The shocking allegations and conspiracies surrounding hip hop mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs.
Full Episode
BBC Sounds. Music, radio, podcasts. Hello and welcome back to Diddy on Trial from BBC Sounds with me, Anushka Matandadawati. Every week we bring you updates and deep dives into what is shaping up to be the trial of the decade. Sean Diddy Combs is in a New York jail held on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation for prostitution. He denies them all.
You can find us on BBC Sounds and make sure you subscribe so you never miss a thing. In this episode, we're gonna be discussing music and just a warning, some of the lyrics we'll mention include language which you may find offensive. Today, we're taking a look at a question that we've sort of been skirting around the edges of for a while. Does hip-hop have a problem?
Diddy denies the federal offenses he's accused of, but has apologized for assaulting Cassie Ventura, seen in a video widely shared online. That moment of violence and other incidents involving high-profile stars means there's a spotlight on the wider genre. Is this a genre that makes excuses for bad behaviour, misogyny, sexual violence and the over-sexualisation of young girls?
That sounds extreme? Here's a lyric from Big Sean. I'm trying to chase her, take her, date rape her. I stand outside the daycare, sit there and wait for her. Here's a lyric from It's Dark and Hell is Hot. And if you've got a daughter older than 15, I'ma rape her, take her on the living room floor right there in front of you, then ask you seriously what you wanna do.
This is from Rick Ross's song, U-O-E-N-O. I put Molly in her champagne, she didn't even know it. I took her home and enjoyed that, Shaney didn't even know it. And what about this? I can see that you're 15 years old. I don't want your ID. I can see that you're far from home, but that's no hanging matter. That's no capital crime. I bet your mama doesn't know you scream like that.
I bet your mother doesn't know you spit like that. You say you've got a friend that's wilder than you. Why don't you bring her upstairs? Well, that's a lyric from Stray Cat by the Rolling Stones. So maybe these issues don't start and end with one genre.
Helping me unpack this today is Professor Mark Anthony Neal, Professor of African American Studies who runs courses on the history of hip-hop at Duke University in North Carolina, and Dr. Jason Rawls, better known as J Rawls, an Assistant Professor of Hip-Hop in the School of Music at The Ohio State University, who's also a musician, producer, and DJ. Hello, both.
Hello, how are you? Good, thank you. How are you doing?
I'm going to start by saying these critiques are nothing new, and this is nothing that the upcoming trial, it might have brought it to the surface of the media a little bit, but it didn't start two months ago. When did we start to hear critiques of hip-hop? I'll start with you, Professor Neil.
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