Hip Hop is raising our children to be ignorant and racist

reply to post by Sacrosanct


That is what the person is saying. The image isn't reality and people need to understand the difference between entertainment and reality.

reply to post by Sacrosanct


I certainly didn't mean to imply that mc's, artists and all the other people behind the scenes in the hip hop genre are not intelligent hard working professionals. The biggest problem, as I see it, is that the most popular rap artists present an image that if emulated will, in general, have a negative impact on any individual attempting to get ahead and succeed in the mainstream business world. Perhaps my image of the popular rap musician is skewed as it is not my taste, but when I think of the lead stars of rap I visualize someone that is an egocentric, materialistic, glorifying the thuggery, 'stop snitchin' gangster lifestyle. And while such an image may help the career of the rap star, anyone besides a rap star that tries to emulate such an image, regardless of the character of the artist behind the scenes and off the stage, is probably going to be at a great disadvantage in an attempt to succeed in the mainstream business world.

I think there are a lot of people in the hip hop music world, including mc scratchers, singers, songwriters and mixing and production people that would make excellent role models. I remember seeing legendary Hip Hop producer Russell Simmons appear on a TV talk show and I thought too myself 'he seems intelligent, humble, soft spoken, dressed well; he even had his pants waist at the correct height level'. But unfortunately there seems to be a general trend in the culture of the African American youth to see as role models not the people in the Hip Hop music world that do have good character or clean cut image like Russell Simmons but rather look to the image of the gangster rapper star as a role model.

I listen to hip hop. I am accepting and not racist and I have a GPA of 3.9. It isn't because of music or movies or TV, its because of BAD PARENTING. People need to stop putting the blame on other things and admit they messed up and its their fault.

Originally posted by QtheQ
reply to post by Sacrosanct

 

I certainly didn't mean to imply that mc's, artists and all the other people behind the scenes in the hip hop genre are not intelligent hard working professionals. The biggest problem, as I see it, is that the most popular rap artists present an image that if emulated will, in general, have a negative impact on any individual attempting to get ahead and succeed in the mainstream business world. Perhaps my image of the popular rap musician is skewed as it is not my taste, but when I think of the lead stars of rap I visualize someone that is an egocentric, materialistic, glorifying the thuggery, 'stop snitchin' gangster lifestyle. And while such an image may help the career of the rap star, anyone besides a rap star that tries to emulate such an image, regardless of the character of the artist behind the scenes and off the stage, is probably going to be at a great disadvantage in an attempt to succeed in the mainstream business world.

I think there are a lot of people in the hip hop music world, including mc scratchers, singers, songwriters and mixing and production people that would make excellent role models. I remember seeing legendary Hip Hop producer Russell Simmons appear on a TV talk show and I thought too myself 'he seems intelligent, humble, soft spoken, dressed well; he even had his pants waist at the correct height level'. But unfortunately there seems to be a general trend in the culture of the African American youth to see as role models not the people in the Hip Hop music world that do have good character or clean cut image like Russell Simmons but rather look to the image of the gangster rapper star as a role model.

For misunderstanding your point, I apologize. I fully understand what you're trying to get at now, though. My main taste isn't in hip hop (in fact, I don't even know what my taste in music is anymore, I listen to too much variance) but what hip hop I do listen to is... old school. Ice-T, Run DMC, Public Enemy... of course I listen to some new artists, like, Immortal Technique and Dr. Dre... NWA, of course, and all those who belong to it...

I agree though, and to help prove your point, I was in my friends car (who is one of the dumbest people I know, by far) and he was listening to a song that went like this

"Imma tell you like a n***** told me
Imma tell you like a n***** told me
Imma tell you like a n***** told me
Cash Rules Everything Around Me!"

It was like a chant... very scary to me because of what it promotes - I am still fairly young - 19 - and I know that my mind is still learning (and probably never will stop learning until i die) so yes it does kind of scare me that this kind of message is being spread that , money is ultimate, gov't owns everything around me...

but i don't think it's a problem of hip hop, really, i think its a problem of society that has created this kind of mindset. People have come to the conclusion that - if the gov't doesn't own anything then how are they, ordinary people, supposed to own anything! I dont want to debate the concept of ownership here, but that's what many rap songs imply - ownership of - cars, women, big houses, gold chains, rims... and most importantly - drugs.

We need to rid ourselves of this concept of material ownership IMO, and then we can deal with making hip hop as great as it used to be.

reply to post by mplsbookworm


This is nothing new It's been common knowledge for teh pas twenty years. You know, though it didn't start that way. With the eighties there were really good groups, but just like everything else, some willtake it and turn it into garbage like it is today. Yet rock and most other things were never bastardized as badly. Hmmmmmmm I wonder why?

reply to post by ldyserenity


really? i dont think u've scratched the surface.

Originally posted by platipus
isn't heavy metal, goth, emo and other type of rock not making kids behave as badly and ignorant? yes.

dont just point it at one type of music.

