Talib Kweli Responds To Slim Thug’s Black Women Comments

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I’m the type of person who is always defending artists and

what people’s expectations of them are because of the type of artist I am, and

the type of stuff that I put out, because people expect certain things from me

and sometimes I don’t meet my fans’ expectations and that’s something I’m

sensitive to. When I saw how big of a deal that everybody is making over this

blog—I know Slim Thug he’s a good guy—my initial comments were a comment to him

and Marc Lamont Hill because I read Marc Lamont Hill’s response to him. I think

Marc Lamont Hill’s response was very on point but that’s what someone like him

is supposed to do, it’s not my job as a rapper to be checking my peers.

 

As far as what [Slim Thug] actually said, I think it’s a

mistake for him to chalk it up to he was just joking because I don’t see the

joke. I’m sure he was saying some of it in a funny way but I think that it’s

more about the fact that—when something bothers you, you may not know the cause

of what’s bothering you but just because you don’t know the cause doesn’t mean

you can’t say how you feel. And the point he was making about Black women and Black

men and certain points about relationships, particularly when it comes to

money—these are very valid points. But his justification where a White woman

would treat their man like a king and this and that, these are statements that

you can’t make unless you’re ready to defend them. And with him being someone

who doesn’t really blog—his name is Slim Thug, he’s not claiming to be an

intellectual, he’s only telling it how it his from the perspective of a young Black

person growing up in Houston, and the points that he made were underserved and

underrepresented because of the generalizations that he made.

 

The thing that really bothers me is that the people who

really took offense to it make generalizations all the time. If someone says

men are all dogs, is that OK to make that generalization? Why is it OK to say

that and flip it but for him not to express himself in a blog? They’re both

generalizations but the only difference is if you say, “N***as ain’t s**t or

all men are dogs,” there’s no real explanation. At least with his blog, even if

you’re offended by it, it’s way more articulate than saying “N***as ain’t s**t,”

and if you have ever said that, and I’m making a generalization here that most

women have said that at some point in they life, you can’t really be mad at

what he said. You don’t have to agree, but you can’t be mad.

 

So because someone makes a generalization you have to spew

venom at them and talk about you’re not gonna support their music and you’re

gonna unfollow? All that s**t is extra. It’s like we can disagree and discourse

without being disrespectful to each other. The reason I feel like I can say

what I said is because I put in my work when it comes to representing Black

women in my art. Can’t nobody tell me s**t when it comes to the way I put in

work for Black women! We all have things to learn and I don’t claim to be

perfect in my music but I feel like Slim Thug—the things he said are real

problems in our community. He really couldn’t articulate on a so-called

intellectual level what the reasons are for these pathologies—the racism, the

problems in our relationships—so from his perspective, White chicks would treat

him better. I know plenty of Black dudes that feel the same way. I don’t agree

with them but I understand why they say it. I don’t agree that all men are dogs

but I understand why women would say that.

 

I think the people that are really angry are people who are

taking the comments out of context and they’re not really reading the whole

blog. And when the commenters are reading it, they’re really looking to see

what’s wrong with it anyway. Somebody hit me online and said what they got from

it is he hates them and I didn’t get that. What I got from the blog is here’s a

man who’s confused about relationships and that wants to support the Black

family and that wants to see Black relationships doing good. And at the end of

the day when you take out all the generalizations, he’s really saying that Black

men and Black women have to have better communication and respect each other

more. He’s calling everyone to task. —As Told To Starrene RhettClick here for more.