Hip-Hop Music

[swlabr]

Pardon the pun

After reading the 'Mob Boss' thread, I have come to realize that Hip-Hop tends to get a bad rap. For example, why can hip hop be blamed for killing and thing of the sort. Some people tend to overlook that anything can cause a person to commit any action, regardless if it involves any violence. Why is it that hip-hop is blamed for peoples poor choices? Why does hip-hop get the finger pointed at them more than anything else?

[The Sandman]

You made me chuckle at the pun. Enough to view the thread and say: yes, they do - but there are morons who follow that sort of thing.

[Estranged Reality]

Pardon the pun

After reading the 'Mob Boss' thread, I have come to realize that Hip-Hop tends to get a bad rap. For example, why can hip hop be blamed for killing and thing of the sort. Some people tend to overlook that anything can cause a person to commit any action, regardless if it involves any violence. Why is it that hip-hop is blamed for peoples poor choices? Why does hip-hop get the finger pointed at them more than anything else?

Not all hip-hop is connected to violence, but particularly during the early-to-mid-'90s there formed a "gangsta rap" genre that was home to many gang members. And once a handful of them achieved popularity, they enabled their friends from the streets - and soon the sub-industry was full of rappers who were either in gangs or came from gangs. And as for those who left their gangs to pursue music - gangmembers hold grudges for life. The East Coast/West Coast rivalry was a source of much conflict, and many people died.

As for lyrics inspiring crimes and sexism - that's kind of another thing altogether, and it's certainly more debatable as to whether it has a bad rap and whether the bad rap is deserved or not. In my opinion, anything can be dangerous if not taken in moderation - and the problem is that hip-hop around the turn of the past decade started courting a wider audience. Many of the people who began following the music took it to extremes. Then you have the suburban guys who started listening to rap non-stop and wanted to be like the characters in the songs they were listening to. This is why you now see all these guys in suburban areas or middle-American areas walking around looking like they're from LA circa 1997 - it's kind of sad, actually. It's really the same as Vanilla Ice (a suburban white dude) trying to pass himself off as a street thug. These suburban wannabes wouldn't last a second in the real world of gangster rap.

I think rap is just like any other musical genre insofar as that it isn't trying to promote sexist views - and all music is dangerous if it's misconstrued. 80% of suicide attempts in the USA are performed with REM's "Everybody Hurts" - yet if you actually pay attention to the lyrics, the song is ANTI-suicide (the singer is telling people NOT to think about suicide because everyone has rough patches in their lives and it can only get better).

Let's not forget Charlie Manson citing The Beatles' White Album as the source of his "family's" murderous rampage - he thought the lyrics about the piggies in one of the songs was speaking to him and instructing him to kill Sharon Tate.

But unfortunately because it is typically grounded on lyrics featuring racial slurs, sexual imagery and violence, rap has an easier change of impacting someone than perhaps a band like The Beatles would.

Moderation is key. If you listen to songs calling women "ho's" nonstop, boasting about crimes and using profane lyricism, you're going to start thinking more like that. And it's the same for anything - it would be bad to listen to something like "It's So Easy" over and over again because it really is a rather sexist song. But if you listen to these things in moderation, and balance it with other kinds of music, I don't think there's any real harm.

Edited August 3, 2007 by Estranged Reality

[ADPT]

It does get a bad rap (good pun by the way). People like to blame it for violence but it grew out of the society rap (gangsta rap is what I'm assuming your referring too) artists found themselves in, not the other way around.

Edited August 3, 2007 by ADPT

[Carne_asaDA]

Real Hip Hop should not.....................but the music industry hip hop does.

[swlabr]

Moderation is key. If you listen to songs calling women "ho's" nonstop, boasting about crimes and using profane lyricism, you're going to start thinking more like that. And it's the same for anything - it would be bad to listen to something like "It's So Easy" over and over again because it really is a rather sexist song. But if you listen to these things in moderation, and balance it with other kinds of music, I don't think there's any real harm.

I have been listening to hip-hop for most of my life and I am fine. I think it comes with peoples inability to differentiate what is real and what is not. I have never had the urge to commit a crime or call a woman a hoe after listening to hip-hop. It all depends on the person. If you take a look at the people who are heavily influenced by music - and not in a good way - they tend to be mentally ill; far from sane. It has nothing to do with moderation. It is your ability to separate fact from fiction.

I have read posts by Madison saying that rappers direct their music to "gullible little kids" which is absolutely ridiculous. That is like saying Melissa Etheridge makes music for Lesbians and Female Rights Activists. It is absolutely absurd. Musicians (yes i'm calling them musicians) make music for the people who like it. And do not tell me "gullible little kids" like rap music. Gullible little kids are more interested in what the next Naruto episode is going to be about than who The Game is dissing next.

