Opinion: Peter Rosenberg’s Drunk Driving Crusade Misses the Mark

Peter Rosenberg, host of “Cipha Sounds and Rosenberg” and “Real Late with Peter Rosenberg” on Hot 97, the podcast “Juan Epstein,” and the upcoming MTV game show “Hip-Hop Squares” knows his shit. His interviews with the hip-hop’s elite are stripped of the sycophancy that so many music journos puff into their questions, and his opinions are just as unabashed.

Recently, tragedy stuck the Rosenberg family. The radio personality’s brother-in-law was killed in a car accident by a drunk driver. Rosenberg has begun to lead a charge against drunk driving, an undeniably noble cause. He has taken his rallying cry into the radio booth, working his humanitarian agenda into his interviews. And because of this, his assault on drunk driving has become a crusade.

When Kendrick Lamar and ScHoolboy Q strolled in for a recent interview, Rosenberg took the last few minutes to grill Q, who had yet to speak during the duration of the chat, about his hit song “Hands on the Wheel,” which on the surface is an ode to drunk driving. Q was taken aback, gathering himself before explaining to Rosenberg that the song fit the theme of his album Habits & Contradictions.

Next came Wiz Khalifa, who Rosenberg called out for his line in “On My Level” in which he raps, “Gin got me drunk as fuck stumbling out the bar / Plus I’m struggling trying to find the keys to my car.” Wiz took the criticism in stride, explaining that he doesn’t condone drunk driving and always has handlers around to make sure he gets home safely. Rosenberg had no questions about Khalifa’s line from “Mary 3X”: “A nigga like me be smoking while I’m driving.”

Rosenberg brings the subjects onto his turf — the radio booth — cornering them on-air, and his questions can come off as condescending; does Q think it’s a “wise decision” to put out a song like “Hands on the Wheel”? Rosenberg wanted to make sure Q knew he was wrong for what he did, and that might not be the healthiest approach for an interview.

In a land where hip-hop artists’ stories are sometimes more fabricated than fairytales, we must choose our battles wisely. If we are going to call rappers out for talking about drunk driving, then where is the uproar over the idolization of drug dealers? Where is the backlash for the hip-hop communities’ shunning of the homosexuality? The constant disrespect towards women? All of these issues are just as important, and many of them are much more prevalent in hip-hop than the mention of driving under the influence. Where are we going to draw the line between what can and cannot be said in a hip-hop song?

When Earl Sweatshirt made the decision to rid his lyrics of rape after his experiences in Samoa, he did it as quietly as his disappearance from the United States. Stalley chooses not to swear in his music. He doesn’t chastise other rappers for their use of expletives. Earl and Stalley merely made their decision, and moved on with their lives. While gangbanging and weed smoking make up most of ScHoolboy Q and Wiz Khalifa’s content, Rosenberg chose to call them out for drunk driving.

There is a popular phrase amongst rappers: “I’m just talking my shit.” They talk to talk, to create an environment in which they feel popular and accepted. We know most of it isn’t real. Wiz Khalifa isn’t riding around drunk every night, just like Slaughterhouse isn’t walking into a club with guns strapped to their waists (although Royce Da 5’9” might legitimately own a bazooka).

In hip-hop, we unfortunately have to separate the real from the fake far too often, but even Rosenberg admits it isn’t so difficult of a task. Before raising the issue with ScHoolboy Q, he acknowledged that he’s caught some flack for cherrypicking the subject of drinking and driving in hip-hop, but justifies it by stating that we know when rappers talk about gunplay, that they aren’t actually out there murdering people. In one swoop, Rosenberg contradicts himself. Drunk driving is real, but are we going to dismiss rappers’ boasts about murders because everyone knows it’s not “real”? A veteran hip-hop head took “Hands on the Wheel” out of context, yet kids are supposed to know that the gun talk is phony?

There are many issues that need to be addressed in the hip-hop community. The issue of drunk driving is personal to Peter Rosenberg, but that should not give it precedence over any other controversial subject that is spoken about in rap. While the subject is serious, and the message is valiant, Rosenberg’s aggressive style is not the way to make a change. Certainly not in a landscape where misogny, homophobia, and gang culture all run wild. Instead, maybe it’s time to hold rappers accountable for everything they talk about, not just one issue that has greater personal meaning to the critic.