Why can't rappers rap about sunshine and lollipops?

Mostly sexual or voilent bands and artists get promotion

With out it it is very hard toget up to the top
Only a happy few select the music that is produced on a mass scale

I believe it is not only what people want but what is available
just like computer games, shoot em ups are very popular but not as popular as the sims

The same as you can manipulate financials and politics you can manipulate the music industry
The same all tv networks are owned by a few the music industry is owned by a few and they decide for the most what we listen to

Do you ever hear rap that is about politics and protest on MTV ?
Most music i hear around on mass media seems to serve a purpose .
For example a lot of music is so simple that is seems to induce retardation and i dont mean just a couple of songs around.
I am sure you could find quite a couple of conspiracies on this subject

Don't you see.........

Rap music started as a political statement
A mirror of the conditions of the society that they are raised in
Sunshine & Lollypops??.........LOL
They sing about their parents drug addictions , the local gambling hole,
The real life places and things they have had to put into some sort of perspective as they grew up....
It's their way of telling the world....
How drugs and their distribution has changed the culture of a whole race

( Side Question Here.......
if we do not grow poppy plants or coc aine plants here in America....
Explain to me how these drugs, and so much more ,are easily available in every corner of our land??)

Yes money is involved..
but my concern
is the
INFLUENCE & Control
rap music has made to entire generation!!!!!

I am going to continue my little rant here.....

Rap music is the same as the sixties music that talked of War & Protest
It is a tool..and sometimes the only tool these black children have to express
the situations they are in......
Have any of you really listened to rap??
It says so much of the educational system in our country
It talks of the sexual knowledge or lack there of
to coming of adolescent age
It talks about the use of the N-word

Now I know your hair just stood up on end..and as a Caucasian
I will NEVER use this word

But this word can be used by blacks to each other and is
as a word of companionship...of being in the same social quandary
it speaks to each other as a historical bonding

BUT as whites ( and others) this word is totally forbidden
Because it's INVENTED use was by us
and meant property.with no human quality..
to be USED & Abused..by us.......
and for historical as well as human validation
I will NEVER USE THIS WORD......

I will stop here........and welcome any thoughts on this subject

I don't buy the lyric about miseducation. If blacks paid as much attention in school as they pay to idolizing the gangster lifestyle, then they would rise in the world of educated men and women who benefit society as they maintain productive lives. Blacks are selling each other drugs and pimping out their women. You don't see white people driving into black neighborhoods to pimp out white women or sell blacks drugs, but you do see white men driving into black neighborhoods to procure prostitutes and buy drugs. Black men are taking the easy way out by becoming drug dealers and pimps, then idolizing it in rap songs??? and videos. I put the question marks after songs, because I am used to songs having music in them and not just being an angry man shouting over a bassy rhythm. Music needs harmon, melody, and audio information that is above 60hz in the audio spectrum. I belive it tells alot that rap music??? uses the very bottom of the audio spectrum as it appeals to the bottom of the human experience and gives no one anything positive or uplifting to aspire to or emulate. Research has shown that sub audio frequencies are even used for mind control and manipulation. Something I am sure that is not lost on the producers making money off of rap music???.

Why can't rappers rap about sunshine and lollipops?

Because sunshine and lollipops don't make women want to take their clothes off/shake their booty's/ degrade and disgrace themselves. And that apparently is where the money to be made is. Being a "pimp" and having women dancing in their thongs for U while showing off the drugs U take and alcohol U consume while riding around in a nice car lookin fly and such. smh.

I used to be heavily into rap and hip hop and have been involved in that scene in a few countries. The basic jist of it is all the same. "Watch me shake what I have" "Look at me! look at the clothes and fake bling and cars I have!"
And the kKids eat this up! And we gladly display it on our TV's and movies for them.

As more and more BS songs come out from untalented, and frankly annoying, "artists" I am just disgusted with what people will accept and encourage. It's been glorified to a point of outright moral depravity.

I still listen to the good old stuff but 50 Cent, Ja Rule and the like have only ever been known to make me choke on my gag reflex. They know nothing of rap or hip hop and should not be considered as such.

