapper. The HSAN will probably issue a press release saying how he loves sisters and this will all go away. For HSAN it is big business as usual and for Eminem, its business as usual because this is not serious enough for more comments from him. Maybe he will make a diss record aimed at Benzino again. Business as usual, and business as usual is usually predictable.

By the way, I noticed that the the HSAN has a member of the download police on their Board of Directors. Since Hilary Rosen of the Recording Industry Association of American (RIAA) sits on HSAN's Board of Directors it is obvious to me, as to what type of interest HSAN represents and it sure isn't the audience they claim.

Hip-hop fans both Black and Latino should be upset with Eminem and remember this incident, but some people have been blinded because Benzino is the one who has been responsible for bringing it to light. Benzino is pretty "shady", and he himself was once affiliated with a white emcee, and that white emcee used the N-word on the track they made together. In fact, it appears that Benzino told his white emcee to use the N-word. The emcee in question is named Bawston Strangla, and his connection to Benzino is detailed here http://artists.iuma.com/IUMA/Bands/Bawston_Strangla/ ,  where you can also download the song he and Benzino worked on together in 2000, "Shamrocks and Glocks". About 35 seconds into the song you will hear Strangla drop the proverbial "N" bomb, in a passage that sounds very random and out of place alongside his other lyrics. The website hiphopmusic.com contacted the white emcee and he said Benzino told him to use the N-word (yes you read that right). This does nothing to minimize the offensiveness of Eminem's track and lack of response by him, but it does places Benzino's self-righteous indignation in a different light. Just in case anyone was starting to take him seriously they should rethink that and the same goes for HSAN and their political posturing.

Released: November 28th, 2003

The views and opinions expressed herein by the author do not necessarily represent the opinions or position of Playahata.com.