(Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Gladys Knight offered the ultimate wisdom in the Jackson family drama.

The singing legend appeared in CBS’s The Talk when the discussion turned to the tiff between Janet Jackson and niece Paris Jackson, daughter of Michael Jackson, who’d been tweeting family business.

Reportedly Janet slapped the 14-year-old, calling her a “spoiled little b****.” Paris responding by slapping her back and saying, “This is our house. Not the Jackson family house. Get the f*** out!”

Gladys , remembering the ways of the archetypal “big momma,” had this to say about the struggle: “It’s drama, that’s what it is. If you lived up under the microscope as this family does, everybody has dysfunctionality in their families, either one way or the other. See, I’m from the south and [we] was raised in that southern way. You have to understand Paris is what, 14? How old is Janet? Who’s the one who tries to direct the other one here? And I would think that it’s a good thing, she let’s Paris know who she is. She is a Jackson, she shouldn’t be putting the business out there like that. Cause people read into whatever they want to read into, that’s how they get the drama. So, she’s just trying to protect her, in a way. But if she [Paris] called me that, she wouldn’t have any teeth…You respect your elders.”

And Gladys ain’t lying. Many a Black adult-who-used-to-be-children know just what she was talking about… And apparently so did Janet (via poppa Joe Jackson). Only, in the age of social media, a possible tweet about a mere a** whooping could turn ugly fast… the way it has already done for the Jacksons.  However, Paris Jackson denied the slap ever happened.

Gladys Knight joins the long list of older folks who aren’t feeling hip-hop’s place in African-American culture. The “Empress of Soul” spoke to reporters while on the road promoting her role Tyler Perry’s newest movie I Can Do Bad All By Myself” and had this to say about the genre:

“Well, it’s been good as far as giving young artists an opportunity to get out there. But, it’s been bad, in my opinion, as far as the quality of the music and the stories that they tell. It’s one thing to be raw about your history, but they took it to another level and it became vulgar. It has not elevated our industry musically, and it definitely has not elevated us as African-Americans, because we show disrespect for our partners, men and women. I believe we have lowered our self-esteem with these performances and presentations.”

Anyone who actually listens to hip-hop knows that there’s a range of different artists with different messages, so to say that the music has “lowered our self-esteem” in the Black community?  That’s a sweeping generalization that I’m not sure is fair. The President listens to hip-hop for goodness sake  (although he did note: “I love the art of hip-hop, I don’t always love the message of hip-hop“).

I can respect Gladys Knight’s opinion. As a Grammy recording artist who has made beautiful music for decades I’m sure she listens to hip-hop and thinks, “what is this mess?” I wonder if that’s because she’s from a different day and age though? Lots of generations have had genres of music that the older generations thought was vulgar and out of line.

It’s no secret that some of hip-hop’s messages are less than stellar, but do you think the music is bad for our community?

SOURCE 1, 2