bagobonez wrote:Sadly, there are so many impressionable teens that never really grow up to see through all the smoke, mirrors and BS that is rap music, and they let it carry over into their adulthood. It makes me sick that rap music is the most popular genre of music in our society now. 95% of rap music is about one of the following: drugs, alcohol, materialism, money, sex. Literally. I could probably pick ten random rap songs and each one of them would have one of the aforementioned topics in it, as well as cuss words. I think it's a sad reflection of how much our society has deteriorated in the last 10-20 years.
don't really intend to rehash a discussion from a couple weeks ago, but I just wanted to comment on some things you expressed in the above quote and other related posts...
I agree that there is plenty of trash out there in rap music, and as a result, I haven't really listened to the radio (aside from college radio) or watched MTV or BET since the late 90s. However, you are generalizing and misrepresenting rap as a whole with your statements. In particular, I think there's an implication, probably moreso from your other posts in this thread stemming from the ODB discussion, that kids who grow up listening to rap should recognize rap music is BS and evil, so to speak, and stop listening to it.
First off, hip hop as it is today, especially as it is presented through the popular mediums of commercial radio and television, doesn't come close to remotely resembling what it used to be in the 80s and early to mid 90s. You could turn on Hot 97, Yo MTV Raps, or Rap City on BET back in the early 90s and hear hundreds of groups like Pharcyde, Tribe, Pete Rock and CL Smooth, Public Enemy, KRS-One, etc. all the time. Granted, I'm sure there was still a fair share of garbage, but that's to be expected on mainstream music mediums and applies across the board for most genres of modern music. Again, I don't see you making any distinction between today's rap music vs. what you grew up with when you make statements like "I was very impressionable as a teenager (as most of us probably are) and I liked rap music. I grew out of it because once I got some life experience under my belt, I realized that the majority it was garbage."
Additionally, characterizing rap as 95% of it being centralized around drugs, alcohol, materialism, money, and sex is not accurate, even in today's rap industry, let alone that of 10+ years ago when you were growing up. There's many ways to negate this and I don't want to get too in-depth, but suffice it to say, that a large amount of rap through the years revolved around either political, cultural, or social commentary, just having fun spitting whatever rhymes, story-telling or creative concept ideas, or any other handful of topics largely unrelated to that alleged 95% material.
I'll concede that nowadays, you have to put in a bit more time and effort to find dope hip hop, but it's still out there, and there's a decent amount of it. I also won't dispute that most of the rap from today's mainstream industry is garbage and isn't something I'd want to listen to or have children growing up listening to. Although to be honest, I can't really speak on a lot of it as I simply don't bother with the radio anymore and don't hear much popular rap outside of bars and whatnot. However, this was not the case back in the early to mid 90s with mainstream rap, and this generalization you have of rap is inaccurate.
Lastly, music is entertainment, and I don't see what the problem is with listening to a dope track that covers topics like sex, drugs, or alcohol. Say, Redman's funny story-telling SupaMan Luva joints, Diamond D's "Sally got a one track mind", or some good old party joints on drinking from the Alkaholiks (at least their earlier albums). I'm not disputing that there's a lot of wack rap music and/or a lot of negative images and lyrics revolving around these topics that I disagree with and wouldn't want kids growing up listening to. But you really have an issue with any music, even if it's creative, entertaining, or whatnot, if the artist talks about alcohol, drugs, or sex or curses? I don't see much of a difference between enjoying music covering these topics or enjoying a movie like Scarface or Old School or a video game like GTA.
Aight, I'm done for now, where's a blunt and a forty when you need one?
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