The psychological dilemma of the Black artist

Outrage over honoring It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp with an Academy Award for Best Original Song has created a dilemma for another generation of aspiring Black artists. Is the primary allegiance of artists to their art form, or should they restrict themselves by the ideals of Black social/political critics?

Just as Hattie McDaniel, Lincoln Perry (Step and Fetchit) and a host of earlier artists were forced to perform within the racial, political and social context of their times, today's generation of aspiring artists create and perform based on their cultural and/or sub-cultural experience, their unique realities. These young Black artists utilize their own vernacular, the language …