Alicia Keys and Jay-Z: Indifference In Living Color

"These pickaninnies get with anything to sell records/

'Cause it's trendy to be the conscious MC/"

--Nas, "These Are Our Heroes," Street's Disciple, 2004.

Joseph Nicéphore Niépce couldn't have dreamed of this day. A photographer's paradise: A man who calls himself God literally taking upon such role at an internationally televised music event, hosted by a television channel which gave up its purpose close to a decade ago. On his left stands, puzzled and interrupted, almost stripped of all recognizable emotion, a noble disciple; and on his right: an unexpected, undesired, unwanted companion, emboldened and empowered, flaunting the kind of defiance only spontaneity can afford.

He leans as physically--and emotionally--as possible to the angel on his left, trying at best to convey distance to, and disappointment with, the demon on his right. His lips are twisted and tortured. The designer sunglasses covering his eyes don't do much justice in masking the anger forming like flames from his nostrils.

The trio is placed before a sun-set background, complementing each other perfectly, though unintentionally, in wardrobe choices.

The God is Jay-Z. The angel: Alicia Keys. The demon: Lil' Mama. The event: Last week's annual MTV Video Music Awards. Jay-Z is closing the night with Alicia Keys, performing "Empire State of Mind," a track off his latest album, The Blueprint 3--a crash course in mediocrity.

Lil' Mama has just transported herself on to the stage. She is briefly lost, searching for a tunnel through the darkness, but not quick enough before Jay-Z turns to her and informs: "You're T-Painin', right now"--a reference to the Hot 97 Summer Jam event, earlier this year, when Auto-Tune assassin T-Pain hopped on stage, unexpectedly, and startled Jay-Z, who was performing his newest single (at the time), "D.O.A." (Death of Auto-Tune).

A day after the incident, Lil' Mama, through a statement, sought desperately to contextualize her actions: "I did not mean any disrespect towards Jay-Z or Alicia Keys. I admire them and look up to them as role models. 'Empire State of Mind' had my emotions running high. In that moment I came up onstage to celebrate my two icons singing about NY."

Sounds like the innocent cry of a young fan. But that, we soon learned, wouldn't cut the check for Hip-Hop cash king Jay-Z and his acolyte, Alicia Keys.

The Lil' Mama incident was only shadowed by the Kanye West incident, in which the Chicago rap star jumped on stage when country singer Taylor Swift had just been awarded the honors of Best Female Video of the year.

Defending his little brother in an interview on BBC Radio last week, "HOVA" said the following (it's worth quoting at length):

[Kanye is] like my little brother. I pretty much introduced him on the first Blueprint. ... He's just a super passionate person, and of course it was rude because it was her moment, but that's how he really felt. ... I think it was rude, but... he didn't kill anybody... no one got harmed. ...

At the end of the day, we're gonna celebrate him for his passion. ... As he grows and matures, he's got to know how to balance that. He'll learn that in the years to come. ...That passion wasn't fake; it wasn't staged...

I don't think he should lay low. I think he should go on tour and have a brilliant career. ...The thing you have to realize about it [is that], he's been that passionate from his first record. ... If he had changed because of his success, then it would be something else, then it would be a different thing; but he's always been that passionate.

On many counts, I actually agree with the Jigga man (so does Mos Def). Kanye isn't O.J., and he certainly isn't King Kong. Yes, our White Supremacy-cloaked society still holds steadfast its commitment to protecting feckless, White female flowers from the trampling boots of Black male sexuality. I get it. (Word to Jack Johnson.) So, Jay-Z wasn't too far off--though he would never go as far as Media Assassin Harry Allen went. (Of course, he lacks the eloquence and, more importantly, the courage.)

But let me get this straight: It's okay for Kanye West, his homie, to get "super passionate" enough to disrupt an award show, steal a 19-year-old's shining moment, and earn the "jackass award" from the most prominent man in the world; but it's irresponsible--no: reprehensible--when Lil' Mama, a 19-year-old, is so "inspired" by the music of two of her heroes, that she decides to express her emotions in the most visible manner possible--reach close enough to touch the hem of their garments?

Guess so.

Brooklyn rapper Fabolous was first to ignite the flames of misogyny following the award show, creating a "hash tag" on Twitter, called #lilmamais, which soon gained status of "trending topic"--a popular issue among Twitter users. Among his many deplorable comments, he dismissed her as a "crazy motherf**er," and went so far as comparing her to Maia Campbell ("#lilmamais fresh off hangin out wit [sic] Maia Campbell"), a former actress suffering from bipolar disorder, who fell victim to a vicious smear campaign a couple of weeks ago, when video of her being exploited by a random hoodlum--ghetto paparazzi--hit the net.   

Surely, the fingerprints of sexism are found printed all over the evidence. No questions. But it's more than that. It's more sinister, more shameful. It bespeaks of a "secret-society sensibility," as I called it earlier this year, taking form in the Hip-Hop community, where certain artists are deemed family and kin, and others gain the role of outsiders--strangers--unwelcome visitors--vagrants.

This week, both Jay-Z and Alicia Keys single-handedly confirmed my concerns.

Shamelessly, Ms. Keys, once the kind of role model you would want your little sister or daughter emulating (not anymore!), put her token in the hostility machine, cashing in on the opportunity to berate a younger, aspiring entertainer.

A couple of days after the VMAs event, she was asked on The Today Show her thoughts about Lil' Mama's much-talked about stage show, and, with gall-inducing insensitivity, she replied: "I would rather not speak about [it], because the performance was so phenomenal it doesn't even matter about anything else. ... We can appreciate [Lil' Mama] being overwhelmed and inspired but we would have preferred she did it from her seat."

You hear that, Lil' Mama? Alicia Keys would rather not have your commonness hanging around royalty. She was even kind enough to post a digitally-doctored photo of you on her Twitter page with the caption, 'Look yall, lil mama at it again......lol!'"

It is at such moments as this that responsible Hip-Hop fans, artists, and critics alike are forced to ask: What the ____ has happened to our culture?

That Ol' Dirty Bastard (R.I.P.), or Tupac (R.I.P.), or Big Pun (R.I.P.), or Big L (R.I.P.) would have reacted much differently isn't a topic up for debate. It's a given.

That Aaliyah (R.I.P.) or Left Eye (R.I.P.) would have been far more gracious than Alicia Keys isn't a scenario worth pondering, either. It's a given.

What we're stuck with, in lieu of those true artists, is a man who strongly believes the acquisition of money and wealth is worth more than an unblemished soul, and a woman who has all but forgotten the humble beginnings from which she comes.    

It's no secret Ol' Dirty Bastard and Left Eye weren't perfect, or that Tupac and Aaliyah frequently engaged in acts which threatened the integrity fans loved them for; but one value forever separating them from the young, bourgeois Hip-Hop and R&B stars of today, is the illimitable love they all had for everyday, ordinary people. They all understood that the pursuit of purpose constituted much more than the material possessions dollar bills could buy.

Many of the millennial young stars share no such beliefs.

With an ever growing army of publicists and handlers, they feel safe and secure, away from devoting any unneeded, non-marketing, non-promotion-based schedule space with those who might remind them of the undesirable lives they once lived. They're more concerned with the regal lifestyle than quality time spent with fans and family. ("You can come with me to the White house/ Get your suit up/ You stuck on being hardcore/ I chuck the deuce up/")

This is a people sliding down the slope of spiritual death. This is a culture stuck in reverse mode into moral decrepitude. This is an art-form dying from the selfishness and self-absorption of artists and fans alike.

Watch The Performance: