Why does rap music take all the blame for the downfall of out times?

[HEyHEY]

Seriously. Why rap?

I mean, the grunge rock movement was the one that made apathy cool. So now we've got a bunch of 20-somethings running around drinking coffee and moaning about their lives instead of trying to make them better.

That is why young people don't vote and don't care, not because Biggie owns a benz.

Why blame rap? Oh yeah! It's black!

[MiniMandaRuth]

1. Yeah. Everyone thinks that rap is just about shooting people and hos...

but... like all genres of music, there is good and bad. The underground stuff that people make in their garages speaks about how hard life is, and about how those higher up don't help them at all. They sing out their frustrations in a rhythm of poetry and feeling.

Just my bit.

[OneBlueSky]

2. jazz is black . . . the blues are black . . . gospel is black . . .

r&b is black . . . reggae is black . . . zydeco is black . . .

I'm just sayin' . . .

[HEyHEY]

6. Yeah, but most of those have been sanitized with white folks

[Hekate]

11. Balderdash. Black music has made American music what it is. Rap's problem

A lot of rap music's problem is it's hostility -- especially the misogyny.

Hekate

[hexola]

18. Nonsense!!! (nt)

[JohnKleeb]

3. I dont know

and I am not even a rap fan. You're right about grunge though. I think honestly it could be the subtle racism in some people when it comes to rap.

[hexola]

20. Grunge was cool for about 5 minutes...(nt)

[FVZA_Colonel]

4. Funny, I thought it was video games.

At least, according to Jack Thompson it is.

[JohnKleeb]

5. bah I hate that guy

Whining about GTA San Andreas, yeah Jack you're so crediblie you made your start in public life by calling Janet Reno a lesbian.

[Rocknrule]

25. Me too

He blames videogames for everything from Columbine to the crucifixion of Jesus. I'm surprised he hasn't tried to pin 9/11 on Microsoft Flight Simulator.

[557188]

7. Rap has caused a cultural shift

The grunge movement was led by a guy (Kurt Cobain) who wore dresses and appeared on the cover of the advocate. The grunge movement was a politically progressive movement about love, acceptance and social change. To simply label it as a movement about apathy is so ignorant it really calls into question if you know what you're talking about. The grunge movement was very collectivist, it was about the people. The rock stars of the day shyed away from the excess of the 80s rock star and appeared more interested in using their fame to champion certain causes. The bands were all politically active. Heck Pearl Jam is still on the forefront of political activism! Of course the suicide of Kurt changed a lot of that... and as a result music changed unfortantly.

The mainstream rap movement has been about individualism and being a thug. It's about showing off and as a result has led to kids trying to show off any way possible. While some rappers are politically active, the biggest stars generally are not. 50 Cent recently claiming to be a fan of George W. Bush is quite telling.

So your theory is absurd and wrong. If I was you, and you were serious about it, you should study how the right wing hijacked rock music (or music in general) after the suicide of Kurt Cobain.

[msgadget]

8. Mainstream rap has evolved to its current narcissism but

it didn't start out that way and there are still rappers of substance today.

[tkmorris]

10. No it DIDNT start out that way

I have on occasion needed to point out the difference between Rap I like and Rap that quite frankly I think we'd all be better off without. Unfortunately to do that I usually have to drag out stuff that's 10 years old or more to make the point, which often then gets lost because I come across as being "generational" and the real differences get lost.

What Rappers today are making music that doesn't pander to the lowest and basest of us? I know there must be some and I am merely missing the quality underneath all the chaff. Help me out here.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

21. There are many modern rappers that DON'T pander to our worst instincts.

Here's a partial list:

Blackalicious
Talib Kweli
Mos Def
Black Star (Talib Kweli + Mos Def)
Common
The Roots
Fugees
Jurassic 5
Lyrics Born

And here's a rap song by Common called "I Used to Love H.E.R." Read it all the way through to the last line to find out what he's REALLY talking about -- it's relevant to your question.