Even all that "booty booty" crunk has taken a bad left turn. It was fun for a hot minute there but now it's just sad and pitiful IMO.


I've been at the VIP and after-parties and I can tell you it's nothing short of a zoo and the women love it. Makes me feel jaded about society today even more so.



On the other hand, those that have a message and something to offer us on a more educational level, to tell us about the life, is cool by me. I'll stick to my old school ... cause I guess I'm getting old lol


[edit on 2-12-2006 by ImJaded]

How about the controversial WOW factor that comes with some of their lyrics? In the rap industry, there is no bad press. Any press is good press. Going down for a DUI, assault, murder, etc., all of this only pads their reputation.

Look at Eminem in the last 8-10 years. He took on anyone who wanted to stand in his way. His name and face were everywhere, and he only answered to this controversy with more controversy.

Kill You? Kim? Real Slim Shady? Cleaning Out My Closet?

Only naming a few, controversial lyrics. Especially with the song Kim. He basically described the murder of his wife and her lover. What does it do? Makes him bigger.

Controversy brings headlines, headlines boosts record sales.

Doesn't always have to be about murder, violence, or hatred. Those are the easy ones to be controversial on. How about Eminem performing on stage with Elton John?

Headlines!

They rap about what they see and do growing up in tha 'hood. At least the real rappers do this. Check out this 14 year old kid. He is the next Tupac.

www.rampagethemovie.com...

www.cbc.ca...

I'm also very saddenend by the fact that all the new political/activist rap out there right now is not making an appearance on the Radio or anywhere actually. It's as if people think it won't sell, or they are afraid that it will sell...

www.belowtopsecret.com...

[edit on 3-12-2006 by sardion2000]

[edit on 3-12-2006 by sardion2000]

you may find it funny or unbelievable..

but..

they were told to make known every obsession and every addiction... to bring truth.. regardless if its their exact truth or a friends or family members.. or just something they heard about..
Ever wonder why Tupac got the NATION OF ISLAM to protect him? ....

That's what Old School, Underground and Gansta Rap is all about.

Bling Rap is not about this and Shock rap is all about stirring the pot.

[edit on 3-12-2006 by sardion2000]

Originally posted by sardion2000
That's what Old School, Underground and Gansta Rap is all about.

Bling Rap is not about this and Shock rap is all about stirring the pot.

[edit on 3-12-2006 by sardion2000]

yeh bling rap shows exactly how much people can get addicted to money... and what it buys..

Originally posted by groingrinder
I don't buy the lyric about miseducation. If blacks paid as much attention in school as they pay to idolizing the gangster lifestyle, then they would rise in the world of educated men and women who benefit society as they maintain productive lives. Blacks are selling each other drugs and pimping out their women. You don't see white people driving into black neighborhoods to pimp out white women or sell blacks drugs, but you do see white men driving into black neighborhoods to procure prostitutes and buy drugs. Black men are taking the easy way out by becoming drug dealers and pimps, then idolizing it in rap songs??? and videos.

I wonder how many times you went to high school and had a whole period for about 4 months where there was no teacher. No substitute, no counselor nothing. Inner city schools are notoriously underfunded and overcrowded. Add to that jaded teachers who lost hope years ago and don't forget social promotion and you have a major problem. Add a mix of gang violence and drugs and what you have is a time bomb waiting to explode. It would be very hard to concentrate on your work and for those that do, they get to study out of outdated textbooks. Yes black men sell drugs to each other but from my understanding, the majority of money is made off of middle-class customers from neighboring suburbia with more of a disposable income. Some would look at it as the easy way out but to most of the people in these crime-infested areas it is the ONLY way to survive. I know it was for me for most of my teenage years.

To add to infra-red's post:

It's essentially a known fact that the CIA imports coc aine from South and Central America. It's been said before, but the stuff isn't being grown in Brooklyn, West Philly, or South Central. The combination of the injection of drugs into the volatile black communities in the 60s and 70s (I say volatile not in the unfocussed black on black way, but in the focussed aggression towards an oppressive system way), the destruction of organizing factors such as the Black Panthers and Black Muslims, and further stress on the economic situations in ghettos, made black communities crumble.

