I remember when Ice-T had his "positive" song "you played yourself", and the video was on all the time and I guess my dad like the message, so he agreed to buy me the CD and the first song had some line about 'fucking some bitch with a flashlight until her titties started blinking' (or something like that...)
Now these day's it's all about how i deal drugs,guns,drug dealing,rape,i got a bigger watch then you ,i wear more gold........silly thing's, in each video there's a ton of half naked women that look like whore.
it's true these images of money & women have been around for years but things were handled differently. These things are a part of life & the hip hop world so they should be represented but there seemed more balance before. Out of the hip hop which got mainstream media coverage you'd have a spectrum from nwa through to de la. Now it seems most stuff in the public eye is all of a similar vein . Those with a more positive message go under the media's radar. This creates a lack of perspective & is not healthy for hip hop.
The main problem I have is that so many of these records where subject matter/video/style etc all barely differ from one cat to the next are being made in this formula because it sells. It makes alot of people alot of money & this is more important than the music . Rakim may have been showing off his gold on the cover but on the record he was dropping gems.
Sorry but my english is to pore to debate correctly.I can hardly find the good words to explaim my point of view. I now that people living in precarity won't lose there chance to get money,but now it's different level. This might be a good resume,taken from a cormega interview.
Allhiphop.com
Labels don???t care about Hip-Hop culture no more, they care about success and dollars, so everyone???s following a formula rather than being original. First everybody started wearing suits and making those R&B friendly songs. Now people are going too far to the left with it. It???s played out. The producers started using the sped up vocals on their production and MCs even started singing. If that???s the case, we may as well be R&B singers with it. .......check out the rest on Allhiphop.com
let me tell you as someone who was actually WATCHING mtv back in the early 90s: MOST of the rap videos that would be in heavy rotation featured women cavorting about in bikinis... the guns in the videos were often REAL and the didn't blur them out like they do now... brand names were very represented on clothing and gold was all over the place... dudes didn't have as MUCH money back then but the imagery was basically the same... and since those records were the ones that SOLD it did become formulaic back then, videos started looking the same...
and I refuse to let this argument happen again... but wouldn't this 'positive' category which you consider to be swept under the rug include Common and Kanye, who are all over fucking television? hell, I consider Mike Jones to be pretty damn positive - are you guys actually listening to these records? he talks mostly about his grandma and how you have to work to get to where you want to be in life... this shit is ridiculous.
I remember when Ice-T had his "positive" song "you played yourself", and the video was on all the time and I guess my dad like the message, so he agreed to buy me the CD and the first song had some line about 'fucking some bitch with a flashlight until her titties started blinking' (or something like that...)
DOH!
"rolled her over to change the connection, bitches ugly face cold spoiled his erection!"
let me tell you as someone who was actually WATCHING mtv back in the early 90s: MOST of the rap videos that would be in heavy rotation featured women cavorting about in bikinis... the guns in the videos were often REAL and the didn't blur them out like they do now... brand names were very represented on clothing and gold was all over the place... dudes didn't have as MUCH money back then but the imagery was basically the same... and since those records were the ones that SOLD it did become formulaic back then, videos started looking the same...
and I refuse to let this argument happen again... but wouldn't this 'positive' category which you consider to be swept under the rug include Common and Kanye, who are all over fucking television? hell, I consider Mike Jones to be pretty damn positive - are you guys actually listening to these records? he talks mostly about his grandma and how you have to work to get to where you want to be in life... this shit is ridiculous.
I don't want this to get into an old vs new debate either. I like both. I was also watching mtv raps in the early 90's. I just think you can understand when people outside of the hip hop community look at it & turn their backs. I'm not saying that no "positive" rap gets coverage just that it's not balanced. You mentioned common, in the UK I see very little about him in the mainstream whereas I can't escape young fiddy. But I agree that money has always been a driving factor.
I remember when Ice-T had his "positive" song "you played yourself", and the video was on all the time and I guess my dad like the message, so he agreed to buy me the CD and the first song had some line about 'fucking some bitch with a flashlight until her titties started blinking' (or something like that...)
DOH!
Sounds like my dad when he wanted to see what my friend and I were listening to. He took the tape, put it in the deck..........it just so happens it was AMG's Bitch Betta Have My Money.
let me tell you as someone who was actually WATCHING mtv back in the early 90s: MOST of the rap videos that would be in heavy rotation featured women cavorting about in bikinis... the guns in the videos were often REAL and the didn't blur them out like they do now... brand names were very represented on clothing and gold was all over the place... dudes didn't have as MUCH money back then but the imagery was basically the same... and since those records were the ones that SOLD it did become formulaic back then, videos started looking the same...
and I refuse to let this argument happen again... but wouldn't this 'positive' category which you consider to be swept under the rug include Common and Kanye, who are all over fucking television? hell, I consider Mike Jones to be pretty damn positive - are you guys actually listening to these records? he talks mostly about his grandma and how you have to work to get to where you want to be in life... this shit is ridiculous.
