Parenting in the Age of Hip-Hop

In a blog entry at The Root DC, Abdul Ali, who also is a contributor to The Root, writes that becoming a parent has challenged his loyalty to hip-hop. He recently received a jolt of reality when he heard his 7-year-old daughter reciting misogynistic rhymes. Suggested Reading New AI TikTok Trend Has Gorillas Posing as…

In a blog entry at The Root DC, Abdul Ali, who also is a contributor to The Root, writes that becoming a parent has challenged his loyalty to hip-hop. He recently received a jolt of reality when he heard his 7-year-old daughter reciting misogynistic rhymes.

Video will return here when scrolled back into view
Trump’s Tariffs Might Stick Around. What Should We Buy Now?
Trump’s Tariffs Might Stick Around. What Should We Buy Now?

An otherwise ordinary weekend went awry when my daughter parroted a Lil Wayne song. Her 7-year-old arms doubled over, cutting the air as she swayed back and forth imitating hip-hop swagger in music videos.

Then she repeated the chorus aloud: wife beater. The two-word phrase shot through her little mouth and burned the insides of my ears.

Iโ€™d heard the song maybe a dozen times but didnโ€™t find it objectionable until I heard my daughter sing it. Am I a hypocrite? Itโ€™s complicated: I grew up at a time when hip-hop exploded into a global phenomenon.ย 

Iโ€™d be dishonest if I said I didnโ€™t feel a special allegiance to the music that articulates not all, but some, of what it means to be young and black in America. But, with hesiยญtaยญtion, being a parent trumps whatever loyalties I have to the hip-hop mafia that might revoke my membership.

Read Abdul Ali's entire blog entry at The Root DC.

Straight From The Root

Sign up for our free daily newsletter.