Why can't rappers rap about sunshine and lollipops?

In a recent discussion I've been having in another thread, a good issue came up, and I wanted to give it it's own thread.

I sometimes hear complaints that rap music is violent, and damaging to our youth. This is shown with examples like 50 cent, Snoop Dog, Ja Rule, and others. The truth is that our children idolize popular culture, and often want to grow up to be just like them (popular music artists).

I understand that the music itself may not be particularly tasteful to some. Personally, I feel that most country music sounds too twangy and yodelly for my taste, but that doesn't necessarilly lead me to disaknowledge the message being sent in the lyrics.

So I ask you, why can't rappers rap about sunshine and lollipops? Why all the negativity? On the same token, aren't country music stars more in tune with the black community? (joke)

But seriously, I'd like your thoughts on the subject.

rappers have songs about all kinds of things. summertime, picnics, hanging with friends, cars, girls, etc. the most prominent is usually the violent, gang related, women degrading stuff because, well, it is about violence, gangsters, sleezy women etc. let's face it, the following ain't gonna get mad props from anyone

yo yo yo nobody knows
I got me a bright red rose
gonna give it to my baby
and she gonna love me, maybe.

I'm so white

to get things started, I'd like to post the contents of u2us that Skyway and I have been writing:

But may I suggest reading some of the lyrics as poetry from the inner city, rather than classifying it, and me as swine and vermin. Here's a song called changes. please let me know what you honestly think

I see no changes. Wake up in the morning and I ask myself,
"Is life worth living? Should I blast myself?"
I'm tired of bein' poor and even worse I'm black.
My stomach hurts, so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch.
Cops give a damn about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he's a hero.
Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares? One less hungry mouth on the welfare.
First ship 'em dope & let 'em deal the brothers.
Give 'em guns, step back, and watch 'em kill each other.
"It's time to fight back", that's what Huey said.
2 shots in the dark now Huey's dead.
I got love for my brother, but we can never go nowhere
unless we share with each other. We gotta start makin' changes.
Learn to see me as a brother 'stead of 2 distant strangers.
And that's how it's supposed to be.
How can the Devil take a brother if he's close to me?
I'd love to go back to when we played as kids,
but things change, and that's the way it is.

You can't fool all the people all of the time

But if you fool the right ones, then the rest will fall
behind

Tell me who's got control of your mind? your world view?

Is it the news or the movie you're taking your girl to?

Know what i'm sayin cause Uncle Sam got a plan

If you examine what they tellin us then you will understand

What they plantin in the seeds of the next generation

Feeding our children miseducation

No one knows if there's UFO's or any life on mars

Or what they do when they up in the stars

Because i don't believe a word of what the president said

He filling our head with lies got us hypnotised

When he be speaking in cold words about crime and poverty

Drugs, welfare, prisons, guns and robbery

SkyWay responded with:

These lyrics are too focused on violence and evil things. Why can't they write about love or happiness? Why always the focus on hate? They seem to enjoy writing about violence not to demand changes to something better, but merely to wallow in it and exploit the hurts and hatred inside of people for personal profit.

The other song you sent me [external source 2] rambles too much. I don't like the monotonous, repetitive rhyme. It seems crude and a sorry excuse for song lyrics.

: From me

If you've ever lived in the ghetto, you would understand that violence is a daily event. He's talking about wanting to make a change. He points out the way it is, then asks his listeners to change things

I got love for my brother, but we can never go nowhere
unless we share with each other. We gotta start makin' changes.
Learn to see me as a brother 'stead of two distant strangers.

Unfortunately, life isn't always happy, and poets usually express their unhappiness though lyric.

Originally posted by SkyWayTo me these so-called rap singers are only exploiting the hurts in young people to make money off of them. They are basically appealing to the rebellious nature of young people and encouraging abuses of others in violent ways. If it is change for the better that they want to encourage they should compose lyrics that create images of a better life of cooperation and mutual-improvement. They should not merely point out the things that are bad and ugly and wrong with society, they should present how much better they can make things by cooperating and uniting. Give the audience a POSTITIVE goal rather than just showing them the negative conditions that lower the quality of life.

Cmon now this one's easy! They write stuff that makes them money. It's the system that we all adore as americans right?

No one should have issues with rappers. If parents have a problem with their kids listening to rap music they should take that up in their own household.

People've allways been opposed to young people's music. People used to think that the beach boys and the beatles were emissaries of the devil. And remember all the problem that kevin bacon and his friends got, just for wanting to dance???

Fidy's like that, he just wants to dance and rock! *leaps into air and pirouttes, like fidy* I mean, his music's crap, but still, people gotta be free!

