Is rap "music" dumbing kids down?

Mainstream hip hop is terrible and leads to a lot of ignorance. Good music is where you find it.

reply to post by Theprimevoyager


That's absolutely true. Most of mainstream sucks and it doesn't represent the talented and meaningful side of rap and hip hop like it once did. Blame the record companies and dumb down people who can't hold comprehension quick enough to follow rap songs.. The ignorance I see is in the idea that all hip hop or rap is dumb. I would ask whoever thinks this to go write a rap verse and see how well it flows. Not as easy as you might think while still keeping something of quality and meaning. The artist that has been most influential to me personally has been Guru. He's the best lyricist of all time. Good message too. You just gotta know where to look people!

reply to post by ColeYounger


That's a good point. If rap music dumbs a person down then classical music should smarten a person up. If it were that easy then the government would make it mandatory that we listen to Mozart in school.

MOE MONEY MOE PROBLEM!

Originally posted by LosLobos
reply to post by ColeYounger

 

That's a good point. If rap music dumbs a person down then classical music should smarten a person up. If it were that easy then the government would make it mandatory that we listen to Mozart in school.

Yeah that's insane. Yes most mainstream hip hop is trash but so is mainstream pop. If you enjoy music do not go to the store - go the live performances in your area - that is where people like you and me display their true talent.

What's more important though is that no one listens to those mainstream songs as an influence on life. No song can make a population dumber - at the best they might reinforce an individual's innate intellectual vulnerability.

(and the politically correctness award goes to... )

Originally posted by Jedimind
reply to post by HunkaHunka

 

I disagree with you entirely and your incorrect that my post is based on myth because it's actually based on my real world experience and facts...There's thousands of songs of rap lyrics posted online for you to check, pick any at random and my points will be proven...I don't feel like finding the studies showing that classical is better for brain development than rap because it's pretty obvious anyway. If you have any proof that repetitive rhythms is how learning occurs than bring it to the table.

Repetition is the foundation of learning... Study theories of education and you will discover this.

If you were expecting a child, would you rather have Beethoven in the air while it's in the womb, or some rap music? The answer should be obvious.

Obvious in what context? I am a rapper, and I just had my second child, and the obvious choice for me was my rap music....

But while we are talking about Beethoven, another very repetitious composer... In fact no one could stand being in the house with him while he was working on a piece, because he kept humming the same thing over and over again

Your claim that classical is repetitive just shows how uninformed you are about this. It's pretty simple stuff and I'd guess that you must be a fan of rap so your bias prevents you from figuring out this simple issue and looking at it objectively. Good luck.

Yes... Classical has lots of repetition in it... Bolero for example is the most repetitive song ever composed!

See I am a music lover, it doesn't matter the genre...

Music is music

Look cos im a Hip Hop artist also i'll lay out some of my rymes.

2012 hear the 'dung,dung' vatican bells
anouncing the enslavement of the whole godless world
the traitors
big players
try to contain us
space raiders
lower dimension manipulators
just do the John Lennon imagine n start pretending
them snakes are full of venom
the people turn into gremlins
calling independance
city of rapture
velociraptor
sacrificial upon your capture
the broken bones where the government lay down the stones
forgotten souls murdered inside the bohemian grove
the system of those
who wear the symbol of the rose
they come across as good but worship the head of a goat
they lie
the 4 dimensional pyramid eye
inside your mind
they constructing a mad design
listen for a second
I hope you understand
the way I bring my message for your brain to comprehend
were controlled by a few men
who control all of man
secret subterranean levels underneath the sands
they preparing
the end of days is near
the armageddon
major killing
the machine that keeps on drilling
the higher power over the millions
the parliament is just another reunion of villans
but I know babylon is feeling the weight on its shoulders
from Gibraltar to Cuba to Ethiopia
revolution is the only real name of the takeover
every man for himself is not the way forward
hands together
every body dance forever
under the rays of the sun or through the badest weather!!

I remembered something earlier today that I felt I should mention.
In the hood, or the projects, there is a group of people who call themselves the five percenters, (5%-ers.), or the Nation Of Gods and earth.
I am not a 5 percenter, but I respect and understand what they are doing, and I believe in what they are doing.
Many of them have their own record labels and produce themselves. Rza, for example, started the Wu-Tang clan and the Gravediggaz.
They call themselves the 5%-ers because they believe the following...
85 percent of the masses are deaf dumb and blind to the truth of what is going on. 10 percent know the truth, and are using it to control the 85 percent. 5 percent know the truth and are trying to wake up the 85 % to the lies of the 10%. This could mean 5 percent of the world, 5 % of a county, 5 percent of a city, even 5% of a workplace or school.
They believe that one should read ALL spiritual mediums, the Torah, the Qur'an, the Gospels, and more.
They go around to jails and teach the inmates self respect, how to have confidence and how to live a proper and righteous life, how to respect others and life in general. They teach that you have to be an example of righteousness for everyone to see, so everyone will notice that you shine and want to know your secret.
They pride themselves on studying facts, learning knowledge. Solar facts, Planetary facts, star facts, human facts. And they talk about all of this in their music, and more.
A few rappers that other posters have mentioned here in this thread, like KRS-1, are 5%-ers.
So, the problem is NOT rap music, it is mainstream music.
Peace and One Love

reply to post by Scorpitarius


Thank you for bringing this to the thread, the 5%ers are a very deeply mystical aspect of hiphop and helps illustrate the variety and depth that the hip hop culture engenders...

