An Open Letter to Jason Whitlock: Hip-Hop Is Not to Blame Posted by Lucas Garrison on 07/17/13 | Filed under Top Stories, Opinion

Monday, I wrote a piece, "Hip-Hop Did Not Kill Trayvon Martin", about Fox Sports writer Jason Whitlock and how, more or less, he blamed hip-hop for Travyon Martin's death. I guess he (shockingly) doesn’t read RefineHype, because yesterday he again unfairly linked hip-hop and another topic du jour (Aaron Hernandez) with the article, "NFL Pounceys pawns in twisted rap game". More specifically he takes aims at the Pouncey brothers, both in the NFL and both college teammates of Hernandez, and their blind support of their now incarcerated college teammate. For those that missed it, The Pouncey brothers, Mike and Maurkice, were seen wearing “Free Hernandez” hats while out on the town. Dumb, ignorant, insensitive and in poor taste yes, but hip-hop’s fault? Absolutely not.

Hitting a nightclub while wearing mindlessly rebellious “Free Hernandez” baseball caps is straight from the in-your-face, shock-value, prison culture/hip hop culture playbook. It screams It screams the Pouncey’s place no value on Odin Lloyd’s life. He’s just another dead N-word who got his cap peeled by a homie. I’m sure they’re good kids. They’re swept up in a culture they don’t fully understand and don’t fully respect its impact. The rap music industry, the record labels and the commercial artists preach a message to young black people that expressing the most unethical, intimidating, violent, divisive and classless behavior — characteristics necessary to survive incarceration — are success tools in America’s free society.

Even if the Pouncey brothers are hip-hop fans (which Whitlock just assumes with no real knowledge), I still see far bigger issues at play. The Pouncey’s and Hernandez attended Florida, a school known for its lax rules and inability to control their players. Percy Harvin failed multiple drug tests that were swept under the rug and it got to the point where there was a seedy underbelly of the program; players did what they want and even attacked coaches with no repercussions. From the moment they are seen as prospects, athletes are given special permission to do what they want and told the rules do not apply to them. They don’t think like normal people because for most of their lives, they aren’t held to the same standards. They are above the law, entitled, and "special". It’s why Hernandez thought he could get away with murder, and why I assume Mike and Maurkice thought it was a good idea to wear these stupid hats.

The “Free Hernandez” fiasco has only the most tangential, diluted link to rap music, at most. Just like blaming hip-hop for Trayvon Martin's murder, Whitlock is looking to find meaning in the wrong place, and look for a scapegoat when real change would come from tackling much bigger issues. But rather than go on and on about Whitlock slandering the music I love, I thought it would be best to address him personally, and invite to come here for an honest and real discussion on hip-hop. So that’s what I did. He's a national columnist for a major sports network, so in fairness if he doesn't respond to my email that's more likely a sign of his busy schedule than him ducking a site for rap nerds. Hopefully, though, he is interested in creating a dialogue and maybe, just maybe, we can change his mind on hip-hop.

UPDATE: Hopefully we can get a deeper discussion going, but respect to Whitlock for acknowledging there's a conversation to be had:

Constructive, mature. I'm honored RT @_BeLikeIke: @refinedhype: An Open Letter to Whitlock: Hip-Hop Is Not to Blame https://t.co/1JfoBPmA5a

— Jason Whitlock (@WhitlockJason) July 17, 2013