http://www.tophitsonline.com/lyrics_print.php?songid=34655

Verse one:
I met this girl, when I was ten years old
And what I loved most she had so much soul
She was old school, when I was just a shorty
Never knew throughout my life she would be there for me
On the regular, not a church girl she was secular
Not about the money, no studs was mic checkin her
But I respected her, she hit me in the heart
A few new york niggaz, had did her in the park
But she was there for me, and I was there for her
Pull out a chair for her, turn on the air for her
And just cool out, cool out and listen to her
Sittin on a bone, wishin that I could do her
Eventually if it was meant to be, then it would be
Because we related, physically and mentally
And she was fun then, I'd be geeked when she'd come around
Slim was fresh yo, when she was underground
Original, pure untampered and down sister
Boy I tell ya, I miss her

Verse two:
Now periodically I would see
Ol girl at the clubs, and at the house parties
She didn't have a body but she started gettin thick quick
Did a couple of videos and became afrocentric
Out goes the weave, in goes the braids beads medallions
She was on that tip about, stoppin the violence
About my people she was teachin me
By not preachin to me but speakin to me
In a method that was leisurely, so easily I approached
She dug my rap, that's how we got close
But then she broke to the west coast, and that was cool
Cause around the same time, I went away to school
And I'm a man of expandin, so why should I stand in her way
She probably get her money in l.a.
And she did stud, she got big pub but what was foul
She said that the pro-black, was goin out of style
She said, afrocentricity, was of the past
So she got into r&b hip-house bass and jazz
Now black music is black music and it's all good
I wasn't salty, she was with the boys in the hood
Cause that was good for her, she was becomin well rounded
I thought it was dope how she was on that freestyle sh**
Just havin fun, not worried about anyone
And you could tell, by how her t****** hung

Verse three:
I might've failed to mention that the sh** was creative
But once the man got you well he altered the native
Told her if she got an energetic gimmick
That she could make money, and she did it like a dummy
Now I see her in commercials, she's universal
She used to only swing it with the inner-city circle
Now she be in the burbs lickin rock and dressin hip
And on some dumb sh**, when she comes to the city
Talkin about poppin glocks servin rocks and hittin switches
Now she's a gangsta rollin with gangsta bi***es
Always smokin blunts and gettin drunk
Tellin me sad stories, now she only f***s with the funk
Stressin how hardcore and real she is
She was really the realest, before she got into showbiz
I did her, not just to say that I did it
But I'm committed, but so many niggaz hit it
That she's just not the same lettin all these groupies do her
I see niggaz slammin her, and takin her to the sewer
But i'ma take her back hopin that the sh** stop
Cause who I'm talkin bout y'all is hip-hop

[msgadget]

24. Thank you,

names just flew out of my head. This is a great list.

[msgadget]

23. LOL! We do agree on the age of the 'good' rap that precedes much

of what's being played today. Common has done some thoughtful rap, Mos Def, Kanye, of course...oh, and someone here gave me the name of a VERY cool rapper but his name escapes me at the moment. There is a paucity of good, socially conscious rap and I think the music industry itself bares some of the blame for that. I knew a young person who had such rhymes and was told repeatedly it wasn't what the industry wanted. The people with the money - as usual - ultimately decide what trend to jump on and exploit and we're stuck with it. Imo, it was, to some extent, chosen for us.

[mntleo2]

9. They Said It About Rock Too

I am an old fart. But I listen to Rap now (sometimes) because my kids have "broken me in", lol. I think anything the newer generation comes up with that is different and strange to the generations before, will be condemned by some of us older farts. I remember Elvis being condemned for his sexy moves and it was said he was bringing down the morals of his generation, as did they say it about the Beatles, Stones, and others.

There are great rap artists who are the poets of your generation. Anyone of my age who is open to it will hear the good ones. Beware tho! Poetry is dangerous to many. Poetry speaks truth to power ~ and Rap can do that. Some of the most moving modern poetry I have heard is the stark, brutal realism of your generation because it is spoken with passion and it tells it like it is.

I think the trick for your generation might be to learn something my generation obviously did not: All new art is strange to the ear and the senses. Accept that this strangeness is all right. Then look to see if it speaks to your heart. If a large group of people (whether young or not) pick it up and run with it, it must speak to something in their hearts and this is important. Then listen between the words and the music letting your soul communicate with it and you will hear the rumblings of future possibilities.

