Hip-hop mogul and Def Jamz founder
Russell Simmons has called homophobia a societal sickness.
In an interview with Reuters TV, Robert
Wolf asked Simmons how the industry has changed over the past 2
decades.
“How has hip-hop and rap changed
today?” Wolf asked. “It seems back in the 90s it was a little
more politically motivated, the words meant a little more. Today, it
seems a little different ...”
“It goes in cycles,” Simmons
answered. “You may get a song like Jesus Walks or you may
get a political song like Lupe Fiasco or a social song from one of
the artists. And you may get a lot of 'I just want to go to the club
and party and drink;' which is pretty normal.”
“You still have the cries from the
hood. You know, people talking about the condition that they live
in. The mirrors of the poverty, the mirrors of the poverty mindset,
and the frustrations.”
“You still have the mirrors of our
societal sickness: the homophobia, the sexism, the racism, the
gangsta stuff. You still have all that. But that's important,
because they're not as homophobic as their parents. They're not as
racist as their parents. They're not as sexist, not at all, as their
parents. They're not as gangsta as our government.” (The video is
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