I'm sure the Village Voice thinks it's doing its level best - albeit from its rather clueless and über-white ivory tower - to put forth the viewpoints of "people of color" and the "hip hop community," frequently bending over backward to gloss over or even glorify the most glaring faults to be found in said communities (kneejerk "anti-racists" will no doubt bristle at the suggestion that any such faults exist, at least any that are not directly traceable to structural inequities imposed by the white patriarchy, but indulge me a moment here).
The Voice always seems to find a reason to justify bigheaded rappers carrying guns and shooting each other in midtown Manhattan because somebody "disrespected" somebody, and plenty of reasons to excoriate the police for having the nerve to try and interfere with this bizarre cultural practice, but assuming this article is not a parody (it certainly wouldn't be out of place in the Onion), the Voice has - presumably, hopefully, without intending to - handed a bucketload of ammo to racists and bigots who would like you to believe that rappers - and perhaps black people in general - are some of the dumbest fools around.
Heaven knows there's a host of issues and problems facing the black community, and the larger society as well, of course. So what's the issue du jour for the clowns profiled in this piece? Tight clothes. Why? Well, that make you gay, of course. "That's what I have a problem with—not the homosexualism. You're a front artist, and you're promoting homosexuality with your actions and dress code, but you're promoting gangster lifestyle with your lyrics. The two don't match up," insists one Bianco the Don. "If you are homosexual, you are not gangsta. There's nothing gangster about being homosexual."
No explanation given as to why "gangster" is seen as a nobler aspiration for black youth than "homosexual," but hey, it would probably be racist of me to ask. It certainly didn't seem to occur to the Voice.
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