Safest cities in Maryland .. (living, gangs, move)

[KeyserSoze]

Oh, and the word wigger bothers me. All white people are not supposed to act a certain way, and if one wants to follow hip hop culture, what difference does it make to you? He's not acting "black" and he's not a white n-word. Makes me wonder about the people who use the word wigger.

[bowian]

Originally Posted by KeyserSoze

Oh, and the word wigger bothers me. All white people are not supposed to act a certain way, and if one wants to follow hip hop culture, what difference does it make to you? He's not acting "black" and he's not a white n-word. Makes me wonder about the people who use the word wigger.

Thank you! I was thinking the same thing. But I chose to take the commentary with a grain of salt. I'm no fan of contemporary hip hop, but I found the anti hip-hop commentary to be simplistic.

You know, the youngest children are impressionable. So I can definitely see limiting their access to certain music, TV, movies etc. Once they are teenagers (right around 13-14), they should start having some critical thinking skills. If they really think it is a good idea to imitate and identify with certain art, what does that say about what is going on in their lives? To me, that says something is missing in their lives. That's where the parents come in. Don't blame the issue on a certain kind of music or a certain race.

[westsideboy]

Individuals should be proud of their heritage and culture. The traditions and values that have been passed to them are the artifacts that give cultural groups identity. When you choose to ignore, violate, and reject the identity of your ancestors you cut yourself and your descendants off from the well-spring of meaning and value that your ancestors lived and died to pass down to you.

The hip-hop culture of puffery, ill-gotten gain, and violence is alien to the traditions and values of my region. Poor, hopeless, undereducated, poor parented youth are missing something. Just because that void exists doesn't rationalize or justify the adoption of a alien set of beliefs and its trappings.

If you want to blame parents for their kids dressing like thugs, listening to the advice of poor role models, and making decisions that put themselves and their communities at risk, then that is fine with me. Assigning blame to them does not lessen the blame of the media, artists, or the people themselves. A weakened immune system is usually more suspeptible to disease.

[Orwelleaut]

Originally Posted by westsideboy

Youth culture is all about rebelling against one's parents generation. The difference between rebelling by listening to white dudes with mullets and strech pants telling you to party hardy is very different than the urban hip-hop thug culture rap about selling drugs, demeaning women, and carrying weapons.

Does music decide someones outcome in life? Certainly not. But it does give you ideas on how to act out and rebel.

Thank You, westside. You understand what is going on out there. When I was a youth and we were wanting to wear mullets and party down like Eddie VH and the boys, things were quite different. Rock singers were singing about gettin' it on, sure, but depicted this as a two way street. They had to win the woman's attention, or they stayed lonely. This reinforced the time-honored traditions of chivalry. Women were portrayed as godesses in these tunes, and that was good for us young guys. As you know, in the great old blues tunes by men like B.B. King, women were also portrayed as godesses as the man begged her to look his way.

These rap fans who are so offended by me and are just hankering to paint me as a bigot are idiots. They do not realize that I enjoy the music of many black artists such as Jimmy Hendrix, Lenny Kravitz, Slash from Guns n' Roses, Miles Davis, Wynton Marsalis, Lionel Ritchie, B.B. King. They do not know that I love classic blues artists who are consumate musicians and gentleman.

What I object to is the behaviors of these rap characters. Eminem is probably the worst of them, and he is white. I hate their lack of musical talent where they steal "samples" of music form real musicians, and mumble on top of that because they can't, apparently, carry a tune. I wouldn't care if they were all white. They are still jerks with no talent who disrespect women and encourage violence and drug use. The worst thing about them is the pejoratives toward women, and their not showing women the proper time-honored respect that a gentleman shows a woman. Looked at from a Freudian standpoint, this is very homoerotic. I won't be surprised if, in a few more years, some of these characters like Eminem come out of the closet.

[tercel95]

I think there is just a generation gap here... While I certainly don't condone some of the behaviors you have mentioned, I don't mind listening to music about it. I think about punching my boss in the face all of the time but I certainly would never do that... It's just a show...

I am first and foremost a rock/metal fan. I like everything from Boston to Slayer... I am a guitar player of 10 years so I know a thing or 2 about musical talent.

