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I think this downplays the movement which spawned hiphop and rap. It comes from the ghettos of America alongside graffiti, drugs, materialism, the drug war, gan
by codyb 11y ago
I think this downplays the movement which spawned hiphop and rap. It comes from the ghettos of America alongside graffiti, drugs, materialism, the drug war, gangs, single parents, delapidated housing. A lot of rap is spoken history, people speaking how they feel, what they see, what their life is like.
Rap conveys the desires of the American urban youth, a desire for power, to escape, to join the degenerate holders of power and wealth in their chase for ever more money, cars, houses, and women.
And all through history people have been espousing about "bitches, money, and sex", just because it's in ebonics doesn't make it any less valuable as a means of expression or artistically.
It's easy to dismiss what comes from the ghetto, and yet often they are rapping about their very existences. And we all need to come to grips with being a part of a society which has fostered such lives and attitudes.
Of course there are club bangers too, and not every song is ever going to be full of meaning and depth, but I think discrediting an entire movement of music for the nostalgia of the hippies prior is a bit disingenuous.
- walshemj 11y agoYou could say that Rap Started out as a modern take on Folk Ballards
- joslin01 11y ago> I think discrediting an entire movement of music for the nostalgia of the hippies prior is a bit disingenuous. Which I'm not doing though your straw-man argument was nice to read. In fact, I've often spoken the very same things you are. This is 2015 though and I'm afraid to tell you that most rap is not what you're talking about. The last great album that does exactly that is Illmatic in my opinion though you hear Kendrick's latest stuff and that's on-point too. You don't get a moral blank check for growing up the ghetto. It's fine to rap about what you know, but it gets to the point of absurdity for most rappers who only know how to talk about bitchs. Am I supposed to stand aside and rally behind the virtues of big butts shaking on the TV 24/7 -- because it's from the ghetto and I just don't understand? You're not seeing the full picture and though I enjoyed your tangent, I do not enjoy being written off as a nostalgic hippie. The hippies I'm apparently nostalgizing about were singing about ending the war -- what popular songs do that? What popular songs stop and make you think the way "Time" did by Pink Floyd? No, the time when rappers actually rapped were more back in the day. I'll close out with one of my favorite verses by Big Boi that is basically what you're trying to say: But they be making it seem That my music and crime are a team But I'm speaking the truth not dreams So what in the fuck they mean My lyrics ain't clean