A Short Treatise on Hip-hop & Rap

Somehow in the last decade, rap has become a scapegoat for a lot of this nations problems, and instead of searching for the true culprit, lazy politicians and overprotective suburban moms have simply tossed the blame onto the shoulders of the first thing that they couldn’t understand or didn’t like.

Rap was an easy target for these people because it REFLECTS the problems with black America, it brings them to light. It publicizes in a strong, forceful manner, the poverty in a majority of black neighborhoods. But that’s just it, it reflects society, not encourages it. People aren’t the way they are because of rap; rap is the way it is because of people.

True some rappers never lived the lifestyle that they rap about, but I think it’s a safe assumption that most aren’t lying about the way they grew up and how they were forced to survive. And I think that they are obligated, once they find a proper medium, which they have in rap, to tell about the conditions of their homes.

Yeah, the rappers lifestyle is appealing to children, but it’s appealing to everyone. Who doesn’t want to have a mansion, millions of dollars, and be surrounded by beautiful women? I wouldn’t complain about that. But people who believe that rap makes their kids do drugs are idiots. Sure maybe some small children, who should be under a watchful from their parents and teachers, wants so much to be like Lil’ Wayne or 50 Cent that they try to emulate everything they say, but teenagers and adults are (should be) mature and strong minded enough not be influenced.

And as for the argument that rap degrades women, it’s garbage. Ok, so there are women in bikinis dancing in videos. Have you ever been to the beach? I guess the beach, which is considered a family place, degrades women as well. It’s ridiculous. And sure they say bitch and they say ho. But I have heard just as many women call themselves and other women these same things, and I’m pretty sure that they weren’t influenced by rap.

In conclusion, people need to stop trying to suppress and censor rap music and listen to it and address the problems it expresses.

I guess the nation was long overdue for another attack on hip-hop and rap. After the Don Imus fiasco, the public has begun to ask the question, “when did “ho” become ok,” and have looked to rappers as the main culprit behind Imus’s casual use of the word, and once again it’s time for the hip-hop industry to duck and cover as it comes under fire. All “new,” music or the music listened to by the younger generation seems to come under criticism until the older people who are pushing the criticism are too old to continue the fight or even care.