....Westside Connection....
- Thread starter The Assassin
- Start date
BOW DOWN is the Emancipation Proclaimation for Gangsta Rap.
BOW DOWN is a classic, IMHO. I still play it now and again today.
Cube once called STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON the Declaration of Independence for Rap, because it made it OK for rappers to say what they wanted to on record in terms of subject matter, and I agree. And, to go further, I consider Dre's CHRONIC (1993) a notice that not only was Gangsta Rap here to stay, but that it could take over the video/radio waves, and it did (for a few years, anyway). But BOW DOWN, to me, was telling aspiring young street rappers who wanted to do Gangsta Rap, but were perhaps afraid to (because of bad publicity from politicians, etc.) that it was OK--even if the critics don't like you, the street audience will (provided that you're dope), and it told Gangsta Rap fans that it was OK to be proud of Gangsta Rap for what it is, even if your friends who believe(d) the negative media hype disagree(d).
Cube, Mack and Dub, to me, were saying, "we don't give a shit what critics, the media, or politicians think. Not only is Gangsta Rap as much of an Art as Conscious and Old School Rap, but it IS who we (and many of our listeners) are. Maybe we're not PC, but not everyone can be reached w/ YOUR (the critics') idea of (so-called) positivity." Naturally, NYC critics tried to dance around the issue; some even acted like BOW DOWN was something to joke about. But the fans have spoken. If STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON was Rap's Declaration of Independence as Cube said, and if THE CHRONIC was Gangsta's call-to-arms to infilitrate previously illusive video/radio areas, BOW DOWN was the Emancipation Proclaimation for Gangsta Rap; the music and its' fans were being freed from the symbolic slavery of the critics, media, and ignorami who were trying to clamp down on it. Unfortunately, commerciality has taken over the Mainstream Rap game once again, but the statement was made, and it worked (even it takes folks ten years or more to realize that).
As for TERRORIST THREATS...there were some very dope songs on there, but the cohestion that BOW DOWN had wasn't quite there. Solid, but not quite a classic. Not a total loss, though, either. But BOW DOWN rules.
PEACE!
BOW DOWN is a classic, IMHO. I still play it now and again today.
Cube once called STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON the Declaration of Independence for Rap, because it made it OK for rappers to say what they wanted to on record in terms of subject matter, and I agree. And, to go further, I consider Dre's CHRONIC (1993) a notice that not only was Gangsta Rap here to stay, but that it could take over the video/radio waves, and it did (for a few years, anyway). But BOW DOWN, to me, was telling aspiring young street rappers who wanted to do Gangsta Rap, but were perhaps afraid to (because of bad publicity from politicians, etc.) that it was OK--even if the critics don't like you, the street audience will (provided that you're dope), and it told Gangsta Rap fans that it was OK to be proud of Gangsta Rap for what it is, even if your friends who believe(d) the negative media hype disagree(d).
Cube, Mack and Dub, to me, were saying, "we don't give a shit what critics, the media, or politicians think. Not only is Gangsta Rap as much of an Art as Conscious and Old School Rap, but it IS who we (and many of our listeners) are. Maybe we're not PC, but not everyone can be reached w/ YOUR (the critics') idea of (so-called) positivity." Naturally, NYC critics tried to dance around the issue; some even acted like BOW DOWN was something to joke about. But the fans have spoken. If STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON was Rap's Declaration of Independence as Cube said, and if THE CHRONIC was Gangsta's call-to-arms to infilitrate previously illusive video/radio areas, BOW DOWN was the Emancipation Proclaimation for Gangsta Rap; the music and its' fans were being freed from the symbolic slavery of the critics, media, and ignorami who were trying to clamp down on it. Unfortunately, commerciality has taken over the Mainstream Rap game once again, but the statement was made, and it worked (even it takes folks ten years or more to realize that).
As for TERRORIST THREATS...there were some very dope songs on there, but the cohestion that BOW DOWN had wasn't quite there. Solid, but not quite a classic. Not a total loss, though, either. But BOW DOWN rules.
PEACE!
LOL...Just MY interpretation. I remember in '96, when I would read Rap magazines, and (except for MURDER DOG and 4080)the writers would treat Gangsta Rap like the retarded cousin that your family doesn't talk about, and they'd be crying about "why can't consciousness come back, what happened to the 'real' MCs, etc." The writers would stoop to anything to diss Gangsta Rap. Example: when the Fugees SCORE came out, instead of saying the Fugees' new CD was dope because the music or the flows were cool, these critics would say (in so many words), "oh, how wonderful it is to have rappers like the Fugees not doing that 'awful' West Coast Gangsta 'garbage' that's 'destroying' Rap, etc." Shit...if the only reason they liked The Fugees, The Roots (or whoever) was because of what they were NOT (Gangsta), what does that say?
Then you had Dre and others saying, "Gangsta Rap is 'dead', blah blah blah", when it was probably selling at its' best during this time period! So when BOW DOWN came out, it was cool to see that Cube, Mack and Dub weren't afraid to be who they were--and I don't think that they were literally making fun of the East Coast (by mocking lines from NY artists' songs and shit)--they were just trying to break the icon, or the "sacred cow" designation that critics, fans and the media were placing around New York.
BTW--I read an interview w/ MC Eiht, and his feelings about TERRORIST THREATS are much the same as many people's here (it sounded like he dug BOW DOWN, though, from what he said).
PEACE!
Then you had Dre and others saying, "Gangsta Rap is 'dead', blah blah blah", when it was probably selling at its' best during this time period! So when BOW DOWN came out, it was cool to see that Cube, Mack and Dub weren't afraid to be who they were--and I don't think that they were literally making fun of the East Coast (by mocking lines from NY artists' songs and shit)--they were just trying to break the icon, or the "sacred cow" designation that critics, fans and the media were placing around New York.
BTW--I read an interview w/ MC Eiht, and his feelings about TERRORIST THREATS are much the same as many people's here (it sounded like he dug BOW DOWN, though, from what he said).
PEACE!
