Rap Music: Offensive Music Promoting Racism, Sexism and Violence?

Of course it's art. That's only half the story though, any random Britney Spears song could be called art. It's at least a subculture, because it does influence people outside of just music/art.

No rules no culture? I don't know what you're expecting, it sounds like you're looking for an organized Religion rather than a culture. I understand what you're saying, but I think calling hip hop "art" is an understatement. Whether mature or immature, there is a whole lot more that comes with a genre of music then just the music.

Originally posted by long pig
Hip-Hop as a culture(please, don't fool yourself.) and as a business is full of trendy folks and pretenders.

I live hip-hop and I am hip-hop. If you had any idea what you were talking about you'd know that it goes much deeper than just business. It's art, poetry, fashion, music, dance, a language, a business, and oppurtunity.

If you judge every culture by stereotypes portrayed on T.V. and the posers down at your local mall, you're missing out on the heart of things. Every culture has pretenders and trends. Try to look deeper.

Originally posted by long pig
Kool, you're definatly on target, I took gangsta rap as a personal insult back when I was hiding the best records in the store from other kids back in the day.
If I somehow dissed hiphop music as a whole it wasn't my intent.
Music is what I do. I love it.

The first few "gangsta" groups that came out in the late 80's early 90's i liked, such as Ice-T, NWA and a bit later when Cube went solo. But to me it seemed alot different than now, nowadays they seem to be churning them off the production line complete with gold teeth, Mr T type chains and hundreds of "hoes". It unfortunately sells right now and these clones dont care about making music that has meaning, they only care about lining their own pockets. All this is making it harder for hip hop to be taken seriously as an art form.

Gangsta rap is always to be taken with a grain of salt. For hip hop purests of the 70's and 80's, it will seem like a talentless bastard child of hip hop that is nothing more then filth in the form of music. But if you listen to the undertones in the songs, they almost always had a message. They may be talking about drive bys and violent acts, but at the same time you can get the message that they are saying that it shouldn't be like this. It's the added dose of realism that really makes people think about what's wrong with life in the "hood."

I liked the early gangsta rap from the 90's but what sucks about it is they paved the way for the material rappers that would follow and take the "thug" attitude while leaving the message behind.

Originally posted by moviejunkie23
"MovieJunkie > I'm pretty sure your mind is made up, but I'll speak my piece anyways. The level of creativity and brainwork that goes into good hip-hop dwarfs all other genres. If it's politically motivated the ideas and opinions come at you rapid-fire leaving you with much more to think about. If it's just about "word-play", you can hardly touch hip-hop in cleverness or clarity of expression. And to say that this type of music simply promotes sexism, violence, and racism, means you haven't taken the time to find quality work. There's bad music in every genre... I go out of my way to find GOOD MUSIC."

Common man the level of "brain work"? Almost all the content is the same a good 90 percent of it. Its not very difficult you reprat themes that have been repeated 100 different times before. Its also a testement to how devoid the creative process is when you listen to the background music of these songs. Do this for me. This will be a fun experiment of what makes a rap song's background music. Really don't be embarrassed do this out loud and tell me how it sounds. Make two fart sounds and then follow up the two fart sounds with two crow caws. Now after you make the two fart sounds again follow that up with one longer more shrill crow caw. Now repeat the farts and follow them up with the initial two crow caws. Do this for five minutes and tell me wether your bored or not, because that exactly what rap music is doing in my head accomponied by a guy that sounds like he is speaking in tongues about how he likes naked broads and likes to drink booze and he is the best in the game and he has a bullet proof car and he carries a pistol and he gotttzzz one mads crew, son! Common man this isn't a sign of intelleigence this is a sign of a ex gang member ignorant crack dealer who would probably have a difficult time reading and comprehending RL Stines Goosebumps series that found a loop whole in the american system and now makes a fortune by rapping about how much of a degenerate he is.
But I am talking in broad terms I do agree you can find some pearls in almost every genre like you said about cash for country. I agree with that.

Actually, if you do a little looking rather than sitting on your ass bitching about how much hip hop sucks, you'll find that you've got it backwards. You are right that there are some unbelievably stupid songs and rappers out there. However, the huge majority is not quite so shitty. The reason being that the huge majority is underground or indie, and to make it as an underground artist, you generally can't suck entirely. A lot of really terrible mainstream rappers only start being really terrible when they hit it big and their record company tells them that they need to be dumbasses to sell records.

