*Don* Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 Ok... For the past several years, hip hop/rap has been blamed for the violent behavior in teens and adolescents. Is it justified, or have rappers just become scapegoats for politicians? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pho3nix Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 Scapegoats. Doesn't matter which genre of music we are speaking of. Marilyn Manson was once blamed for giving inspiration and whatnot to the perpetrators of the Columbine school massacre, after it had happened some news reporter asked him what he would say to the kids if he could have spoken to them prior to the massacre. He said "Nothing, I would've listened to them". Which is exactly the right thing to say. I really don't believe violent video games, movies or any genre of music has the ability to drive someone to do these things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Don* Posted December 28, 2007 Author Share Posted December 28, 2007 ^^^ I agree. There was this one incident, I remember, when the Los Angeles Police Department blamed a surge of gang activity on 50 Cent's new song. Ironically, the song was "In Da Club", which had nothing to do with gangs. The damn police would much rather lay the blame on musicians rather than admit that they can't do their jobs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corinthian Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 It's not the police. It's the parents. I can't stand rap or hip-hop, it irritates me that they're called music, but the real issue lies with the parents, who failed to properly discipline their children. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Web Rider Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 I don't believe rap, or any music that was once blamed for certain problems is entirely without blame. You can't deny that much of modern music advocates violence, sex, drug use, and a general "life fast and die young" lifestyle. Is it to blame, somewhat, but so are parents not doing their job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK-8252 Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 I don't believe rap, or any music that was once blamed for certain problems is entirely without blame. You can't deny that much of modern music advocates violence, sex, drug use, and a general "life fast and die young" lifestyle. And yet with all of this so-called "advocation" (which it is not, trust me, I listen to gangsta rap more than anything), violent crime rates in America have actually gone down by more than half between '94 and '01, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommycat Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 Scapegoats: If you look at people's choice in music that claim ©rap is the cause of the violence. It is more about their personal opinion of ©rap that drives them to want to blame it, yet many of these same people listened to a genre of music that was at the time also labeled as the bane of society. Jazz, Blues, Folk, even if you can believe it rock and heavy metal(sarchasm is dripping I know), were at one time labeled as negative influences on society. At one time even classical(as we call it now) was considered a bad influence. It is nothing new to blame the new musical styling for the ills of the populus. Perhaps though it is actually a product of the violence in society rather than the cause of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Web Rider Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 And yet with all of this so-called "advocation" (which it is not, trust me, I listen to gangsta rap more than anything), violent crime rates in America have actually gone down by more than half between '94 and '01, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Not necessarily in the music, but in the lifestyles of many of the stars. And are those in terms of sheer numbers or relative to the population? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK-8252 Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 And are those in terms of sheer numbers or relative to the population? I imagine it's per capita, because that's the only accurate way to measure such things. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cvict_c.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MdKnightR Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 Not necessarily in the music, but in the lifestyles of many of the stars. I tend to agree here. It isn't so much the music (or lack thereof where <c>rap is concerned) as it is the portrayal of the accompanying lifestyle. Many stars don't care that they are creating a bad image that has a role model effect on youth. The "artists" that perpetrate the thug lifestyle contribute immensely to school and social issues of teens. However, it ultimately boils down to parenting. Whether that is the parents paying attention to their children in the present or the past failures parents of the "artists" that perpetuate the thug lifestyle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev7 Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 Not necessarily in the music, but in the lifestyles of many of the stars. I also have to agree, although some of this 'rap-music' has some not very good things said in them...IMO of course. I happen to 'dislike' rap or hip-hop, and I don't think that it is worthy of being called music. Once