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opinion:
our view
Hip-hop merely
mindless
Hip-hop was once a
respectable and credible form of expression that gave outsiders
a peep inside a world that was foreign to them.
When hip-hop and
rap was starting out, artists like Run DMC spoke about how
it would someday be the biggest form of music on the market.
Run DMC's prophecy
finally began to come true in the '90s and is more than evident
in the selection of music played on radio stations and MTV.
Larger than just
the music though, the hip-hop culture has grown along with
it. A culture that at one time included break dancing and
graffiti has grown to include clothing worn and created by
the artists themselves.
What has also grown
with that culture is a large number of fans who do not realize
the reality of some people that grew up in rough neighborhoods,
is not the reality these people still live in.
In fact, the first
thing many rap artists do when they finally make the big time,
is move out of their neighborhoods to safer areas, where the
fears of violence no longer threaten their daily lives.
With this ever-growing
allegiance of fans, which now includes teens and young boys
in rural towns far distant from the harsh realities of city
life, rap is slowly becoming a parody of itself.
This causes the
artists to continue to perpetuate stereotypes that they themselves
created with their music. The problem is their fans continue
to buy it up and harbor their own dreams of the fantasy gangster
life they listen to everyday.
The truth is that
while hip-hop was once an incredible force that spoke about
the modern day struggles of an entire group of people that
had either their ethnicity or their poverty in common, today's
rap is nothing more than a cash cow.
Sadly this cash
cow is exploiting people who want to live the lifestyle of
their favorite rapper. Also, as with the recent Eminem fervor,
its message could be misconstrued and adopted by children
who are too foolish to know better.
True, any artist
has the right to make a living. But with all this mindless
music that is being put out today, it's sad that a once interesting
and creative form of music is just as mindless.
There was once
a time that rapper Chuck D of the politically charged group
Public Enemy called hip-hop the CNN of the black community.
Today, hip-hop is doing nothing more than using drugs and
sex to sell records to boys who watch MTV. It no longer shares
the news and views of what is going on in the world.
Honestly, could
you imagine leaving your plush home in a nice quiet neighborhood
to drive down to a rough neighborhood where you may get shot?
No, because that
would be ridiculous. Even more ridiculous is the state of
hip-hop today, which is nothing more now than a form of music,
obsolete of any social message or commentary that is meaningful
to its culture. A culture that sometimes depends on it.
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