EDIT: Come on, Madison. I just read your last post in the Mob thread. You're saying that rappers promote violence? The Secretary of Defense promotes more violence than rappers and he gets less publicity than they do. I guess it must be fine if it is legal.

Edited August 3, 2007 by swlabr

[DopeSickGirl]

I love rap, hip-hop, etc. And I DO think people give it a terrible time and the people who follow it and are big into that scene give it a bad name. Its sad really coz it used to be such a wonderful art form.

Fuck tha police.

xDSGx

[Raw Power]

I enjoy some hip-hop and trip-hop.

RJD2, Jedi Mind Tricks, Jurrasic 5, Swollen Members etc..

[Dirk666]

hip-hop always gets a bad rap, people always read into the bad things that are said, okay rappers swear alot but who doesn't!

[oogieboogieman420]

Oh god, here we go again... there's like 50 of these threads arent there? Why cant you just go back, read them, and youll know everyone's opinion...

[wasted]

I used to like some hip hop but really only cos it was funny. Like the first NWA album was hilarious but now I see that they were trying to be serious. We be doin' it doggy style. C'mon that's a joke right?

Chinese Democracy tracklisting:

1. Chinese Democracy

2. Catcher in the Rye

3. I.R.S.

4. Better

5. The Blues

6. Madagascar

7. There Was A Time

The perfect seven track album.

[ffrankwhite]

I used to like some hip hop but really only cos it was funny. Like the first NWA album was hilarious but now I see that they were trying to be serious. We be doin' it doggy style. C'mon that's a joke right?

Chinese Democracy tracklisting:

1. Chinese Democracy

2. Catcher in the Rye

3. I.R.S.

4. Better

5. The Blues

6. Madagascar

7. There Was A Time

The perfect seven track album.

its not a joke. but its not serious either. its serious fun.

[Marky]

Eminem and The Beasties have always been good because they're funny and talented. But 50 Cent, Snoop, Game and a truckload of others are just money grabbing, mindless twats.

Kanye West and R Kelly are also good

[ffrankwhite]

Eminem and The Beasties have always been good because they're funny and talented. But 50 Cent, Snoop, Game and a truckload of others are just money grabbing, mindless twats.

Kanye West and R Kelly are also good

how can you not like Snoop dude? listen to the album Doggystyle its an absolute classic!!

[Marky]

how can you not like Snoop dude?

Drop Its Like Its Hot. Thats how.

[Guest Jack_the_ripper]

please marky, thats 1 song, its like someone saying he doesn't like gnr because he's not a huge fan of lets say jungle.

[Marky]

Yes, but all his recent stuff is full of similar lyrics.

[swlabr]

Check this verse out. You don't here stuff like this anymore.

Here I am . . . R-A-W

terrorist, here to bring trouble to

phoney emcees, I move on and sieze

I just conquer, and stomp another rapper with ease

Cause I'm at my apex and others are be-low

nothing but a milliliter, I'm a kilo

Second to none, making emcees run

Also don't try to step to me, cause I ain't the one

I relieve rappers just like Tylenol

and they know it, so I don't see why you all

try to front, perpetrating a stunt

when you know that I'll smoke you up like a blunt

I'm genuine like Gucci, raw like sushi

The Sage of Rage is what rap did to me

To make me want to create chaos and mayhem

cold rock a party, until the A.M.

I'll make a muscle, grab the mike and hustle

while you stand dazed and amazed, I'll bust a little rhyme

with authority, superiority

and captivate the whole crowd's majority

The rhymes I use definately amuse

better than Dynasty or Hill Street Blues

I'm sure to score, endure for more without a flaw

Cause I get RAW!

That's Big Daddy Kane.

Edited August 7, 2007 by swlabr

[ffrankwhite]

FUCK YEAH!!! B)

Rappers, take a step back, or you will soon regret that

You ever had to confront me and you can bet that

I come correct, perfect, in full effect

Disconnect, dissect, eject as I wreck shop

Stand in command with the clan

Caravan or van, we go man for man and

Without further ado or any delay

Mister Cee as we say, call him the DJ

Mad Money Murf with the triple M

Smooth the barber keepin' my flat-top trim

Scoob Lover my brother, Scrap Lover my other

Dancin' with the crew so allow the boys to smother

The floor, and endure just for your pleasure

As the microphone lord proceeds to get raw

Acrobatic, Asiatic, rap fanatic

I get dramatic and rhymes start flowin' automatically

From me, so don't play me, obey me

When asked "Who's the best?", you better say me

I'm sendin' sucker MC's headin' north

And if you still want some...set if off

For you to cope is just a wish and a hope

And if you are what you eat they're feedin' me dope

Cos I'm just about as dope as dope can get

Ultimate, legit, Kane is a perfect fit

The king of my kingdom, completin' a cipher

The lyrics I bring them keeps the crowd hyper

As I release the masterpiece

The groove will never cease until Kane says "Peace"

So, maestro, yo, hit it

Big Daddy Kane's about to come with it, cos...

