Disgusted with the Disrespect

[jibran]

Am I the only person who's noticed that hip hop is used as a running joke on these forums aside from our sub-section?

This is honestly bothering me because they're being judgemental of an entire culture based on some tiny segment heard on the radio or the TV. I do not judge their genres nor make derogatory statements towards them - so why do they feel the need to be like that about us?

They can say whatever they like about the garbage seen on television if they want - but MAKE a distinction. The ignorance and general stupidity promoted by fake rappers in today's rap game is NOT indicative of the work of true artists like Slum Village, A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots, The Soulquarians, and like-minded groups so why do they treat it as all being one and the same?

Sorry about the rant but this was bothering me deep down and I needed to share the feelings with my hip hop fam.

 

[P. Rene]

i was in the same predicament, especially with the cartoons and commercials portraying rap/hiphop but as you can see the media only exploits the negativity which is whats been bloated via airwaves and television tubes for bout a decade now.

And if the artists continue the make and the market it channels through demands it then its always going to be the same.

 

[Fieva]

The problem is....people tend to group hip hop and rap together. People tend to do that with things that they don't understand. I can respect hip hop, yet I can be entertained (even if just by the moment) by rap. Society at large sees rap becoming popular and automatically associates hip hop with it. Look at it through their own eyes. They're hearing Yung Joc, Dem Franchize Boys, D4L, Ying Yang Twins, Lil' Jon, etc. (and that's only from the South...let's not even go elsewhere at the moment) and associate a whole genre with it. Then they see the garbage rap that's getting put out and hate on it. I do it myself sometimes, only the difference is I can tell what's rap and what's hip hop, even if it is by the same artist. It's all in the message to me.

What they do with rap is what a lot of black folks do with rock. They hear a guitar, think it's noise and that's all it is. It takes an open mind to accept that "noise" as music and then learn to appreciate it as such. Me personally, I love a lot of older rock....rock that used to mean something. Look at it now, it's bubble gum just like rap is. The reason it doesn't get as much criticism as rap (and hip hop) does is because that's what THEY (speaking as American society, especially from older people, not necessarily narrowed down to white people) identify with. That's their familiarity, it's what they know. Much like Tejano music gets hated on in the South because "it all sounds the same and I can't understand it". But in the Latino/Mexican/Spanish community, that's the message they want to get across to their people. And to be the better person, you need to respect that.

Not all of us are those better people homie. Sometimes you just gotta face facts and deal. It's the way of the world, can't change it all at once.

Fiev.