Rap Music Fucked up Big Time...

[coke on the das]

yeah, rap is music, music is expression, & that expression is a form of entertainment. people listen to music when they want to be entertained, and when they want to be socially & politically enlightened they read or watch c-span.

nas, p diddy, busta, x-raided, mac mall, nelly, ALL of them are entertaining their fans in order to get their bread.

we can discuss the differences between cats who actually have something to say (the coup, dead prez), & fools who just want to be MTV hoes (nelly, p diddy), but in either case it is still music which is a form of entertainment.

the catch is that they ALL have to entertain their fans or else they will not have an audience. look at nas, right now everyone is swingin from his nuts like he is some kind of messiah, but WHY are they swingin? because people are entertained by his music. a nigga could have the most profound message in the world, but if he can not present it in an entertaining way, no one will give a fuck.

i do agree with your point about the hollow rhetoric of most rap shit today. the amount of mindless bullshit music which pretends that life is one big bling bling party is ridiculous when compared to the amount of music which is socially reflective & has relevance & meaning.

i just don't think it is prudent to say "rap fucked up big time", because there ARE rappers who've addressed 9/11 & other social & political issues as well, and i bet you will hear more cats talkin about it as time goes on.

we just can't expect every nigga to talk about it, because everybody's consciousness is at a different level. and just because niggas is all individuals with different minds doesn't mean that "rap" fucked up.

 

[Young Lou]

F*ck this post:devious:

 

[titus775]

From the original post by MaddDogg, I completly agree. I think that artist were scared to touch the subject and they really shouldn't have been. Shit the thought immediatly hit me to write a song about it.

Shit is backwards now days though.

 

[MaddDogg]

Well, the reason I say rap music fucked up is for several reasons. The biggest being that when they did the tribute to 911 on music on MTV all the artists were rock acts or classical rock or R&B. They didn't show anything about 911 with rap, which to me shows raps flaw of being so intent and washed into the party scene that they fail to understand the power of their voice. Whatever happened to the days when people used their mic for power?

We can all talk and debate for hours whether or not rap music should adress 911, but the bottom line is events like this show how shallow rap has gotten. This is an event that, in our history books, will be compared to Pearl Harbor. It changed everyone's lives in New York, it changed laws and it changed America's view of itself.

But you still hear "Hot in Here" "Bad Boy for Life" and other songs, which, are entertaining, but have no pertinent purpose but to have a bunch of people get off in a fuckin club.

Basically, what Im getting at, is rap is going completely in the wrong direction. Rap has always been about partying, but its also been about spoken word, about politics, about everyday situations, about having your own originality and our own thoughts, and the line between rap and crap (on the radio) is being drawn so close together that they are nearly the same.

And something has happened, whether its Viacom and Clear Channel Radio, or if its the artists themselves, but rap is fading away and turning into an R&B song with a rap verse about partying with Hennessy and wearing Ice a Fubu, which is all good but to have the radiowaves dominated by it is bullshit. Artists have the oppurtunity to BE ORIGINAL and STATE AN OPINION and change the game but they refuse to try something different.

 

[coke on the das]

Well, the reason I say rap music fucked up is for several reasons. The biggest being that when they did the tribute to 911 on music on MTV all the artists were rock acts or classical rock or R&B.

so you are saying that MTV is the standard for whether "rap" fucks up or not?

what about the fact that MTV doesn't play any real relevant rap shit anyway, just the same ole fabulous/nelly/jayz shit all day?

what if they had 5 rap acts on that 9/11 show, would that mean that "rap" did not fuck up?

i just don't give MTV that much credit, as far as deciding the conscious state of rap music. those bitch ass homos have no fuckin clue as to what real rap shit is in the first place.

personally even if i WAS a rapper who had some shit to say about 9/11, i would NOT get on MTV & contribute to the commercialization of that event. fuck them, MTV don't validate shit concerning hip hop. all they busy doing is making money from it & degrading it.

"rap" has always been about partying & bullshit. just look back at the first shit to come out, it was all about havin fun, partying, who is the baddest MC, etc.

then groups like public enemy & brand nubian & n.w.a came out, & showed a different view than the "party all day" shit at the time. there was a time when shit was more balanced as far as how much music was just party shit & how much was politically related.

now, thanks to MTV & radio it is more than 90% party & bullshit, less than 10% socially conscious music. but there still is cats out there makin real music about real shit, you just can't expect MTV or the radio to be pumping it because the reality is that type of music is just not as profitable for them.

i still agree with you dog, rap is basically fucking itself to death with all the gross materialism. niggas is just killin the golden goose, because they GREED is outweighing they desire to actually speak truth, or be original. that's why i've gone from buying some new rap shit once or twice a week, to MAYBE buying some new shit once or twice a month.

