Hip Hop: Poison or Art?

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by dzdst796

Hip Hop is ART!!
All of this disecting going on about the culture and its music is just people with too much time on their hands.
People make conscious decisions to do the things that they do. To blame any genre of music for someone's illegal activities is just using it as a scape goat. If someone commits a crime they were more than likely going to do it regardless of any lyrics they heard in a song.
Just my thoughts. I am from the hip hop generation and I love it.
"Let's Take It Back To The Old School, Let's Take It To Union Square...."

I hear ya girl!!!

Folks also forget that hip hop's origins weren't as socially progressive and intense as people try to make it. The Sugar Hill Gang? Not even rappers and their rhymes were fluff. Hip hop was a call and response party thing--DJs were hip hop and then "emcees" picked up microphones and moved the crowd. All of this happened before Afrika Bambata called it "hip hop" and Kurtis Blow rhymed about the ghetto.

Mysogyny and negative images in hip hop began in the 80s. There weren't the same type of video girls and raunchy lyrics but when you allow a little bit, a lot is soon to follow. I still remember how Shaba Ranks' "Trailer Load of Girls'" video with KRS-One was cool back in the 90's. That was all the precursor for what we are seeing now.

[MzDoctaKay]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

Folks also forget that hip hop's origins weren't as socially progressive and intense as people try to make it. The Sugar Hill Gang? Not even rappers and their rhymes were fluff. Hip hop was a call and response party thing--DJs were hip hop and then "emcees" picked up microphones and moved the crowd. All of this happened before Afrika Bambata called it "hip hop" and Kurtis Blow rhymed about the ghetto.

You're absolutely right.... and New Yorkers, although appreciative of the Sugar Hill Gang, often clowned them because the SHG was from New Jersey... and those in the Bronx (NY) felt that the SHG was only able to put on vinyl what the pioneering Bronx and uptown rappers had already been doing for years.....

Be that as it may, in the end we were just happy to hear our art form on the radio station... No one was looking to be paid big money - the fame from being played was enough.

Good point, Chaos.

[Krisco]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

I hear ya girl!!!

Folks also forget that hip hop's origins weren't as socially progressive and intense as people try to make it. The Sugar Hill Gang? Not even rappers and their rhymes were fluff. Hip hop was a call and response party thing--DJs were hip hop and then "emcees" picked up microphones and moved the crowd. All of this happened before Afrika Bambata called it "hip hop" and Kurtis Blow rhymed about the ghetto.

Mysogyny and negative images in hip hop began in the 80s. There weren't the same type of video girls and raunchy lyrics but when you allow a little bit, a lot is soon to follow. I still remember how Shaba Ranks' "Trailer Load of Girls'" video with KRS-One was cool back in the 90's. That was all the precursor for what we are seeing now.

Thank You! The mysoginistic and negative images are definitely not just recent, they are just more widely accepted and commonly seen. And in no way were most of the lyrics socially uplifiting, please! I listened to rap tough in the 80's and the 90's it was headed downhill long ago. Still like to bump some of it though...