5 Things Wrong with Rap Music

J

Jaxxhits

New member
1. Killing People
This one is shameful because I don’t know any other music genre that does this. 99.97% of these rappers haven’t killed anyone, yet, they try to be creative with different ways to destroy you and your life. It’s one thing to talk about the things you have experienced in your life time, I know I haven’t lived in the best neighborhoods either. It’s something else to talk about murdering someone in every song. Kids are listening, and they usually repeat what they hear.

2. Disrespecting Women
I don’t know about you, but I love women. The world would be very gay without them (that was a joke). I have a mother also, so this is not the way you’re going to convince me that all women are ******* and hoes. They are the mothers of our children, a cornerstone of our communities and people we need to appreciate and respect.

3. Lyrical Content
I hate the radio. Why? Because constantly hearing songs about booty popping, and drinking in the club doesn’t always do it for me. With this site, I have a voice, and I choose to use it to inspire and educate people. I believe everyone is allowed to have their own creative form; so rap the way you want, but I’m not a fan of it when it dumbs the mainstream down. Your voice can be used to uplift, educate, inspire and much more. How about you use it wisely for a change?

4. Money
Rappers try to sell you the idea that they live a lifestyle with tons of money, big houses, exotic cars, etc. They don’t. There are a small handful of rappers (Diddy, 50 Cent, Jay Z, Kanye, etc.) who are living the lifestyle they rap about. Most rappers struggle day to day, paycheck to paycheck just like most of us.

5. Crime
This somewhat goes along with #1. Most of you rappers aren’t doing what you rap about, and honestly, I don’t know why anyone would brag about going to jail. Times are hard for everyone, but lying about committing crimes, and putting ideas into the youths minds isn’t cool, it’s sad.

This article was originally posted at hiphopmakers.
Now do you agree with it? What's your opinion?
 
This would be the exact 5 reasons why the genre is kicking its own ass IMO. When artists tell stories, real stories, then it has some substance IMO. Unless you are stuck in a cliche of being a gangsta, then what else would you rap about? There are artists who go outside the box, and do it effectively, but it seems to me, that most is based on the cliche that ya gotta smack some bitches to get the point across. When does that get tiresome to hear? Well, for me, it happened quite a while ago....

Once again, this is just my opinion. I do not speak for everyone named Jimmy. :D
 
Hmmmmmm.....

I personally dont like "most" rap or hip hop. SO, I figure that makes me fair and balanced (IE, objective?)

point by point:

1) killing people. I am 44, I grew up under heavy metal 1980-1990... there was a LOT of "killing" or "hurting" in the lyrics. metal as a genre is "aggressive", and singing about petting kitty cats and writing songs about platonic love, well... just didnt "fit". There was nothing "wrong" with the aggressive nature of the lyrics, as we NOW look back on it (though at the time, western civilization was JUST about to fall, they said, lmFao)

2) disrespecting women. Uhm, Led Zeppelin? "Living, Loving, MAID... shes just a woman". Aggressive or even "violent" sex, as well as LURID subject matter such as S&M, serial murder, etc etc... was everywhere in heavy metal.

TODAYS touchy-feely PC society? Women are all "right" and its always the BAD MAN at every turn... which is not fair, nor "right". There are PLENTY of:

gold-diggers, cheating women, crack whores MASQUERADING as "single parents" out there... for each and every "decent mother" you find, there's a bad girl out there to match her and worse.

3) llyrics? Producers get lyrics they think the kids will digest. tis a BUSINESS. if its "working"(sales?), aint no businessman going to change anything.

4) money? "excess" and "conspicuous consumption" have been mainstays of popular music for decades. The GENRE changes, but, what sells does not. By and large? MOST kids want to hear about a rich, decadent lifestyle. Compparatively FEW people "fantasize" about being a MONK in a CLOISTER.

5) glorifying "crime" with lyrics? glorifying whats "taboo" has ALWAYS sold albums to the young generation, LMAO. It was once dangerous and exciting to make "veiled references" to the act of making love... as time wore on? You have to keep getting bolder and bolder to keep it "exciting".

