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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Rap Music Mogul Disrespects Muslims with Magazine |
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| SisNur |
| 01/06/03 at 13:03:32 |
| By Ali Asadullah - WASHINGTON, December 23 (IslamOnline) - Muslims have been outraged by the cover photo of the popular U.S. urban culture magazine One World, which features female rapper Lil Kim wearing the head covering of a burqa and a revealing lingerie set. for the full article, read this [url]http://www.quran.ca/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=25[/url] |
| Re: Rap Music Mogul Disrespects Muslims with Magaz |
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| AyeshaZ |
| 01/09/03 at 05:17:12 |
Astagfarullah.. what is the world coming to!!! >:( |
| Re: Rap Music Mogul Disrespects Muslims with Magaz |
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| jannah |
| 01/14/03 at 14:32:58 |
| Sex does sell -- even when it's under a burka-like veil David Ovalle Hip-hop Picture a music diva on a magazine cover, wearing a nun's veil and little else. If that were to happen, it wouldn't take long for Christian groups to get their Bibles in a bunch. Now picture Lil' Kim, the pint-size, quasi-pornographic rap star, wearing a burka-like veil and showing plenty of cleavage on the cover of a rap mogul's fledgling magazine. That did happen. And don't bet on angry Muslim groups getting an official apology anytime soon. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals can get more attention by protesting the Green Bay Packers (duh, the name promotes violence toward cattle) than Muslim groups can with a legitimate slight toward their religion. The issue at hand: Lil' Kim, those natural blue eyes and that Photoshop physique, posed wearing a red burka-like veil on the cover of the latest issue of Russell Simmons' One World magazine. The rest of her outfit -- red lingerie. In the magazine, the photographer quotes Kim as saying, ''F--- Afghanistan, let's shoot this,'' as editors decided whether the theme was too politically charged. It might be tolerable if Lil' Kim were making a statement protesting Muslim female oppression. She doesn't touch the subject in the Q&A story. We do, however, know her thoughts on Biggie Smalls liking white women. Editor in Chief Raquel Cepeda says that the original concept was supposed to be a tight shot on Lil' Kim's eyes. But the rap star decided to change it to a full-body shot. ''It's freedom of expression. I apologize if I offended anyone. I don't want to offend, I want to arouse,'' Cepeda said. ``We're not going to make people happy 100 percent of the time.'' The veil resembles the Taliban-mandated burkas that non-Muslim North Americans became familiar with during the United States' war in Afghanistan. That skewing of the religious headgear raised the ire of Muslim groups such as Project Islam H.O.P.E., a Los Angeles-based civil rights group. ''Russell Simmons has stood with Louis Farrakhan and had him host hip-hop meetings for peace,'' the group's director, Najee Ali, said in a written statement. ``Does he want to build bridges with the men of Islam, but disrespect the women? I don't think so.'' Of course, One World has every right to run the photo and probably will benefit from the flack. Nothing like a good controversy to drum up interest in a fledgling magazine. And it's easy to dismiss some critics of the cover as hip-hop liberals who think rap artists must be socially conscious at all times. Maybe. Not every rapper needs to address society's ills ala Mos Def. Not everyone is above booty-shaking. In truth, the cover speaks to a deeper rooted ignorance of other religions in a Judeo-Christian society. Muslims are easy targets because we know, and care, so little about what makes them tick. It is simple to decry burkas as products of an extremist system that relegates women to second-class status. There is probably some truth to that. But wearing it is a religious right nonetheless. Madonna became Roman Catholicism's public enemy No. 1 when she frolicked around with a sexy saint in the 1989 video Like a Prayer. It cost her a multimillion-dollar endorsement with Pepsi and generated tons of press. In this case, outrage isn't even a blip on the radar, even in the let's-pretend-to-be-sensitive-to -Muslims-because-we're- secretely-scared-of-them era after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. It's much more comfortable to paint Muslims as an archaic, backward people. If anything, Lil' Kim's choice of garb speaks to our eroticization of parts of Muslim culture. She could be part of a hip-hop harem, an Arabian Nights-fueled sexual fantasy that is perfect for hawking CDs and subscriptions. But hey, sex sells. And until we take the time to learn more about the world's most popular religion, so will magazine covers featuring sexy divas in burka-like veils. |
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