You may or may not have heard of Polow (pronounced Polo) Da Don, but he is a producer who has worked with artists like Ciara, Fergie, Kelis, Ludacris, The Pussy Cat Dolls, Rich Boy, etc. With the exception of music industry types, he has pretty much been under the radar, but he had to go and start giving interviews to AllHipHop.com and get a little publicity by making controversial statements. I mean he DOES have to get his visibility game up… you got people like Timabaland, Dr. Dre, Pharrell and Kanye West walking around being recognized. Why can’t Polow get some of that fame???
He recently sat down with AllHipHop.com again to clarify and reiterate statements he made in a previous interview that got all the black internet blogs buzzing with comments from pissed off black women. I basically jacked a good portion of the interview – especially some of his most interesting statements – from All Hip Hop and have it below… but I did leave some of it out so you they can get their clicks too. You can get the entire interview here.
I would LOVE to get feedback comments on this one! So here it goes:
AllHipHop.com: I think people viewed the Black women not being submissive comment as a negative thing. Do you view the idea of a woman being submissive as negative?
Polow Da Don: Well of course [they viewed it as negative], because they've been taught to think that. And that's exactly my point. A lot of those women who probably feel that way probably came up without both parents, or they are probably in a situation where they are not married now. All you got to do is refer to the “Willie Lynch Letter.” First of all, we don’t read enough as a people, we don't educate ourselves enough as a people. When I make strong opinions and comments like this, you're gonna have people that go crazy, and you're gonna have other people that say, "He's right." So my point is, anybody with a strong opinion, or strong words, or when you say something racial, it's an emotional thing. Black women are very emotional, Black people are very emotional. So when you're talking about a race, it's going to be emotional, it's going to be mixed views.
I'm just bringing the problem out to the forefront. That's the only way you can solve a problem. If you're in denial and say, "We don’t have a problem," you will see the divorce rate increase, or you will see [the] marriage rate decrease because it's already been proven. My parents got married almost 40 years ago, and they are still together and more in love than my homeboys and my homegirls.
AllHipHop.com: Do you think that your mom would agree or disagree with your statements?
Polow Da Don: She would definitely say I was right. I love my mother because she is a strong woman. My mother came from Japan. My mother was born in Japan so she has very strong morals. At the end of the day, she definitely believes in letting the man be the man of the house. She definitely believes in family because of what she went through in life. My mother was adopted, so her family is like her only real family. Me, my brother, my sister and my father, we are her life. So she just looks at family a little different, she values it. Of course they have arguments, but they are a healthy couple. But at the end of the day, my mother remains to be a woman, so it makes it so much easier for my father just to be a man. So we were always clear about who was who and what was what. My mother is very strong, she's actually stronger.
It's not that I'm attacking Black women; Black women have done this to themselves. Well I'm not going to say that. They didn't do it to themselves, but they are a part of the cycle, which means they're not helping the situation by not looking at the problem. So let's take White people out of it, and take any other race out of it. I used White women as a comparison because so many Black people get mad because I say that I'm the “King of the White Girls.” First of all, saying that I'm the “King of the White Girls,” how can you find that disrespectful as a Black woman? You are an idiot. If anything, I should have Klansmen feeling disrespected; I should have White women feeling disrespected as far as a Black man saying he's the king of the White women. It's not disrespectful to Black woman at all. If a white man says, "I'm the King of Black women," would [Black women] be mad at the White man? Of course you would be, and so would Black men. You think a White woman would be mad at a White man saying, “I'm the king of Black women?” No, they won’t be mad. So I don't understand how a Black woman can feel offended by me saying I'm the “King of the White Girls.” I didn't come up with that. Like I said, a White man came up with that title for me. But, Black women do need to get their shit together, period, point blank. And if you're in denial of that, you are part of the problem.
AllHiphop.com: Do you think that White women don't have any issues?
Polow Da Don: American women have issues. Black women are the backbone of our families. If every Black woman got together and said, "We're not gonna date guys unless they have PhDs. We're not gonna date guys unless they have a Master’s [degree].” Guess what? In due time, n****s will stop selling dope and they'll start going to college. It's that simple. Again, all you have to do is refer to the “Willie Lynch Letter.” All this was planned. All the negative responses; you're supposed to respond like that. That wasn't even your idea to act like that. That was the white man's idea that had slaves hundreds of years ago. See that's what they don't understand. What I'm doing is shining the light on the problem. So we're shining the light on the roaches, now we got to get these roaches out of here. See me talking like I talk is really a red flag. It's really on some “wake up” s**t.
AllHipHop.com: So why do you go at women more than men?