================================================================

Honestly? I could ppretty much take your whole 5 points? And go back in time, and they applied pretty well the same to:

1) the JAZZ musicians period(s)
2) the blues musicians
3) early 50s rock and roll
4) counterculture 60s
5) heavy metal and "glam rock"
6) NOW its just "rap and hip hop"

==================================================================

GOD I cant WAIT till the whole concept of "rapping" and "hip hop" is dead and buried, and we move onto (or back to, lol) something/anything ELSE... if heavy metal got "stale", welllllll... rap/hiphop is JUST as "stale" now too.....

*NEXT!*

lol...
 
1. Killing People
Metal, death metal, any spong glorifying war, vengance, etc Bon Jovi's soundtrack to that silly western - they have it all as well. I don't like songs about kiling people but it's not genre specific. I don't do it in my songs.
2. Disrespecting Women
Do you mean "being disrespectful to women"? C'mon rock n roll is built on that. It isn't nearly so frequqnt in the PC world but objectifying is being disrespectful, reducing to a set of sexual components is being disrespectful. I don't do it in my songs but I'd hate to have to remove aoll the non PC tracks from my LP & CD collection.
3. Lyrical Content
Remember dico, remember pop, remember rock? Look in the song writing forum of this BBS. Most folk aren't terribly interested in lyrics other than as a means of highlighting a melody. I'm not in that particular mind set myself but it's not genre specific.
4. Money
You've never seen a "rock" star? Not notice Gene Simmons, Steve Tyler, Mick Jagger?
5. Crime
I'm bad, I'm bad, you know it. Rock is built on the bad boy image & gangter chic is just a development from that - the ante was upped somewhat. "The music soiunds sweeter on a stolen guitar".

I don't like rap, well not since The Message, but then I don't like disco, sambas, country & western, Boy bands, New Romantic, AOR, Death metal, house music, most electro dance etc etc etc. Each has had it's day & grammy grabbing era.
I'm not xenophobic enough to try to pin down the things I dislike.
If you posted to get Op Cits for a thesis or to turn them around for a 180 response you've not had enough replies and nor have you addressed some of the more convoluted and litigiouos aspects of the genre.
 
Seeing as Jimmy, SEDstar, and Rayc have all already said exactly what i was thinking i'm gonna sit back and say.....

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Jaxxhits said:
1. Killing People
2. Disrespecting Women
3. Lyrical Content
5. Crime
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Nope. These are all things that sell records. That's all. Like the ringing of a giant cash register.

The real problem with rap is that it's not really music, meaning a 15 year-old kid can make a rap song on mommy's HP Pavilion while drinking chocolate milk and watching Who's The Boss reruns. Throw in a few rhymes about gangbangin and bitches and you've got yourself (something that sounds like) a radio hit. And the goal of rap is a homogenized sound, not originality. Most folks would rather listen to something that sounds familiar rather than something that makes them think. In fact, I often think if whatever radio stations are left out there decided to play the same one song over and over again and nothing else, people would dance around in f*cking ecstasy.

Jaxxhits said:
4. Money
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Yeah, the glorification of having wads of cash is kind of a thing with rap, isn't it? That's why you see these kids from super-poor neighborhoods walking around in a $150 Bulls jacket with the tag still hanging off it like a badge of honor..... "I bought dis jacket wit money! Das right! Real money just like [rich] peoples gots!". That "reparations mentality" is totally based on erroneous ideas about what is important to people who reside in higher socioeconomic brackets. Take yo' damn tag off dawg!

Jaxxhits said:
6. Stoopid
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Ok ok, you didn't say that, I added it in. But because rap, and mass commercial culture which is basically the same thing, really does make a lot of people stupid. Or maybe they're just stupid to begin with and they gravitate to that scene because they don't really understand anything else. My wife teaches at a community college and these kids just sit there in class in earbuds rapping to themselves rather than listen to the lecture. They're all like "I'm just tryin to make it wit mah music right now" - like some huge label exec is gonna just walk into the basic writing class and say "Hey! Yeah, you wit the rhymes! Come with me! And here's a million bucks, go buy yourself a Bulls jacket!". Spoiler alert- it's not gonna happen and mom and dad are gonna be pissed that you didn't pass your basic writing class, as will anyone else that has to read anything you write.
 
