A Young Man Says All That Needs to Be Said About Souljah Boy vs Ice-t

We preempted tonight's Afronerd Radio broadcast to prepare ourselves for the upcoming interview with Lisa Fager of Industry Ears but I still couldn't resist from weighing in on the Ice-T/Souljah Boy beef. It's somewhat of a confusing issue to me as I detest commenting on the innocuous at times, however even pablum has its ramifications. If anyone is vaguely familiar with this online altercation, it originates from comments that Ice-T made on a mixtape lambasting the currently popular Souljah Boy for Hip Hop's alleged imminent death. Souljah responds like many teenagers would, by being dismissive of Ice-T based on ageism-the ravings of an "old man." I don't think McCain nor Ice-T (ironically) should be subject to barbs based on age-many young folks of color have a difficult time seeing passed 18, 25 or 30-how do they even know what maturation means? Just ask Tupac or Biggie-oh, I forgot, neither one of them made it to the ripe old age of 26! And then of course, as a person that has studied the culture with its peaks and valleys, an argument can be made that Ice-T himself could be construed as the harbinger of doom, since he has often been touted as the Godfather of West Coast gangster music. Many hip hop purists and historians have blamed the popularity and over saturation of gangsta rap for the demise of conscious/progressive hip hop almost two decades ago. But I do think that the gentleman in the video above pretty much summed up my feelings on this matter. Check out his comments and then I'd like to hear our readers' thoughts on this as well. And for the curious, check out the three videos that started this nonsense:

Ice-T Rants about Souljah Boy's Role in the Death of Hip Hop

Souljah Boi's Response

Ice-T's response

And one last thing, for those who believe that an elder can't correct a youngster, check out this video and ponder if a correction isn't necessary. Ice-T is a troublesome figure but if we are going to be somewhat nuanced, someone has to say something about the state of Black culture and music-even if it's a hustler/pimp:




That is what happens when a young male doesn't receive corrective admonishment.