Rap

[Wireworm5]

I'm of the opinion that Rap music (if you want to call it music) is Brainwashing: altering a persons beliefs without him or her knowing they're being controlled and they still have their freewill. I am quickly repulsed after only a short exsposure to Rap and I can only wonder how people can subject themselves to this barrage of attitude,rebellion,violence and what looks to me like thugs on stage. And what do you know, we see our youth dressed up like little rap artists who vandelize things just for the fun of it.
I don't blame rap artists for trying to make a living. But in all fairness they really have no talent and thus resort into in your face attitude wit a trance like beat to win over some converts to support their lifestyles.

So please rap fans, wake up and smell the coffee. Free your minds and discover real music.

[ericl]

I'm of the opinion that Rap music (if you want to call it music) is Brainwashing: altering a persons beliefs without him or her knowing they're being controlled and they still have their freewill. I am quickly repulsed after only a short exsposure to Rap and I can only wonder how people can subject themselves to this barrage of attitude,rebellion,violence and what looks to me like thugs on stage. And what do you know, we see our youth dressed up like little rap artists who vandelize things just for the fun of it.
I don't blame rap artists for trying to make a living. But in all fairness they really have no talent and thus resort into in your face attitude wit a trance like beat to win over some converts to support their lifestyles.

So please rap fans, wake up and smell the coffee. Free your minds and discover real music.

When you say things like "they have no talent" what is that based on? Did you watch a couple lousy videos on mtv? Hear a song on the radio? You have to realize that what you are exposed to is the "pop" end of the genre, and that is the most caricatured and least creative end of the genre. It is akin to calling britney spears "rock" or the backstreet boys "soul". There is a huge array of talented musicians doing all kinds of different things within the genre. When you make a statement like that, you are portraying your opinions, which are obviously based on your prejudices, biases, and very limited knowledge of the subject, as fact, and any credibility you might have had is lost.

Old white men said the same things about Blues, Jazz and Rock and Roll when those genres were new. Now they are buying high dollar audiophile pressings of all the albums of those genres, and there are classes and documentaries about them, and they are revered as America's only native art forms. I get the feeling you might be one of those men. Maybe it is you who needs to wake up and smell the coffee!

cheers,
eric

[Bryan]

While I do not care for that particular genre of "music" I would say artists in general would do well to consider the lyrics of their songs. "It's getting hot in here, so take of all your clothes." "Hit me baby, one more time." "What's done in Mexico, stays in Mexico." They'll put out what they want to but it is up to us to know when to change the cd or station.

[ericl]

And it is pretty much all junk. Each genre of music has its garbage pop end of the spectrum and i think anyone would be hard pressed to defend it, but at the same time I think you also can't listen to a pop rap song like the one you mentioned and use that to cast judgement on an entire genre. Now rap does have a lot of crap in it but there is a lot of great stuff too. You just have to have an open mind. If one is a curmudgeonly, possibly somewhat prejudiced, old white male audiophile, he almost certainly will not have an open mind.

-eric

[FLZapped]

I'm of the opinion that Rap music (if you want to call it music) is Brainwashing: altering a persons beliefs without him or her knowing they're being controlled and they still have their freewill.

Really, I seem to remember the same thing being said about rock, the blues; And those heathens doing the jitterbug!

And history also shows that Igor Stravinky's Rite of Spring set off a riot at its Paris premire in 1913:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock...eofspring.html

-Bruce

[JSE]

Rap is not my thing. Just can't listen to it. But that's me.

I really think Rap is doing a disservice (sp?) to the black community. And yes, I know rap is not only liked by the Black community but that's it's main target audience. Almost every video you see show rappers with wades of cash, $100k plus cars, Yachts, Girls, etc. What kind of message does that send to young black males and females? It gives young kids a false sense of reality and a false sense of hope. A lot of young poeple today think the only way to be accepted or a success is to have a Bentley, huge diamond watch, "Bling", fine cars and hot women hanging all over them.

Of course you can say this about many things.

JSE

[piece-it pete]

I agree with the evil dictator vis-a-vis talent. But "If one is a curmudgeonly, possibly somewhat prejudiced, old white male audiophile, he almost certainly will not have an open mind." isn't a neutral statement, if I were WW I'd be (imo rightfully) offended.

The older I get the more I realize that there is talent in all kinds of music, yes even opera!

That said, a lot of rap is hateful, vile garbage. They scream about how bad the police are then howl in protest that the cops aren't doing enough. Glorifying gangs, violence, drugs, prostitution, heck sounds a lot like metal. As a former teenage vandal I assure you rap isn't the only culprit.

I am pro censorship for public airwaves, we can regulate the crap our kids listen to (that's freedom), and if we can sue the gun manufacturers for shootings we should be able to sue these labels/artists too.

Pete

[topspeed]

It's impossible to proclaim a single music genre as separatist and possibly even discriminatory without doing the same to yourself. Do I like rap? No, but who cares? I don't think you can proclaim all rap as bad. Some of the things that NWA spouted off about brought some seriously important social issues to light when rap was in it's infancy. Have you ever heard Rage Against the Machine (an excellent politically charged band, btw)? While some would label this alt-rock, bottom line is that he is indeed rapping.

As others have mentioned, other music forms were similarily criticisized when they first came to light with the Stravinsky example being particularily interesting (I was thinking Elvis myself). Punk rock met the same resistance. It's merely the evolution of expression and more importantly, the evolution of entertainment. That is all rap (or 99% of the tripe you encounter on MTV) is today, entertainment. Pop music today is pre-packaged for your consumption, regardless of genre. You can have the hands of Hendrix, the rhythm of Rich (Buddy, that is), and the singing of Streisand, but if you don't have the body of Brittney, you can kiss that contract goodbye. Oh sure, every once in awhile a bright star will shine through and reshuffle the order of things (the most recent being Norah Jones), but you can be sure the pop ship will most surely right itself.

[This Guy]

Don't say that. You're stereotyping rap and you obviously never heard anything else but the POP stuff you see on mtv. If you look at a rap group like "the roots" and say the have no talent you're a very shallow person. These guys all play instruments and write their own ryhmes about life and what not. This is rare to see a band like this, but you can't just generalize and put them into this catagory. Sure most of the rap you ever hear is this MTV **** and you can't really call it music...but you can say the exact same thing about any genre. Open up your eyes buddy.