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It's not rap that kills people, it's people who kill people.
I think I see a new bumper sticker in the works, move over NRA, the RRA is in the house
Seriously, was blue grass responsible for hanging blacks? Owning them? Not eating with them? Making them ride in the back of the bus? Raping them? Maybe we should reconsider and pull a Footloose, banning it all. Music in general seems to be bad news. It seems to make us crazed loonies.
I think a quick history lesson is all it takes to teach our children totally wrong values.
By the way, and it's been said on here already. Rap and hip hop are two different styles of music. If one of them is leading us down a path of eternal damnation you could at least be clear about which one it is.
All rap is different, a lot of it is positive. Same as all music.
The hip hop you hear on the radio is really a form of pop music, designed for mass consumption, and engineered by record executives who care only about profit. If the question is whether or not this music is leading to the destruction of black youth, I think the answer is that there are many other things causing far more problems for black youth than a silly genre of pop music (ie, gun violence, broken homes, poverty, systemic discrimination, the War on Drugs).
But the music one hears on the radio is typically not what I would consider hip hop. Hip hop has always been a positive outlet for young people living difficult lives. Hip hop culture was created in the South Bronx in the late 70's and early 80's and gained popularity in poor neighbourhoods across New York as a way of escaping the violence and horrible living conditions young people faced. Early hip hop had a positive message, and was a medium for teaching youth in the ghetto how they could transcend the barriers that seemed to hem them in on all sides (think about the Message by Grandmaster Flash). Hip hop could also have fun lyrics, talking about sex, love, relationships, partying, and any other topic you can think of (think about Rapper's Delight by the Sugar Hill Gang).
IMO, it was in the late 90's that hip hop split off in two different directions. One direction was a commercialized hip hop, designed by big studios to make money and sell albums. This kind of hip hop tended to have misogynistic lyrics, often glorified violence, gangsterism and materialism - a winning combination that that entertainment industry had already tested and approved lomg ago in the film and television industries. Sex and violence sells, and when hip hop went mainstream, record execs made sure their artists were 'real' authentic hoods - the longer their rap sheet the better. Intelligent hip hop went in another direction and went back underground because it simply could not compete with he big-money acts, many of whom were starting to come from the South, rather than the traditional hip-hop Meccas of the east and west coasts. There are still many artists out there making excellent, intelligent hip hop music, but you won't hear them on the radio because the studios don't believe they can make the kind of money as the commercial hip hop.
If you look at the history of hip hop, it's obvious that it's not the music that is to blame for anything, but the entertainment industry trying to make money using the winning formula of sex and violence to sell records. In this sense, commercial hip hop is no worse for black youth than violent movies and television shows are. As I've already pointed out, the poor black youth are unlikely to be influenced heavily by the lyrics of gangster rap. For one thing, the lifestyle is visible just outside on the streets - they don't need a rap artist to tell them about it, because they can see for themselves quite clearly what it's all about. In addition, the effects of poverty, violence, broken homes, broken schools, systemic prejudice, and the War on Drugs are far greater threats to black youth than even the worst hip hop music will ever be.
But make no mistake - real hip hop is generally positive in its message, talking candidly about the problems facing young people, but never glorifying a life of crime. Glorifying violence is what the entertainment industry does best, and they are the ones who have pushed these so-called gangster rappers into the mainstream. It's a strategy for reaping profit for the corporation, and even if the artists may get rich by rapping negative nonsense, the music industry is the real winner. The industry could choose to push artists like Talib Kweli, Mos-Def, Common, and others who have proven to have mass appeal, and whose lyrics are far more positive and intelligent than anything you'll hear from Young Jeezy or Rick Ross. But the industry doesn't push them and never will, because the entertainment industry is obsessed with sex and violence because they know everyone else is too. So if anyone or anything related to hip hop is having a negative effect on black youth, it is the entertainment industry and the large corporations that run it.
So for those who know little to nothing about hip hop, but still believe it is having a negative influence on black youth, put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Only if you let it. Hip-Hop varies like other genres. So, what Lecrae, Common, Talib Kweli, the Strange Fruit Project and the Cross Movement rap about will be different than what many generally associate(and ignorantly in many cases) strictly with Hip-Hop.
