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The bolded sounds very classist and racist, buddy. I grew up in the hood and the beauty of Rap music was that it exposed the world to the very real inequalities and struggles of life in the ghetto that would be unknown to everyone around the world otherwise.
Not exactly true. The world knew about the injustices and ghettos in American well before rap became popular outside of the US. Images of these issues were on the television and in news media for decades. You sound as if the world was oblivious to the struggles in this country until rap, the great trumpeter of oppression, came on the scene.
There are many tragedies around the globe that were known without the aid of popular music; the Holocaust in Germany, apartheid in South Africa, the genocide in Rwanda, etc. The songs of some of these injustices came as a reflection of those injustices, not necessarily as news bearers or vehicles of enlightenment.
There were already popular R&B songs that spoke to the plight of black people in this country that the whole world knew about before rap came on the scene.
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The insurgencies across black America during the 1960s had a soundtrack, and I remember those same songs – "Stand" by Sly Stone, Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On?" and "People Get Ready" by Curtis Mayfield – blaring out of the windows of Liverpool 8 before and during the "riots".
A who can forget movies like New Jack City, Boys in the Hood, Colors, Menace II Society, Jason's Lyric? Even before the 80s, there were shows like Good Times and Sanford & Son, and movies like Shaft that exposed the world to the plight of African Americans in ghettos. And I haven't even mentioned the hundreds of books written during those times.
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Rap, at its best, reignites and carries the torch that seemingly burned out after the race riots of the 60's, the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X and the Civil Rights Movement. Rap music is one of the most popular genres of music, in the entire world. Hip Hop music is bigger and more powerful than any corny suburban cynic could ever fathom.
This statement is a bit of a stretch. I recall listening to rap growing up and the last thing on my mind was social justice. Perhaps for a few underground rap artists, those messages were prevalent to those social issues. But if you listen to the most popular rap music out there today, it is offensive, immature, inaudible at times, and simple-minded. If anything, today's rap music is an indication that the genre as regressed into a form of foolishness and lack of intellect. That's what is getting airplay these days.
I'd think twice before hitching rap music to anything dealing with raising the social consciousness of this generation. If anything, it has worked against it.
This statement is a bit of a stretch. I recall listening to rap growing up and the last thing on my mind was social justice. Perhaps for a few underground rap artists, those messages were prevalent to those social issues. But if you listen to the most popular rap music out there today, it is offensive, immature, inaudible at times, and simple-minded. If anything, today's rap music is an indication that the genre has regressed into a form of foolishness and lack of intellect. That's what is getting airplay these days.
I'd think twice before hitching rap music to anything dealing with raising the social consciousness of this generation. If anything, it has worked against it.
.
Very very well said sir or ma'am, very well said!
(+Rep points for you.)
Not exactly true. The world knew about the injustices and ghettos in American well before rap became popular outside of the US. Images of these issues were on the television and in news media for decades. You sound as if the world was oblivious to the struggles in this country until rap, the great trumpeter of oppression, came on the scene.
There are many tragedies around the globe that were known without the aid of popular music; the Holocaust in Germany, apartheid in South Africa, the genocide in Rwanda, etc. The songs of some of these injustices came as a reflection of those injustices, not necessarily as news bearers or vehicles of enlightenment.
There were already popular R&B songs that spoke to the plight of black people in this country that the whole world knew about before rap came on the scene.
A who can forget movies like New Jack City, Boys in the Hood, Colors, Menace II Society, Jason's Lyric? Even before the 80s, there were shows like Good Times and Sanford & Son, and movies like Shaft that exposed the world to the plight of African Americans in ghettos.
This statement is a bit of a stretch. I recall listening to rap growing up and the last thing on my mind was social justice. Perhaps for a few underground rap artists, those messages were prevalent to those social issues. But if you listen to the most popular rap music out there today, it is offensive, immature, inaudible at times, and simple-minded. If anything, today's rap music is an indication that the genre as regressed into a form of foolishness and lack of intellect. That's what is getting airplay these days.
I'd think twice before hitching rap music to anything dealing with raising the social consciousness of this generation. If anything, it has worked against it.
.
This is not a thread defending Rap music. I wouldn't come to a suburban Maryland forum to do that. If you are white and from the suburbs, please stop because you sound like a fool. You have no credentials to speak about the ghetto or Rap music just like this clown Logic. The same goes if you are an older person from another generation.
And you obviously know nothing about the history of Rap music if you think no social consciousness was brought about in the genre. Rap music was founded as an alternative gang violence in the Bronx in the 70's.
