Smoker4

10/19/2007 10:02:59 AM

Quote :

"there will always be bad things in the world. Hip hop today's shitty rap glorifies them."

Quote :

"As a side note, I think the gangsta lifestyle has always been glorified in America. Taking it back to the shoot 'em up cowboys, to the gangstas of the early 1900's, to God knows what today."

I agree, and when I hear myself bashing hip-hop, I can't help but be reminded of my parents bashing the likes of Kurt Cobain. I mean, rock music nowadays isn't too far behind rap when it comes to misogyny and violence.

I think what separates hip-hop is that it's marketed directly towards at-risk kids who typically don't have a good family life to act as a moderating influence. I think this separates hip-hop from other "rebel" cultures that were typically sold to Middle America.

10/19/2007 10:57:51 AM

while some probably do contain "that" subject matter as far as rock goes; rap though tends to be a lot more heavily in content related to activities such as "bustin out my strap", "selling drugs", "raping bitches", etc
95% of rap songs can be summed up as....
selling drugs
going to the club
fucking sluts
dubs or bling bling
shooting up some people

if you say otherwise you are an idiot.

[Edited on October 19, 2007 at 12:06 PM. Reason : a]

10/19/2007 12:05:15 PM

^ It's no 95% though.

10/19/2007 12:09:45 PM

96%

94%

It's up there.

But yeah, I agree with Boone, bitching about offensive lyrics and videos is like our grandparents bitching about rock and roll.

Censorship has too many negative ramifications so just STFU and live with it.

[Edited on October 19, 2007 at 12:17 PM. Reason : 2]

10/19/2007 12:17:12 PM

^ If you include "fucking sluts" it would be practically the same as other genres. If you exclude that one, it's probably in the 30-50% range, from a quick survey of the top hiphop/rap songs on iTunes.

[Edited on October 19, 2007 at 12:27 PM. Reason : ]

10/19/2007 12:26:54 PM

Quote :

""As a side note, I think the gangsta lifestyle has always been glorified in America. Taking it back to the shoot 'em up cowboys, to the gangstas of the early 1900's, to God knows what today.""

i disagree somewhat. cowboys didn't talk about selling drugs and shooting people in drive-bys.

the mafia only killed other mafiosi and were actually running a business rather than these two-bit drug-dealer wannabes.

10/19/2007 12:45:01 PM

with the exception of kid rock and tommy lee you almost never here about the artist of any other genre getting into fights and having shootouts leaving the club

10/19/2007 12:49:01 PM

Quote :

"There is nothing wrong w/ hip-hop or gangster rap , etc. The problem is that a lot of the young members actually idealize with the songs and try to follow the lifestyle portrayed in the song. Just b.c i may listen to a particular rap song does not mean i'm about to rape bitches; push drugs; and roll out w/ my glock just b.c its what they rap about in the song."

My question is, and this isn't accusatory, why do you listen to it? Seriously, what is it about the music that draws you to it.

Personally, I can't stand it, but I couldn't stand it if they were singing about Jesus and Buddha joining forces with Bono to feed all of Africa while Muhammed and Moses systematically elimated AIDS, I simply can't stand the "music" itself. I'm more of an acoustic guy, but lyrics have become very important to me these days/

That irrelevant fact being out of the way, I meet a fairly wide range of people in the Army, a lot who come from disadvantaged corners of the country. I've met more than a few very bright Soldiers who were horribly short-changed by the education system where they grew up. The reasons for this are multi-layered, but -- for those TWWers over 25 -- think about where you were, mentally and emotionally at 18 and what you glorified. It isn't what you look up to now, but when you've got people whose educational systems and environments don't encourage, and sometimes passively prohibit, advancement past an adolescent mindset, then you'll get a culture like that of "gangsta" hip-hop which is really just a glorification of the shallow trappings of money and power.

White people do the same thing, albeit in a more subtle way, when they buy a BMW, not because they appreciate Bavarian engineering, but because they can. Middle class kids just have enough money to listen to Kurt Cobain and complain about their angst.

10/19/2007 5:05:14 PM

Quote :

"It's been said by others, but you can't blame kids for eating up what's marketed to them. Parents and producers are more than capable of independently stopping this crap; therefore they're both culpable for its effects."

thats why i said they have no role models or parental guidance because their parents are too busy shooting up or popping out more bastards for the welfare checks.

10/19/2007 7:27:08 PM

^Or working.

But, yeah...

10/19/2007 7:31:22 PM

^hard working single moms yes. But not the people that are a strain on our society. I mean that in the most non-racist way possible. Plenty of hard working blacks get thrown in with the lot because they aren't the ones trying to get all the attention and hand-outs.

10/19/2007 7:58:27 PM

10/19/2007 10:10:24 PM