As Imus becomes a bitter memory, at least, until he signs a big deal with Mark Cuban or another of his apologists out to bank on intolerance, the issue of appropriate language in referring to other humans, especially black women, turns to hip hop.

Hip-Hop On The Defensive After Imus Incident; Sharpton Calls For ‘Dialogue’ With MCs
Obama Compares Rappers to Imus
Blacks say Imus used slurs like hip-hop’s

Al and Jesse are one thing but Obama has folk’s ears without the appearance of a shady past [I consider Jesse shady, but I haven't looked that closely at Al].  While his criticisms will certainly be described by some rappers as selling out to get the white man’s vote, that kind of weak defense seems unlikely to last much longer.

The debate over what is appropriate in hip hop is getting closer to the day when African-American criticisms from outside the African-American dominated sectors of the hip hop subculture can no longer be ignored as they join the voices from within.  In particular, the voices of Black women in America have been slowly rising as more women who have hesitated to speak out about a musical genre that both attracts and repels them under the pressure of not turning on Black men in America are starting to realize that they’ve lost out in that unwritten agreement.

My general rule of thumb in trying to understand a social issue is to turn for insight and leadership to those who are getting the worst deal.  In hip hop, that would be black women.

For issues related to portrayals of women in hip hop to be resolved in any kind of positive manner, Black women in America will have to gather their forces and lead the way.  In doing so, they will have to find ways to work across the many divisions that fracture the black community, most especially the divison of class.

I’m not attempting to predict what will happen but, unless we have strong leadership from black women on this, I don’t think these issues can ever be fully resolved.  Unfortunately, even if that leadership emerges, the resistance to change from within hip hop is massive and the pleasures of not changing are quite seductive.

Update:
With a number of hip hop artists already rejecting the possibility that rap has anything to answer for, not surprisingly, Russell Simmons and Ben Chavis have their backs:
Ones intention, when using the power of language, should be made clear. Comparing Don Imus’ language with hip-hop artists’ poetic expression is misguided and inaccurate and feeds into a mindset that can be a catalyst for unwarranted, rampant censorship.

Let me make it clear that ProHipHop does not support censorship but does support community action against anyone, whether or not claiming "poetic expression" as a shield, who seeks to benefit from the exploitation and oppression of other humans by adding insult to injury.