I was reading the news articles on the front page of the siccness, and this article is just a small representation of why I fucking hate rap these days. Dont get me wrong, I love hip hop and I grew up on it... but its gotten to the point where I just see it as a packaged, corporate version of the lifestyle that REAL street cats articulated through their music to bring attention to America of what its like growing up in poor slum areas.
"Williams published the eight-book series ''Tookie Speaks Out Against Gang Violence," but most kids are probably far more familiar with 50 Cent's ''The Massacre" and his hyper-violent video game ''Bulletproof," with its slow-motion kill moves. And mainstream hip-hop is content to keep it that way."
Lets try and take into consideration... A guy like Tupac didnt so much tell mainstream america that "Ill kill any mothafucka who steps outta line with me" or "I sell drugs and shoot guns at anybody I feel like". The way I see it, he kind of painted a picture of what its like to grow up the way he did... and that opened the eyes of the public to the same things they've been ignoring before hand. He brought the ghetto to America in a way that everyone could understand, and although 'Pac said himself he didnt sell drugs for more than two weeks, he did embrace what its like to live like a drug dealer and tell it how it is. But now, we have guys like 50 Cent who hasn't ever been to prison and hasnt seen a jail cell in over 10 years that rap about killin people left and right and moving drugs. Lets all be real with it- dudes been a multi-millionaire for at LEAST 3-4 years now and he still makes money off saying in a rap verse that he muders, sells crack and carry's around AK-47s and shit. We all know damn well that 50 dont need to "hustle" shit but a recycled rap verse to make thousands and thousands of dollars, but he still sells that gangster image to (mostly) white america and makes millions off it through shit like his video game and clothing. Ya'll remember the Aruban brothers and White dude on TV accused of killing the girl from alabama or whatever in Aruba while she was on vacation? The white kid was wearing a G-Unit shirt, and for some reason that picture wont ever leave my mind. How gangster is that? killing some girl and disposing of the body in a way that leaves no trace evidence. Now Im not saying that 50 straight told the kid to do the shit, but its hard to get out of my head that the gangster image that rich kid was grown up glorifying didnt play a small role in his mind when he was (questionably, of course) doing whatever was done to the blonde girl that was all over the news. Thats the type of shit that guys like 50, Cam'ron (guy got shot in the arm and rapped a freestyle about "eating bullets and spittin them out") Lloyd Banks, Lil Wayne all influence and make mad cash off of... but you know they aint in the streets at all unless theyre going to a club surrounded by bodygaurds. I know theres a couple flaws in what Im trying to express here through this dumb ass post, but I think we can all agree that most rap music these days is just a recycled version of the gangster image eazy-e started in the early 90s. That is, after all- why most of us concern ourself with underground artists right? I dunno, guess I just read that paragraph and it got me thinkin and I just started throwing out thoughts on this messageboard. Ya'll can just discuss it all from here, have fun with it. But, I will express that I think any discrimination of the minor details I fucked up in this post just dont help at all of creating a better understanding of the topic.
"Williams published the eight-book series ''Tookie Speaks Out Against Gang Violence," but most kids are probably far more familiar with 50 Cent's ''The Massacre" and his hyper-violent video game ''Bulletproof," with its slow-motion kill moves. And mainstream hip-hop is content to keep it that way."
Lets try and take into consideration... A guy like Tupac didnt so much tell mainstream america that "Ill kill any mothafucka who steps outta line with me" or "I sell drugs and shoot guns at anybody I feel like". The way I see it, he kind of painted a picture of what its like to grow up the way he did... and that opened the eyes of the public to the same things they've been ignoring before hand. He brought the ghetto to America in a way that everyone could understand, and although 'Pac said himself he didnt sell drugs for more than two weeks, he did embrace what its like to live like a drug dealer and tell it how it is. But now, we have guys like 50 Cent who hasn't ever been to prison and hasnt seen a jail cell in over 10 years that rap about killin people left and right and moving drugs. Lets all be real with it- dudes been a multi-millionaire for at LEAST 3-4 years now and he still makes money off saying in a rap verse that he muders, sells crack and carry's around AK-47s and shit. We all know damn well that 50 dont need to "hustle" shit but a recycled rap verse to make thousands and thousands of dollars, but he still sells that gangster image to (mostly) white america and makes millions off it through shit like his video game and clothing. Ya'll remember the Aruban brothers and White dude on TV accused of killing the girl from alabama or whatever in Aruba while she was on vacation? The white kid was wearing a G-Unit shirt, and for some reason that picture wont ever leave my mind. How gangster is that? killing some girl and disposing of the body in a way that leaves no trace evidence. Now Im not saying that 50 straight told the kid to do the shit, but its hard to get out of my head that the gangster image that rich kid was grown up glorifying didnt play a small role in his mind when he was (questionably, of course) doing whatever was done to the blonde girl that was all over the news. Thats the type of shit that guys like 50, Cam'ron (guy got shot in the arm and rapped a freestyle about "eating bullets and spittin them out") Lloyd Banks, Lil Wayne all influence and make mad cash off of... but you know they aint in the streets at all unless theyre going to a club surrounded by bodygaurds. I know theres a couple flaws in what Im trying to express here through this dumb ass post, but I think we can all agree that most rap music these days is just a recycled version of the gangster image eazy-e started in the early 90s. That is, after all- why most of us concern ourself with underground artists right? I dunno, guess I just read that paragraph and it got me thinkin and I just started throwing out thoughts on this messageboard. Ya'll can just discuss it all from here, have fun with it. But, I will express that I think any discrimination of the minor details I fucked up in this post just dont help at all of creating a better understanding of the topic.
