> there's this undercurrent of hatred for baller/rap/black (so-called "douchebag") culture I love rap. Heck, I even do it myself (badly and in German though, s

> there's this undercurrent of hatred for baller/rap/black (so-called "douchebag") culture I love rap. Heck, I even do it myself (badly and in German though, so no links). I still can't stand baller "culture", and before you think that's just a while middle-class dude not checking his privilege, read this: > What really hurts me sometimes is that there’s not a lot of consciousness in their music. There could be a whole lot more. Rapping is communicating-it should be an instrument for our liberation. We don’t have time to talk about being players and hustlers and gangsters. We didn’t come off of the slave ships that way. We need to become proud Africans again and stop running around in Shirley Temple curls talkin’ ‘bout how we’re pimps and players. A lot of the symbols that are in rap records and videos are indications of decadent consumerism and in a very real sense, those gold chains, hundred-dollar sneakers and T-shirts with a designer’s name on it underline how much they’ve become enslaved by the consumer mentality in the United States-consumer slaves. -- Assata Shakur It's not respectful to support self-harm because "that's just how the culture is", it's simply not knowing any decent rap and having no comparison. Rap is infected with bullshit, IMHO exactly because it could and should be such a powerful thing. Conscious rap is potentially dangerous; talking about bling and bitches is not. As for rapgenius, compare the obsession with it on HN with the "who? stop spamming us with ads" reactions on slashdot: http://slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=rapgenius http://slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=rapgenius - Hilarious.