Silent Black Rappers

Empathy or Selective Criticism?

by Anijah Boyd

Keep the same energy when Black women come out with their stories of abuse and want your empathy. Don’t call us liars and blame us for our trauma. Write these same long think pieces when Black women are cheated on, lied to, abused, and raped at the hands of Black men. Keep this same energy when your male friends make homophobic comments and disrespect every woman walking except for their mothers who have also dealt with the same treatment at the hands of Black men. Keep the same energy when it becomes your job to correct the men around you. Keep the same energy when your daughters are the new faces of this abuse. Some of you are those abusers.

A man has lost his life and you are entitled to feel however you feel about it. Keep in mind that NO ONE gets to dictate that. You don’t get to tell people how they should feel and you owe them that same decency. What you do after that point is up to you. If you feel the need to remove someone from your life because you don’t think their moral compass matches up with yours, you are entitled to doing so. If you want to be angry with the world and its lack of empathy, you are allowed to do that too. Just be mindful of everyone’s pain. You do not have to agree and you do not have to be apologetic. Just be mindful.

The Nas album wasn’t all that. Here, we hold our favs accountable no matter how much we love their music. My views on rap will always have very political undertones along with a sprinkle of my own experiences that dictate how I receive the music. So, just keeping it 3hunna, I probably let my own moral code dictate why I didn’t like the album that much. I’m a Hip-Hop head, yes, but that is not all that I am. I am also an activist who believes that rap is meant to highlight the problems that Black people face in every way.

It’s so crazy how we pretend to protect and love Black women, but anytime the existence of a Black woman is threatened, a lot of you niggas are silent. Nas let a whole Trump supporter produce his album and was allegedly hitting on Kelis… Things that go against his very existence. You’d think that the way these men depict the hood and choose album covers that there were no women in the equation sacrificing for them at all.

How many people have actively spoken out for the livelihood of Black women on a daily basis? We get it, you hate Donald Trump, and the only political problems you really concern yourself with is the mass incarceration of Black men or anything involving Black men for that matter… All very important topics to cover but, let’s take a second to think about who stands by your side during all of these battles? Black women. When Black women speak out against their abusers and the pain Black men specifically have inflicted, who stands next to us and listens most of the time? Black women.

I’m so tired of these fake ass Civil Rights albums. Ya’ll do not give a fuck about universal equality, you only care about what benefits your agenda and paints you to be the ultimate humanitarian... But are you really? Why do you think rappers rarely talk about the issues Black members of the LGBTQ+ community face? Because they’re homophobic and don’t care that much anyway. Trans Black people are dying. Nobody wrote a long ass think piece about that or even acknowledged their deaths but here we are making a fuss about XXX.

Let me be clear, because I won’t explain myself again. I wish death upon no one and empathize with the fact the someone somewhere is painfully affected by this man’s death, specifically his victims who still have to live with the pain that was left. Do not confuse someone not being terribly effected by XXX’s passing with wishing death upon him. Victims of all types had to sit and watch as the world gave more empathy to an abuser than they do to victims of abuse. Black men speak out more to protect the problematic behavior of their peers/friends than they do when Black women are being threatened. That is the problem at hand and nothing else. Stop getting off topic. It’s funny how this word “empathy” comes up when it fits the agenda in that moment… Are you empathetic with victims of every kind? Are you empathetic when a trans woman is murdered? Are you empathetic when women come forward years after being sexually abused? Or are you only empathetic when an abuser dies, but he was finna change, so let’s just completely ignore his past, and force “empathy” on a world of victims when none of you were empathetic with them.

The disappointing part about all of this is that a lot of people were defending him instead of holding him accountable for his actions.

But not many on the opposing side looked at the situation as a whole and held him accountable. Instead, Black women were pressured to forgive him for the things he said because of the excuses provided for him. This makes it very easy for Black men to repeat the same inconsiderate behavior. They are coddled, babied, and never held accountable for the pain they inflict.

Similar to how XXX has passed and victims of abuse are being pressured to respect his legacy. His past no longer matters. The pain of others that he is responsible for… No longer matters. This is why women don’t come out and tell their stories because regardless, our pain is ignored. It takes a man having a child of their own or someone saying:

to get any kind of “empathy.” It’s pathetic. If your argument revolves around empathy, try having it across all situations, not only when it fits your fickle-minded agenda.

Make sure you know the real definitions of words and can critically apply them before engaging in conversations that involve their concepts.

There is nothing wrong with being EMPATHETIC, but some refuse to compromise their moral compasses for the sake of another’s legacy… A legacy that at one point or another also invalidated their existence. I already know what criticism will come from me addressing these issues. Instead of being heard, that one person will try to undermine my points by saying:

It only leads to a truly unproductive and ignorant conversation and I won’t entertain it. This is my platform and when I speak on issues that matter to me, it’ll be when they arise. I will not wait till shit hits the fan to open my mouth. I will not wait until someone points out my flaws to finally decide to speak up only as reactionary measure and a way of invalidating my opponent. I will not do it simply because it’s convenient at the time.

So Black men, before you fix your mouth to try and flip the script, think about why you didn’t speak up BEFORE your own character flaws were magnified. Selfish much? Inconsiderate much? Hypocritical much? My advice to you is to listen to the voices of the women that are critiquing you. Critique back with good intentions and come up with solutions for both of your shortcomings.

If empathy is your main argument, this shouldn’t be a difficult task and these opinions (based in facts) of mine should not have upset you. Picking and choosing what situations actually call for your empathy isn’t real empathy. A man has lost his life, and we empathize, but is that same energy returned when a Black woman’s life is in question, when a trans life is lost, or when Black women are being taken advantage of and taken for granted?

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