Music has been blamed on youth troubles since at least the 40's,probably before . They actually had congressional hearings on heavy metal in the 80's .I think music can definitely be a factor but is just a small piece of what may influence young kids . If you have bigger issues then yea music may have a negative impact on behavior .It all has to start with a strong family and role models . It's been said a million times but that's what it comes down to , without guidance young kids look to those kids that are just a few years older and also movies and music can have a negative impact .
Exactly, it foolish to think that rap singularly or even largely is the force behind or embodiment of black culture. Music of all genres has some positive and negative aspects and rap is no different. I just hate how people label any race by such a small subsection of its population.
Money is the only issue - Ie, imagine J-Dog, a young 10 year old African American. Daddy's a rolling stone, Mama ain't ever home. All he's got are friends telling him reading is boring and how their boy Busta made it big rappin. That's how the cycle begins. It's their gospel on how to gain power in society, and the culture doesn't support listening to other options. Now look at guys like Busta who made it in the industry promoting this gat heavy, aggressive, violent lifestyle. What are they doing? Giving back? Paying for education and infrastructure? No. They're furthering the divide by playing on stereotypes and riding Trayvon's story to increase resentment. That's what they play off - resentment towards white, resentment towards old money, resentment towards their own (most black crimes are black on black). All while they live in gated communities surrounded by wealthy white folk. It absolutely is the rap industry and you're blind for seeing that it's not art in any way, just a form of manipulating the poor. Yeah, you can be a soulless degenerate, but be a confident degenerate and you'll get out of the hood. Mafia movies and GTA (whatever that is) are a completely different context. Why? Because they aren't embraced as an actual lifestyle by the media. White people have problems too. They have tons of problems. But when looking at the educated 1% they try to build resentment towards, they're the ones giving back to everyone. Setting up funds and opportunities for low socio-economic kids, giving schools valuable cash flow. The thugs who have "made it" using this lifestyle are doing absolutely nothing except manipulating the poor into spending more of their money buying concert tickets.
There's a lot of love in that music. Moral ground. Sexy. Soul. Art. Rap's appeal is that it's easy. Anyone can talk **** and scream about gettin paid. Check it, I'm about to bust one. It goes to the beat of a song written by a real artist, stolen, then sampled to "fweshen" up. I want a big booty chick A big booty chick So I can come in her clit Come in her clit Then go round the corner And **** another ho **** anotha ho Im neva gonna work **** drives me berserk Ima sell that dope You ain't ****in with tha pope Got a gat on my hip Cuz I like my ho's thick You **** with my chick Ima bust one in yo lip Too black to think School's for dem chinks When Ima make a million I aint givin back a dolla Holla? Cuz I hate u nigz Cuz Im a hustla baby N I want you to kno I ain't about to work Ima bout them ho's No I made me 5 grand, Smokin that reefa This the rappa life It don't get much cheepa ***** ***** ***** Trayvon von von Ya feel me, you'll never be one of us But treat us like we one of u Check it! From Compton to Sunnyside Ima bout to ride **** blows so deep Ima knock out yo teeth (I don't endorse the above ballad, chart topping as it may be)
2, 3, 13-18, 25, 27-30 http://www.dlas.org/questions-zimmerman-verdict/ Context makes a huge difference. Some claims are more well-founded than others. For example, charges of Zimmerman's racist nature are withering in the sun: he took a black girl to senior prom, he had a black business partner and he campaigned to seek justice for a homeless, black man beaten by the son of a Sanford police officer (calling CometsWin!).
Sure... but things are so much further "out of bounds" than they were in the 1940s. It's continual degradation.
There can be in rap as well. You just hang onto the negative. Anybody can sing about getting drunk, again don't hang onto the negative. Why don't you seek some of the positive or meaningful music within the genre? Yeah, not everybody can do it. Lol
We do need to come together better as a community, not just when tragedy and injustice strikes and if people actually were open to criticism and didn't just throw out the "racist," "Uncle Tom," or for me, "Fignewton" slurs, we could move forward. I was about to say sometimes it sounds better coming from an insider and not from an outsider who sounds like a bigot but as you mentioned, Bill Cosby has had some critiques for years and received backlash for it. Meanwhile a rapper like Jay-Z (though very intelligent for better or worse) could call people to action and fools would follow in droves. *shrugs* Or perhaps LeBron James or some other entertainer. I realize Cosby is one too but at least he is highly educated and has been revered and respected by all races for decades. By the way, you realize, even if people unwittingly follow them, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are pawns, used by unseen forces to manipulate black opinion and stir up racial controversy. There's a reason Malcolm X and MLK were assassinated in the 60's.
Yet I just did. That's platinum if I throw in a catch phrase at the end. If that skin's vanilla Drop it like Zimma I can see the kids in Harlem besides themselves with joy. What are the positive or meaningful things you have derived from rap?
Will Smith is a great rapper, but he's been pariahed from the community for not being hard enoguh. He doesn't swear and talk about guns. He's a testament to art and good vibes not being allowed in rap, unless you're gloating about a ferrari you just bought from drug money.
. Some of those are not novel. I'll agree that some people need to pay attention to some of that information but some of it is strictly opinion. I'm not claiming he was racist but this type of fodder makes me laugh. Just because you do certain things with a certain race does not absolve you from racism. I'm black (mixed race) and my grandfather was white. He was actually a treasurer in the KKK and was on 60 Minutes due to his association with the group. Sure, he bought my sister her first car, took her on trips, etc. and even allowed her black friends and boyfriends to take part as well. Yet this same man did not allow my mother in his home because of her interracial relationship, I see videos of him to this day talking about n*66er-rigging a 4 wheeler, etc. Now I'm not saying Zimmerman was racist, by all accounts he appears like he is not but just because he associated and did things for black people doesn't mean he couldn't be. That being said, race or racism should've never been a part of this discussion.
There are other artists as well. Even some of the artists with objectionable songs have positive ones. You must not be familiar with studio production today that can make almost anybody sound good.
Like I said you're focusing on the negative which happens in every genre. Eminem's verses in the song Renegade for example portray a very meaningful message about rap music, if you understand the message. One of many examples, just the first one that popped in my head.
A pariah? Lol. His last 4 albums have gone gold or platinum, he receives heavy airplay on rap dominated channels and radios, etc. Many rappers have embraced him as well. Pariah....lol
Well, Em is white. And he's stating exactly what mainstream rap is about = "if the shoe fits, I'll wear it." Anything to make a quick buck. Violence, aggression, hatred, that's what the youth can relate to so I'll give it to them. That's not art at all. That's like a child p*rn business catering to pedophiles. N e ways, jayz embarrassed himself on that song. See, I'm influenced by the ghetto you ruined That same dude you gave nothing, I made something doing What I do, through and through and I gave you the news with a twist it's just his ghetto point of view Now he is them. And a guy who's worth over $100 million donated how much to charity and goodwill causes last year? $6,000, according to his accountant. Absolutely pathetic. If he was white, there would be a lot of backlash. http://www.kulturekritic.com/2012/0...-calls-out-jay-z-and-beyonce-for-selfishness/ That says it all. Rap, creating the great divide.
Ain't no homies pumping his songs. Definite pariah, all his sales are attributed to suburbanites and the educated. The point is his messages of joy, love, peace, no cussing and morals are mocked in the inner cities and the thug culture rap embodies.
