News-Record.com

I think, often, rappers (at least used to) rap about what's happening around them and the culture they grew up in. Is it glorification? Sometimes, I might call it commentary on societal problems.

Public Enemy has a good one called '911 is a joke.' Ice Cube has an old one, 'It Was a Good Day.'

http://www.tsrocks.com/p/public_enemy_texts/911_is_a_joke.html
http://artists.letssingit.com/ice-cube-it-was-a-good-day-fzcs8pw

I have trouble listening to today's rap music. It seems that it's lost a good deal of substance that it used to have.

....apple bottom jeans...boots wit da fuuuur

Psssst.....conundrum......wake up.....there's an ltte regarding race in the N&R today.

This one question sums it up:

"Doesn’t rap glorify violence, drugs and illegitimacy?"

For the most part...well....yes.

I tried to listen to a 'rap song' once. The few words I could decipher was "Niggazs", "Hos", and "Bustacap". (their words, not mine)

I'll stick with Lee Ann Womack.

"Like my niggas from South Central Los Angeles they found that they couldn't handle us; Bloods, CRIPS, on the same squad, with the Essays up, and nigga, it's time to rob and mob and break the white man off something lovely";
--"The Day the Niggaz Took Over"; Dr Dre, The Chronic, 1993, Interscope Records, under Time Warner in 1993.
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Artist: Nas
Album: Nigger
Song: Be a Nigger Too

Uh, no slackin, no beggin, no askin, no fastin
No disrespect to Islam or ?Iman? or pastor
No answers to questions the media's askin
Why we fight each other in public in front of these arrogant fascists?
They love it; puttin the old niggaz vs. the youngest
Most of our elders failed us, how could they judge us? Niggaz
There's verbal books published by niggaz, produced by niggaz
Genuine niggaz, so I salute my, niggaz
Not mad 'cause Eminem said nigga, 'cause he my nigga
wigga, cracker, friend - we all black within, okay?
We all African, okay
Some Africans don't like us no way!
A killng happened in Johannesburg, yesterday
Slain artist named Lucky Dube, hijacked
Some say N-double A-C-P, keep us sidetracked
But I don't buy that, I buy Aston Martins
Faster cars than, NASA cars in, sparkin while ridin
Critics, eat a dick! Journalists see I'm rich
with this "N-word jogging," I'm just startin, bitch!
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WOW HOW CAN ANYONE SAY ANYTHING MORE?

Dan,

Bomb-thrower.

Soul Train was kinda cool...

Maybe us white guys should give the niggaz their due. Maybe sorta see them as filters.

Simply scratch off the available list any ho that hooks with 'em. Thanks niggaz!

Do you think this rap crap will one day be considered "oldies but goodies"?

ghost,

Talk about nightmares! Sorry folks, but I gotta say it. I started thinking what I would do with rap (CD's/soundtracks/etc) if I had the power. First I wondered where all those fanatics, who gather and burn what they don't like, were. Then I disregarded that idea, you know, pollution from burning plastic and all that stuff. Then I thought about digging a humongous hole and burying it. Nixed that idea when I considered the leaching of toxins into the soil that might one day be a vegetable field. Can't rid ourselves of it by throwing it into the sea, sending it to other countries, putting it into spaceships to orbit for ever and ever. Nope, not ethical.

So, what are our options? I see mine as refusing to support it in any way. I don't buy it, listen to it, promote it, let it enter my house, go see movies that promote it. If enough of us would follow these guide lines, there would not be market enough to sustain it.

. . . for the record, I've nothign against rap or any other race . . . but when the messages we receive are so clear and vile . . . I must use my freedom of speech and . . . denouce those fools, thier messages and thier lifestyle choices . . .

. . . can anyone name a white artist who trashes africans? isn't that a hate crime in reverse?

. . . for the record, I've nothing against rap or any other race . . . but when the messages we receive are so clear and vile . . . I must use my freedom of speech and . . . denouce those fools, thier messages and thier lifestyle choices . . .

. . . can anyone name a white artist who trashes africans? isn't that a hate crime in reverse?

Here's an idea, Yvonne. We scratch the cds until nobody can understand the awful lyrics. Then we recycle them as Christmas tree ornaments. We actually made ornaments out of cds one year--put a pretty picture in the center hole or just thread ribbon through it and hang on the tree. No broken cds and no nasty lyrics polluting the environment.

