Quote:
Originally Posted by anticipation
do you know what cognitive dissonance is? gangster rap was and is essential to hip hop, everything that preceded pioneers like NWA, Kool G Rap, and to a lesser extent EPMD is not necessarily the end-all be-all of rap. these mc's were the catalysts for those blaxploitation films you're talking about, they provided the stereotypes that the middle and upper classes try to emulate so desperately. their lives were filled with inner city violence and narcotic trafficing, so for you to say that they are betraying some banal, idealistic notion of hip hop that you hold by rhyming about their own experiences is ridiculous. the subject matter of a rapper's music is immaterial, it is how well they convey their message that determines their worth.
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I agree that gangster rap was essential because at the time it was breaking the mould but every little boy in every little ghetto (and suburb and pretty much everywhere) thinks he can be a rapper now. Everyone just wants to do what is already being done. They want to copy, they want to emulate. Name me one mainstream (or underground) gangster rapper and i can name you a thousand who talk about the exact same ****.
And the subject matter does matter. It's the same bull**** over and over and over and over. It's boring and pointless. What message are they trying to convey? oh look at me im hardcore because i sell drugs and have a really cool car. bang bang goes my gun now i killed your mum **** your sister in the ass blah blah blah. It's uncreative and dull. All these rappers that are making millions are talentless as far as lyricism is concerned. They're great as male models and as stage performers but they are not rappers.
And yes SOME of them had their lives filled with inner city violence, drugs ect Although i would bet my life that only one in every hundred gangster rapper has ever seen the things he is talking about. And if they are in the mainstream and making millions then their life is no longer surrounded by those things. I don't want to hear some roid junkie who thinks he's gangster telling me how gangster he is while he shakes hands with beyonce.
The aim was breaking the mould not fitting the part.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jester
You don't have to be involved with those kinds of things to find them interesting or intriguing. There is no concrete "THIS IS WHAT RAP IS ABOUT" standard, that's bullshit. If you can only rap about things that you have truly experienced and been a part of, then the genre has become limited and therefore sucks. You're stuck on "people rap gangsta rap to make money," which is totally irrelevant. Gangsta rap isn't ruining rap. It's the lack of creativity by rappers. There's no topic that should be excluded from music. Especially rap.
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I didn't say you have to be involved to find it interesting. I already told you there is enteretaining gangster rappers out there. But they are entertaining the same way a vin diesel movie is entertaining. And i didn't say only rap about things you have truly experienced, you can tell storys, express your thoughts, express your feelings, express your opinions. That is what art is for. Expressing yourself.
And that lack of creativity you mentioned goes hand in hand with gangster rap. There is no gangster rapper out there who is doing things differently (not now). They are all the same.
To repeat myself yet again, You want to know how to tell if someone is a good rapper? read their lyrics. If they mean something written down then they have succeeded as a rapper.
People enjoy gangster rap cause it entertains them but it's the same bull**** over and over. You can talk about ghettos and the trials and tribulations ect without acting gangster. Look at Zion I they're a prime example, they are against gangster rap but grew up in the sort of places these rappers talk about, they try to educate people (especially kids) to show them that you don't have to be a gangster to make a success of yourself.
Another reason gangster rap is ruining the culture is because now anyone thinks they can do it. People who have no understanding of lyricism or the rap culture are becoming famous and making millions. Prime example is 50 cent(although pretty much every rapper in the american mainstream and most of the underground fits this pretty well to). He has no talent as a lyricist at all.
I don't know what is worse, a no-talented ignorant prick who has no grasp of lyricism or this culture who thinks if he talks about guns and ****in women he's a rapper
or
An extremely talented lyricist who wastes his skill trying to make himself look cool.
The early gangster rappers the people who pioneered it the likes of tupac and N.W.A, they weren't doing it to be cool. They were doing it to get peoples attention and to make people realise what life was like for minorities in ghettos ect. Now, gangster rappers are selfish, incompetent, idiots.
"they start to feel his vibe, cause his rhyming is hot
so the deal arrives, and he just signs on the dot
it started so simply, all about the words that you say
but now this jerks getting paid off his work when it's played
and he aint getting **** just a few perks of the trade
he see's the real industry and what lurks in the shade
cause everything he worked for, the struggle to build, the love and the skill,
aint worth **** next to a couple of mil."
"So he sits back, feels lame dated and old,
the games taking it's toll the fames raping the soul,
- of this industry, 'cause they forgot that this is art,
the aim was breaking the mould not trying to fit the part,
but if he spits it smart he can hit the heart,
he only got one dart and he aint gonna miss the mark."
"
dedicated to the emcee...
That kid with an idea who catches the bus,
who writes life through his eyes that's attached to a brush
and he paints the world exactly how he see's it
and if rhyming is a secret i don't know how he keeps it
but believe me it's some deep **** and these kids will relate
you can't see it, but you feel it like a kick in the face
and when he grows up, ****, so will his rhymes
time after time again he'll keep blowing your mind
his flow is devine just a young buck with a curse
he sets fire to a cypher with a couple of words"
"its a damn shame that their life has a price
but they cant touch me or tell me what to rhyme on this mic
so i rhyme what i like, trying to bring that love back!"