Anyways, I will proceed to make what is now a much clicheed move on KMC and other forums. I am going to post some REAL, LIVE hip hop lyrics to prove that there's plenty of good stuff out there. I don't think I can really prove right now that the good songs are not "gems" as you put it, but are equally as, if not more prevalent than the shit. And remember, if you don't read the lyrics, but still generalize hip hop as "I got bling bling, come here and suck my cock *****" bullshit, you will prove that your argument is totally invalid.

Atmosphere- Trying to Find a Balance
[Slug]
They love the taste of blood
Now I don't know what that means, but I know that I mean it
Maybe they're as evil as they seem
Or maybe I only look out the window when it's scenic
"Atmosphere finally made a good record."
Yeah right, that shit almost sounds convincing
The last time I felt as sick and contradictive as this
Was the last time we played a show in Cinnci'
"Get real." they tell me
If only they knew how real this life really gets
They would stop acting like a silly *****
They would respect the cock whether or not they believed in it
Doesn't take much and that's messed up
Because these people do a lot of simple shit to impress us
While everyone was trying to out-do the last man
I was just a ghost trying to catch someone's Pac-man
Hello ma'am, would you be interested
In some sexual positions and emotional investments
See, I'm not insane, in fact I'm kind of rational
When I be askin', "Yo, where did all the passion go?"
East coast, West coast, down South, Midwest
Nowadays everybody knows how to get fresh
Somebody give me a big yes (YES!)
God Bless America, but she stole the B from "Bless"
Now I'm too ****ed up to dance
So I'ma sit with my hand down the front of my pants
You can't achieve your goals if you don't take that chance
So go pry open that trunk and get those amps

[Chorus x2]
In the days of Kings and Queens I was a jester
Treat me like a God, oh they treat me like a leper
You see me move back and forth between both
I'm trying to find a balance
I'm trying to build a balance

[Slug]
So now I keep a close eye on my pets
Because they make most of their moves off of instinct and sense
It's eat, sleep, **** and self defense
So straight you can set your clocks and place bets
Wait, let's prey on blind, deaf, dumb, dead
Hustle, maybe a couple will love what you said
Emcees drag their feet across a big naked land
With an empty bag of seed and a fake shake of hands
Yeah I got some last words, **** ALL OF YA'LL!
Stop writin' raps and go play volleyball
Gotta journey the world in a hurry
Cause my attorney didn't put enough girls on the jury
Guilty of droppin' these bombs in the city
But I'm innocent, love is the motive that's why you're killin 'em
Guilty of settin' my fire in all fifty
But I'm innocent, blame it on my equilibrium

[Chorus x2]
In the days of Kings and Queens I was a jester
Treat me like a God, oh they treat me like a leper
You see me move back and forth between both
I'm trying to find a balance
I'm trying to build a balance

I gotta find my balance
I gotta find my balance

[Slug]
Now all my friends are famous
It's either one thing or another
They all don't know what my name is
Probably know both of my brothers
The one is a hard workin' savior
The other's a hard workin' soldier
I'm just your next door neighbor
Workin' hard at tryin' to stay sober
You wait for the car at the corner
Pretend like you know what the pot is
Won't quit till I hit California
And make you my Golden State goddess

Originally posted by Afro Cheese
Gangsta rap is always to be taken with a grain of salt. For hip hop purests of the 70's and 80's, it will seem like a talentless bastard child of hip hop that is nothing more then filth in the form of music. But if you listen to the undertones in the songs, they almost always had a message. They may be talking about drive bys and violent acts, but at the same time you can get the message that they are saying that it shouldn't be like this. It's the added dose of realism that really makes people think about what's wrong with life in the "hood."

I liked the early gangsta rap from the 90's but what sucks about it is they paved the way for the material rappers that would follow and take the "thug" attitude while leaving the message behind.

Yeah I agree, you could hardly put "Amerikkkas Most Wanted" in the same category as "Get rich or die trying" although the "uneducated" wouldnt see the difference.

Originally posted by moviejunkie23

Common man the level of "brain work"? Almost all the content is the same a good 90 percent of it. Its not very difficult you reprat themes that have been repeated 100 different times before. Its also a testement to how devoid the creative process is when you listen to the background music of these songs. Do this for me. This will be a fun experiment of what makes a rap song's background music. Really don't be embarrassed do this out loud and tell me how it sounds. Make two fart sounds and then follow up the two fart sounds with two crow caws. Now after you make the two fart sounds again follow that up with one longer more shrill crow caw. Now repeat the farts and follow them up with the initial two crow caws. Do this for five minutes and tell me wether your bored or not, because that exactly what rap music is doing in my head

Give me a day in the studio with those two fart noises and the crow...

