After my lengthy defense of Alicia Key's batsh*ttiness the other day comes the requisite clearation (via J Records) of what she said to Blender. I pat myself on the back for pointing out how suspect the verbiage was on the part of the interviewer, but as with most things, it's really not that deep.
"My comments about 'gangsta rap' were in no way trying to suggest that the government is responsible for creating this genre of rap music," Keys said in a statement issued by J Records. "The point that I was trying to make was that the term was oversloganized by some of the media causing reactions that were not always positive. Many of the 'gangsta rap' lyrics articulate the problems of the artists' experiences and I think all of us, including our leaders, could be doing more to address these problems including drugs, gang violence, crime, and other related social issues."
Re-reading the article, it's clear that this is what she meant. At least to me. But it must be pointed out how rabidly the blogosphere leapt upon her initial comments, as if the artist they deemed safe suddenly became unreasonably militant. Poor choice of words? Perhaps. But there's something to be said for a loss of context on the printed page. That's why all of SoulBounce's interviews are in audio.
On the matter of her 2Pac/Biggie "murder conspiracy" statements:
Alicia says she's no conspiracy theorist. She simply believes that the intense media scrutiny surrounding the East Coast/West Coast beef contributed to the rappers' deaths. "It was just an over sensationalized situation," she says."I think that what happens is that when other people are telling the
story, I don't feel [Pac and Biggie] were really able to communicate
with each other and really tell each other what they meant. Instead it
kind of came through different outlets and different people and it
might have gotten misconstrued or misinterpreted."
Jury's still out on how exactly that reconciles what came through in the article, but we forgive you. Don't we?
Update: Alicia Keys Says Conspiracy Comment Was "Misinterpreted" [SOHH]
Alicia Keys Backs Away From Gangsta Rap Quote [MSNBC]
