BET Cartoon: It's No Reading Rainbow

i for one think thats smart to make, this cartoon that needs to be on tv. maybe thats what some of our black young viewers need. to me thats like telling them what they need to start doing so they wont be out there doing gods no what. more like showing them how to be successful be in a cartoon way! maybe they witt understand it better. dont you agree?

October 8, 2007 at 3:10 pm

i thinl this is a wonderful and straight forward message i would rather watch this than all of the sorry sex filled bullshit we call hip hop videos

October 6, 2007 at 11:06 pm

How can anyone say that this is supposed to reach our children in a positive manner? I am an 18 y.o. college student and I first saw the video in my college cafeteria. Everyone laughed at first, then realized how bad this video is viewing us as young people. All this video is saying is that the only way to get to children and young adults is through a stupid, degrading video (with the typical booty-shaking, cursing, and stupidity.) This should be a wake-up call not only to the people that actually find this offensive but also to the people who find this humorous...Come on now!

October 1, 2007 at 11:46 pm

Sup Lil Jon thats not offensive to our people because the white community dont know what it means to be a Black man growing up in 2007 kids are very ignorant & dont wanna listen , except watchin videos so do yo thang yeahhhhhhhhhhhh , itz a message to the younger generation meaning do something with your life & quit doin dumb shit get something or you will be nothing.

September 28, 2007 at 11:45 am

If that what it takes to get the message across do it. its not offensive.

September 18, 2007 at 8:45 pm

Great video. Much better than the female degrading filth in the "real" rap videos.

September 15, 2007 at 12:53 am

This is in yo face wisdom. Put simply, common sense. The language is strong and so is the message. I like it. This is one approach that will be heard by some. Thanks for your creative effort.

September 10, 2007 at 6:10 pm

This does exactly what it is supposed to do; it forces us as a whole to evaluate the state of being taht our generation is faced with. "Read a Book" simply uses the same strategy that hip-hop uses to lure our kids, which is a hook. I have long heard my two teenage brothers singing the hook from this parody, and then walk around singing 'Crank That Soulja Boy." I have to agree with the other commenter who said that it is more acceptable to say "supersoak dat hoe." Why o=is it wrong to say "read a m-----f-----g book?" Half of them cannot spell. Need proof? Go to myspace and look at some of the profiles.

September 7, 2007 at 9:37 pm

Sigh. After reading the comments and hearing the general uproar that has been raised over this video, I have to wonder- do people really get it? And perhaps like Armah said, we do need to read a few more books because if we were more well-read we would understand that 'Read a Book' is supposed to be SATIRICAL. It is a PARODY of the kind of ridiculous, inane music and imagery that is pushed out by the hip hop community. Like the director said in another interview, it is basically holding up a mirror to hip-hop to show how base and ridiculous it has become.
You are SUPPOSED to be outraged by the imagery. You should be outraged because this kind of ignorant imagery is the norm in hip-hop. These guys have just subverted it and attached it to a positive, if exasperated message. He isn't saying anything different from what Bill Cosby has been saying or even from what Marcus Garvey said- which is basically - uplift yourselves! Read! Take care of your children! Buy land!

Satire isn't supposed to be sweet and friendly- it is some tough love- amplifying flaws to show just how ridiculous and pathetic something is. Gratuitous swearing and booty-shaking are the norm in hip-hop videos these days, no matter what the subject matter of the song. By attaching that imagery to a message like 'read a book', Armah is showing you just how gratuitously and ruinously stupid that is.

September 6, 2007 at 2:30 pm

I love it's satire, if you're offended, it's probably talking about you. If you are doing and being the message, you have nothing to worry about. Some of us have been taught these very things, while others have not, so if they are the negative images observed, this is there wake up call, so read a book!

September 5, 2007 at 10:56 am

Although this cartoon may have indeed been offensive I think that that was the sole purpose. Our race, as African Americans in this time in age should not be summed up or stereotyped because we are an eclectic race; full of talent and potential. Unfortunately that is almost always the case and we all take the fall for a few bad apples. At the same time a lot of the things in that video rang true. Hip hop is huge part of our culture and it has an immense effect on how the world sees us. Trying to relate to these young kids out here via a music video where girls are shaking their butts in the camera is cliché and also catchy. I doubt the cartoon will make anyone really want to read a book but it was definitely a sad realization of just how extreme our image as black people is portrayed.

September 5, 2007 at 7:54 am

Everyone who is up in arms about how this video sends a negative vibe towards the black race needs to check out the channel that it was aired on. It is BET, black entertainment televison so of course it's not going to sterotype any other race because it is on a channel predominatly viewed by blacks.

People need to stop protesting at the drop of a hat race wise. Racism will always exist in any race, not that it's right, however there are more important things in this world to be concerned with than a video which for the most part depicts the truth. Rappers rap about it, producers make movies about it, and it sells.