UHHHHHHHH NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOO, that's not true....Do they use the N word and do they tell them to shoot people???? What were you smoking when You wrote this? See this is ignorance at play, did you know most of those bands, like 80 percent is christian bands Like Flyleaf, Evanescence, and there are many others. The truth about what they are saying in their songs is about how wrong the world is today, and how depressed it makes them... so do a little research before you go tearing down those types of music.

[edit on 30-11-2009 by ldyserenity]

i believe the OP means hip hop culture as a whole, not just the music. its simply criminal.. and is no good. no wonder america is heading down the toilet..

reply to post by ldyserenity


the truth about those bands is they dont even write thier own lyrics are merely tools of sight and sound.

There's a common-denominator to all mainstream "influential" music. (as well as the Television and Movie industries as well).

Anyone care to take a guess?

Gangster rap is a SOCIOPATHIC viewpoint delivered in a hypnotic rant with a motonones backbeat. Glib,self centered,without conscience,and full of bravado.....this is why it appeals mostly to young people,especially young men...,who have not yet developed a well understood sense of right or wrong...criminals have what is called "Magical Thinking" ie:the I'm not going to get caught if I carry a gun/commit a crime /take a risk...SYNDROME

Rap "artists" being arrested for risky behavior are commonplace...because "What goes around,comes around./Need I say more???

reply to post by TheCoffinman


Maybe, but I know that Rap does the same thing(using words written by someone else, major record co's for one) And I am never offended by what the emo/goth/heavy metal songs are saying, but every time I hear a rap song (most of them, not all because I do like some of the music I don't hate all rap) I get extremely offended, as would many women. My children did listen to it as well and they started using the N word, at school, I got blamed, I was not happy so I had to sit down with them and try to explain why it's ok for them to say it in a rap song by non- white rappers, and how it is unacceptable for them to say it being white, I did however have it out with the ignorant B***** who blamed me for my children saying it, first...I told her, citing the music they were listening to, at that time, and told her to shut her F**** mouth because she wasn't going to blame it on me, when it was her group of musicians using the word and influencing my kid! Not that I hadn't already told them not to use the words they heard in the songs they listened to, but go figure a black kid was bullying him, he got pissed off and he used the word, which I might add I HAD never ever heard him use before then, he's very christian and very religious, this child, and very tolerant most of the time, but he got angry, so I had to teach him to not say a damn and next time beat the kid's A&& And that's precisely what he went on to do, needless to say, when the school had a problem with that, now I had full ability to say"I told him to, the kid should never have laid a hand on my son, so I gave him the right to defend himself, regardless of what you backwards racists would like to see happen!" HAHAHAHA stupid principle didn't know what to say then...Knowing the same kid was messing with my son daily and never doing a damn about it, just because my kid was white.This was Philly BTW!

Originally posted by TXRabbit
There's a common-denominator to all mainstream "influential" music. (as well as the Television and Movie industries as well).

Anyone care to take a guess?

OH Maybe the NWO????

"Guns don't kill people; people kill people". That's the old adage that can be alluded to in this argument. Hip hop is an artform that started over three decades ago, that was a medium for expressing hardships and struggles in the ghetto and urban enviroment. Even when the genre hit the mainstream with acts like Run-D.M.C, LL Cool J and the Beastie Boys, the content was still positive - but this time conveyed with a more braggadocio approach, but mainly pertaining to lyrics and authenticity rather than material possessions. Hip-hop has always been a mouthpiece for exposing the ills of growing up in the ghetto, and its not until its blatant commercialization in the late 90's that we find ourselves where we are today (thank Bad Boy Records and their shiny suits for that). It's not until albums like 'Life After Death' and Nelly's 'Country Grammar' that hip-hop finally arrived as a cash cow in the music industry. Then of course there's the MMLP which has sold 20 million records worldwide to date. When the industry execs finally realised hip hop's true earning potential - like with everything else that generates great income - they began to exploit it. Everything from then on becomes almost a farce and a copy of itself as cookie-cutter artists begin to pop up that follow and already made blueprint. This is where you have your artists like Lil Wayne that basically became successful from 'biting' Jay-Z's style and repackaging it - although he has come into his own these days. Then of course there's the wave of Southern "snap" music that followed and is still the prevalant form of hip-hop that we hear on the radio today. It's why several artists such as MIMS and Chingy who had huge successes early on are nowhere to be seen today. They were knock-offs who helped labels get fat and have since been discarded.