Add to that the quote from former CIA Director William Colby:
"The CIA owns everyone of any significance in the major media." it seems very obvious that certain groups do not want the black community being organized in any significant way. So they make sure that 50 cent is the only thing the kids hear, they sell the children drugs, and convince them to idolize the self destructive. Once again, it's a catch 22, deal with the devil sort of thing. Either rappers make albums about what is right, and get no governmental/media backing, or the sell out (like 50) and get the big media money.

TO add to what Infra is saying i agree. THe real shame is that nobody is teaching these rappers how money really works. But unfortunantly they aren't alone. Look at half of the 80's bands. Alot of them aren't rappers and they're broke now too. People don't know what they are reading nor signing half the time when they hastely sign contracts.

There is plenty of small print that negates half of what you are paid. It's like the artists signing see the end amount of money they could possibly make and don't understand that most of the stuff on the contract represent a best case scenerio. So, they start spending like that money is actually theirs when they missunderstand their Letter Of Direction.

I know a family member in his early 20s who made 30,000 on a record deal advance-he spent it ALL in about 6 months. What did he do with the money you ask? Pay bills? NOOOOOO! Pay off outstanding Dept? NOOOOOOOO! Buy furnature to improve his living conditions? NOOOOO!! Move out of his parents house? NOOOOOOOO! Start taking over paying for his car payments from his parents, or maybe the cell phone bill? NOOOOOOOO!

He stopped talking to his family, not cause we were vocal about his spending habits, but because we weren't cool enough to go out to fancy nightclubs everynight or we didn't have a record deal. Instead he went to VERY expensive night clubs everynight with his 'new' friends had to sit at a "table" where you need to pay 1000 just to reserve it and you have to buy a bottle of booze for a few hundred bucks. And thats just to sit down. Plus he spent for all his 'entourage' too.

Now his money is all gone, still lives at his parents house, still doesn't pay one of his own bills, lost all of those 'friends' and oh yeah. He forgot the part where everything was recoupable and now he owes $30,000 bucks to some bunk indy label that has no bands or artists on their roster, and oh yeah they are concidering dropping him from the label cause he hasen't gotten a gig in the last 8 months at a venue that holds more than 50 people.

Now we don't talk to him and the situation is reversed.

Major labels are pretty shady too, and not just because they are loosing profits for a few bad quarters (like 8 or 9) and have to fire half of their staff and artist roster, consolidate to just make thier profit margins look at least acceptable to the public, BUT also because it is very High School like in mentality. Fake friends (unless you are CURRENTLY doing business with them), and people that won't pay commisions or royalties to clients that have a pretty iron clad contract for a project that they worked on for the label, main reason...pettyness and fragile egos, and blacklists who's roster itself changes to suite the mood of the exec. on a whim.

But at the moment rappers are the equivalent to hairbands from the 80's people took them seriously then but now that same guy serving you a hotdog at the wiener emporium is just laughed at. (yeah they still have the long hair, and if the counter weren't bloking their body you'd notice their spandex jumpsuit too) Todays bling rappers-or ego rappers are going to be in the same boat. I mean look how stupid we all feel now for wearing our pants backwards like criss cross...remember them?

Jaded,

I am in your corner regarding the trite ness of todays rap lyrics. I am baffled when I go to some club and everygirl is totally condoning what the rapper is saying about THEM in the songs by acting just like the song tells the girls too while out on the dancefloor. It's one giant, don't think, and cetaintly don't respect yourself, just dance and do what the rapper says on the song. "Make sure you shake that money maker" what is that really saying other than you are equatable to money and possesions, oh and if you can be more whore like then even better, i might let you hang out in the VIP with me.

THis egocentric mentality that the media brings with our current rap and hip hop music is actually misseducating our current generation of kids and young adult greatly. What are they going to do when they hit their 30's? keep dancing thier problems away,clutching thier louie vaton purses, waiting for a playa or hustla to sweep them away back to their halcion days of thoughtlessness from their 20's?