I thought the video was pretty funny and the only incorrect rap verse was about brushing their teeth, other than homeless people black people for the most part have excellent oral health.

It was a funny video and gets to the point of problems within the ghetto weather it be the black ghetto, mexican ghetto, or straight up white trash streets. Every race has them so quit crying about it.

September 4, 2007 at 9:57 pm

It's funny that the same people who are saying this video is bad cannot use proper english to do so. Maybe if they had read a book, they could speak and write correctly.

September 4, 2007 at 12:47 pm

This video should not have been made. We as African-American people read books, newspapers, magazines and contracts everyday. If someone does not want to read, that is their loss. The resources to read are available for every american regardless of race. So to single out African-Americans is simply wrong.

September 3, 2007 at 2:12 pm

I am STILL waiting for BET to tip the scale in favor of POSITIVE IMAGES of Black people. There is more going on in the world than rap videos and comedies. CHILDREN are affected by what they see, and seeing embarassing, stereotyped images of black people is NOT a positive direction to point our children in. Where are the POSITIVE images for our YOUNG, IMPRESSIONALBLE young minds? This may be funny, but WHERE is the balance? One can see more positive images of Black people on CNN, than BET. I still watch BET. But only when I want to watch comedies and videos. Where can ALL Black people go for LEGITIMATE information?

September 2, 2007 at 11:17 am

Everybody here needs to lightn' up!!!

This is funny ass shit.

READ A BOOK.
R-E-A-D-A-B-O-OK!

September 2, 2007 at 1:02 am

I found the video hilarious, and very true (and yes, I'm a black man).

I happened to have grown up being one of those 'niggah' kids who always loved reading, and being made a social outcast because I preferred to learn instead of drinking, drugging, and having illegitimate kids.

This video IS a satire aimed at 'ghetto' black culture, who are seen as not wanting to read/use deodorant/brush their teeth/take care of their children (and believe me, these 'stereotypes' are often true, at least where I live).

I would argue that the video shouldn't be shown unedited to children (language, not visuals), but other than that its perfectly acceptable (in the manner of Carlos Mencia, who often uses humor to point to uncomfortable racial truths).

September 2, 2007 at 12:52 am

this is a peice of shit what the hell has bet come to not only is this video offensive it's demeaning and degrading the whole african american community and just when i thought this was bad bet does another one called bid em in that consist of a white man singing about selling slaves it's a shame our people have stooped to such low levels of tactics that don't elude but polute this generation with nonsense.

September 1, 2007 at 4:01 pm

it was entertaining and gives insight into the black mans mind.

August 31, 2007 at 8:20 am

I am a african American an I honesty think this is a diss to our race when I saw this on the television I did not take it as a joke. The animation "read a book"is stereotyping the people of my race. Im here to prove that every african american woman as myself shakes her ass for a living and that we as normal human being does know how to bathe and be very neat and clean. I wish they would take this off the air because many people as myself are very offended by this. They say is a joke well I have a joke for you... what happens when all the african americans who loved the BET network witch millions and billions of us do stop watching it then .... what... oH I know .... your show gets cancel ... so maybe you need to rethink things before you air it nationwide!!

August 29, 2007 at 11:46 pm

So we're going to criticize a cartoon that PURPOSELY satirizes everything we're inundated with on the radio and videos, but not the videos it's mocking? RAB has been circulating on the internet for over a YEAR before the video came out. How come no one said anything about it then? Why weren't the lyrics offensive and derogatory 18 months ago?

GTFOOHWTBS

People can't stand to have their own sh*t shoved under their nose so they're forced to admit it does, indeed, stink.

Miss Jones has not an inch of room to criticize anyone. People still remember her and her crew making that "joke" song about the victims of the tsunami. She used slurs like "chinks" to describe the hundreds of thousands of Indonesians who were killed and displaced, but she wants to say a video is insulting? She needs to go into the corner and put her dunce cap back on.

August 29, 2007 at 6:27 pm

why ppl complain about read a book but not "supersoak dat hoe"

August 29, 2007 at 5:34 pm

I have a serious problem witht he Read A Book cartoon. Though I get tht intended message, it is a bit of a disgust to me. I have not watched BET for several months, and watched it with my roommate last week, when I saw the cartoon. As a young black woman, I am disappointed and would not let my neice or nephew watch this in my presence. Come on BET, we have got to do better!!!

August 28, 2007 at 10:02 pm

If its BET putting it out then we know its trash! Satire? Possibly, but BET, without a doubt, continues to exploit the very audience they intend to entertain.

August 28, 2007 at 1:28 pm

best rap song since i can by nas

August 27, 2007 at 1:18 pm

Peace Family

I love this video. Just the kick-in-the-pants that aspiring rap industry slaves need.

Peace.

A-tone

August 27, 2007 at 12:41 pm