They write stuff that makes them money

There's an old, hard core, song that comes to mind.
"There Was A Farmer Had A Dog And Bingo Was His Namo! B-I-N-G-O!"




[edit on 1-12-2006 by Nygdan]

There is enough hiphop and rap beeing made with non voilent texts but mostly the music industry is not interested in them.

It seems sometimes that black people are only allowed to bring negative media on the market like in most films.

Same as with muslims now.
You only hear anything bad from them in the news.

Same with rap only filth is interesting for the corporate media

Kids are pretty much the biggest buyers/downloaders of music and you remember what it was like being a kid? Negetivity, "no one understands me", etc. Rap isn't the only genre that is negetive. Hell, a lot less negetive than country(may George Jones die, or at least lose his voice). Look at Billy Tallent's Devil in a Midnight Mass, that's some scary stuff. Let's face it, the bad # sells.

I don't like rap, not because of it's message, I'm a metal head. I don't like country either. But I DO like Body Count, that's about as raunchy as it gets but the music is good.

OK, mid 40's white guy will shut up now.

"There Was A Farmer Had A Dog And Bingo Was His Namo! B-I-N-G-O!"

Someone made alot of cash off that silly tune. I'm jealous.

Originally posted by Rasobasi420
Why can't rappers rap about sunshine and lollipops?

For the same reason the popular video games aren't about sharing and making friends. We live in a culture that worships violence. The problem goes much deeper than the music we listen to, the video games we play or the movies we watch. Those are just symptoms of a deeper problem of a society that worships violence.

Originally posted by Scramjet76
They write stuff that makes them money. It's the system that we all adore as americans right?

Well, Scram simplifies this a great deal, but he/she is correct. They rap about whatever they have to rap about. If lollipops and sunshine were what people wanted to hear, we would hear this. Unfortunately, in our materialistic world, exploiting women, violence, guns, crime, etc., are what is currently popular. Rappers are exploiting this in their lyrics, which is drawing children to their music.

It is the cool thing to do.

Why do kids wear name brand clothes? Why do they act, talk, or walk the way they do? Because it is the cool thing to do. Those who are not with it, are often jealous of those who are.

Children have this hierarchy that all children conform to. The kids on top are always adorned by those on the bottom. It is years later before they realize how ridiculous this once was.

It is all about being cool.

When I was younger I never listened to rap music. I was a big fan of country actually. Garth Brooks was the man, no two ways about it. Musical genius I tell yah! But I would never admit in school that I liked his music, country wasn't cool. How the hell was I ever going to admit to liking something that stupid?. As I grew older, my tastes changed. I now listen to all forms of music. Rap, country, rock, heavy-metal, techno, etc., are all genres that I really enjoy.

At some point, being cool was not so important. Being happy is what became important.

It's not getting what you want, it's wanting what you get.

I wish some teenagers would learn this at a younger age.

Originally posted by jaamaan
There is enough hiphop and rap beeing made with non voilent texts but mostly the music industry is not interested in them.

They're not selling becuase the public ain't buying. If the public wanted songs about candy canes and nice people being nice, then thats what they'd be selling.

Originally posted by Nygdan
They're not selling becuase the public ain't buying. If the public wanted songs about candy canes and nice people being nice, then thats what they'd be selling.

I don't know about that. It's almost a chicken and egg thing.

I'll give Tupac as an example. He had a very strong message about the reality of the Ghetto, and how to get out of it. And then he was shot (I think by the Man, but that's another thread). He had people unifying, and thinking. But now, conveniently, he's gone, and 50 cent has taken his place. Personally, I think the media is pushing a certain type of music that breeds a sense of self worthlessness, and focus on the rediculous.

Before I go further with this may I ask how well Haillie's Song did? Yeah, I know, it's Eminem.

I agree with the majority of what's been said in the thread, but I want to diverge on an idea a bit. Alot of rappers that are rapping about these topics aren't necessarily just saying what they think people want to hear ... it's how they've lived. Granted some of it IS made up and simply a product of the almighty dollar but alot of it is just an expression of what they are feeling or what they have gone through. I am mostly into punk and metal and when I write lyrics for my bands in these genres, I write them like anyone would write a diary. I'm ticked off at the world today, so I write an angry song about taking out my anger on anyone that's in my way. The government took away the rights of my friends to do something, I write about taking over the government. That is not a representation of anything I'd ACTUALLY do ... it's just my release. There tends to be way too much overanalyzing of lyrics (Tipper Gore vs. Twisted Sister anyone?). People rarely touch on this when considering the content of rap lyrics ... like I said it's not always the case, but rather, simply something else to think about.

