no they do not: try listening to some black eyed peas, beastie boys, ugly duckling, michael franti/disposable heroes of hiphoprisy, jurassic five, de la soul etc. etc. then try and tell me that rap as a genre is as you have described.
society’s moral standards have changed. in the 50’s premarital sex was a big no-no. attitudes change. these were just as ‘dangerous’ in their time as rap is ‘dangerous’ now.
you are absolutely right. there was no crime, racial problems or people with hostile, closed minded attitudes in poverty-stricken black underclass societies before rap. you’ve nailed the problem. i bet those afghanistanis have been listning to too much eminem, too.
cite, please
just like (rock band) guns n roses’ one in a million?
like (rock band) the clash’s white riot?
i could go on, but your arguments are based on hyperbole and paranoia and are essentially meaningless.
for more information on overeaction to any music, and why outrage at rap is the same as outrage at rock, look here. knock yourselves out.
oh and wildest bill, i’m sure rap music promotes sex amongst teenagers, just like elvis presley’s dancing promoted sex amongst teenagers. that’s right.
Could you cite something other than the stupid Judas Preist / Suicide trial.
Have you ever stopped to think that maybe it is the other way around? Maybe crime/racism/social/economic problems caused Rap music to be a success.
As most people know you can NOT always say anything you want, you can’t yell fire in a crowded theatre, incite a riot, or as some “artist” thought skin a live cat on video tape. But what it seems you are saying is that if someone (gang member or not) listens to rap music then commits a murder the artist should be punished. That is akin to saying Shell & Bic should be fined because some criminal uses their products to set a fire. BTW law suits,filed by cities, across the country have failed to recover costs of gun violence from the gun manufacturers.
If rap is causing crime, then why there is a dramatic drop in crime over the years, during the time rap has become the premiere genre in popular music?
I am not a huge fan of 2 live crew. However to condem a whole genre of music because you don’t like one group or song is absurd. As was said above there are several sun-genres of rap i.e. Gangsta / East Coast and latley Southern. So ** Bill ** & ** Guy ** you two don’t like that hardcore stuff. Try something else like Mos Def, The Roots, Pharcyde (older). I never used to listen to country music, until I started to give it an honest shot. While I don’t run around in boots or cowboy hat I’ve found I like enough of it to burn a couple of CD with country songs. You just may find it’s not all bad.
Hey, I’m not saying I don’t like rap because of one or two groups-I just don’t like the music or the format. But then, some people can’t stand classical or folk or big band swing-which I ADORE. Different strokes for different folks, I says.
Hey I am not saying I hate all rap or anything. There is some rap that sounds pretty good. I like Cypress Hill, Tone Loc and the Beastie Boys. While some of their songs might be suggestive(sp), they don’t come out and say “do it in the butt” if you know what I mean?
Bill, you’ve heard of the Beatles, right? Oldish rock & roll that doesn’t incite anyone to anything?
You’ve heard of Charles Manson, right?
Look up the connection between the Helter Skelter murders and the White Album. Next time try not to be such a …aww, hell, it’s worthless even to complete the sentence.
As something of an aside, rap lyrics have always been taken (by white people, anyway) with a degree of literalness that would be unthinkable for rock. Does anyone think that Jim Morrison was actually suggesting that we go rape our mothers in “The End”? Of course not. So why do we take it at face value when MC Ren (N.W.A., “Fuck the Police”) says that “taking out a police would make [his] day”?
Finally, 2Live Crew’s “Pop That Pussy” is, to my thinking, the definitive work dealing with a trip to a gentleman’s club.
“I like the way you lick that champaigne glass / It makes me want to stick my. . .”
I can’t imagine anyone watching 2 Live Crew having sex would make them horny.
I must be a singular voice of agreement with you Wildest.
The world would be a better place without obscene language promoted.
He was a notorious womaniser. While I can’t be sure of our other founding fathers, I know Ben wanted to ensure any man’s right to say “Shake your rump like a rumpshaker.” and any woman’s right to do so.
Chaucer's Canetrbury Tales do contain verses ranging from suggestive to explicit. In the Reeve's tale, a youth boasts about having sex with a miller's daughter, "All night long did she grind my corn.". Chaucer remains the only author I know of to refer to the female genitalia as "nether eye". The full line "And he had kissed her nether eye."
Many of Shakespeare's works contain dirty jokes-
In Henry V, The Dauphin says "My horse is my mistress."
Hamlet "Lady shall I lie in thy lap? No, I meant my head in thy lap. Thought you I meant * country* matters?"
Country matters? Doesn't make much sense, "cunt-ry" ,matters is the original meaning. According to Professor Mistichelli of the Penn State English Department, the word "cunt" was known and used during Shakespeare's time.
Bill-pornography and sexually charged songs date back to the origin of writing, art, and singing. We may have gone from a Greek theatre, to a pub, to a burlesque house, to cd's but "The song remains the same."
Nice list of concious/non-violent hip-hop artists. I’ve not run into anybody who knows about Ugly Duckling except on the LBDAS web sites. Wasn’t expecting to run into someone who digs them here. Daddy likes.
WB:
Hip-Hop is NOT the cause of the worlds evils. It DOES often describe the fucked up things that go on in the world. But people have been doing it in the butt, killing each other, and getting high since way before stereos existed.
Artistic expression should never be censored unless it brings physical harm to someone. The problem with wanting to rule out certain speech is picking who gets to be the judge. If it’s me, I’m a rule out the religious texts of the world, no more “Friends”, and Rod Stewart would be against the law. Alot of people would have a problem with these decisions. I would have a big problem if someone tried to tell me not to listen to Biggie.
If you don’t like it fine. But it’s not the root of evil, it’s commentary on having to live in world where evil does exist. 2 Live Crew’s “The Pussy Caper” is a great tale of a prostitute fooled and an extra John satisfied. It makes me laugh. Laughing feels good. If I can feel good without hurting anybody, then it’s nobody’s buisiness and that’s why this country is great.
