Re-Post on the "Why do you guy's personally despise Rap Music"?

Question

Okay, I'm not changing my therory, but I didn't get out waht I was trying to say. I still hate rap, none of your answers will change that. Like "Immortal Techinqe" my brother used to listen to that when they were super popular, I like them. They talk about how dancing with the devil will haunt you. They are one of the few actually good rappers that talk about things other than sex, drugs, and booze. The newer rap, however, is what I was trying to say is pointless. They are trying to sucker you in into thinking that life is all only about sex, drugs, and booze. They are setting bad exmples for a younger generation. I know from personal experience. My little sister worships these little thug chicks and tries to act like them. It's persoanlly sickening. Rock is all different too. They may be about politics, but it's different things in politics. I appreciate all of your opinions but I'm not being close minded. I have heard the Beastie Boys, and love 'em, I grew up listening to them.

Answer 1

I read your argument and I agree with you fully. I work with teens on a daily basis and those who listen to rap strut their stuff like they are thugs. The people who listen to rock seem more well rounded. I agree. I agree. I agree.

Answer 2

It looks like the major beef here is with gangsta rap. Like every other major music category, there are subgenres to the rap genre. I'm not an expert on the subject by any means, my preference being emo/screamo rock with spatterings of pop, soul, folk, antifolk and all kinds of eclectic samplings from all over the world. i just love music, period. But, i digress. There are other types of rap and hip hop, Conscious hip hop being one of those categories. Artists like K-OS, Common, Jurassic 5, Dilated Peoples, and The Roots as well as some older stuff by Black Eyed Peas (pre Fergie) have had songs and lyrics promoting things other than sex, drugs, and violence. Boogie Down Productions, KRS One, and Public Enemy could probably be credited as the forefathers of conscious hip hop as they had social/political commentary in their music. There are even Christian Hip Hop/ Rap acts. I'm sure the Gotees and Tobymac are not rhyming about pimping and drinking.
I think we run into problems when we start pigeonholing and labeling things as a whole instead of closely examining and being specific. So, is gangsta rap having a negative influence on the youth of today? For sure. The messages and the posturing are distracting kids from what they should be focused on: strength of mind, body and spirit, integrity and just being all around good citizens...but as another post stated, some subgenres of rock encourage the same behavior and worse. In the end, kids are gonna mimic something. It's part of the process of finding out who they are. Everyone does it. Some will be wannabe thugs, others will be jocks, goths, emo kids...whatever speaks to them. There's a deeper psychology to everything. Once people figure out what has suburban kids mimicking ghetto thug behavior, then maybe some of these issues could be resolved. Why do gangsta rappers idealize the Hollywood image of Mafia life? It's easy to hate something. Why not spend more time trying to understand where someone is coming from? Meaning the kid(s) in question...not the musician. But as i stated earlier...i'm no expert.

Answer 3

uh, yeah, major can o' worms. I personally think rap has damaged this generation witnessing the breakdown in manners, respect for other people in general and the sampling of other people's riffs that today's kids don't know is someone else's actual song. A lot of times, the riff or other sample from old songs is a big draw and it's not even theirs. As for the words, some rap is pretty good but mostly about ghetto crap that impressionable kids end up trying to be like. The suburb white kids, stop trying to emulate 50cent, his experiences are his and you don't need "street cred"---LOL.

On the other hand, Jails are full of people who grew up thinking life IS all about sex, drugs and booze. Many of which never listened to rap.

Answer 4

If kids are raised well they can tell the difference between how to live a good life (in the Platonic-Aristotelian sense) and what is expressed by art and culture. I was reading Burroughs and Selby and listening to the Velvet Underground when I was in high school but never once wanted to try heroin or engage in the other risky behaviors described. Gangsta rap is stories, like Donald Goines novels are stories. Some of those stories are well-made and some are not. If you have been brought up to respect life and people, those stories will not change that foundation. It's not the responsibility of artists to tell people how to live.

Answer 5

I don't see many positive messages coming out of rap music (some of Tupac's songs are an exception). Rap seems to promote violence, treating women like objects, segregation, stealing, disrespect to anyone else but your own group, etc.

Not so with rock which continues to change social issues & politics.

Answer 6

I don't like it, but it's just preference. Not everyone will like the same music, you don't need to set out to prove that a musical style is bad.

Just do your own thing, live and let live. No amount of musical jihad is going to make the world a better place.

Answer 7

Thank you for clarifying that. I agree that rap as of late is largely gutter trash, and promotes drugs, alchohol, and sexism (both ways mind you). But you hear what most rappers are only talking about, while there are probably way more rockers actually DOING it, which makes them no better even if they don't sing about it.

Answer 8

I am a guy and I like rap music