THE MAGNETISM OF LOVE AND HIP HOP

Cat fights, gossip, looks and “kiki’s”, and oh yes-music, all await viewers that eagerly await the debut of their favorite season, be it NYC, LA, or Miami. So much so that as we march into a decade- Love and Hip Hop producing new content is old news.

So-with all of this acknowledged, how is it that a show known for filth and dirty laundry still has a cult following 10 years later? The answer is simple: representation, or...a lack thereof (...?)

In the 1960s, MLK Jr. and countless others would use peace to combat race-based brutality, ultimately resulting in the desegregation of America. It is the sole reason that today, people of all racial backgrounds live, and work together.

However, for a myriad of reasons, one being that only 3.3% of senior leadership in corporate america are Black (CBS News) - it is a cultural phenomena that African Americans can seldom be found in Corporate America...in large numbers.

Black adults make up 8% of working professionals in the U.S. We are 10% of all college graduates (NBC News)

In fact, a majority of the American workforce that is engaged in a relationship with Corporate America, is women. And now, what the above has to do with Love and Hip Hop.

As a result of Henry Ford’s innovations in automobile production-the modern-work day is 8 hours long. Typically from 9a-5p or 10a-6p-varying from field to field. This means that the 8% of working Black Professionals rarely see reflections of themselves - in positions of power, in vibrant color, at true volume and tone or at sincere temperature. Until they get home.

By 8p ECT, a reflection of self emerges from the literal ashes of reality TV programming produced by the likes of Chris Abrego and the Godfather of unscripted content - Mark Burnett.

Love and Hip Hop stands on the shoulders of reality TV triumphs like Flavor of Love, the 1st reality show to cross love and the beloved culture that is hip hop. All this presented, LHH, like Flavor of Love, comes jam packed with issues. The constant slander, back-biting, the occasional cat fighting...that we all love. But again, why?

It’s simple. For 8+ hours a day the Black woman that populate a lionshare of Black Corporate America are starved for reflections of self. In the workplace, code-switching becomes the solution to gambling with sharing self identity on terrain that literally determines one's livelihood. But as any quality Physicist knows- energy cannot be destroyed, it can only be transformed. During the American workday, natural rhythm and culture is smothered like gravy on rice. Approve of it or not, LHH is an opportunity to breathe.

Does it have room to improve? Sure. Does the show have things to prioritize before sharing on-screen? You bet. But what LHH is, is a chance to relieve ourselves of the masks that some of us prefer to wear during the day.

However, are we- those that feel the need to remedy our lack of actualized identity during work hours, actually exchanging the mask of capitulation, for mask that is made from the bones of colonialism? I tend to think that the former question, is on reserved for an already nourished people, and that we, Black people-are currently not nourished. So perhaps our fascination with LHH is a survival tactic. And a colorful one at that.

J