That's why we invited the artists that we thought were promoting positive ideas. You have to give alternatives, show people what they should do instead. One Fisk student in the audience of about 100, Monique Dildy, agreed, saying change comes only when those who disagree with hateful or sexually demeaning lyrics speak out. It depends on the individual. But Dildy also said society's intense focus on the negativity in hip hop often drowns out many of the genre's positive messages.
People are going to listen to what they want, that's just a fact.
Robert Wingfield, a 2000 graduate from Fisk University, returned to his alma mater specifically for the discussion of rap and relationships. I think hip hop is like rock 'n' roll. When it was new, everyone said people who were listening to it were going to hell. Any popular music has to been seen as negative before it's accepted in the mainstream community.