“Why not focus on the positive things African Americans do today?” he argued. “The problem with hip-hop is that it holds up a magnifying glass to the most dysfunctional parts of the ghetto, and African Americans’ complete lack of a chance in life. They inherit hopelessness. The hopelessness that’s forged into the bricks and concrete of the ghetto, that drips down the facades of the buildings, impregnating everything and everyone that lives there.
