Appropriation of the Confederate flag by black rap artists

[kwassa]

I know little about the modern rap scene, but as I was channel surfing last night I went through a show called the "Classics of Crunk". There was Lil Jon and the Eastside Boyz, as I think they are called proudly perfoming their crunk classic in front of a huge Confederate flag. Lil Jon also had two Confederate flags draped over his shoulders. Lil Jon is an African-American who appears to wear the flag as a symbol of identity and honor.

I don't get it. I just did a little online research and came up with other Southern black artists who do the same thing. I also discovered that this and other videos featuring the Confederate flag are four years old, which shows how current I am.

here is a quote from one article on the subject.

http://www.sfbg.com/AandE/fullcircle/82.html
Southern men

by mosi reeves

quote, refering to BET:

There you'll see Pastor Troy's hit "This tha City," in which black children and adults in Atlanta, Ga., proudly wave the Confederate flag; or Lil' Jon and the Eastside Boyz' "Bia' Bia'," in which a dreadlocked former Rastafarian screams the chorus, an abbreviation of the word "bitch," in front of a massive Confederate flag. The group also use the flag – two burning and one draped over Lil' Jon's shoulders – on the cover of their debut, Put Yo Hood Up, claiming it as a representation of their Atlanta "hood."

Predictably, longtime hip-hop observers are celebrating this new trend. Britain's Hip-Hop Connection magazine posits the Confederate flag as stars in the eyes of Ludachris (of "Southern Hospitality" and "throw dem bows" fame), while Vibe breathlessly reports in its September issue that Andre from Outkast, Lil' Jon, and Pastor Troy have adopted the Confederate flag as a fashion statement. In the Vibe article Andre explains that he wears the flag on a belt buckle "for Southern pride and to rebel," adding, "I don't take the Confederate flag that serious as far as the racial part is concerned."

end of quote.

Excuse me for sounding and being old-fashioned, but am I offended for no reason over this? It is like the n-word controversey.

to quote Reeves again:

I want to call Lil' Jon, Pastor Troy, Outkast, Ludachris, Snoop Dogg, and anyone else who exploits racist iconography a stupid fucking idiot. Why would a black man wrap himself in a symbol America's Southern states adopted in 1861 as an assertion of their inalienable right to enslave black people and keep them as property?