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Alicia Keys will spend the next week having her foot surgically removed from her mouth for her latest comments in Blender Magazine. In her interview with the magazine, she drops the bombshell that she believes the US government created gangsta rap as a way to oppress the black people and that they were responsible for the deaths of Notorious BIG and Tupac Shakur, because they didn’t want a strong black leader to rise to prominence.

Here’s the excerpt from Blender where Alicia lays out her pretty wacky conclusions:

We ask what other gangsta rappers she liked. And that’s when Keys drives a steamroller through the wall.

“‘Gangsta rap’ was a ploy to convince black people to kill each other,” she says, putting down the sandwich. “‘Gangsta rap’ didn’t exist.”

Come again? A ploy by whom?

She looks at us like it’s the dumbest question in the world. “The government.”

Add another line to her résumé. Alicia Keys: piano stroker, budding actress… and conspiracy theorist? This Alicia pores over Black Panther autobiographies (“I’ve read Huey Newton’s, Assata Shakur’s, David Hilliard’s …”). This Alicia says Tupac and Biggie were essentially assassinated, their beefs stoked “by the government and the media, to stop another great black leader from existing.” This Alicia wears a gold AK-47 pendant around her neck, “to symbolize strength, power and killing ’em dead.” (“She wears what?” her mom asks Blender. “That doesn’t sound like Alicia.”)

Sorry, is this the same girl who duetted with Eve on Gangsta Lovin’?  Maybe she forgot that one of her biggest hits actually reinforces the culture she’s just spoken out against. Maybe the government made her do it?

I was reading around what other blogs are saying about this. Most are subtly implying that Alicia X needs to go and have a few words with a trained mental health professional. However, I came across this excellent comment on Rhymes With Snitch:

Maybe the gov brought drugs to our neighborhoods, but did they make us smoke and sell it? No, it was the cars, women and jewels that made and still make negroes sell that shit.

Maybe they brought guns from overseas, but are they making Lil Ray-Ray carry one around and shoot into crowds just because someone looked at him wrong?

Did the government start the Bloods and Crips? Make rappers sing about slanging drugs, fucking hoes and having kids in every area code? No.

Did the government make Tupac sing about banging Biggie’s wife? Make him beat up a gang member in view of a security camera? Are they making black women have numerous kids by different men?

Are they making black men care more about dressing well than staying in school?

This isn’t the first time I’ve come across the government conspiracy angle from black artists. However, there’s an element of hypocrisy that always bugs me, and it’s the notion of a ’strong black leader’. Here’s why: the colour of a person’s skin should never influence their position of power. It should be based on merit and their ability to lead in general. Not to lead people of one particular colour/race/creed.

I mean, look at the Presidential candidates in America right now - the front runners are a black man and a white woman. And whichever one gets into office, it will be a first in the United States. Hopefully, it will be the right person for the job.

Ingrained, institutional racism works both ways. Sorry for the pseudo-political rambling today folks - but these are points that come up in music and are worth discussing. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.