Saint Smith & Family at B.E.T. Awards

I was so engrossed in writing (not blogging believe it or not, but trying to work on my self-publishing project), I forgot that the B.E.T. Awards were on last night. Ironically enough, I was reminded that the live show was on that night, after visiting my friend Steve's site who happens to be white. I won't worry about missing the show, because it will get aired no less than thirty times over the next year, if history is any indicator. Steve had a great quote though, excerpted from an AP article, in which Will Smith and his wife Jada laid out some ground rules for the evening:

"The first rule, according to Smith: 'You don't need to come up here with all 15 people that you came with.' 'There is a three homeboy limit tonight, period,' his wife added. Also, 'No bright suits and no gold goblets,' Jada Pinkett Smith said. 'This is not the pimp of the year awards.' And finally, 'Do not thank God if you can't show or perform your work in church.' "

Lil John and the Ying Yang Twins could not have been pleased about that news, particularly the banning of the infamous pimp goblets. I really would like to see this message about responsible lyrical content become more prevalent. Hypersexuality and violence plagues the media world as a whole, but unfortunately much of the music produced by black folk, rap artists in particular, is some of the most explicit in its expression (for any number of reasons). Given that the majority of consumers of music are teenagers, many of whom are already predisposed to negative and unhealthy lifestyles, we need to turn back this tide of saturating the airwaves and TV screens with some of the worst examples of human behavior.