NYTimes Op/Ed piece on Hip Hop... shred away
Swayze
14,705 Posts
File under: colossally ignorant.My favorite line - "That this lethal genre of art has grown speaks volumes about the industry's greed and lack of self-control." as if it's the music that's lethal. How Hip-Hop Music Lost Its Way and Betrayed Its FansBy BRENT STAPLES African-American teenagers are beset on all sides by dangerous myths about race. The most poisonous one defines middle-class normalcy and achievement as "white," while embracing violence, illiteracy and drug dealing as "authentically" black. This fiction rears its head from time to time in films and literature. But it finds its most virulent expression in rap music, which started out with a broad palette of themes but has increasingly evolved into a medium for worshiping misogyny, materialism and murder.This dangerous narrowing of hip-hop music would be reason for concern in any case. But it is especially troubling against the backdrop of the 1990's, when rappers provoked a real-world gang war by using recordings and music videos to insult and threaten rivals. Two of the music's biggest stars - Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. - were eventually shot to death. People who pay only minimal attention to the rap world may have thought the killings would sober up the rap community. Not quite. The May cover of the hip-hop magazine Vibe was on the mark when it depicted fallen rappers standing among tombstones under the headline: "Hip-Hop Murders: Why Haven't We Learned Anything?" The cover may have been prompted in part by a rivalry between two rappers that culminated in a shootout at a New York radio station, Hot 97, earlier this spring. The events that led up to the shooting show how recording labels now exploit violence to make and sell recordings. At the center of that Hot 97 shootout was none other than 50 Cent, whose given name is Curtis Jackson III. Mr. Jackson is a confessed former drug dealer who seems to revel in the fact that he was shot several times while dealing in Queens. He has also made a career of "beef" recordings, in which he whips up controversy and heightens tension by insulting rival artists.He was following this pattern in a radio interview in March when a rival showed up at the station. The story's murky, but it appears that the rival's entourage met Mr. Jackson's on the street, resulting in gunfire.Mr. Jackson's on-air agitation was clearly timed to coincide with the release of "The Massacre," his grotesquely violent and misogynist compact disc. The CD cover depicts the artist standing before a wall adorned with weapons, pointing what appears to be a shotgun at the camera. The photographs in the liner notes depict every ghetto stereotype - the artist selling drugs, the artist in a gunfight - and includes a mock autopsy report that has been seen as a covert threat aimed at some of his critics.The "Massacre" promotion raises the ante in a most destructive way. New artists, desperate for stardom, will say or do anything to win notice - and buzz - for their next projects. As the trend escalates, inner-city listeners who are already at risk of dying prematurely are being fed a toxic diet of rap cuts that glorify murder and make it seem perfectly normal to spend your life in prison.Critics who have been angered by this trend have pointed at Jimmy Iovine, the music impresario whose Interscope Records reaped millions on gangster rap in the 90's. Mr. Iovine makes a convenient target as a white man who is lording over an essentially black art form. But also listed on "The Massacre" as an executive producer is the legendary rapper Dr. Dre, a black man who happens to be one of the most powerful people in the business. Dr. Dre has a unique vantage point on rap-related violence. He was co-founder of Death Row Records, an infamous California company that marketed West Coast rap in the 1990's and had a front-row seat for the feud that led to so much bloodshed back then.The music business hopes to make a financial killing on a recently announced summer concert tour that is set to feature 50 Cent and the mega-selling rap star Eminem. But promoters will need to make heavy use of metal detectors to suppress the kind of gun-related violence that gangster artists celebrate. That this lethal genre of art has grown speaks volumes about the industry's greed and lack of self-control. But trends like this reach a tipping point, when business as usual becomes unacceptable to the public as a whole. Judging from the rising hue and cry, hip-hop is just about there.
Comments
SIGH.
STILL TIPPIN ON PUBLIC WHOLES, WRAPPED IN AYOYOS
STILL TIPPIN ON PUBLIC WHOLES, WRAPPED IN AYOYOS
Plus, it just shows how most of this crap has always been media hype. They are still referencing Tupac and Suge Knight for god sakes.
And of course you never hear about all the rapper that give back and donate money and time and of course how most of them get themselves and their families out of the bad neighborhoods ASAP!!!!!!
Plus, if they want to talk Tupac how about him saying that black people hate living next to killers and drug dealers just like any one.
Christ....Arnold has killed more people and blown up more shit in movies than most rappers will ever do on CD, so why is that OK?????? Dude played a fucking killing machine from the future who came back to kill people!!!! Plus, he killed cops in those movies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By BRENT STAPLES
Country music fans are beset on all sides by dangerous myths about life. The most poisonous one defines middle-class normalcy and achievement as "east coast liberal" while embracing violence, divorce, cheating and drinking as "authentically" country. This fiction rears its head from time to time in films and literature. But it finds its most virulent expression in country music, which started out with a broad palette of themes but has increasingly evolved into a medium for worshiping misogyny, drinking and guns.
This dangerous narrowing of country music would be reason for concern in any case. But it is especially troubling against the backdrop of the 1990's, when country stars provoked a real-world cheapening of their music by using recordings and music videos to insult their audiences intelegence. Two of the music's biggest stars - Garth Brooks and Lee Greenwood - should be shot to death.
People who pay only minimal attention to the coiuntry world may think the killings would sober up the country community. Not quite. The May cover of the country magazine Driving Drunk was on the mark when it depicted fallen country stars standing among tombstones under the headline: "country Murders: Why Haven't they happened yet?"
I've got a go, some one else can finish this.
just slow down and think about it.
shut the fuck up already.
LOL so hard
No doubt that organized crime plays a major role in the music industry, and right on the surface in the world of mainstream rap. That idiots play out their gangster games to the death is tragic.
This guy, who knows nothing, is writing in highly inflamatory language for an audence who also knows nothing.
The purpose is to fuel hatered of a type of music that ranges from Diplo to MC Hammer.
In recent years I've heard Ice-T, Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg all stand up and say they are too middle class to involve themselves in the Gangster life any more. Some how that didn't make it into his article.
That's what I would say. And I think we can all agree they're not middle class, they're upper class. Why would they care about gangsta shit anyway? It serves no purpose. They're already rich. What could it possibly do for them?