Turn That Sh*t Up (But Maybe Skip That Verse)

Hip-hop gave us poetry in the struggle, voice in the margins, and culture we could claim as ours. It's the soundtrack of Black joy, resistance, creativity, and community. From the humble block parties in the Bronx to the global movement it became - hip-hop taught us how to turn pain into power and survival into art.
But let's be real: some of our favorite tracks and rappers are also violently misogynistic, aggressively homophobic, and glorify harm in ways that contradict everything we say we believe. We know the lyrics are problematic. We know we "should" skip those songs. And yet... We still got Yeezy in our Serato and can rap every word to "Runaway" flawlessly(maybe its just me). Still defending artists who said inexcusable shit because "it was a different time" or "it's just music."
How do we hold both truths? That hip-hop gave us a voice AND that it perpetuates harm? That we can critique the culture while still being shaped by it? That nostalgia doesn't excuse misogyny, but complexity matters more than cancel culture?
No one is saying what you should stop listening to. This is a conversation about why we can't quit the music that made us, even when we know better. About the artists we still defend and the lyrics we pretend we don't hear. About what hip-hop gave us and what it cost.
Bring your problematic favorites. Bring your defenses and your critiques. Bring your love for the culture and your discomfort with what that love sometimes requires us to overlook.
Let's talk about it.