I'll give you a hot instrumental the likes you've never heard before. You may not like it, but I bet you I'll find an audience that loves it. In the early days of hip-hop, that was the essence. Making something out of nothing. It's creativity. That 90 percent you spoke of is the same in any genre. But that other 10 percent is golden.

Rock has used the exact same tools for 50 years. Guitar, base, drum, and vocal. But they find a way to make it new. I can respect that. And you should respect the fact that the golden 10 percent of hip-hop is pushing the envelope of musical sound in general.

I with you there D-Double, I thought about responding to that particular post but the words escaped me. It takes an amazing amount of ignorance to come out with shit like that, especially when there are plenty of people on this forum who will shoot it down in flames. There are genres of music i dont care for but i dont know enough about them to write them off as "devoid of creative process", so i keep my mouth shut and let whoever likes it get on with it.

BTW, what movie is that Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier pic from?

Originally posted by Afro Cheese

It takes a lot more effort to write rap lyrics then you think. Not only do you have to try to convey your message clearly, you also have to make it rhyme consistently, flow nice, and if you really want rap fans to like your music, you also have to pack it with literary devices like metaphors, punchlines, multi syllable rhymes, inner-bar patterns, the works. Only rap fans pick up on this stuff because rap is the only genre where artists go out of their way to perfect these techniques.

That's some pretty brainy stuff if you ask me... 😉

Kool > Word!!... I'm out! PEACE!! 🪩

... it's from "Let's do it again". The sequel to "Uptown Saturday Night".
... I've almost hurt myself laugh'n at those movies... 😄

I've seen Uptown Saturday Night, classic movie. I'll have to check the sequel, didnt realise there was one.

Well Darth Raven

its not the best lyrics i have heard but i read it with an open mind and their were a few gems in it that were pretty inspired. I like the pacman verse and the not enough woman on the jury lyrics. But allot of that specific song to me didn't connect the dots of his seperate ideas to me, it was sort of sporadic and random and i like structured better.

remember what i said too man there are inspired songs from every genre, ist just that overall rap is bad, but don't worry i am not biased, overall i think almost every genre is crap overall

"It takes a lot more effort to write rap lyrics then you think. Not only do you have to try to convey your message clearly, you also have to make it rhyme consistently, flow nice, and if you really want rap fans to like your music, you also have to pack it with literary devices like metaphors, punchlines, multi syllable rhymes, inner-bar patterns, the works. Only rap fans pick up on this stuff because rap is the only genre where artists go out of their way to perfect these techniques. "

Ok i can respect that Afro
what about the background music , can you refer me to some rap musicians that don't use super mario style music in the background because virtually every rap song i have heard is weak when it comes to the background music.
Also my own personal taste i like vocals (singing not rapping) that gets stuck in my head. For instance if i take a second i can hear cris cornells voice in my head without even trying very hard. I don't really get this with rap man. Maybe it works like that with rap for differnt people but it sounds reletivley the same to me, their is an occassion were someone has a new sounding v oice and i respect that, like for instance ODB had a funny crazy weird type of voice were you just look at the sterio and go WTF????? it is something differnt i do like that (though his lyrics were absurd at least in my opinion it sounded like a troubled kid in the sand lot) But for the most part I like the sound of a voice singing, not talking is a speeded tone to a fast rythem. And the chorus lines to me are not especially good from what i have heard in allot of rap songs. I hate that quivering loud gospel style singing and i hate even worse when the rapper trys to sing when he is obviosley terrible at it.
But I like how you discussed some of the key points like the rythem and the metaphors and the like, i can respect that, but the form of music it comes in for me gets boring very quickly. I gues thats just me. Remember when you speak about music too you are talking opinion at a greater level. To someone else , remember, country music is where its at musicaly and they could give you a series of reasons why it is.
I guess for me i just like to pick and choose small amounts of each genre that work for me for whatever particular reason.
Because for the most part, especially commercially, most genres really blow and are more infuenced by marketing strategiesb than they are by the love of music, thats why i tend to stick to the particular odd ducks in differnt genres that interest me.
I need variety in sound and content and for the most part, however you think of the genre, you have to admit thats not one of raps stronger points

I think i understand what you are saying, but you must understand that the people you are debating against listen to a lot of hip hop you have probably never heard. So when you say that the background music (im guessing you mean the hooks and samples) all sound like Super Mario it doesnt carry much weight because we know differently. Some groups who i think have great "background music" are Jedi Mind Tricks, Mr Lif, Jurrasic 5, Aesop Rock and Blackalicious. I'll leave it to the other hip hop heads to name some more.

