By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Jun 14th 2010 11:00AM
Filed under: Celebrity Finances, News
I've been thinking hard about this
divide between the rapper Slim Thug and the entire black female population. Since
Slim Thug's initial remarks about black women not being loyal enough to black men, and subsequent responses by
myself, Marc Lamont Hill and Talib Kweli, I've found myself wondering what the corporate fallout is going to be for the rapper.
One school of thought is that the loyalty of the black female fan base is nothing to sneeze at. Black women are the most consistent consumers of everything from hip hop to books to haircare products, so losing this audience could be problematic for Slim. His comments on his Twitter page, in which
he has harsh words for his critics are not going to help his case very much.
But then there is another school of thought: Slim Thug has a strong base in Houston, as well as across the country. He owns his own label, and many of his fans are male. Secondly, he's built the kind of unapologetic brand that allows him to openly boast about his imperfections and hyper-masculine behavior without fear of consequence. The same can be true about rappers like Lil Wayne, and is not true for public figures like Tiger Woods, who built his brand based on the perception of perfection and ethical behavior.
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Hip-Hop Artists
2 Pac
From co-starring in films with Janet Jackson to selling multiplatinum records, Tupac Amaru Shakur is one of hip-hop's most celebrated artist. Beginning his career as a roadie for Digital Underground, Pac quickly rose to the forefront as a solo artist with such hits as 'I Get Around' and 'Dear Mama.' In 1996 the late rapper made history with his Death Row Records debut, 'All Eyez on Me,' which was the first double album in hip-hop.
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Hip-Hop Artists
2 Pac
From co-starring in films with Janet Jackson to selling multiplatinum records, Tupac Amaru Shakur is one of hip-hop's most celebrated artist. Beginning his career as a roadie for Digital Underground, Pac quickly rose to the forefront as a solo artist with such hits as 'I Get Around' and 'Dear Mama.' In 1996 the late rapper made history with his Death Row Records debut, 'All Eyez on Me,' which was the first double album in hip-hop.
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Salt-N-Pepa
Cheryl James, Sandy Denton and DJ Dee Dee Roper make up the spicy rap duo of Salt N Pepa. Mixing pop music with a tinge of female empowerment and sex, the group has sold more than 13 million discs to date. These Grammy-winning Queens from Queens were most recently seen on reality TV with 'The Salt-n-Pepa Show.'
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Run DMC
Run DMC (Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels and the now deceased Jay Mizell) are true rap pioneers. Signed to the famed Def Jam label, Run DMC ruled the '80s with classics like 'It's Like That' 'You Be Illin' and 'Peter Piper.' They were the first group to merge rap and rock, to hit No. 1 on the R&B charts and to get a product endorsement (Adidas).
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Ludacris
With his distinctive articulation and wickedly sexy lyrics, Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges is one of hip-hop's most successful, with a slew of hits including 'Stand Up,' 'Move B*tch' and 'Runaway Love.' Luda is also one of only a handful of rappers to have a successful record label, Distubing Tha Peace, with signees Chingy (who later bounced) and Bobby Valentino.
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Juvenille
Ridin' that beat like he stole somethin', Cash Money Records alum Juvenille (Terius Gray) is one of the most talented MCs to emerge from the South. With a string of hits starting in the late '90s including 'Ha,' and 'Slow Motion,' Juvie hit paydirt with 'Back That Azz Up' which propelled him to crossover fame.
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Jay-Z
Brooklyn bomber Sean "Jay Z" Carter is one of hip-hop's greatest MCs. With his cocky, smart lyrics, Jigga began his career with 1996's 'Reasonable Doubt' (a rap classic) and hasn't looked back. Jay Z has released 14 albums, won seven Grammy Awards and sold at least 50 million records. He is now "retired" from rap to concentrate on his business ventures.
Hip-Hop Artists
LL Cool J
The original cocky MC, James Todd Smith (LL Cool J) signed to Def Jam in 1985 at 17. That year, he dropped his first hit, rap classic 'Rock The Bells.' For the next 20 years, Cool J brought the pain with hits like 'Jinglin' Baby' 'Boomin' System' 'Going Back to Cali' and 'Mama Said Knock You Out.' LL has two Grammy Awards.
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Missy Elliot
Missy Elliot is not your typical sexed up femcee. In fact, not only is she a rapper, but she is a singer, producer and writer, having made songs for the likes of Aaliyah, Fantasia, Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson. With her own hits like 'Get Ur Freak On' 'The Rain' and 'Hot Boyz' this five-time Grammy winner is a mistress of many trades.
Hip-Hop Artists
Eric B and Rakim
The first musical collaboration between Eric Barrier (Eric B.) and William Griffin (Rakim) -- 1986's 'Eric B. Is President' was a moment in hip hop. Not only funky, the metaphorical lyrics and flow were never seen before. The duo's subsequent album, 'Paid In Full,' and then 'Follow The Leader' are looked to by rappers and purists as two the genre's greatest.
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50 Cent
Curtis Jackson, the rapper known as 50 Cent, took his hardscrabble life and parlayed it into 50 cents times a few million. After being "discovered" by Eminem and produced by Dr. Dre, 50 Cent's star went into orbit with a slew of hits like 'In Da Club,' 'P.I.M.P.' and 'Hate It or Love It.' Surprisingly, the controversial Queens rapper has yet to win a Grammy.
Hip-Hop Artists
Here's part of the financial deal with Slim Thug. First, his second album, 'Boss of all Bosses,' didn't do nearly as well as his first album, 'Already Platinum.' The first album sold well over 500,000 copies, while the second one only sold about 100,000. On the surface, it might seem that Slim is struggling financially due to the decline, but actually, I am proud of him. His second album was released independently, and 100,000 copies is actually pretty good for an independent release.