again IMO. Many of these 'stars' lifestyles are not very commendable. I have not ever looked up to a celebrity, or called a celebrity a role-model. Yes some of these celebrities are good people, but in this case, I think, majority wins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommycat Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 If you follow most musical entertainers' lifestyles, it looks real bad. Look at Hendrix, Rolling Stones, Johnny Cash, Brittney Spears(ugh it hurts so much to group them together) and tell me they are all great role models. Heck even Elvis wasn't that great of a role model. If you look at them individually, you can make the case that each genre is a bad influence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balderdash Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 Scapegoats. Doesn't matter which genre of music we are speaking of. Marilyn Manson was once blamed for giving inspiration and whatnot to the perpetrators of the Columbine school massacre, after it had happened some news reporter asked him what he would say to the kids if he could have spoken to them prior to the massacre. He said "Nothing, I would've listened to them". Which is exactly the right thing to say. I really don't believe violent video games, movies or any genre of music has the ability to drive someone to do these things. Couldn't have said it better myself. It's just a shame that so many mainstream rock and rap artists aren't nearly as articulate as Marilyn Manson is. Every time a rapper is on the O'Reilly Factor... or whatever... to try to defend the culture I love, it's always one of those corporate yes men... never KRS 1 or Chuck D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Jones Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 Ok... For the past several years, hip hop/rap has been blamed for the violent behavior in teens and adolescents. Of course. Because of it being totally different compared to the performed violence in games or seen violence in movies, the violent scenarios described in the texts of rap music do cause our youth to perform school massacres. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Galt Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 I tend to agree here. It isn't so much the music (or lack thereof where <c>rap is concerned) as it is the portrayal of the accompanying lifestyle. Many stars don't care that they are creating a bad image that has a role model effect on youth. The "artists" that perpetrate the thug lifestyle contribute immensely to school and social issues of teens. However, it ultimately boils down to parenting. Whether that is the parents paying attention to their children in the present or the past failures parents of the "artists" that perpetuate the thug lifestyle. QFE *cranks up the Prog rock* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Don* Posted December 28, 2007 Author Share Posted December 28, 2007 Every time a rapper is on the O'Reilly Factor... or whatever... to try to defend the culture I love, it's always one of those corporate yes men... never KRS 1 or Chuck D. LOL Speaking of the O'Reilly Factor, did any of you guys see Snoop Dogg's response to Bill O'Reilly? Go to youtube and type in "Snoop Dogg says eff Bill O'Reilly". It's quite ammusing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK-8252 Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 it's always one of those corporate yes men... never KRS 1 or Chuck D. Cam'ron was on O'Reilly one time. It was... interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nedak Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 Music doesn't make kids act violently, it's all crap. Every few years some naive parent (most likely the stay-at-home mother) can't understand why their little angel is acting out. Dad's an alcoholic, comes home hits the mom. Kid realizes his parents are hypocritical b***** and then rebells. But of course it's the music doing that I'm not a big fan of hip-hop/rap but to wrap it all up. NO, music doesn't make kids act violently. Same thing with video game violence or nudity. If your kid plays a violent video game he isn't going to go on a mass murdering rampage; if your kid sees nudity he isn't going to go to school the next day and violate his classmates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Sitherino Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 As I'm sure you all know, I loves me some Hip-Hop. Music is a form of expression. So, let's think about this in the appropriate context. Hip-Hop was started as a way of expressing the artists opinion on cultural situation. Gangsta rap started picking up when gang-crime elevated. Originally as an expression of what's going on in society, an expression of dismay and the chaos. What people are thinking of as hip-hop now is **** that the corporations created, ergo not hip-hop. You might as well tell me every company's response to The Beatles was an accurate representation of a genre, and music in general, if you're going to use the latest from Lil' Wayne as the epitome of hip-hop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Don* Posted December 28, 2007 Author Share Posted December 28, 2007 Music is a form of expression. So, let's think about this in the appropriate context. Hip-Hop was started as a way of expressing the artists opinion on cultural situation. Gangsta rap started picking up when gang-crime elevated. Originally