Little kids are now walking down the street thinking they are paris hilton or some bimbo from a rap video. Not OK. And certaintly not healthy.

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.

Probably the same reasons country singers only sing about get cheated on getting drunk and having your dog die or your girl taken

[edit on 4-12-2006 by kleverone]

How can you have a discussion about the state of modern music, and the lack of anything substantive theirin without talking about Clearchannel. It's something that has bothered me for a long time. Another deciding factor has to be this company's complete monopoly over Radio. And, the average person buys music based on what they hear on the radio. With Clearchannel controlling the airwaves there's no way the public has any chance.

And it's not limited to rap. Does anyone remember the list of songs banned after 9/11?

Drowning Pool "Bodies"
Mudvayne "Death Blooms"
Megadeth "Dread and the Fugitive"
Megadeth "Sweating Bullets"
Saliva "Click Click Boom"
P.O.D. "Boom"
Metallica "Seek and Destroy"
Metallica "Harvester or Sorrow"
Metallica "Enter Sandman"
Metallica "Fade to Black"
All Rage Against The Machine songs
Nine Inch Nails "Head Like a Hole"
Godsmack "Bad Religion"
Tool "Intolerance"
Soundgarden "Blow Up the Outside World"
AC/DC "Shot Down in Flames"
AC/DC "Shoot to Thrill"
AC/DC "Dirty Deeds"
AC/DC "Highway to Hell"
AC/DC "Safe in New York City"
AC/DC "TNT"
AC/DC "Hell's Bells"
Black Sabbath "War Pigs"
Black Sabbath "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"
Black Sabbath "Suicide Solution"
Dio "Holy Diver"
Steve Miller "Jet Airliner"
Van Halen "Jump"
Queen "Another One Bites the Dust"
Queen "Killer Queen"
Pat Benatar "Hit Me with Your Best Shot"
Pat Benatar "Love is a Battlefield"
Oingo Boingo "Dead Man's Party"
REM "It's the End of the World as We Know It"
Talking Heads "Burning Down the House"
Judas Priest "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll"
Pink Floyd "Run Like Hell"
Pink Floyd "Mother"
Savage Garden "Crash and Burn"
Dave Matthews Band "Crash Into Me"
Bangles "Walk Like an Egyptian"
Pretenders "My City Was Gone"
Alanis Morissette "Ironic"
Barenaked Ladies "Falling for the First Time"
Fuel "Bad Day"
John Parr "St. Elmo's Fire"
Peter Gabriel "When You're Falling"
Kansas "Dust in the Wind"
Led Zeppelin "Stairway to Heaven"
The Beatles "A Day in the Life"
The Beatles "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
The Beatles "Ticket To Ride"
The Beatles "Obla Di, Obla Da"
Bob Dylan/Guns N Roses "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
Arthur Brown "Fire"
Blue Oyster Cult "Burnin' For You"
Paul McCartney and Wings "Live and Let Die"
Jimmy Hendrix "Hey Joe"
Jackson Brown "Doctor My Eyes"
John Mellencamp "Crumbling Down"
John Mellencamp "I'm On Fire"
U2 "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
Boston "Smokin"
Billy Joel "Only the Good Die Young"
Barry McGuire "Eve of Destruction"
Steam "Na Na Na Na Hey Hey"
Drifters "On Broadway"
Shelly Fabares "Johnny Angel"
Los Bravos "Black is Black"
Peter and Gordon "I Go To Pieces"
Peter and Gordon "A World Without Love"
Elvis "(You're the) Devil in Disguise"
Zombies "She's Not There"
Elton John "Benny & The Jets"
Elton John "Daniel"
Elton John "Rocket Man"
Jerry Lee Lewis "Great Balls of Fire"
Santana "Evil Ways"
Louis Armstrong "What A Wonderful World"
Youngbloods "Get Together"
Ad Libs "The Boy from New York City"
Peter Paul and Mary "Blowin' in the Wind"
Peter Paul and Mary "Leavin' on a Jet Plane"
Rolling Stones "Ruby Tuesday"
Simon And Garfunkel "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