[edit on 1-12-2006 by Fiverz]

Well rap music was born in the ghettos of the Bronx or Queens N.Y. (depending on who you belive). Key word being GHETTOS. It is the music of the impoverished and disenfranchised who know nothing but violence and negativity. Most of us from inner city neighborhoods were born out of desperate situations and those of us who became rappers can only speak upon what we know. Drugs, guns, murder, sex, clothes, jewlery and foreign cars all go hand in hand in most hoods. You have to be tough or lucky to even make it to 18 in alot of places.
Now, suburbia loves to hear the stories and the bragging because it is foreign to them. They in turn buy records ( not bootlegs ) which account for the majority of sales and the major record companies know this. There are some sunshine and everything is rosy rappers but you will probably never hear much from them because that is not what sells. What kid in Englewood Cliffs NJ living in a multi-million dollar home wants to hear about another guy talking about everything is fine and peace and love. He already lives that life. He wants to hear about the kid from Brooklyn NY who had to sell drugs at 15 to support his family and has to carry a glock 19 to keep kids from the other side of town from killing him or his boys. He wants to hear about Tameka from the projects with the big butt who gives it up after the club, not about Becky who wants you to meet her parents over dinner. Most people never had to sell crack on the corner and run from the narcs when they jumped out of their undercover cars. I'd even say that 65% of people who buy rap albums have never been within 10 ft. of a actual crackhead or dopefiend.
I guess it is the allure of something that you have never experienced that attracts which fuels the sales which makes rappers talk about the same thing.
Just my take.

I just can't stand the Ego rap. They should call it ego music rhymes like emo music.

Don't care about how crazy your car is. or if the bouncers let you smoke trees in da club, or if you in da VIP...You gunna be broke in 5 years no joke. Nice car, house, chains, whatever...just don't get used to them sucka.


I work pretty deep behind the scenes in the Music Production side of the recording industry and I can't tell you how many sorry has been rappers I've had the chance to be in a room with at some rundown studio running pro-tools on OS9 on some computer with smoke coming out the back, at some time or another and they all burned out too fast and don't feel nearly as "hot" as they used to. Some are even down right pathetic, and you end up buying them food. cause you feel bad for them, then they jsut get drunk and beligerent on henesey (no joke) and get hurt when you kick them out of a studio that even a homless man wouldn't want to sleep in. They are a joke or at least will be after 2-5 years time has passed.

Originally posted by BASSPLYR
I just can't stand the Ego rap. They should call it ego music rhymes like emo music.

Don't care about how crazy your car is. or if the bouncers let you smoke trees in da club, or if you in da VIP...You gunna be broke in 5 years no joke. Nice car, house, chains, whatever...just don't get used to them sucka.


I work pretty deep behind the scenes in the Music Production side of the recording industry and I can't tell you how many sorry has been rappers I've had the chance to be in a room with at some rundown studio running pro-tools on OS9 on some computer with smoke coming out the back, at some time or another and they all burned out too fast and don't feel nearly as "hot" as they used to. Some are even down right pathetic, and you end up buying them food. cause you feel bad for them, then they jsut get drunk and beligerent on henesey (no joke) and get hurt when you kick them out of a studio that even a homless man wouldn't want to sleep in. They are a joke or at least will be after 2-5 years time has passed.

Unfortunately this is very true. Most rappers were never taught how to hold on to the money that they have and spend it very, very frivolously. I think that Damon Dash spoke on this somewhere on MTV or BET. He broke down what a million dollars really is. Basically the gov takes their cut, 50% off the top. Then you need a house and after that you need a car. You need jewlery to back up those lyrics and don't forget about the 4 or 5 dudes that have been holding you down (entourage). You need to buy clothes all the time and you need to eat. By the time you're done, you have basically nothing left and this could happen within a few weeks time. Only those with a good head on their shoulders manage to get by.
The good thing is some are starting to take their destiny into their own hands and get smart about their buisness dealings and how they spend their money. Oh and lets not forget those shady major labels. I see now some going the independent route which to me is the best way to go. Why make $250,000 off of 1 million records sold when you could make $1,000,000 off of 200,000 sold?

It is just the form that the art has traditionally used, so it has kind of stuck. Kind of like how poetry used to have to rhyme but changed in contemporary times.

not all raps songs are violent, just the majority.

The idea of rap is to reflect on certain conditions within the black communities and how the people that live within those communities deal with it.

Rap will evolve with time and already has, rap now reflects the improving conditions of black society. However, they feel they havent quite gotten the job done yet.