Buster Rhymes had a great line back in my hip-hop days:
"Rap is business music/Hip-hop is cultural music"
Black youth have been destroyed by larger forces long before hip-hop music was created. Peer pressure is the most negative influence for any set of teenagers, regardless of race or circumstance.
Busta Always has some great Quotes.
Quote:
Hip-hop reflects the truth, and the problem is that hip-hop exposes a lot of the negative truth that society tries to conceal. It's a platform where we could offer information, but it's also an escape.
The hip hop you hear on the radio is really a form of pop music, designed for mass consumption, and engineered by record executives who care only about profit. If the question is whether or not this music is leading to the destruction of black youth, I think the answer is that there are many other things causing far more problems for black youth than a silly genre of pop music (ie, gun violence, broken homes, poverty, systemic discrimination, the War on Drugs).
But the music one hears on the radio is typically not what I would consider hip hop. Hip hop has always been a positive outlet for young people living difficult lives. Hip hop culture was created in the South Bronx in the late 70's and early 80's and gained popularity in poor neighbourhoods across New York as a way of escaping the violence and horrible living conditions young people faced. Early hip hop had a positive message, and was a medium for teaching youth in the ghetto how they could transcend the barriers that seemed to hem them in on all sides (think about the Message by Grandmaster Flash). Hip hop could also have fun lyrics, talking about sex, love, relationships, partying, and any other topic you can think of (think about Rapper's Delight by the Sugar Hill Gang).
IMO, it was in the late 90's that hip hop split off in two different directions. One direction was a commercialized hip hop, designed by big studios to make money and sell albums. This kind of hip hop tended to have misogynistic lyrics, often glorified violence, gangsterism and materialism - a winning combination that that entertainment industry had already tested and approved lomg ago in the film and television industries. Sex and violence sells, and when hip hop went mainstream, record execs made sure their artists were 'real' authentic hoods - the longer their rap sheet the better. Intelligent hip hop went in another direction and went back underground because it simply could not compete with he big-money acts, many of whom were starting to come from the South, rather than the traditional hip-hop Meccas of the east and west coasts. There are still many artists out there making excellent, intelligent hip hop music, but you won't hear them on the radio because the studios don't believe they can make the kind of money as the commercial hip hop.
If you look at the history of hip hop, it's obvious that it's not the music that is to blame for anything, but the entertainment industry trying to make money using the winning formula of sex and violence to sell records. In this sense, commercial hip hop is no worse for black youth than violent movies and television shows are. As I've already pointed out, the poor black youth are unlikely to be influenced heavily by the lyrics of gangster rap. For one thing, the lifestyle is visible just outside on the streets - they don't need a rap artist to tell them about it, because they can see for themselves quite clearly what it's all about. In addition, the effects of poverty, violence, broken homes, broken schools, systemic prejudice, and the War on Drugs are far greater threats to black youth than even the worst hip hop music will ever be.
But make no mistake - real hip hop is generally positive in its message, talking candidly about the problems facing young people, but never glorifying a life of crime. Glorifying violence is what the entertainment industry does best, and they are the ones who have pushed these so-called gangster rappers into the mainstream. It's a strategy for reaping profit for the corporation, and even if the artists may get rich by rapping negative nonsense, the music industry is the real winner. The industry could choose to push artists like Talib Kweli, Mos-Def, Common, and others who have proven to have mass appeal, and whose lyrics are far more positive and intelligent than anything you'll hear from Young Jeezy or Rick Ross. But the industry doesn't push them and never will, because the entertainment industry is obsessed with sex and violence because they know everyone else is too. So if anyone or anything related to hip hop is having a negative effect on black youth, it is the entertainment industry and the large corporations that run it.
So for those who know little to nothing about hip hop, but still believe it is having a negative influence on black youth, put that in your pipe and smoke it.
I don't think the basic music is any more than rock and roll of the 50's.Its the social cultyure built around youth in values that is destructive to them and society in genral. Its not just blacks either if you look at just the dropout rate in education alone.
Then you have mental issues, if a song causes you to kill someone..
It's a joke bud. Just trying to express how worthless and terrible Lil Jeezy wayne is. He might be less talented than Fred Durst and that is saying something.
Parents who think entertainers should be raising their kids are not really being parents.
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