Also, could they be melted in the oven and used as suncatchers? I'll ask papaboilermaker if that would release harmful chemicals or not.

I think the rocket fuel in rap music is the same racism I'm reading in flagrant abundance on this board. I'd rather endure rap's insipid immaturity of violence and misogyny than the nauseating, human-hating vitriols of bigots.

Dan, since you called me out in a very contentious, almost childish manner, I will answer your challenge. You know, you have a tendency to run hot and cold. At times you can be civil and at other times, you can seem irascible.

Mr. Forrester’s letter is arrogant at best. If you change the date to 1959, the tone of his letters sounds like a white male criticizing the “jungle music” of Negroes. When rap took off in the 80s, rap music was representative of the time. Will Smith got his start in rap music. Smith and other rappers rapped about the positive things that were happening in their communities. At one point, Smith had been an engineering student, so, his lyrics were more optimistic and upbeat. In the mid 80s, rap music took a turn that reflected the changes that were occurring in neighborhoods due to the introduction of crack. MC Hammer tried to adapt to the switch that came about as rap music changed. He tried to come across as being “hard,” but, rap fans saw his through his “pseudo-gangster” façade. So, there is no surprise that his career tumbled. Not every black singer had as rosy of an outlook as Bobby Mc Ferrin sang about in his song “Be Happy.” Chris Wallace (Biggie Smalls), the subject of “Notorious,” had been arrested for drug dealing. So, his music reflected what he knew. It was a negative knowledge. But, he gave his audience what they were demanding. It was strictly supply and demand.

There are some rappers who have lyrics that are misogynistic, homophobic and sexually explicit. But, there are also rappers like Kanye West, Mos Def and Common, who rap about politics and national and international issues. West has rapped about the exploitation around diamond mining in Sierra Leone. And rapper Will I Am, played a major role in Pres. Obama’s campaign. For Mr. Forrester to state that there are no critics of rap music is just fundamentally flawed. “Explicit lyrics” stickers came about as a result of Tipper Gore’s efforts. Dorothy Tucker, Al Sharpton and Benjamin Chavis have all been critics of rap music. Mr. Forrester didn’t take the time to do any research to back up any of his claims. When did black males become 70% of the jail population?

I have a question for Mr. Forrester? When Hitler decided to kill some six million Jews, did he have 50 Cent or DMX on his Ipod? There’s no correlation to listening to rap music and violence. If there was, we would see an increase in violence among young white suburban males, since they purchase a lot of rap music. The difference is that men who think like Mr. Forrester, give white teens credit for being able to disengage from the culture from which rap music came. When Little Richard sang “Tutti Frutti,” it was labeled lewd and vulgar. When Pat Boone copied the song, it became a Billboard hit. Mr. Forrester just should have come out and stated his disgust, for not only rap music, but, for black culture in general. His letter danced around the issue.

Pragmatist, thank you! You see it for what it truly is. You have a group of people who are basically trashing an art form because it is not aesthetically pleasing to them. The same thing was done to Jazz and R&B. To them, if it wasn’t invented by a 400 yr. old white male from Europe, it has no intrinsic value.

I'm impressed, Conundrum. Very well done. Music did play an enormous role in Naziism, though, anachronistic iIpods notwithstanding. Deutschland Uber Alles and other anthemic compositions became the soundtracks of hatred and Goebels zealously filtered lyrical content, a la Kim in North Korea.
Personally, I do believe youth buy into the culture of rap, often at their own peril. But youth also buy into the culture of supremacy. In our society, we absorb the perils of misguided speech, simply because the patient is so fragile: freedom of speech dies under the scalpel of censorship.

"...if it wasn’t invented by a 400 yr. old white male from Europe, it has no intrinsic value."

conumdrum,

I was right there with you until that last statement. You are right when you say it is being heavily criticized by some because it was given birth by black folks. But I fit into that "just plain don't care for it" category. I even dislike Christian rap, no matter the color of the person performing it. (I apologize for not being able to call it music.)

I guess it's my age, but give me those Negro spirituals any day.