Rap in the late 80's and early 90's raised consciousness in urban communities. Public Enemy, KRS-One, Tribe Called Quest, Brand Nubian, Poor Righteous Teachers all preached Afrocentricity, self empowerment and positivity. Even early Gangsta Rap of N.W.A. and Spice 1 spoke of the hardships of the ghetto. Gangsta Rap was completely raw and unedited and made older white suburbanites squirm while kids from the hood to suburbs loved it. Curtis Mayfield wasn't anywhere near as raw as California Gangsta Rap. Gangsta Rap, at its best, made you feel like you were right there on the block with pushers and thugs. When did Curtis Mayfield sing about drive by shootings, robbing and murdering people in a way that you felt somewhat disturbed by the visceral energy in his music? Mainstream Rap music has been dumbed down by major labels because there is still good underground Rap music being produced today.
Last edited by LunaticVillage; 11-15-2014 at 09:38 AM..
yep, and that's whats wrong with these chumps these days...soon as you start checkin they azz ..."oh you a hater...don't hate"....straight up suckas. SMH.
....As if anything you're attempting to say is something to aspire to.
Culturally inferior garbage??! It's quite oblivious by stating this, you don't know what you're talking about! Stay in your lane.
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Originally Posted by mapmd
All rap music is culturally inferior garbage so why are we giving this attention and acknowledgement?
Before you get on my case most of the pop "music" that dominates our airwaves belongs in the dumpster too (note: as opposed to the recycle bin).
The fact that half-n-half here is trying to appear "harder" than he really is or how he grew up should tell us a lot about "urban" "culture" here in the US. Why do so many aspire to live a "hard" life? Why is the lifestyle of thuggery recognized as legitimate? Why are bad decisions in life not only tolerated but actually encouraged?
We need to have a thorough look into what gets promoted in the mass media these days, and take a moment to look at ourselves (for those who like what the media market produces) to figure out why we so eagerly swallow the garbage and nonsense that makes it's way into the forefront and the limelight.
You need to conduct some reading and research. Hip Hop was birthed out of New York's gang culture, political corruption, The American Civil Rights and Black Power Movements of the 1960's and 70's. Read Jeff Chang's Can't Stop Won't Stophttp://cantstopwontstop.com/
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Originally Posted by adelphi_sky
Not exactly true. The world knew about the injustices and ghettos in American well before rap became popular outside of the US. Images of these issues were on the television and in news media for decades. You sound as if the world was oblivious to the struggles in this country until rap, the great trumpeter of oppression, came on the scene.
There are many tragedies around the globe that were known without the aid of popular music; the Holocaust in Germany, apartheid in South Africa, the genocide in Rwanda, etc. The songs of some of these injustices came as a reflection of those injustices, not necessarily as news bearers or vehicles of enlightenment.
There were already popular R&B songs that spoke to the plight of black people in this country that the whole world knew about before rap came on the scene.
A who can forget movies like New Jack City, Boys in the Hood, Colors, Menace II Society, Jason's Lyric? Even before the 80s, there were shows like Good Times and Sanford & Son, and movies like Shaft that exposed the world to the plight of African Americans in ghettos. And I haven't even mentioned the hundreds of books written during those times.
This statement is a bit of a stretch. I recall listening to rap growing up and the last thing on my mind was social justice. Perhaps for a few underground rap artists, those messages were prevalent to those social issues. But if you listen to the most popular rap music out there today, it is offensive, immature, inaudible at times, and simple-minded. If anything, today's rap music is an indication that the genre as regressed into a form of foolishness and lack of intellect. That's what is getting airplay these days.
I'd think twice before hitching rap music to anything dealing with raising the social consciousness of this generation. If anything, it has worked against it.
This is not a thread defending Rap music. I wouldn't come to a suburban Maryland forum to do that. If you are white and from the suburbs, please stop because you sound like a fool. You have no credentials to speak about the ghetto or Rap music just like this clown Logic. The same goes if you are an older person from another generation.
And you obviously know nothing about the history of Rap music if you think no social consciousness was brought about in the genre. Rap music was founded as an alternative gang violence in the Bronx in the 70's.
