[JWsleep]

Hip hop is flexible enough--and powerful enough--to glorify things other than thugs, gangstas and ho's. Many people have mentioned Public Enemy--you can produce great music with a positive and intelligent message and not be a sell-out. (I certainly don't agree with everything PE preached, but they showed it could be done.)

On perseverance: It depends on what one is persevering for. If "keeping it real" means remaining a thug and a criminal in the face of society, then I do not support it. If "keeping it real" means finding a way to retain your cultural identity while succeeding as a community, who could be against it? That's the issue. Bill Cosby and Jason Whitlock are not telling people to abandon their culture; rather, they are telling people to give up those elements that are systematically destroying many neighborhoods with fear, violence, ignorance, and despair. I do not believe that the relevant segment of African-American (and hip-hop) culture would be any less real, dynamic, powerful, or persevering if it abandoned the glorification of thugs.

BTW, how much money has the (largely white owned and controlled) recording industry made off of thug-oriented rap? My opinion is that, often, "keeping it real" means "getting paid," no matter what the cost to the community.