Hip Hop: Poison or Art?

[mulattogyrl]

Originally Posted by MzDoctaKay

I believe the same holds true for Old School music (Soul/R&B)......many of the songs from the 60s and 70s had "adult content" - however, it was delivered a little more carefully....or at least as a child, you didn't fully understand the message being conveyed. Earlier days in hip hop may have had the same messages in some of the songs....however, most of them were conveyed much more delicately....or you were so concerned about the party (or the story), you missed the fact that the song was about he and his girl.....

In my opinion, the tide turned during the NWA years for the West.....and the Luke years for the South. I welcome your comments.

I agree, the messages were delivered more carefully. But then again, I'm all grown up now and don't always understand what the gangster rappers are referring to in their songs. Like somewhere in another thread, one of us didn't know what 'Ds' were in a song. My question is this: As far as the negativity in rap music today, is it the fault of the rappers, music industry, etc., or is it really a reflection of what is going on in the streets? The reason I ask this is because like I said, I don't understand some references, but these younger kids sure do, and just like Ms Docta Kay said, when we were young, we didn't understand. So, is that a reflection of how the younger generation is different/growing up too fast, etc., or are lyrics really that much worse? Or maybe a little bit of both?

[StarFish106]

Originally Posted by mulattogyrl

I agree, the messages were delivered more carefully. But then again, I'm all grown up now and don't always understand what the gangster rappers are referring to in their songs. Like somewhere in another thread, one of us didn't know what 'Ds' were in a song. My question is this: As far as the negativity in rap music today, is it the fault of the rappers, music industry, etc., or is it really a reflection of what is going on in the streets? The reason I ask this is because like I said, I don't understand some references, but these younger kids sure do, and just like Ms Docta Kay said, when we were young, we didn't understand. So, is that a reflection of how the younger generation is different/growing up too fast, etc., or are lyrics really that much worse? Or maybe a little bit of both?

Sometimes I think it is a little of both..Back in the day when they were talking about 'killin' it was mainly killin on the mike and that was it. Your ego was crushed and you picked it up, went home and came up with a new rhyme to battle them with next week and regain your title or claim a new one. Today they mean it as in taking your life and meaning exactly that. Sometimes I wonder if the whole thing of what begat what is the million dollar question. There was always violence on the streets but no one ever talked about it the way rap did. Violence and Sex is all around the children today & in some instances there is nothing to balance it out so it is all one sided. Those that remember back in the day we had different genres (battle rap, conscious rap, fun rap and gangster rap) going on at the same time or at least overlapping. Today you don't have those choices as prevalent and popular as they were in the past and what sells is the violent, sexual rap.

It seems right when gangsta rap took off, all the older indie labels that had the other types of rap got bought out by the bigger labels (Big Beat, Sleeping Bag, Rawkus et.al) So there is the gap in the rap industry because all the big boys want to make $$$. In turn that's what the audience gravitates to. Since everybody and their momma has a record label nowadays it would be nice to see some alternate forms of rap emerge again.

But it all reminds me of a quote from the movie Brown Sugar; "Here at Millenium Records we keep it profitable, if you want to keep it real go to Rawkus" .

And that's the double truth Ruth!!

[MzDoctaKay]

Originally Posted by mulattogyrl

I agree, the messages were delivered more carefully. But then again, I'm all grown up now and don't always understand what the gangster rappers are referring to in their songs. Like somewhere in another thread, one of us didn't know what 'Ds' were in a song. My question is this: As far as the negativity in rap music today, is it the fault of the rappers, music industry, etc., or is it really a reflection of what is going on in the streets? The reason I ask this is because like I said, I don't understand some references, but these younger kids sure do, and just like Ms Docta Kay said, when we were young, we didn't understand. So, is that a reflection of how the younger generation is different/growing up too fast, etc., or are lyrics really that much worse? Or maybe a little bit of both?

Uhmmm soror.... very thought-provoking.

I think for the most part, the older generations were always left in the dark about the street vernacular or the terminology of that day. I was born in 1971, so my teenage years were the 80s. We'd say stuff like, "Def", and "Fresh", and my moms would always ask: What does that mean?? But here's the thing.... you always had two areas of hip hop. You had the UNDERGROUND, that wasn't accepted, endorsed, or ever heard by the mainstream .... and obviously, the MAINSTREAM, that was played on the radio, and some times, managed to cross over. [Today, mainstream isn't defined by crossing over, because all cultures embrace hip hop - only being played on the radio makes it mainstream]. In those days, the FCC would go crazy if certain things were allowed over the airwaves. However, with the relaxing of "rules", and the censorship crusade led by Luke, songs we would've NEVER heard on the radio (back then) and was relegated solely to the Underground, made their way over to the mainstream.....

On the other hand, you tackled another interested point that I had to seriously ponder. ..if you're not a product of the streets, you may not always have a clue about what's going on... I don't know if that's ALWAYS the case... I was raised in suburbia....however, we always knew and understood what was going on in the music of our day. Maybe that's because back in our day, there weren't REAL gang members in the game... who had their own code and vernacular. Now don't get it confused with Gangsta Rap - not all who are involved in gangsta rap are REALLY in gangs.......Again...when I speak of back in the day, I'm speaking about New York.....

I would really like to know what others think...