Jaxxhits said:
1. Killing People
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It depends on how you view it. The folk ballad genre of yesteryear is filled with murder tales. Some are true stories. Some are made up tales. But many genres have a flirtation and fixation with murder. And let's not forget, some of the old time blues men were murderers. And you should look into the murderous history of reggae in Jamaica. Few things are ever about just one thing.
That said, the really damaging aspect of the death tales and desires in rap come in the desensitization of young minds to killing. But polite society does that. We glorify and justify war and create the impression that if you don't support the troops {and by extension, the war effort} in whatever conflict they're in, you're an appeaser. Whoever thinks of the people that die in our government's wars ? They're just 'collateral damage'.
Rap writers have learned that lesson well from the very society that condemns them for replicating what they have fed them all their lives.
Hmmmm.
Alot of rap writers have the distinct feeling that as far as the wider society is concerned, they and their ilk don't matter. That message has been reinforced all their lives. Why the surprize that they replicate it ?


2. Disrespecting Women

Every genre of popular music that I am aware of has that aspect to it. And the same genres also build up women because within them all are different peoples of differing sensibilities. Long before rap, female artists wrote bitchy songs in which they bitched about some other woman !
I love the Beatles stuff. Next time you get a chance, listen to the "Rubber soul" album. Of the 14 songs only 4 don't have seriously misogynistic content.
What's worse, singing songs that put down women or living lives that do it ?
Does "Whole lotta Rosie" respect women ? Does the real story behind it {a huge fat woman presented as a gift to a band to screw to their hearts content} respect women ?

3. Lyrical Content

Different people approach lyrics differently. When rappers diss the government or women or society in general, I see little difference in what many other artists have been doing for the last 50-60 years. Rappers were more "in yer face" because the genre demanded acknowledgement of words.

4. Money
Rappers try to sell you the idea that they live a lifestyle with tons of money, big houses, exotic cars, etc.
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On the other hand, few artists try to sell the "I'm a pauper that can't pay the rent" image. Nobody wants to be like Steve Took.

5. Crime

Organized crime has been part of the music business since the 30s at least in America. Record labels have been set up as tax dodges. Many artists have been owned by or in the grip of 'the mob'. Artists have been involved in criminal pursuits, not least, the whole drug thing when drugs were still illegal {whatever the legalizing arguments may have been or still are}.

I don't dispute your 5 reasons or that they have been tied up with rap music. But they've been part and parcel of the music industry {yes, pop, rock, country, soul, reggae etc} for longer than my 49 years on this earth.
 
Kind of a silly thread but I'll play while I wait for the leaf blower guys to go away so I can start recording some vocals

First I don't get the whole premise of the thread. I don't particularly like a lot of rap (or dubsteb, or death metal or Emo etc) either but I really don't feel a need to justify it with faux "facts" on the internet

I guess the whole thing boils down to sensationalism and in order to stay edgy you have to keep pushing the limits. Thirty five years ago when I was a kid wearing a very short skirt would get a woman noticed in the media, now who cares. To get noticed she has to wear a dress made out of meat!
John Cleese (of Monty Python) was the first person to say F@ck on British television and it was an enormously big deal, now cursing on TV is old news, even regular broadcast TV (okay maybe not the F word but everything else), once you get into subscription TV, forget it, profanity abounds

Prime time TV is filled with sensationalism, over a 3 hour period between 8 and 11 you can couch surf your way though murders, rapes, child molestations etc, Bloody vampire rampages and so called "reality shows" showcasing the basest of human behavior from teen pregnancies, to drunken/drug fueled romps to verging on pornography
When the moral stance of modern TV is called into question the old well art imitates life argument is tossed out but I have to say on my regular 4 hour round trips to LA, I can't remember the last time I witnessed, up close graphic scenes of Rape, murder, molestation, vampire gore or a bunch of prescription popping "housewives" at each others throats