Polow Da Don: First of all, Americans get divorced almost double any other country. That's a problem within itself. Now Black women, or Black families I should say, almost all end in divorce. Now, a woman, to me, can either hold that together or she can let it go. Most men don’t know how to be men anymore, because most of them come from the brunt of their mothers, with no father there. That woman can't teach them how to be a man. So him not being a man now is just him coming from a background that he's unfortunate. So now, nine times out of ten, he's gonna have a certain way; and if you come from that same kind of background, nine times out of ten, ya’ll are gonna fail as a couple. But it's gonna take the Black women to turn it around. So that's why I come at the Black women first. Just like if I want to have all the hoes on the block and be a pimp, I got to get all the women's backing first. Then I can get all the dudes to come to any party I want them to come to. Look at strip clubs. You take all the women out of strip clubs and see how popular the strip club becomes. You tell women to stop dating dope dealers and you’ll see how cool dealing dope becomes.
AllHipHop.com: So we discussed how some Black have not really learned to be men yet. Do you think that may be a reason why some Black women have a problem being submissive to that kind of man?
Polow Da Don: No. Women have been taught to not trust us. Women have run the household for so long, they've been taught to be independent. So when a man comes in and tries to run the household, they are kind of fighting for that spot, so to speak. There's gonna be a little resistance before a woman just let's it all go because they've seen their mothers be strong, and grandmothers be so strong, and they taught them to be the same way. So when you meet a guy you're gonna challenge him. Take somebody like Oprah (Winfrey.) To me Oprah is a bad example. To me Oprah being titled as the most powerful Black woman in America, and she doesn’t have a man… To me that's sending a bad signal to all young Black women. That's saying the most powerful Black woman in America didn't need a man. You telling me that's a role model?
AllHipHop.com: Do you feel like people who are celebrities hold their tongue on issues like this? Do you think they should?
Polow Da Don: I feel like status and money allows you to be who you really are. I think that's why some people are in the closet, until they get rich, then go, "Oh! I'm gay." This is who I really am. I really am someone who looks at the big picture. I feel like I just see through so much of the bulls**t. I look past the things that are right in front of me. So, all you got to do is read the Bible. Read, just read. It is a fact that it should be God, man, woman, child. I feel like if a woman plays her role, then a man has no choice but to play his role. And they both, as a whole, need to get back into God. Then our children will fall in line. Our children will not disrespect [their] parents. But I think we do have to start with the Black woman because [they] have the most power.
AllHipHop.com: Another statement that offended people was when you said either Black people are idiots or white people are geniuses. I think they interpreted the statement as your personal feelings. Do you remember that statement?
Polow Da Don: I think everybody keeps forgetting that I'm Black myself. And what people like to do is, once somebody gets a little money, all of a sudden you're not one of “them” anymore. The problem is, most of your readers, especially on AllHipHop.com, don't know who they are and don't read, and are not educated. N****s don't read books. Now when you print that, a lot of people are gonna get mad. But I'm gonna tell you something, White people already know this. It's not a secret so don't get mad at me for stating the facts. I'm not making Black people look bad, you're making Black people look bad. Black people already look bad. You go anywhere across the world and see how they respect Black people. Africans don't even respect Black Americans. I'm just saying, this is real s**t. Everybody looks at the Black American like we're fools, like we're lazy, like we're idiots, and like we're dumb. This is factual, and if you don't believe that I'm telling the truth, what you need to do is just do your history and do your homework. Discuss this matter with people around the world. Come on man, n****s is dying and killing over rims and jewelry. It is time to be slapped and wake up.
AllHipHop.com: So do you think that your opinions set you apart from others in the industry?
Polow Da Don: When I came into the game with my production, didn't you hear something different in my music? Like a sense of dignity? When I blew up, snap music was the biggest thing poppin'. When I came with "London Bridge" a hater will look at it like "Aww man, he doing pop music. He giving all that good stuff to white people." I look at it like; I'm bringing them to my culture because that's the most Hip-Hop you've ever heard. "London Bridge" was probably one of the most Hip-Hop beats that came out in the last three to five years. So, everything I do, I do with pride and I do with dignity. And that's why the real leaders in this game respect me. And that's why I'm different. That's why I get invited to dinner dates that others don't get invited to. They know that my mind set, it's just something about me. This is a secret. Black people have secrets. White people don’t. And what I meant when I said “either black people are idiots or white people are geniuses” is that we have fallen for the trick over and over again. We are more enslaved than we've ever been. We used to get our a** beat to do stuff, now we do it on our own. Now we hold each other down on our own. Now we don't wanna be s**t on our own. Now we don't read on our own. I'm a bad motherf****r, any other questions?