Eminem is Beast mode, ANY rapper in that steps in the same room as him has no hesitation to hail him praise.

Eminem - Till I collapse , www.youtube.com...

Eminem- Stan, www.youtube.com...

Eminem- Rock Bottom, www.youtube.com...

Eminem- Dispicable, www.youtube.com...

Eminem- Hellbound, www.youtube.com...

Food for thought pure fire

Don't forget Sing For The Moment:



Or Lose Yourself of course:



And as you posted, Stan is one of the most emotional songs I have ever heard. Unfortunately now, at least in my opinion, Eminem is descending towards suckatude.

Eminem is a very good lyricist but he's starting to sound repetitive. His message is good in some songs and others seem forced and lacking in any kind of worthy message. I don't know why people hail him like he's "THE BEST" when he's certainly very good but in my opinion far from the best.

The best rappers don't get radio play.

reply to post by InTrueFiction


I just don't buy that one. What shapes a person's intellectual abilities is their total environment. Not if they listen or not listen to rap music. Hitler never listened to rap music. Yet, he slaughtered MILLIONS of people. Saddam Hussein never listened to rap music. Yet, he slaughtered thousands of people.

That right there spoils the rap music dumbs a person down argument. I think it's really dumb to kill millions of people based on ideology. Do you think that's dumb?

But of course, some folks will say that was a different era. I say so what. I say total environment defines the person.

Not rap music.

Yeah, a lot of rap songs are dumbing people down. So is a lot of rock and country music. Some rap is a whole lot different, check out...

Immortal Technique, Black Market Militia, Dead Prez, The Coup, Ill Bill, X-Clan, Haystak, Hell Razah, Joell Ortiz

That's just a few of the REAL hip hop artists out there. Watch an Immortal Technique interview or a Tupac interview and you'll see how smart & socially conscious these guys are, and not just compared to other rappers but compared to most people in general.

Rap can be used to smarten kids up, too, such as on economics.




Part 2 (released yesterday):

Not going to read through the thread on the basis of other members attempt at humor on a subject i hold close to my heart. as a small time artist my self i tell you this......... this topic is specifically about Rap Music, so the origin of RAP started out as a retaliation towards injustice to African American communities through not just spoken word, but hard-core, objective spoken words. Go To the beginning of RAP on both coasts..... take ice-cube, and snoop dogg for the west, and take krs-one, or epmd for example on the east. Both sets for both coasts have many songs with derogatory lyrics, about murder, sex, and drugs. Now where are those men today? Wealthy men of the Entertainment industry who speak to troubled youth and try to make a difference. Mainstream artists today take what they learned and exemplify it. Lil' Wayne's Songs are about sex/drugs/and murder and he lives that minus the murder. Rap Artists today such as Nas, Talib Kweli, and Mos Def make music that does the opposite of "Dumb-Down" the listeners. I listen To them constantly, but i also listen to papoose, and D-Block, who still make "Violent" music, but doesnt make me think its okay to shoot/rob/steal from people, because im a grown ass man with common sense. But if some kid 20 miles from me in brooklyn hears the new dipset record and decides to sell crack, its his parents fault. I am a mixed person and come from a single-parent home in an "urban" environment and i did start down the wrong path, but luckily i loved to read . my life experiences gave me "culture" in every sense of the word, but opened my eyes to the arrogance and stupidity of white people on racial subjects. You Dont Have To Be Smart To Win The Game If You Wrote The Rules .... so if you or your parents dont understand the beginning/middle/today of a culture then dont speak as if you know how it works. and to those who posted before me in the extremely evident idiotic way of seeming to be african americans, grow up please......

So Your saying this music is is dumbing down kids












And this answers your threads question

Don't confuse REAL RAP with the mainstream garbage you hear on the radio and yeah its harming our youth they are listening to senseless music when they should be listening to the REAL

reply to post by Nobama


I personally dont like rap music, but I was introduced to Jedi Mind Tricks and Immortal Technique probably about 5 to 6 years ago. They're music is real. Im really happy someone brought up those artists.

Originally posted by Nobama
reply to post by catwhoknowsplusone

 

MAINSTREAM rap is. the good stuff is and always will be underground, if you want to hear good hiphop you have to put your ear to the ground and listen

I like your style Nobama. I listen to some of the c+rap at work and hear some of the things that are being said and just think that it is horrible. For example 50 cent, all the dude talks about is himself and how bada** he is, how many people he tells not to step out of line or they get f-ed up, all the drugs he got to offer, cars, money, bling ect.... You get the point. Anyways, even though i'm a hardcore metal head at heart, I can listen with an open ear and sift through the bull. Something that I can listen to, Dead Prez! A nice rap/hip-hop group that has something to say that will make you think. It's quite annoying to see that a huge number of people are ok with the ego-maniac, material wielding, power tripping kind of "life style" that a majority of the mainstream acts portray. And yes, I stress the word "acts." Respec.

reply to post by nh_ee


old thread but i had to look if rap fans are around here.


No there are rap artists who know what/who we are and who have a positive effect.. And Jay Electronica is one of the few powerful ones..he will maybe drop an album in the next 2 years..its in the making for 4 years and 3 years ago pre listeners were really "tocuhed" by the quality.. But its strange that he did not drop it yet.


And it will change some rap listeners... Because this man KNOWS more than many people and he is backed by Jay-Z which gives him more opportunities.

He is dating Kate Rothschild right now....i don´t hope thats a bad sign for the album...


newest song

( 2 days old)

JAY ELECTRONICA- better in tune with infinity
soundcloud.com...