Another thing I like about Slim Thug is that in correlation with his album titles, he actually is a boss in real life: Slim Thug owns his own record label (Boss Hogg Outlawz), and also has investments in real estate, and college funds for his children. I am not always pleased to see yet another black man getting rich by pretending to be a killer, thug or hoodlum, but I am glad that he is at least not volunteering to be a hoodlum for someone else.
So, while it might be easy to chalk Slim Thug up to being an ignorant rapper, he might be something more than that. He plays the illusion of hip hop to his advantage, and is a leading figure in the very loyal cadre of Houston-based rappers who seem to rep relentlessly for their hometown. At the end of the day, this controversy about black women may just be another bump in the road, and the added publicity may help the sales of his new album, set to be released this summer. We'll see how it all turns out.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here. 
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Comments: (45)
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By: Ben on 6/14/2010 11:25AM
What is wrong with you stop putting this ignorant fool on a pedastal and shoving him down our throats.He has never been a popular and successful artist that has a great future and whatever happens to him now has little to do with Black women who were never his main fanbase anyway.Where are your prorities and addressing this issue wih common sense and respect for out women.
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By: Classy Black Lady on 6/22/2010 12:41AM
Thank you Ben. I'm surprised at the focus of this article--so it's okay for Slim Thug to disrespect black women publicly because he's his own boss? hmmmm
Frankly, I don't care what happens to this thug. If he does experience similar sales it will be because black men as a whole decide to step up and actually buy instead of bootleg this summer. What I'm concerned with is black female empowerment and how it relates to this situation.
Black women, we spend $600 billion every year. $600 billion! Now imagine what would happen if we stop giving those dollars to Slim Thugs and non-black companies who disregard us then start funneling the money amongst ourselves?
Now THAT'S how you build wealth in your community. Black ladies, boycott the Slim Thugs of the world (people who hate black women) and start supporting each other.
Boycott ignorant rappers:
http://blog.classyblacklady.com/2010/06/slim-thug-hatred-for-black-women-time.html
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By: algie on 6/14/2010 11:48AM
slim who???he is so not representing for black men in a positive way so he needs to get it together and start acting like he understands that god can take it away from you if you don't do right by him with the type of energy you put in the world
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By: Jewel on 6/19/2010 11:18AM
Exactly - Slim who?
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By: shalonndramarie on 6/14/2010 11:56AM
I myself live in Cali and Im used to seeing black men with other races.One thing these women have mostly in common is they are trying to be black. They try to talk black,walk black,wear black hairstyles,and live around black people, so in reality they are trying to be what these men are running away from and critizing, Black women! I could somewhat understand if you were going out of the box and getting with another race because you feel like you will experience something different, but what's the difference when they act like what you are looking down on and trying to avoid and make look bad. I don't even know this man, and he is not as famous as he thinks he is to make such messed up remarks, he will see just like every other fool that has alway's thought the black women wasn't worth anything. He will see when the time comes for her to sacrafice her life for him that she will not turn against her KKK family. I see it down her but they know to keep it to their self's. Down South I don't believe you have the luxury of white people holding their tongues. Keep your head up ladies we have our Father in Heaven that supplies us with all the confidence we need in our everday lives,just remember to give him the glory in all you do. Peace
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By: ralph on 6/16/2010 1:15PM
I am a black man that is attracted to all races of women, however, when I talk to women who are not black, it does not turn me on when or if they try to act black. I like different things about different races of women, so I prefer them to act like their cultures raised them.
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By: rootsyd on 6/14/2010 12:22PM
I never got the memo that said "slim thug" was even relevant to anything beyond the raunch that he promotes. And if you as a black woman are riding and dying to such music, then lord help you, you obviously don't think they talking bout you when they say that "dirrrty" stuff, but yeah they talking bout you black woman. So he could have just stuck to his paradigm of usual putting down black women in his records, than actually forming something constructive out his mouth to say to the media publicly. The intelligent sisters I'm sure bypass his CD easily in the store without any hesitation...I don't think there's a toss up btw buying slim thug or the Damian Marley/Nas CD...so please let him go back to his coon recordings and get this story off BV.
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By: alicia a on 6/14/2010 12:26PM
ALL I GOT TO SAY IS FU-K SLIM THUG !! I WILL NEVER SUPPORT A BLACK MAN WHO DOWNS A BLACK WOMAN AND HIS MAMA IS A BLACK WOMEN.. BUMP HIM AND HIS WEAK AZZ WHITE WOMEN WANNA BE BLACK WHITE WOMEN!!
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By: quitehonestly on 6/15/2010 3:19AM
it would be funny if it wasn't so painful to be able to actually see your snarl as your arms flail around and your head pops from side to side as you think of what to say next , but the only words you know are obscenities , and the way you communicate is obscene ... your mother saw this as she grew , you saw it , guess whos next , its hopeless when you really think about it , so i try not to , but then again , i have to read , then i see your comment , and ...... and ......... (sigh) forget about men , women , everything for a minute , do you have any idea how you sound to reasonable , articulate people both black and white , it is absolutely ridiculous for a grown woman to speak that way ... dont you know any other , have you any decency @ all , it takes so much more character to just think of something intelligent to say to who you percieve as moronic , if you cant do that yet than thats where you should focus your energy ... not to cursing , but to educating yourself , that would help , teaching children to curse ...... doesnt
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By: quitehonestly on 6/16/2010 2:35PM
and your first lesson is that "woman" is singular ... and "women" is plural ... so you should have used "woman" both times ... and do you really think every black man should love his mother no matter how she treated him ... you dont know every situation and your mind will never be open and objective ... @ least not while you're awake ... so please .... just dont say anything ... please .... you would be helping matters with your innaction
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