Rap music is a genre formed in the urban slums of New York and Los Angeles
The stories told in rap music became a controversial issue when the group NWA, which means niggas with attitudes, came on the scene. They started the trend, which is still prominent today, of using curse word in there music. NWA gave you a gritty account of there surrounding and the people within them.
The issue of prejudice came about when the general public began taking these over exaggerations of urban life as factual everyday occurrences. It is important that we take a step back and get a concrete definition of prejudice. Prejudice is defined simple as an opinion formed without knowledge. A large percentage of the listeners of rap had no knowledge of what was going on in
Even the people within these cities begin to glorify language that perpetuates prejudice. This language changed young black man into niggas that could not be trusted. They would rob, steal, kill, and sell drugs in their pursuit of money, hoes, and clothes, cause that is, as proclaimed by Biggie, all a nigga knows. Women became bitches that would have sex with anyone and create problems for niggas out of spite. These bitches, as Three Six Mafia warned, could be a niggas worst downfall. But Big Boi, of Outkast does admit reluctantly that niggas love these bitches or at least like them a whole lot.
Art is made to imitate life, but also to capture the attention of the observer. A movie about a character waking up, going to his classes, and eating dinner would not draw any attention from the masses. But if we exchange our character for a wizard in training and the classes for magical training sessions, we can sell millions of movie tickets. Essentially, this is what rap music does, but there embellishment shaped the perspectives of the listeners much more believably.
Most rap artists are African-American. In a culture that already has to fight a ridiculous amount of prejudice, rap music adds even more fuel to the flame. It gives the impression that if these people do not respect themselves then why should anyone else respect them.
My conclusion for this blog is more of a disclaimer. I do not believe that NWA or any other rap group has the power to create an issue that was not present before the creation of the genre. Rap may have perpetuated and glamorized the use of foul language, but they sure did not invent it. As humans we are born with the greatest ability among all the animals, critical thinking. If we allow media to shape our perspective to the point of prejudice we are just wool-less, upright walking sheep, with a lot more variations to our baahs.
I agree with you. The issues that the rap groups or rappers have brought have always been there, but they are the first to put it out there for everyone to see, well hear rather. I do feel that rappers were some of the first to use so many curse words in a song.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we should not let the media shape how we view things, but the sad truth is that many people let the media do exactly that. An even sadder thing is that many people do not know how to think critically. They either never had a teacher that taught them to do it or they refused to learn it. Either way it is horrible because that person will always be at a disadvantage because they cannot do the simple tasks that require some in depth thinking.
Rap is definitively dominated by the African-American population. I think it is funny that not many white rappers can make it, but there has been a few. There a more black people that I have seen do rock music than I have seen white doing rap. In a way it is funny that the black rock and roll stars like Jimmy Hendrix are considered legends and before their time when it comes to talent, but I have not seen many whites considered to be amazing rappers.
Rap is a double standard. They basically say “fuck what everyone else thinks, it does not matter” and things like that but, the real successful rappers I have noticed are beginning to rap about things that do matter, if you count sex as something that matters, haha.
I do agree that you have a point that we are, in other words, foolish to let the media influence us yet it does, and it does a very successful job of it. We are subjective to what fashions to wear, how to talk, how we should look, etc. from the media. People believed what the rappers were rapping about and so therefore it was true to them. This plays a big role into society, these rappers are big influences, role models to young kids and unless they have family values, that is all they know. With that kind of influence we end up having adults that are as you put it, “upright walking sheep.” I agree with the fact that we should learn to all be thinkers and live life not as the media tells us but we do not live in a perfect or logic world. Everyone is not the same nor do we have the same education or ability to think the same so media influences those who want it to or have no other choice.
ReplyDeleteI don’t listen nor even have an interest in rap music or rapper artists so your blog is very interesting and enjoyable to read. I think the media should be respectful and responsible towards what it is suggesting or not suggesting to society because even though we may be “wool-less”, people are still being influenced.
I don't think I'd ever considered before how rap, and groups like the NWA, aren't instances of journalism or accurate portrayals of life in any shape or form. That's an interesting notion to begin with, and I really wish I'd even considered it before. Rap lyrics really are just sensationalized fantasies, if you can sensationalize a fantasy, or rather a nightmare.
ReplyDeleteAfter recognizing that, I understand even better how the public's reaction to these rap lyrics was ridiculous, but I think I can also understand why they, we, would react in such a way. After such a prejudiced history, that white people are reprimanded for, and criticized for so many generations later, it is surprising to hear such derogatory language and prejudiced words, like the n-word, come out of the mouths of the very people doing the criticizing. And the rap lyrics perpetuates this, exacerbating the problem instead of making it better.
Art really is meant to extravagantly imitate life, and an artist's audience really wouldn't care if they heard or saw some portrayal of normal life. We seek out music and films in order to escape the mundane, the constant grind of our daily lives.
Thanks for the comment on my blog! I’m glad you brought up the point of the difference between parenting and censorship. I agree with your points, it’s the idea that we have a choice. The world will still turn the way it does but it doesn’t mean we have force our kin to digest it quite yet. I also enjoyed reading your blog and seeing your view of some rap music. I do think that we contribute to the idea of people using shock value to get our attention. We enjoy things that sort of stir our emotions, gives break to the mundane. I do think that as you said people need to take a step back and realize the concrete fact behind the judgments were casting. Yet at the same time we can all be guilty by association whether we like it or not. Furthermore, there are always different ways to go about getting someone’s attention. When we respond to a negative action it is quickly deemed okay to continue the action. Positive progress will never be made if we don’t address our means of making a choice. I think you said it best, as humans we are born with the greatest ability among all the animals, critical thinking. We have to use this to change things for the better. Find better, more positive means of shock value.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you the parent or form of the media make rap music out be the bad guys. But that’s with all music in a way has been made out to be the bad guy. In the 80’s it was the heavy music taking the fall for young acting out. The media and parent like to put the blame on anyone else but themselves. It’ll always fan out that way.
ReplyDeleteAlso agree with you that as humans we have the power to not allow music or other stuff make us who we are. I feel that it’ll only a problem with very young children letting rap or any other kind of music take over their lives. But parents need to step in and say what age their children can listen to music. As adults we need that we are in control but children let the simplest things take over their lives. I think your blog is really good and very thought.