By CJ Guion
Have you ever indulged in a guilty pleasure that you would feel ashamed to say that you participate in? For many college students, World Star Hip Hop could be on that list. If a slogan could be used to describe Worldstarhiphop.com, it would could be coined “Ignorant Entertainment.”
World Star Hip Hop is a website that features Hip Hop videos and homemade uploads of African Americans in embarrassing situations that live up to stereotypes cast upon the race by the outside world. The site ranked 225 in site traffic within the United States, falls just three spots below MTV.com. While a ranking of 225 may not sound significant on paper, you really have to take into account just how many websites exists in the World Wide Web spectrum.
If you were to ever visit the site you would be likely to see videos containing people fighting outside of a church because a pastor was fired. There may even be kids having intimate relations in a public place such as on the campus of UNCG. There’s even a hot dog stand using insults and vulgarity to draw in customers.
This past weekend, a video was uploaded to the site, entitled “Madness: A Whole Block Comes Out To Brawl”. The video featured a group of African American females in an unidentified neighborhood fighting senselessly outside their homes while their children and by-standers witnessing the entire spectacle.
One thing that people do not realize about websites like ‘Worldstar’ is that it may be the only encounter that some people have with the African American race. These things have the tendency to influence first time perceptions one might have with a person of the group.
One video that can attest to this was uploaded by a Caucasian female student in college. The video entitled “College Student on Black Men,” displays a female college student who believes she has learned everything she needs to know about black people during her time in college. The student states that she has learned in college that black men have “this thing in their hair that’s like the ocean,” and that she can’t understand why people would want waves in their hair. She also believes that when black men don’t have a wall to grind on someone at the club “they makeshift with their boys”. Lastly she states that she believes that most black women have no real hair. One thing that can be said after watching this video is that the college which this student is enrolled in should intercept her degree, because it is obvious that she has learned nothing at the institution.
What makes this situation appalling is the fact that these videos have been broadcast worldwide for everyone to see. The interesting thing is that there are truly people out there who share the same feelings as the White student and we may be interacting with them every day. They could be sitting next to you in the classroom, they could be the interviewer at the next potential job, or they could be the person at the bank who signs the loan for your business. The videos that are viewed for entertainment on World Star Hip Hop have a tremendous impact of you, even if you believe that is not the case.
Everyone is entitled to watch what they wish, but you may want to rethink this the next time you see a video that links to this site. The owner is making millions of dollars every time you visit his website, and what 9th grade high school dropout/former porn host would give up all of that to uplift the African American race, especially during the recession we live in.
“One thing that people do not realize about websites like ‘Worldstar’ is that it may be the only encounter that some people have with the African American race. These things have the tendency to influence first time perceptions one might have with a person of the group.”
Let’s say, Worldstar took your advice and shut down. Do you really think that the ghetto behavior that’s being not depicted but outright SHOWN will vanish? I mean, that, imho, is a big part of the problem; we want to hang the messenger more than going after the subject of the message.
It’s a problem when there is no balance. When it comes to Whites in the media there is pretty much a balanced image of positive and negative images. Any imbalance favors the positive aspects. However, when it comes to African Americans and other minorities we always see negative stereotypes. There are many African Americans who live successful lives. But we never see those images. If you are going to be the messenger you should deliver the full story. If you are going to display negative images, then you should display the positive images as well.
Great Article. Im currently researching this very subject in one of my college classes now…
The question I have as an African American myself, is does ‘Q’ ( the black founder of Worldstar) or any other messenger/entertainer have an obligation to show a “balanced” potrayal of black images? If so, why does “Q” have to educate those ignorant enough to prejudge an entire race based of foolish vids?
ever stop to think that worldstar edited the video that they put up on their website in order to incite comments like this. perhaps people should wait till they have the story before judging someone based on something they see and know nothing about.
i dont believe in the video the girl ever says that she believes she knows everything there is to know about black people. she is merely stating things she has learned from her BLACK PEERS that she did not know before she went to college. that she thinks are very interesting. which is understandable.’
being african american myself i am a little confused what the problem is since everything she says in the video has truth to it. if it was a black person saying it there would be no problem, so why do people feel the need to get all crazy just because a white person is stating things that are true?
if we dislike it so much when it is broadcasted and stated maybe we should look at ourselves and make some changes so that the perceptions that people have can change. theres a reason certain stereotypes are around, its because people live up to them. and if they are noticed and stated well then its our fault for continuing down that path.