as an expression of what's going on in society, an expression of dismay and the chaos. What people are thinking of as hip-hop now is **** that the corporations created, ergo not hip-hop. You took the words right out of my mouth. People always misinterpreted the meaning of hip hop. When NWA released "F*** the Police" people shouted and censored them instead of listening to their message on Police Brutality. And what happened as a result? A year later the LA riots broke out and innocent people were killed. If people had stopped pointing fingers and actually listened as they were supposed to, the situation could have been averted. As for the current hip hop being released today, I gotta express my disgust. Half the songs aren't even lyrically good. That "Soulja Boy" song was utter bulls***. The guy rhymed "roll" with "ho" and "ohhh". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nedak Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 You took the words right out of my mouth. As for the current hip hop being released today, I gotta express my disgust. Half the songs aren't even lyrically good. That "Soulja Boy" song was utter bulls***. The guy rhymed "roll" with "ho" and "ohhh". Soulja Boy should not be considered music. Techno is more creative then Soulja Boy. The people that buy into such garbage reinforce my point that a fast majority new generation of music listeners are musically retarded. Then again.. When haven't teenagers bought into that crap. Just look at Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer ten years ago. Soulja Boy's carrer, like Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer's, will eventually die and their 15 minutes of fame will be up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MdKnightR Posted December 29, 2007 Share Posted December 29, 2007 Everyone has strong opinions when it comes to music. In fact, I designed a series of novelties for people, like me, who can't stand rap. See... If anyone's interested in some stuff like this, check out: http://www.cafepress.com/artcrusade Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Don* Posted December 29, 2007 Author Share Posted December 29, 2007 Lol Yea, I saw a couple of guys wearin a shirt that said that just yesterday. Oh and to further add to the controversy, check out this article: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/17/baggy.pants.ap/index.html Some schools thinking about banning "baggy pants" since they "promote indispline". Although this may be true, I feel they are also tryin to indirectly blame music. Thoughts/comments? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MdKnightR Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 Shop owner Mack Murray said Trenton's proposed ordinance unfairly targets blacks. "Are they going to go after construction workers and plumbers, because their pants sag, too?" Murray asked. "They're stereotyping us." The American Civil Liberties Union agrees. "In Atlanta, we see this as racial profiling," said Benetta Standly, statewide organizer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia. "It's going to target African-American male youths. There's a fear with people associating the way you dress with crimes being committed." This is preposterous! Racial profiling, indeed! I really get sick and tired of people playing the race card when it comes to something like this. The proposed laws have nothing to do with race and everything to do with curtailing indecent exposure. Its not a matter of the authorities participating in racial stereotyping, but rather a case minorities perpetuating a stereotype so, once again, everything can be blamed on the "white man." Bill Cosby has worlds to say about such things here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK-8252 Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 The proposed laws have nothing to do with race and everything to do with curtailing indecent exposure. LOL, you really honestly believe that? You think that having your underwear showing in public is indecent exposure? Indecent exposure means you have your dick showing, or a girl has her breast exposed. A 300-pound girl can walk down the street in a skimpy bikini, but if a guy has his pants sagging, and you can see his *gasp* boxers, that should be a CRIME? LOL! How about walking around in just my swim trunks? You know that that's legal, right? Or hell, I can walk around in public in just my boxers and it's not a crime. It's not indecent exposure. So why would it be indecent exposure to wear pants, just not entirely covering your boxers? But if I'm not wearing pants at all, just underwear, that's legal? WTF? Fact is is that old people, and younger people who don't "get it" so to speak, don't like or understand the "sagging" fashion. So they want to ban it so they don't have to learn to tolerate something they don't like or understand. This kind of legislation is completely based in racism, just as the outrage against the "zoot suits" were. Why is it that there isn't so much outrage over girls with their thongs showing? Maybe because it isn't associated with black youths. Bill Cosby has worlds to say about such things here. Why does Bill Cosby have any credibility on this? Because he's black? Why not quote a rich old white man who grew up poor? Sounds like racial profiling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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