The fact is OP, that there are many, many, many underground rappers that still follow in the steps of the hip-hop forefathers before them, whom communicate with intelligence, and still tell stories that need to be heard. The sheer fact is that the industry does not put these artists out there simply because they do not make them money - although there are New School artists like Wale, J. Cole and Kid Cudi who are beginning to get shine. I also think that listeners are also getting tired of listening to the same rehashed, misogyny and thuggery espoused by some of these artists - a major reason why your Wale's and Kid Kudi's are now getting heard where they would have had minimal chance breaking through a few years ago. Let's not forget mainstream hip-hop acts like Outkast that have always made quality music, as well as rappers like Kweli and Mos Def that always put out solid, positive albums. Hip-hop is simply a means to an end. It's the music industry that demands watered-down music is pumped through the airwaves, and this is not solely the plight of hip-hop, but with any genre. There is 'good' hip-hop being put out, but you've got to dig and not let the media dictate what you or your children should be listening to in the first place.

atlscribe

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere
Like anything else there is the good and the bad. I wouldn't mind my kid listening to someone like KRS One or Mos Def or even a group like the Jurassic 5 or Pharcyde. If I ever caught my kid listening to some hollow trash like Lil Wayne I think I'd just drop him off in the nearest ghetto as a lost cause and get on with my life.

 

Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

 

I quite like Lil Wayne at least the song lollipop what's wrong with this song?

She said you're so sweet I wanna lick the rapper, so I let her lick the rapper
she lick it like a lollipop she lick it like a lollipop
shorty wanna thug
bottles in da club
shorty wanna hump
you know I love to touch
your lovely lady lumps...
Met a girl with a swag like mine
she even wear her hair down her back like mine
I make her feel right when it's wrong like lying
and man she ain't never had a love like mine
I ain't never seen an a&& like hers
that P&&&& in my mouth had me lost for words
I told her back it up like berp berp
made that a** jump like jerp jerp...
and that's when she she lick it like a lollipop like a lollipop

you get the picture, sex, well spread the love ain't nothin wrong with that. Rocks been all about sex for forever!!!! It's a pretty good song if you ask me. Explicit, but at least it ain't about guns hoes and criminal acts...Granted I don't know about his other songs, I never really listened to them. Given the chioce between sex or guns and drugs I'd rather sex!

[edit on 30-11-2009 by ldyserenity]

"Hip Hop is raising our children to be ignorant and racist?"

No, It's just parents that are raising children.

reply to post by atlscribe


I just wanted to point out that Jay's "style" is not original. He is a rip off of Jaz-O. Moreover, Jay "bites" (plagerizes for those not familiar with hip hop.)

And no it isn't the music industry that demands the so called watered down music, the blame actually lies with the fans. Stop being robots, learn to seperate fiction from non-fiction and realize it is a form of entertainment. If people want to be entertained a certain way, that is their business, but they should know where the entertainment stops and the real world starts. This problem is NOT exclusive to rap, and anyone implying or outright saying it is (I'm not talking about you right now) is in need of a reality check.


[edit on 30-11-2009 by EMPIRE]

Originally posted by TurtleSoup
"Hip Hop is raising our children to be ignorant and racist?"

No, It's just parents that are raising children.

Maybe where you are from all parents are raising their children...but unfortunately where I live and from what I see, there are parents who have absolutely NOTHING to do with the raising of their children and videos and music are what they look to. It is really hard for me to understand why you guys can't see this. It leads me to think that you are not subject to the same kind of parents and children I am. Maybe you are not in urban areas or "hoods" or maybe you are blind, but the truth is that there are kids who would rather be at my house because their mother is NEVER there and their father was never there to begin with. I ask them what they do at home and they say watch videos and listen to the radio. I am already aware of the type of music they listen to and the videos they watch because my children attempt to watch and listen to the same crap. They choose main stream hip-hop.

If you ask most of the kids my daughter goes to school with what they want to be when they grow up they will say rappers. I have done this during my volunteer time. I hear them in freestyle ciphers rapping about the weed they smoke and the coc aine they use. I am not making this up this is what IS happening in schools. This is not the first the last nor the only school this is happening in. I have sisters who feel the same way, friends as well. Maybe it is only going on in Minneapolis but I hardly believe that is the case. Parents are absent and children are looking to rappers....and unfortunately the world doesnt believe it is happening.

Originally posted by atlscribe
but you've got to dig and not let the media dictate what you or your children should be listening to in the first place.

atlscribe

Thanks for your reply although I believe you one who posts and doesn't read all the replies. Again, I understand what you are saying but I don't need a hip hop lecture. I understand music like the back of my hand. I know music history and music present. Thanks although it is unneeded. Again, I dont need to be told what to do with my children, I am fine and so are my kids. I am worried about the children who have NO GUIDANCE!!! Therefore it is MY job to make sure they have someone to look up to besides ANY artist you listed. I want you to go tell that to the crack doers and sellers who live on the north side of Minneapolis. Go tell the prostitute and her pimp how they need to raise thier kids. You can't or won't and most times if you did they won't listen.

I understand the motive in lecture of music but its not needed with me. Save your breath or keystrokes. The solution is to be determined.

"There's a common-denominator to all mainstream "influential" music. (as well as the Television and Movie industries as well). Anyone care to take a guess?"

The common denominator is that they all cater to and target the lowest common denominator.