Originally posted by koolruningz
I think i understand what you are saying, but you must understand that the people you are debating against listen to a lot of hip hop you have probably never heard. So when you say that the background music (im guessing you mean the hooks and samples) all sound like Super Mario it doesnt carry much weight because we know differently. Some groups who i think have great "background music" are Jedi Mind Tricks, Mr Lif, Jurrasic 5, Aesop Rock and Blackalicious. I'll leave it to the other hip hop heads to name some more.

I hope you actually quoted some good sources of music for rap, kool, because i am going to take you up on that offer and check those out just for kicks to see what i think. I will especially pay attention to the music aspect of it.
I have never heard any of those selections and i will listen to them with an open mind. I would love to be proven wrong.

MJ

honestly i dont belive music or movies for that matter really promote violence. think abought it we had violince way before the hip/hop era. inho i believe the people who commit violence to others are the cause not music. sh*t they blamed manson for the colombine shooting back in 99 cause they thought he promoted that. but guess what those 2 guys who shot up the school they did that on there own by being bullied. music in that matter wasnt the cause of it. hell take a look at scott peterson that dude didnt listen to a hip/hop record the guy went out of his way to kill his wife. not a cd.

Originally posted by moviejunkie23
I hope you actually quoted some good sources of music for rap, kool, because i am going to take you up on that offer and check those out just for kicks to see what i think. I will especially pay attention to the music aspect of it.
I have never heard any of those selections and i will listen to them with an open mind. I would love to be proven wrong.

MJ

As long as you don't come back saying they're crap just coz you don't wanna be proven wrong.

-AC

Originally posted by LIL-G
honestly i dont belive music or movies for that matter really promote violence. think abought it we had violince way before the hip/hop era.

Violence in the music media and movies does not promote violence. However it does celebrate violence and influence the preferences and ideals of younger viewers and listeners. That combined with a total lack of parenting skills by many parents is a big problem.

I hate when people say that the media has no effect on kids or their behaviour, that a very "hide your head in the sand" way to be. Every one has watched a movie that made them sad, happy or angry at one time or another. I know that when I exercise I listen to music that gets my Adrenalin pumping, and if I want to relax I listen to music that mellows me out.

Kids have always followed the lead of their media idols, they grew mop tops when they listened and idolized the Beatles, they were introduced to free love and drugs in the Hendrix era and they dressed like complete freaks and enjoyed the lure of harder drugs during the New Wave of the 80's. Why is it so hard for people to admit that children now may be idolizing and simulating the behaviour of the musicians and celebrities that they are influenced by now?

Originally posted by KharmaDog
Violence in the music media and movies does not promote violence. However it does celebrate violence and influence the preferences and ideals of younger viewers and listeners. That combined with a total lack of parenting skills by many parents is a big problem.

I hate when people say that the media has no effect on kids or their behaviour, that a very "hide your head in the sand" way to be. Every one has watched a movie that made them sad, happy or angry at one time or another. I know that when I exercise I listen to music that gets my Adrenalin pumping, and if I want to relax I listen to music that mellows me out.

Kids have always followed the lead of their media idols, they grew mop tops when they listened and idolized the Beatles, they were introduced to free love and drugs in the Hendrix era and they dressed like complete freaks and enjoyed the lure of harder drugs during the New Wave of the 80's. Why is it so hard for people to admit that children now may be idolizing and simulating the behaviour of the musicians and celebrities that they are influenced by now?

I agree with you for the most part..I do believe however that the media does promote violence..seeing as how "celebrating" something is kind of like "promoting it." Other than that I think you hit the nail right on the head.

Originally posted by moviejunkie23
I hope you actually quoted some good sources of music for rap, kool, because i am going to take you up on that offer and check those out just for kicks to see what i think. I will especially pay attention to the music aspect of it.
I have never heard any of those selections and i will listen to them with an open mind. I would love to be proven wrong.

MJ

Atmosphere and MF Doom both have good beats also.

dude rap/hip/hop isnt just abought hardcore gansta sh*t look at ludacris for example he dosent go out there a rap kill him or kill her. all he does is make sex songs basicly.

if media v.i.a music or films for that matter causes people in general to go out and kill somone just think it's not the music it's the person who listened to it. the person or persons who listen to rap and go out and do what is said then i believe that fan or buyer is either a follower or just not a saine person.