Now i realize not everyone listens t this style of music and many ultimately detest it’s content and imagery. But would it be safe to say that right now this music style is the ultimate connection between the races? I as a white American have loved hip hop since the release of Nas’ Illmatic and Bone Thugs N Harmony’s E 1999 Eternal.
So i’m just curious as to what other people think on the current hip hop situation and if it is helping eleminate racism or just causing a bigger split with youths of America (since hip hop is predominantley american) but for any other countries ssince we have such a diverse group of memebers here. So if you would answer the question for me and hopefully the question is clear i’m sorry if it isn’t.
Are you kidding? Rap is not conducive to racial harmony. It promotes thugishness, violent crime and a subculture that paints Negroes in the worst possible way and advocates aggression against whites. And this is not something you can blame on white people or anyone else, Negroes make this degenerate crap. It’s abhorrent and should be kept away from young people.
And as for connection between the races, all I see is pathetic white “gangstas” emulating their black idols while they are being laughed at by everyone else, including blacks. Stay away from it, no matter what race you are.
That is part of the rap subculture. With reality hip hop it gives insight into a lfie alot of whites couldn’t understand and if really listened to can help an understanding of why groups act the way they do. Now as for hatred against whites, this isn’t really the case anymore, even with underground rap it’s more of a hatred for those whites in power and not the average white man.
the topic of wankstas, wiggas, or whatever you have come to know them as isn’t really as bad as it used to be since within the hip hop world there is more than just Emenim, now there is paul wall, diabolic, nightwalker, to just name a few.
The reason i said it was a joining factor with race is because of the continuing cross over and more white fans growing. It’s breaking down walls and having more diverse groups of friends with something to relate to.
At least that’s what i feel or what i’m seeing.
The topics in the mainstream have changed from killing to obtaining money and fame and that is a universal want for any group. But thanks for answering man.
but that’s obviously not what many members of the public are reading into it though. That’s the problem: they need to make their message clearer.
But most of the rap I’ve heard is full of swearing and people talking about having sex (CANDY SHOPS? what kind of candy shop does he go in?) and shooting people and violence and stuff. So that’s what I think rappers are trying to say, whether that is what they tried to say or not.
yeah sadly the message has dumbed down. You should hear Immortal technique or Diabolic those two guys are underground rap but there message is clear,(but at times technique sounds like a hatred for whites and he does say he hates the white man he can’t see those in office).
The violence is from two or three things depending on what time frame you’re coming off of. originally with people like public enemy it was violence of reform and to change now not the best way to change but it was the message(cause few revolutions we’re achieved peacefully), Other hatred was from beef’s with other artist (beef’s are arguments, i put this in here not to undermine anyones intelligence but to make clear the term im using) such as BTNH’s art of war, the entire two albums we’re about 3-6 Mafia and other artist at the time who were either stealing rhymes or beats from BTNH and another area is just represent how they grew up such as tupac his violence was his life that was what he knew, and he lived his life as a thug ( 2pac’s definition of a thug was a person, He declared that the dictionary definition of a “thug” as being a rogue or criminal was not how he used the term, but rather he meant someone who came from oppressive or squalid background and little opportunity but still made a life for themselves and were proud.)
But hip hop has always been a little violent because of where it originated.
you’re right Amnesia_c the messages sometimes need to be clearer while alot of the times people just really need to read into it and read the song in it’s entrety.
I totally agree, although I get the impression that our tastes in hip hop differ greatly. I cannot stand so called gangsta rap, I think it is lyrically idiotic and musically sub par. However, in recent years a new kind of hip hop has arisen, a more philosophical, and sometimes even beautiful sub genre. Take for instance the rap that is coming out of the midwest with acts like Atmosphere and Oliver Hart, amazing music with lyrics that are more like petry and not about how big their guns/dicks are. In europe acts like Pete Philly and Perquisite and Loop Troup are bringing the chilled out fun that was inherant in early De La Soul back to hip hop back to rap music.
It is important to me that people understand the difference between the image that gangsta rappers have given the genre and the actual subject matter that is incorporated into the songs of the more intelligent and peace loving proponents of the scene.
I can’t stand the ignorant opinions of people who damn this great genre with comments about how it’s all just about violence and drugs and sex when this is not true. Only a small portion of the rappers out there are that far up their own arses. (unfortunately gansta rap is what we are most aware of as it is what we see on music tv channels and what we hear on the radio)
Finally no post about the merits of hip hop music would be complete without me mentioning Sage Francis, possibly one of the greatest lyricysts there ever has been. it is a shame that incredible talents like these are wrongly condemned before even being given a chance , simply because they decided to put beats behind their poetry.
And my rant is done, I just hope that maybe people wil now stop and think and perhaps realise that not all rap is violent nonsense like 50 cent.
Hip hop has nothing to do with racial harmony. Racial harmony is an issue dealt with by society as a whole, not by music genres. If society had racial harmony, so would Hip Hop.