Popular music, including rap, just reflects broader societies accepted norms and expectations to be surprised/shocked
Katy Parry's and others of that ilk, bubble gum pop doesn't paint a very flattering picture of modern young women
Death Metal bands have been accused of encouraging teen suicides for years
Punk music back in the seventies was synonymous with violence, theft and property crime
Queen's huge hit Bohemian Rhapsody second verse opens with "Mama just killed a man, Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger now he's dead"
Bob Marley and Eric Clapton both had hits with the song "I shot the sheriff"

Rap and modern music in general is just taking the next step to try and be edgy. We've gone from innuendo and double entendre to softcore ****, from drug lyrics wrapped up as a childs drawing to flat out advocacy and so on

It's fine to not like a particular song, genre or artist but really pulling the whole thing out of context and singling out one thing and then trying to justify your position of why it is awful to a bunch of strangers seems a little bizarre to me


OK well it seems like the leaf blowers are finishing up, so I'm off to sing some silly, completely unhip, brit pop songs about being happy that I'm sure Gangstas, Death metal fans, Emos and in fact pretty much anyone between the ages of fifteen and thirty will not like at all

YMMV
 
Hmm i feel as if perhaps you have a grudge towards rap or hip hop music? I'm a rapper myself and my actual music has never contained anything you've said above. Yes sadly i'm in a genre surrounded with idiots who like to rap about that stuff, but if you listen to the real rappers like tupac, b.i.g. etc they made rap music as a black movement for anyone who wasn't white..now it's spread across multicultures and brings people together. Commercial rap sells (money, girls, cars)..yeah it's deluded but they're still real music out there..what your saying is pretty stereotypical..and you should listen to rappers like 'lowkey' who come with critical political points and other rappers, not all rap music is the same and you'll find theres plenty of rappers who don't do the things youve mentioned and re moving the scene but go under rated purely on that. My manager is so tight with my lyrical content as i've been on tv for my music he doesn't even let me swear on tracks!! You saying raps like this or that..is like me saying rock music is all big hairy 40 year old men with no life and long hair..and all they do is play guitars..its not really true and kinda stupid..no offence..
 
The list of what's wrong with Rap is almost endless. Among other things it's inherently racist - promotes a self-fulfilling racist image of "blackness". You ain't real if you ain't akkin' like 'dis, yo yo, youknowhudIbesayin' ? Then of course there are the idiots who mimic this ebonification.

Exxakly the gangsta image Trayvon Martin was emulating.

Incredibly unoriginal - every one of these groups goes through the same basic routine - dress, vocabulary, speech patterns, physical gestures, bodily movements. When I see one as the "musical guest" on some show, I can't turn off the sound or switch channels quick enough. I can't fathom who is actually throwing money at these clowns.
 
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My stepfather is a black man. Even he gets pissed when people go on Judge Judy, and 'Aks' a question. Ebon in the the wrong place... Of course, I still call people dood. :)
 
Although, I've seen the movie 8 Mile a dozen times for some reason...
I don't like Eminem. I've never understood the appeal of his music. Never got why people think he's "deep" or cryptic either.
Maynard James Keenan is deep. Eminem is hardly deep. His lyrics are pretty straightforward:
"You are just jealous of me
Cuz you, you just can't do what I do
So instead of just admitting it
You walk around and say
All kinds of really mean things
About me cuz you're a meanie, a meanie"
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I personally don't think rap is "dead" in any way. In the mainstream it's striving.
(But I have a hard time considering anyone in the mainstream an artist. There's nothing I hate more than people that don't write their own music, or lyrics, or play an instrument. What are they even doing here?)
And as we've seen the forum here. There are new producahs all over the place.
It's just stale now. The same way that glam became stale. And grunge became stale. But Pearl Jam is still on top of the world. And those leather clad aging 80s rockers still refuse to slink back into whatever cokefueled nightmare they came from.
 
i'm sure nobody will try Jimmy, it's very hard to rap over a beat of one bar of 7/8, two bars of 11/8 and then one bar of 5/8 :D
 
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