Rap in the late 80's and early 90's raised consciousness in urban communities. Public Enemy, KRS-One, Tribe Called Quest, Brand Nubian, Poor Righteous Teachers all preached Afrocentricity, self empowerment and positivity. Even early Gangsta Rap of N.W.A. and Spice 1 spoke of the hardships of the ghetto. Gangsta Rap was completely raw and unedited and made older white suburbanites squirm while kids from the hood to suburbs loved it. Curtis Mayfield wasn't anywhere near as raw as California Gangsta Rap. Gangsta Rap, at its best, made you feel like you were right there on the block with pushers and thugs. When did Curtis Mayfield sing about drive by shootings, robbing and murdering people in a way that you felt somewhat disturbed by the visceral energy in his music? Mainstream Rap music has been dumbed down by major labels because there is still good underground Rap music being produced today.
This is not a thread defending Rap music. I wouldn't come to a suburban Maryland forum to do that. If you are white and from the suburbs, please stop because you sound like a fool. You have no credentials to speak about the ghetto or Rap music just like this clown Logic. The same goes if you are an older person from another generation.
So someone needs cred to speak about whether rap music is enlightening or not? lol You don't know my history. And even if what you said about me is correct, which it isn't, my past does not qualify or disqualify my opinions on the subject.
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And you obviously know nothing about the history of Rap music if you think no social consciousness was brought about in the genre. Rap music was founded as an alternative gang violence in the Bronx in the 70's.
You misunderstood my point. My point was that people knew about ghettos and social injustice outside of rap. We didn't need rap to tell us how bad ghettos were. It was already known. As I said, rap was a reflection of the time as all music is.
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Rap in the late 80's and early 90's raised consciousness in urban communities. Public Enemy, KRS-One, Tribe Called Quest, Brand Nubian, Poor Righteous Teachers all preached Afrocentricity, self empowerment and positivity. Even early Gangsta Rap of N.W.A. and Spice 1 spoke of the hardships of the ghetto. Gangsta Rap was completely raw and unedited and made older white suburbanites squirm while kids from the hood to suburbs loved it.
And you think white people were unaware of this until rap came along? Who do you think created the ghettos? Who do you think avoided those areas of town and sent their kids to other schools? I give white people more credit than that.
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Curtis Mayfield wasn't anywhere near as raw as California Gangsta Rap. Gangsta Rap, at its best, made you feel like you were right there on the block with pushers and thugs.
Curtis Mayfield didn't need to be raw to get his point across. Since when was vulgar language, gold chains, and demeaning women required to tell someone about ghetto life? People were exposed to it on TV in the news, movies and TV shows. They didn't need rap for that.
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When did Curtis Mayfield sing about drive by shootings, robbing and murdering people in a way that you felt somewhat disturbed by the visceral energy in his music?
Again, he didn't have to. People saw all of that on the news and in the newspapers.
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Mainstream Rap music has been dumbed down by major labels because there is still good underground Rap music being produced today.
On this we can agree on. Rap's messages delivery today is p.i.s.s.-poor and it's content is even worse.
You need to conduct some reading and research. Hip Hop was birthed out of New York's gang culture, political corruption, The American Civil Rights and Black Power Movements of the 1960's and 70's. Read Jeff Chang's Can't Stop Won't StopCan’t Stop Won’t Stop
I'm not talking about how hip hop came into existence. Please take the time to understand the context of my response. My whole point, which you missed, was that rap music was a reflection of the times. People already knew and understood what ghettos were and how ghettos came to be. Ghettos, and the awareness of them, existed before rap. That's my whole point. I'm not arguing about how rap or hip hop was birthed.
I also provided other means by which the global population came to understand what ghettos were and provided examples of media that existed prior to rap that helped to spread that awareness.
Am I aware that there were rap artists who were activists and spoke about these things? Yes. I used to listen to them myself. But I'm coutious to assume that rap provided some great awakening to generations about the ills of society.
After giving it some thought, I will concede that the personal stories that rappers provide gives a more personal view about social ills of urban life more so than Curtis Mayfield could have done back in his day. And while Rap music wasn't the ONLY venue for those unaware of ghettos or urban live, it was a major one.
This after speaking to my wife who lived in the suburbs of Raleigh, NC and had never heard about what urban life was until MTV and rap. I on the other hand grew up in SE DC during the gang and crack epidemics in the 80s and 90s and had experienced drug use and violence even in my own immediate family. It was an interesting discussion from difference perspectives.
I still think today's rap sucks though.
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I grew up in the hood and the beauty of Rap music was that it exposed the world to the very real inequalities and struggles of life in the ghetto that would be unknown to everyone around the world otherwise.
I wouldn't come to a suburban Maryland forum to do that. 
If you are white and from the suburbs, please stop because you sound like a fool. You have no credentials to speak about the ghetto or Rap music just like this clown Logic. The same goes if you are an older person from another generation. 