Happenings "See You in Septemeber"
Carole King "I Feel the Earth Move"
Yager and Evans "In the Year 2525"
Norman Greenbaum "Spirit in the Sky"
Brooklyn Bridge "Worst That Could Happen"
Three Degrees "When Will I See You Again"
Cat Stevens "Peace Train"
Cat Stevens "Morning Has Broken"
Jan and Dean "Dead Man's Curve"
Martha & the Vandellas "Nowhere to Run"
Martha and the Vandellas/Van Halen "Dancing in the Streets"
Hollies "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"
San Cooke Herman Hermits, "Wonder World"
Petula Clark "A Sign of the Times"
Don McLean "American Pie"
J. Frank Wilson "Last Kiss"
Buddy Holly and the Crickets "That'll Be the Day"
John Lennon "Imagine"
Bobby Darin "Mack the Knife"
The Clash "Rock the Casbah"
Surfaris "Wipeout"
Blood Sweat and Tears "And When I Die"
Dave Clark Five "Bits and Pieces"
Tramps "Disco Inferno"
Paper Lace "The Night Chicago Died"
Frank Sinatra "New York, New York"
Creedence Clearwater Revival "Travelin' Band"
The Gap Band "You Dropped a Bomb On Me"
Alien Ant Farm "Smooth Criminal"
3 Doors Down "Duck and Run"
The Doors "The End"
Third Eye Blind "Jumper"
Neil Diamond "America"
Lenny Kravitz "Fly Away"
Tom Petty "Free Fallin'"
Bruce Springsteen "I'm On Fire"
Bruce Springsteen "Goin' Down"
Phil Collins "In the Air Tonight"
Alice in Chains "Rooster"
Alice in Chains "Sea of Sorrow"
Alice in Chains "Down in a Hole"
Alice in Chains "Them Bone"
Beastie Boys "Sure Shot"
Beastie Boys "Sabotage"
The Cult "Fire Woman"
Everclear "Santa Monica"
Filter "Hey Man, Nice Shot"
Foo Fighters "Learn to Fly"
Korn "Falling Away From Me"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Aeroplane"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Under the Bridge"
Smashing Pumpkins "Bullet With Butterfly Wings"
System of a Down "Chop Suey!"
Skeeter Davis "End of the World"
Rickey Nelson "Travelin' Man"
Chi-Lites "Have You Seen Her"
Animals "We Gotta Get Out of This Place"
Fontella Bass "Rescue Me"
Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels "Devil with the Blue Dress"
James Taylor "Fire and Rain"
Edwin Starr/Bruce Springstein "War"
Lynyrd Skynyrd "Tuesday's Gone"
Limp Bizkit "Break Stuff"
Green Day "Brain Stew"
Temple of the Dog "Say Hello to Heaven"
Sugar Ray "Fly"
Local H "Bound for the Floor"
Slipknot "Left Behind, Wait and Bleed"
Bush "Speed Kills"
311 "Down"
Stone Temple Pilots "Big Bang Baby," Dead and Bloated"
Soundgarden "Fell on Black Days," Black Hole Sun"
Nina "99 Luft Balloons/99 Red Balloons"

Look at the songs, notice anything odd?

That is funny because I saw a video where an American soldier had "bodies" by drowing pool playing in his Ipod cause it got him "hyped up" during raids and searches. Which probably the last thing a 19 year old soldier should be when searching families. How about something that centers the mind.

Don't they have that nice rap song on tv right now its a gap commercial but I think thats as close as they are going to get

There are as many different types of rap music as there are people who rap. That includes rapping about chicken that tastes like wood, serious political commentary. The only problem is that the average person is brainwashed by MTV and ClearChannel to not attempt to hear more than what's on the radio or TV.

rapers tend to rap about what they went through thus far in their lives...

drugs / murders / weapons / ghettos / etc are all great examples of these themes that are present in these rap songs...

yes, its not all "sunshine and lollipops"...

and, of course, the "gangster image" is what makes them money...