But right now, no, it is not the ultimate connection between races. I live in the SF Bay Area in California, which has become a breeding ground and headquarters for a style of rap called “hyphy”(pronounced hei-fee). This is a style of music and culture that revolves around “gettin’ hyphy”, or “going dumb”, which means to act and dance in a ridiculous and exuberant manner, usually drunk or on Ecstacy. I go to a continuation high school, or a school for those who screwed up and would not normally graduate high school, so most of the school is comprised of problem kids who associate themselves with the hyphy culture. Most of these kids are black or latino. I find this culture and its practices so…so…stupid, that I have begun to find myself thinking about it in terms or race. Almost all I see of blacks and mexicans consists of them being unreasonably disrespectful to peers and elders alike, materialistic, violent, immature, and self destructive, and this has begun to impede my view of colored races. I know, deep down, that race has nothing to do with intelligence, and that we are all equal, and race is just a matter of what skin we wear, but I find myself seeing blacks and mexicans and being more quick to judge that they are unintelligent or immature. So, at least in the case of this white teen, hip-hop music has taken steps backwards in the case of racism.
Day Light i know where you’re coming from but that is unfortunately mainstream media hype which is always dumbed down. i was more along the lines of burning idle with the underground,(QTqhe few you mentioned i have heard of and alot of them i have liked, especially de la soul who i didnt get to see >.<) the gangster rap that i refer to is more reality rap such as N.W.A, Easy e, Ice Cube and Ice T, Wu tang clan and Tupac Shakur, the ones that had a message and were more about telling of there lives and the situation they were given in life.
I must agree hip hop is truly the most experessive form of music and has many an intelligent act such as jedi mindtricks, Akir, KRS 1, Aesops Fables.
Daylight alot of the new stuff being thrown out there such as krumping is just dumbed down versions and stupid forms of extensions of the pure expressions of breaking (media term breakdancing) and i don’t think it’s the ultimate race relations but a strong one as of right now, it’s allowing for diversity to spread and it’s no longer the predominantly black sub culture it once was. So i would hope you can maybe check into any of the artist listed and then see if you have a different insight into the music and not just the mainstream exposure. but thanks for your view .
Oh, I never said I thought all rap was bad, I was simply stating that all in all, hip hop is not bridging races any more than rock, jazz, blues, or classical. I am fully aware of the stuff coming out of the underground. I am a huge fan of rappers like El-P, Aesop Rock(not Aesops Fables ), Atmosphere, Mr. Lif, Sage Fancis, and the like. My statement was reffering to hip hop in general. The good stuff, like Aesop or Lif, is not known to nearly as many people as mainstream hip hop, and so for the purposes of disscussing large groups of people I chose to focus on mainstream hip hop, rather than underground.
oops yeah aesop rock hahahahah,sorry. its been a real long day.
I think that it is a semi bridge though cause so many white kids are getting into the cultrue and watching paul wall and others of the like, not the best but has been having some effect on relations.
i’ll have to check out lif and sage fancis. but good night ill be back tomorrow or so.
I suppose it has been somewhat of a bridge, but like I said before, no more than any other form of music. Remember motown? Black vocal groups that got white kids into the culture. MUSIC in and of itself bridges cultures, no specific style.
i love hip hop and agree with skeelds. Hip hop is about coming from hard beginnings and the success they’ve attained and the lyrics almost have to include violence because if that stuff happened to you wouldn’t u mention it in ur songs? there’s a ton of great rap out there and it seems like many people don’t give it the credit it deserves.
I don’t really like the genre (or at least what I’ve heard of it here in Norway) not because of any texts, or anything, but because i can’t stand the music.
/me guesses huis reply was worthless to the debate
no it’s cool, cause norway has some of the best music to emerge from any part of the world. Hailz to Darkthrone, Burzum and Mayhem.
Yeah i can see how music is a bridge within itself, and no matter what you’ll always have a cross over. i found this book at a local store that i am going to go pick up, not sure of the name, but i mention it because it is all about this topic so when i get at least the name i put it up here.
psychonaut420 I don’t think all rap should be credited especially the mainstream which is credited. Ihave heard more talent in one bar from underground guys then in a whole song by most mainstream artist. few exceptions.
However on a whole hip hop and rap is actually given alot of credit, it’s the best well known music within the united states,rappers are known world wide and are on every major channel and has many a magazine to it which shows underground as well as main stream such as the source.
Rap is the epitome of a split between the races as well as just verbal diarea that means absolutely nothing.
If these “artists” are so concerned with how horible life is in the “hood” why don’t they spend their money to improve the conditions there instead of just making it worse by brodcasting their message.
I agree i’d like to point out that rap is one letter away from spelling crap (C)rap …
Rap is not something I want to listen to, I don’t mind will smith but that stuff that just talks about how their mom got a abortion no way im listening to that stuff…
Wow, there’s two of the most uninformed posts I’ve ever heard, nice work guys.
I think you must not have read the rest of this thread because we’ve pretty much already said that nobody here is talking about the 50 cents and Eminems of the world but more about artists ( and I use that word purposefully) like the Micranots and Blueprint.
Believe me, not a single sane person in the world could think that mainstream hip hop is doing anything for race relations
), Atmosphere, Mr. Lif, Sage Fancis, and the like. My statement was reffering to hip hop in general. The good stuff, like Aesop or Lif, is not known to nearly as many people as mainstream hip hop, and so for the purposes of disscussing large groups of people I chose to focus on mainstream hip hop, rather than underground.
