Russell Simmons told ABC news Monday that Democratic, presidential candidate Barack Obama needs to stop criticizing rappers’ lyrics and start working to improve urban-America.
“My response to Sen. Obama is that you have to talk about the poverty and ignorance that creates such a climate that the poets can talk like that and all the politicians owe them an education and an opportunity for a better life - and maybe they’ll say something better.”
Simmons’ criticism stems from comments made by Obama on Friday concerning the recent Don Imus controversy.
At a fundraising dinner for the South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus in Columbia, S.C., Obama said, “We’ve got to admit to ourselves, that it was not the first time that we heard the word ‘ho’. Turn on the radio station. There are whole lot of songs that use the same language… We’ve been permitting it in our homes, and on our schools and on iPods… If it’s not good for Don Imus, I don’t know why it’s good for us. If we don’t like other people to degrade us, why are degrading ourselves?”
by Robby Uppal & David Dennis
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