i think that as cats get older (like me i'm 26), we start to realize the emptiness of the shit most of these fools is saying. we start to give less & less of a fuck how many diamonds or cars these fools wish they had or how many glocks they got. we realize there is no importance or meaning in that blah-blah-blah ass bullshit.

the reason you aint gonna see a change though is because the major purchasers of rap music is pre-teens & teenagers who don't know shit except what MTV & the radio spoon feeds them. since young ignorant muthafuckas is spending the most dough, that's who the music is going to be targeted at. lil young bitches don't want to hear about political issues & government shit, they want to hear how much platinum niggas got or how many kilos are being sold. that is the sad reality homie.

rap music really aint that much different than it was since the late 80s/early 90s, but we as individuals are different. we're older & less enamored by the glitter & glitz of that faggot ass MTV shit. i understand what you're saying potna, i just think the problem goes beyond 9/11 & bitch ass MTV.

 

[Kp]

Yo, check Cam'Ron's new album. Jay-Z, Cam'Ron and Juelz Santana got a song on there called Welcome to New York City. They address it there...just for ya'all 411. I think that Shea hit it hwen he said that the shit is being made, just not heard. Holla at ya boy

 

[mExIcaNox4]

yeah everyone seems to b cashing in on it or trying to gain something from it like bush before he never talked bout going to war against iraq but right after 911 he started talking bout tha axiz of evil n said he wuz gonna try find the terrorist in the world but what piss me off is that they ingnore the problems that ppl in this country r having like poverty,jobs going down,ppl starving

has any body heard of "WAG THE DOG"

 

[LAKEVIEW 415sta]

attn: to the person who started this thread. have u seen MYSTIKALS bouncin back video. he dedicated that whole video to 911. somebody said earlier the pandemonium comp. Nelly, P. ditty, eve and Nas all dropped verses for that Marvin gay song what are u talkin about. also Camron ft. Jay-Z on come home wit me cd. "welcome to new York City"

 

[LadyNutLoc]

Quinn has a song on his solo album (can't remember the name) where he's talkin' bout chemical warfare.

 

[Sick Wid It]

Here are some maybes....

Maybe artists don't want to look like they are trying to ca$h in. Let's face it, no matter what their lyrical content is, people are going to say they are exploiting the event. Especially if they are being paid to perform the song, for radio play, etc.

Maybe everyone is painfully well-aware of 9/11 and it's not necessary to make songs about it so we can be constantly reminded. 9/11 was a serious blow to america and americans. I personally don't want to be reminded of it every time I turn on the radio, television or any other form of media outlet.

Maybe it's just too hot of a subject and record labels don't even want to fuck with it for fear of backlash.

Just some ideas man. I have ZERO interest in what ANYONE has to say about 9/11 in a song. I don't want to hear the shit and I certainly won't buy it. I don't give a fuck what Jay-Z or Ja Rule (or any other entertainer for that matter) thinks about 9/11 if you want the honest truth. I've never heard anyone say 'lets call P. Diddy and ask him what he thinks about all these terrorist acts'.

Music is about entertainment to me, not politics. I like to put on music that gets a party started, not spark a mutha fuckin political debate and point fingers.

 

[Sick Wid It]

And to those who think it's "cashing in" on a tragedy, I don't agree. How is it cashing in on a tragedy if you speak about how you feel? It wasn't cashing in when 'Pac did LIFE GOES ON, or HOW LONG WILL THEY MOURN ME...people like relating to songs like that, and his homies' families weren't trippin, he was paying respects. A rapper can pay his/her respects to the victims and say how they feel in the same song....that is not cashing in, that's being socially conscious and being REAL with what you're doing. If you rap about it, and you MEAN IT, that is not cashing in, that's speaking your mind...plain and simple.

If you are making any kind of profit what-so-ever, you are cashing in. If 9/11 is such a serious thing for -any- rapper, then by all means let them make a song about their views on the shit and donate 100% of the earnings to any of the 9/11 family survivors funds out there.

Also, there is a huge difference between the Tupac songs you mentioned and doing songs about 9/11. If you don't see that man, I don't know what to say.

 

[MaddDogg]

Quinn has a song on his solo album (can't remember the name) where he's talkin' bout chemical warfare.

Q2020 but that was before the 911 attacks.

Lakeview good point I never really looked into the lyrics of that song until just now and it looks pretty relevent to 911.

 

[Pimperoni]

Music is about entertainment to me, not politics. I like to put on music that gets a party started, not spark a mutha fuckin political debate and point fingers.

I gotta agree with you totally on that . . . . I mean sometimes I like to hear some laid back strugglin/strivin shit . . . but 70% of the time I wanna listen to music just to have a good time . . . simplistic

 

[eMDe]

Heresy's got a track on his album called 911

But personally i wouldnt give them the pleasure of more publicity.
Expecially on mtv. Thats why they did that shit in the first place