Worst TV Show of the Week Brought to you by the Parents Television Council WARNING: Graphic Content!!! Do NOT push play if you don't want to see the explicit video!!!

The Vibe Awards on UPN

By Caroline Schulenburg

It's been a decade since Tupac Shakur, the rap artist who once sang "Dolores Tucker, you're a motherf**ker, instead of trying to help a nigga, you destroy a brother" died a brutal death at the age of twenty five and still the hip hop community seems to be a prisoner of the identity foisted upon it by record labels and movie studios. The Vibe Awards which aired on Tuesday, November15th on UPN was nothing but a celebration of the negative and violent stereotypes that activists such as the late Delores Tucker sought to eradicate through their activism.

During a tribute to people affected by Hurricane Katrina, rapper Lil' Wayne, a native of the gulf coast region rapped "Gotta be abstract…You catch my girl legs open…better smash that…Don't be surprise if she ask where the cash at….I see she wearing them jeans…show her butt crack…My girls can't wear that why? That's were my stash at." In another tribute, David Banner raps "Cream on the cone girl? Lick it all off…Catch it in your mouth, like your name is Moss….I'm feeling real freaky girl, bring your friends…I can knock ‘em down like 1,2,3…It ain't nothin to a pimp girl…play with the g-spot." It is worth noting that Mr. Banner went the extra mile to provide women in skimpy exercise clothing doing leg lifts, riding exercise bicycles, jumping on trampolines and grinding against him as visual aids.

While Mariah Carey was the big winner of the night, credit was given where it was due to T.I. for his "Street Anthem" U Don't Know Me, the song whose lyrics boast "I think its time I made a song for the niggas who know me, I graduated from the streets I'm a real OG, I been trappin' shootin' pistols since I stood 4 feet, So all u niggas actin bad u gon have to show me, U gon make me bring the Chevy to a real slow creep, My niggas hangin out the window mouth full'o gold teeth, When the gun starts popping wonder when its gon cease, Chopper hit u in the side and create a slow leak, We can end the speculation cuz 2day we gon see Wuts the future of a pussy nigga hating on me, I give a f*** about the feds investigation on me."

If one were to subscribe to the images and ideas fed to them by Vibe magazine they would come away thinking that a day in the life of a successful thug meant waking up, dealing with the stress of being pulled in two different directions by the violent street culture that raised them and the violent rap culture that they are now a part of followed by restful night of wild kinky threesomes with the woman they basically own and her friends. Thankfully there are members of the community who will continue to fight these degrading stereotypes perpetuated by Vibe Magazine and UPN.