Ahh for the days when music was music, and the radio played black and white music together and not really discriminated about music , the white kids enjoyed Little Richard and Ray Charles while the black kids danced to Bing and Dean. It wasn't so black and white in those days as far as music was concerned, just where they sat on the bus or what water fountain they drank from. Actually I grew up in a different area of the country where there were no blacks, but we did listen and dance to black music.

I don't care for rap either tho as I do think that it glorifies too much negativity and violence. It is more a form of poetry as opposed to actual music, in my opinion.

Pray tell, noname and others, what is the definition of music? I will tell you........

According to the Encarta World English Dictionary........

Music: 1)Sounds usually produced by instruments or voices, that are arranged or played in order to create a pleasing or stimulating effect. 2)The art of arranging or making sounds, usually those of musical instruments or voices, in groups and patterns that create a pleasing or stimulating effect.

While I am aware that the definitions include the words "pleasing", you still can not argue that rap is not music. It is music, it's just music that you don't care for. I love music. While I do not listen to all types, I still appreciate the effort and talent it takes to make it. So, please don't belittle an art form simply because you don't care for it.

P.S. Are we sure that molene or JPRT didn't write this letter?

Yvonne, I don't mean to be presumptuous, and perhaps you already have the following CD, but it is one which I recommend very highly: "Deep River: The Spirit of Gospel Music in Jazz" by the Jim Cullum Jazz Band. It is a 1998 release so it might have to be purchased "on-line" (I found mine years ago at a yard sale).

There is a wonderful mixture on this CD, including a beautiful jazz version of "Sanctus" by Shubert (the one song on the CD featuring Nina Ferro, who has, IMO, a fresh, sweet, pure voice).

Topsy Chapman will almost bring tears to your eyes with her heartfelt renditions of "His Eye is on the Sparrow," "In the Garden," "Go Down Moses," and "Down by the Riverside."

The other ten songs on the CD are instrumentals and just as inspiring and pleasing to listen to.

"Sanctus" by Schubert

Or as George Carlin said:

"Ever since the incident with Judas Priest about 20 years ago, they blame suicide on heavy metal. If you remember, Judas Priest is a heavy-metal band, and in 1985, two kids in Nevada spent all day listening to one of their albums and then they killed themselves. And ever since that time, heavy metal gets blamed for teenage suicide. If it’s murder, they tend to blame rap."

"irascible" nice one conundrum. Normally you are one of the first to chime in when the letter involves issues of race, lighten up.

And thanks for the interesting lesson regarding the history or rap music, you seem to know the subject quite well. I don't know much about rap because I don't care for the genre of music and never listen to it.

But I have read some of the lyrics from various rap singers, you gotta admit some of them are vile, racist, misogynic, and perpetuate violence. Like Yvonne, that stuff isn't coming into my home.

Right down your alley rescuechick?

http://www.ilike.com/artist/Santana/track/Black+Magic+Woman

JSD,

With the kind of review you gave, I had to suspend this blog long enough to go to google. I listened to the little bit Barnes & Noble would put online for free, just enough of a sampling of each song to make me want to buy the CD. I can hardly wait to hear the rest of Ave Maria as well as the rest. Thank you so much for the recommendation.

One of my favorite gospel groups is "Charles Johnson and the Revivors." I am fairly sure they are no longer together as Darrell Lester started recording on his own and I can find no new releases. While they wrote most of their music, when they did record one of the old gospel songs, they did a bang-up job.

Yvonne, I checked out their website and B&N to listen to some of the music of "Charles Johnson and the Revivers." Interesting to see that the group is located in NC. I also noticed on a blog someone posted the middle of January 2009 that Mr. Johnson may be/may have been in ill health recently.

Thank you for that recommendation.

Firerescuechick: I didn't mean to imply that rap isn't an art, it is in it's own right, but it is more an art of poetry as opposed to music. Of course each person has their own definition of what music and a pleasing sound may be, I just don't care for most of it. I do like Kid Rock tho. Oops he's not black is he? Well that's ok white boys can rap too. Have you heard his song "Amen"? What a powerful message it sends!!

Just got back to this thread, Nothing worse.... Thanks for the update on Johnson. First saw them at Everyone's Day in Thomasville. Followed them for years and bought every new release until I could not find one to buy. As with most things, I have my favorites and others I do not enjoy as much.

However, the Jim Cullum CD sounds as if they are all good. Thanks again.