Gil Scott-Heron in 1993:
But I think the young folks need to know, that things don't go both ways
You can't talk respect on every other song or just every other day
What I'm speakin' on now is the raps about the women folks
On one song she's your African Queen on the next one she's a joke
And you ain't said no words that I haven't heard, but that ain't no compliment
It only insults eight people out of ten and questions your intelligence
Four letter words or four syllable words won't make you important
It'll only magnify how shallow you are and let everybody know it
To be clear, I think it's a valid critique of a lot of rap music and hip-hop: even the nice-guy D.A.I.S.Y.-age stuff primarily considers women's value to be as something to have sex with. But I'm also not entirely certain that it has any bearing on the quality of the work being produced. It's that perennial tension that I have been trying to isolate my particular view on: I'm not sure someone's politics, sexual or otherwise, are sufficient to wipe out an impartial consideration of the quality of their work, but I'm also confident that it has to have some bearing on our judgment. If Childish Gambino really is no good, then it seems like the easiest thing to do is just ignore him, rather than providing the additional attention of another blog post.
Play 'em out, Gil:
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