What I have heard in rap is the wail of your generation's grief for the things you wish to happen against the things that are really happening. You are far more real at your age than I was at mine. I was a flower child and really believed we could change the world into a place that had no prejudice, was at peace, and made our world better. We could have. But many of us just chickened out and went with the status quo. I did not ~ but I paid in poverty, and broken dreams, because the people who came into power in my generation did not listen to the Truth. Many went with things because it was "in" not because it was truth. However I do not regret for one moment my choices because I still think I am better off and wiser than many of my generation. I also think my work (with poverty and hunger) is far more important than the riches I saw my other brothers and sisters spend their lives making. Now they sit alone in their castles bitter, selfish, and myopic. I feel sorry for them because even though it is noisy and messy, my home is always full of kids, babies, music, and yes, rap spoken at the dinner table, lol.

Your rap artists are showing you possibilities. Just pray that the leaders of your generation really listen this time ~ and work your butt off to make sure the good things you wish for for the world are realized. You have the power, just don't chicken out because a bunch of narrow minded nay sayers think your ways of speaking truth are somehow "bad". They are not!


Love,
Cat In Seattle

[dipsydoodle]

14. That was because

Rock evolved from '40s R & B with the words cleaned up for the mass record buying whities by the white owned record companies. Initially they just changed some of the words but the parents of the kids knew it was black music at heart and hence their initial critisism of Elvis etc.

In a lot of cases the original recordings were effectively lost (or buried) and the artists who'd performed them forgotten. Took the likes of the Rolling Stones in the early sixties to start to give you back your own music heritage and then there was no looking back - it just progressed.

Sad but true and I can easily spit out the word whitey despite the fact I'm "anglo saxon". That's because I love all well played music : late '20s blues and jazz, 30's swing , 40's R & B , '60's Basie and most of the modern stuff as well.

Rap is a modern day street music art form - no one should knock it or attempt to amend it.

ps liked your post.

[nonconformist]

12. I don't think that it HAS

I think a lot of people would say that video games are what is taking all the blame. Or movies. Or Paris Hilton. Or White House blowjobs. And on and on.

I will say that I think that a lot of today's rap has contributed to the materialistic obsession of today's youth, not to mention the objectifying of women and glorification of violence. Contributed being the operative word.

Some rap today is still very good though. The old rap was phenomenally better and vastly more original, however.

[Hekate]

13. Fiddlesticks. Don't take credit away from Feminism

After all, it was radical cleric Pat Robertson who pointed out in a 1992 fundraising letter for the Christian Coalition that:

"The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women.
It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."

Rap cannot possibly top that for destroying Western civilization. :rofl:

Hekate

[baby_mouse]

15. Because it sounds like crap?

Because it's full of people saying "me, me, me" all the time? Because it glorifies crime?

Don't get me wrong. Grunge sucks just as badly.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

19. You're listening to the wrong stuff.

The crap they play on the radio and MTV overshadows the good and meaningful stuff that doesn't get played.

[sweetheart]

27. I wondered if anyone noticed

I have heard a few cool bands that have transcended
rap, where they have actually hired musicians who
leave me unthundered, unshaken by prison-lyricism,
as much as i admire poetry of all sorts,
need the art be so brutal on the ear,
and all for the price of hiring a good singer.

[Behind the Aegis]

16. Myopic focus.

There is a variety of Rap music. However, the one that makes the news is very violent, misogynistic, homophobic, and glorifies crime, IMHO, that is a real problem! However, you are right, for some, it is because it is "black."

BTW...Biggie don't own shit! Biggie is dead!

[GeorgeGist]

17. Seriously,

why do you believe that rap music takes all the blame. It doesn't even come close to getting all the blame.

[mcscajun]

22. Indeed. Liberals get the blame, video games, permissive 60's parenting

Reality TV (which I heap a HUGE amount of blame on), violent movies, feminism. The list of what people blame for the downfall of America goes on and on.

But let's not leave "Compassionate Conservatism", neoCons, and BushCo out of it, either. They share a HUGE amount of the blame, in the opinion of many.

[sweetheart]

26. Rap is urban country...

and it sucks just like much of country does,
and with noteworthy exceptions.

[Neil Lisst]

28. Biggie's Mama owns a Benz. Biggie is long since gone to that

... big hot tub in the sky.

There will always be THE MUSIC MAN, there will always be FOOTLOOSE, and there will always be those who try to blame shooting pool, or dancing, or ANYTHING fun in the teen years as the work of the Devil.

To quote Tennessee Williams, fuck them.