NAACP Underfire For Including Rappers In Image Awards Tonight

(AllHipHop News) The NAACP has come under fire for the lineup of Hip-Hop performers included to take part in the 42nd Annual NAACP Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles tonight (March 4th). 

Artists like Jay-Z, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Diddy and Dirty Money, B.o.B. and others will perform, present or have been nominated to be honored in a variety of categories, including music, film, television and literature. 

The lineup has drawn the wrath of Reverend Delman Coates of Mt. Ennon Baptist Church in Clinton, Maryland, who heads up the Enough is Enough Campaign for Corporate Responsibility in Entertainment.

In addition to Rev. Coates, other NAACP regions have received complaints about tonight's lineup. 

"It is unconscionable that the NAACP would sully its brand, squander its legacy, and take such a stand contrary to the aspirations and dreams of the mainstream of the African-American community," Coates said about the NAACP's choice of rappers for the show," Rev. Coates told the San Jose-Mercury Sun.

According to Joe Brown of the Pasadena, California NAACP, the organization has received a number of complaints and is reviewing the nomination process, to make sure artists with filthy lyrics don't make it to the awards. 

"I think the national office is going to review the policy of the nominees and the participants," Brown said. "Hopefully this will eliminate inviting those whose lyrics are considered disdainful."

Another Reverend who is shocked at the NAACP for nominating the rap artists this year equated Combs and the other successful businessmen to Tobacco and cancer. 

"On one side these are young black men that are great business men, but on the other end it is like the tobacco business," said Rev. Lucious Smith, pastor of Pasadena Friendship Baptist Church. "In the end you get cancer."

Coates, who heads up the Enough is Enough Campaign for Corporate Responsibility in Entertainment, said the battle with the NAACP is not about Hip-Hop music. 

Rev. Coates said he is not against Hip-Hop, but he said the NAACP could do a better job picking out artists who have a more positive message than the 2011 nominees. 

"The NAACP should be ashamed for not using this platform to profile the numerous positive hip-hop/R&B artists that are out there today," said Coates.