Dr. Umar Johnson dished out yet another controversial take on the Hustle Over Everything podcast, questioning what good hip-hop has done for the Black community. "I’m talking about both," he answered when asked by Mouse Jones whether his disappointment in rap music is about its culture or its industry. "You’re still selling death and destruction to my kids while your kids are going to $30,000-a-year privileged white schools. That’s what you call a traitor. The hip-hop community has betrayed Black America. [...] It ain’t did s**t in 50 years for the community. It made individuals rich and it’s it. And it gave out a couple of jobs. So did the drug dealer."
The Joe Budden Podcast discussed this take, in which Dr. Umar posited that education should've been a stronger institution that hip-hop culture should've created, citing Jay-Z as an example of a success story that owes something to the Black community. Johnson and Jones agreed that the rap community needs accountability and more #MeToo-like initiatives. Moving on to the Slaughterhouse MC's pod' though, the cohosts argued that hip-hop can sometimes – but not always – promote street life that Black folks engage in out of necessity and survival. However, they don't think that hip-hop caused this systemic cycle, hinting at a larger oppressive system that rap music did not create.
The Joe Budden Podcast's Takes On Dr. Umar's Dismissal Of Hip-Hop In The Black Community
"And I want to make it perfectly clear that we're using the word or the words 'hip-hop,'" Joe Budden remarked. "I'm not certain, again, that he is referring to the culture of hip-hop. When he is saying 'hip-hop,' he is talking to the music and entertainment business that is controlled by Jewish people [an often bigoted insinuation that Budden doesn't seem to endorse, but is assuming Dr. Umar's intention with]. It would be tough for him to have that conversation with me as somebody who hip-hop saved my life. Like, he maybe can talk like that to Mouse Jones. He can't say that to me."
Elsewhere, The Joe Budden Podcast's cohosts spoke on how hip-hop as a whole provides employment for struggling families, and seemingly didn't catch Dr. Umar's statement that his take is about both the culture and the industry. The titular host specifically used the controversial of Russell Simmons saying that he's been here too long and helped too many people to be "canceled." "Like, we're talking about over 50 years of people helping people," Budden expressed. "My other problem with Dr. Umar is [that] he came right up here and said part of our problem is we want to do it for us and we're not selfless enough to do it for the generations to come. He came in here and said that. I remember. It stuck out like a f***ing sore thumb. I'll give him this: music – not the music business – but music is many kids' way through life."