[Guest Jack_the_ripper]

heres some blackstar, tell me this isn't poetry:

Breathin in deep city breaths, sittin on shitty steps

We stoop to new lows, hell froze the night the city slept

The beast crept through concrete jungles

Communicatin with one another

And ghetto birds where waters fall

From the hydrants to the gutters

The beast walk the beats, but the beats we be makin

You on the wrong side of the track, lookin visibly shaken

Taken them plungers, plungin to death thats painted by the numbers

With crime unapplied pressure, cats is playin god

But havin children by a lesser baby mother but fuck it

We played against each other like puppets, swearin you got pull

When the only pull you got is the wool over your eyes

Gettin knowledge in jail like a blessing in disguise

Look in the skies for god, what you see besides the smog

Is broken dreams flying away on the wings of the obscene

Thoughts that people put in the air

Places where you could get murdered over a glare

But everything is fair

Its a paradox we call reality

So keepin it real will make you casualty of abnormal normality

Killers born naturally like, mickey and mallory

Not knowing the waysll get you capped like an nba salary

Some cats be emceeing to illustrate what we be seeing

Hard to be a spiritual being when shit is shakin what you believe in

For trees to grow in brooklyn, seeds need to be planted

Im asking if yall feel me and the crowd left me stranded

My blood pressure boiled and rose, cause new york hooray for tolerance!z

Actin spoiled at shows, to the winners the spoils go

I take the l, transfer to the 2, head to the gates

New york life type trife the roman empire state

[ffrankwhite]

I got you stuck off the realness, we be the infamous

you heard of us

official Queensbridge murderers

the Mobb comes equipped with warfare, beware

of my crime family who got nuff shots to share

for all of those who wanna profile and pose

rock you in your face, stab your brain wit' your nosebone

you all alone in these streets, cousin

every man for theirself in this land we be gunnin'

and keep them shook crews runnin'

like they supposed to

they come around but they never come close to

I can see it inside your face

you're in the wrong place

cowards like you just get they're whole body laced up

with bullet holes and such

speak the wrong words man and you will get touched

you can put your whole army against my team and

I guarantee you it'll be your very last time breathin'

your simple words just don't move me

you're minor, we're major

you all up in the game and don't deserve to be a player

don't make me have to call your name out

your crew is featherweight

my gunshots'll make you levitate

I'm only nineteen but my mind is old

and when the things get for real my warm heart turns cold

another black person deceased, another story gets told

it ain't nothin' really

hey, yo dun spark the Phillie

so I can get my mind off these yellowbacked hooray for tolerance!s

why they still alive I don't know, go figure

meanwhile back in Queens the realness is foundation

if I die I couldn't choose a better location

when the slugs penetrate you feel a burning sensation

getting closer to God in a tight situation

now, take these words home and think it through

or the next rhyme I write might be about you

see????

okay okay okay, maybe not but its just one of my favorite verses

[oogieboogieman420]

just had to check it out again.. and this looks like the last argument.. we know, there's one needle in every haystack... but it remains the same that the over-whelming majority of the genre isn't positive.. for every one positive "artistic" style in the hip-hop genre, there's 50 thousand negative ignorant songs about the shit that people are complaining about.

[Guest Jack_the_ripper]

just had to check it out again.. and this looks like the last argument.. we know, there's one needle in every haystack... but it remains the same that the over-whelming majority of the genre isn't positive.. for every one positive "artistic" style in the hip-hop genre, there's 50 thousand negative ignorant songs about the shit that people are complaining about.

the same can be said about rock, how much of it is really positive?

[ffrankwhite]

just had to check it out again.. and this looks like the last argument.. we know, there's one needle in every haystack... but it remains the same that the over-whelming majority of the genre isn't positive.. for every one positive "artistic" style in the hip-hop genre, there's 50 thousand negative ignorant songs about the shit that people are complaining about.

the same can be said about rock, how much of it is really positive?

exactly. forget positive for a second and lets just talk about good. OK, take ALL the filmmakers you know, or even all the horror filmmakers you know or all the thriller filmmakers you know. just the ones that you know probably dont even make up 1% of how many that are out there. and all the rock bands you know, same goes and all the fucking mounds of plankton that slip through your fingers or you just see the front cover of in a record or videostore that you dont even give a day in court are still all out there. theres always only a certain number of stand-outs out of the pack.

[Slash Guitarist]

I like the old rap music, like Cypruss Hill (prob spelt that wrong), Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince... stuff like that i dont mind.