I'm sure I'll be pilloried for this, but why is it alway Europeans and/or 17 year old Jurassic Five fans that try and assert this bullshit about some period when hip-hop was "pure"? Near as I can tell, music about street life and ESPECIALLY about partying has always been popular. Run DMC weren't talking about killing people, but they weren't farting flowers out of their asses and talking about peace and love either, they were all about drinking brew and getting paid and laid. If y'all hate hip-hop so much now, then stop listening to it and stop bitching.
let me tell you as someone who was actually WATCHING mtv back in the early 90s: MOST of the rap videos that would be in heavy rotation featured women cavorting about in bikinis... the guns in the videos were often REAL and the didn't blur them out like they do now... brand names were very represented on clothing and gold was all over the place... dudes didn't have as MUCH money back then but the imagery was basically the same... and since those records were the ones that SOLD it did become formulaic back then, videos started looking the same...
and I refuse to let this argument happen again... but wouldn't this 'positive' category which you consider to be swept under the rug include Common and Kanye, who are all over fucking television? hell, I consider Mike Jones to be pretty damn positive - are you guys actually listening to these records? he talks mostly about his grandma and how you have to work to get to where you want to be in life... this shit is ridiculous.
I'm sure I'll be pilloried for this, but why is it alway Europeans and/or 17 year old Jurassic Five fans that try and assert this bullshit about some period when hip-hop was "pure"? Near as I can tell, music about street life and ESPECIALLY about partying has always been popular. Run DMC weren't talking about killing people, but they weren't farting flowers out of their asses and talking about peace and love either, they were all about drinking brew and getting paid and laid. If y'all hate hip-hop so much now, then stop listening to it and stop bitching.
well personally I may live in Europe but I'm not 17, I've been listening to hip hop longer than 17 years. I like me some party & bullshit music, I don't want people farting flowers, I just want it done with a bit of finesse over some music which doesn't bore the shit out of me .
There definately seems to be a difference in taste between the U.S & Europe/Australia etc . Different strokes I guess. I think that our distance from the U.S gives us a different perspective. Alot of this stuff to us just sounds corny.
Comments
oh nwa was underground, if underground means i had to hide it from my parents
DOH!
it's true these images of money & women have been around for years but things were handled differently.
These things are a part of life & the hip hop world so they should be represented but there seemed more balance before. Out of the hip hop which got mainstream media coverage you'd have a spectrum from nwa through to de la. Now it seems most stuff in the public eye is all of a similar vein . Those with a more positive message go under the media's radar. This creates a lack of perspective & is not healthy for hip hop.
The main problem I have is that so many of these records where subject matter/video/style etc all barely differ from one cat to the next are being made in this formula because it sells. It makes alot of people alot of money & this is more important than the music .
Rakim may have been showing off his gold on the cover but on the record he was dropping gems.
I now that people living in precarity
won't lose there chance to get money,but now it's different level.
This might be a good resume,taken from a cormega interview.
Allhiphop.com
Labels don???t care about Hip-Hop culture no more, they care about success and dollars, so everyone???s following a formula rather than being original. First everybody started wearing suits and making those R&B friendly songs. Now people are going too far to the left with it. It???s played out. The producers started using the sped up vocals on their production and MCs even started singing. If that???s the case, we may as well be R&B singers with it.
.......check out the rest on Allhiphop.com
peace out
and I refuse to let this argument happen again... but wouldn't this 'positive' category which you consider to be swept under the rug include Common and Kanye, who are all over fucking television? hell, I consider Mike Jones to be pretty damn positive - are you guys actually listening to these records? he talks mostly about his grandma and how you have to work to get to where you want to be in life... this shit is ridiculous.
"rolled her over to change the connection, bitches ugly face cold spoiled his erection!"
I don't want this to get into an old vs new debate either. I like both. I was also watching mtv raps in the early 90's. I just think you can understand when people outside of the hip hop community look at it & turn their backs. I'm not saying that no "positive" rap gets coverage just that it's not balanced. You mentioned common, in the UK I see very little about him in the mainstream whereas I can't escape young fiddy.
But I agree that money has always been a driving factor.
Sounds like my dad when he wanted to see what my friend and I were listening to. He took the tape, put it in the deck..........it just so happens it was AMG's Bitch Betta Have My Money.
I'm sure I'll be pilloried for this, but why is it alway Europeans and/or 17 year old Jurassic Five fans that try and assert this bullshit about some period when hip-hop was "pure"? Near as I can tell, music about street life and ESPECIALLY about partying has always been popular. Run DMC weren't talking about killing people, but they weren't farting flowers out of their asses and talking about peace and love either, they were all about drinking brew and getting paid and laid. If y'all hate hip-hop so much now, then stop listening to it and stop bitching.
well personally I may live in Europe but I'm not 17, I've been listening to hip hop longer than 17 years.
I like me some party & bullshit music, I don't want people farting flowers, I just want it done with a bit of finesse over some music which doesn't bore the shit out of me .
There definately seems to be a difference in taste between the U.S & Europe/Australia etc . Different strokes I guess. I think that our distance from the U.S gives us a different perspective. Alot of this stuff to us just sounds corny.