Older people will never accept rap as a legitimate form of music... And while I agree most rappers are talentless hacks, it does have a certain appeal, and some club type rap can be quite catchy... Even the rock and metal today is increasingly more vulgar...

Here is what young people don't understand... 80's metal was all about long hair, tight pants, women and drugs. How about songs like Mr. Brownstone, or Suicide Solution?... Real great messages there huh? Most rockers of the day were all coked up and all they lived for was to get high and get laid. To me that is just as bad of a message as rap conveys... Music tells a story, sure people in the 80's wanted to live the rock and roll life and party all the time and young people now want to live the "gangsta" life. Just because they listen to the music doesn't mean they will emulate all the behaviors. Just because someone wears their hat sideways doesn't mean they will murder people, and just because someone has long hair and tight pants doesn't mean they are a coke head...

[westsideboy]

"We've been dancing with Mr. Brownstone. He keeps knocking, he won't leave me alone." I loved this song as a preteen. I thought it was about an obnoxious land lord harassing Axl Rose! How wrong I was......

Rap has its appeal. At its best, it tells a narrative story and you can shake your booty to it. I enjoy it the same as I enjoy Greek folk dance or 18th century classical, or show tunes. Not really speaking to me or my life, but enjoyable to learn about others.

For me it is about who youth is patterning their rebellion around. I can't speak as for whether the prevelance of rap music is just the symptom of a greater problem or part of the cause, but I don't think the ghettoization of poor whites is a positive thing.

10 or 15 years ago it would have been ridiculous to see a white person in a red bandana and oversized pants and hoody, now it is common place. How are we as a community to identify the real bad apples from the posers? When the bad apples do come to town rather than sticking out like a sore thumb they find large groups of young men and women who view them not as threats but as likenesses of their heros they see on MTV. It opens up communities to drugs and gangs. Not a good thing.

[KeyserSoze]

Just some things I want to touch upon here.

First off, gangster rap is not all hip hop. It is a subgenre. There's hip hop for kids to dance to and have fun with that is essentially harmless. Gangster rap is a more mature genre. It is a refleciton of urban blight, but it's also a microcosm of what exists in our society at large. I'm not going to get into the origins of gangster rap, but among other things as Americans, we live in a violent culture, filled to the brim with sexism, racism and classism. These components have defined our culture ever since the outset. As kids, the one thing your parents want you to stay away from is the one thing you'll head towards. I don't advocate violence, I don't advocate taking or distirbuting harmful drugs. I don't advocate sexism, or potentially harmful or unprotected sexual acts. But the people who don't like rap, generalize it all, or blame gangster rap for the wrongdoings in society are the same ones with the power in their hands to change things or make a difference in the world we live in, moreso than anyone else. But they're usually content living in fear and ignorance of "the others", and try and get as far away from "thugs" and the lower-class as possible. Which is why I don't take their excuses as legitimate reasons. It's hypocrisy. Claiming you don't like gangster rap and what it represents, but you're okay in living in a society that produced it? You don't like gangster rap, yet you're okay with watching something on television or reading a book filled with content you supposedly don't like? I don't buy it. And there's also a considerable racial & class undercurrent to it, as well. Blaming hip hop provides some an avenue to expound some people's fears and attitudes towards the minority, or the lower class. That much is obvious.

Having entertainers as your children's role models is not the way to go. These people have lives, too. They do things sometimes that get them in trouble. We don't even know who they really are behind closed doors.

Oh, and orwelleaut, I took a look at your post in the "Why Did You Move Out of Maryland" thread, and lo and behold....it's someone with a chip on their shoulder. Why am I not surprised. Though I am glad you got out of Maryland. Last thing I'd want to hear is how those low-income boogeymen and loud, uppity, obnoxious black people harming you or your family in any way.

[tercel95]

Originally Posted by KeyserSoze

Just some things I want to touch upon here.

I completely agree with everything you just said...

[bowian]

Originally Posted by tercel95

I completely agree with everything you just said...

I do too. And look at how you said it so articulately, while not getting all base and calling someone an idiot!

Also, someone define "downstaters" for me. Is it another of those pesky, cowardly "code words"?

[westsideboy]

Where I live, Garrett and Allegany Counties are Western Maryland, everywhere else in Maryland is called downstate. Those that live there are downstaters. "Downstate" is a term I have only heard out here, I don't think it is used in the rest of state.