Do you think rap music has messed up peoples minds these days?

I think if ANY music messes up your mind you have bigger problems than the music you’re listening to. Music is for enjoying, enhancing, broadening and expanding. While music can affect ones mood, it certainly shouldn’t have the power to mess up your mind.

Rap is ok but it’s not music.

i don’t really believe so.
rap music could certainly influence your opinions and state of mind.
but then again, so could any music.
i agree with bythebay.
listening to music should be to enhance whatever mood your have, express your current mood, or just to listen to music.
and though music tempts us to completely give in to it and live in it, you cannot let yourself do that. anyone who lets rap influence them that strongly as to kill or do drugs or whatever, didn’t really have strong morals to begin with.

I also don’t know if I agree that Rap was “invented”. Music is all around us and has been since the beginning of time. The melodious organization of sounds can create similarities, and different genres of music fall into categories – but I don’t know if invented is the word I would use.

Rap is an integral part of hip-hop culture but has been around for centuries in different forms. In popular music, Bob Marley, Grand Master Flash, Sugar Hill Gang and the Gap Band all used rap style but, it has evolved in to something altogether different.

Everyone has their own likes & dislikes where music is concerned. Whose to say what should & shouldn’t be here? If you’re asking whether the pornographic, violent, drug referencing and derogatory lyrics affect popular culture – yes. If you are asking whether or not it should be there at all, that’s up to consumers.

One thing I think is blatantly unfair in regards to rap is that the artist is NOT “singing” nor does the artist require the same talents and skills as a conventional singer. This is why I have an issue with it being referred to as “music”.

Rap is not singing.it’s speaking (sorta) to a beat.

rap has messed with people’s minds in that it promotes materialism, violence, a disregard for women and authority. And not in a Sex Pistols “screw you” way, but in a “i can shoot and kill police, etc. with little or no regard for them” kinda way.

those who are involved in this world of entertainment are led to believe that if you don’t drive a 100,000$ car, have “bitches and hoes” blowing you every 5minutes and aren’t a hustler, your life isn’t complete. It’s a complete focus on what you own and making sure everybody else knows you have it.

and that’s bullshit.

The popular, top-40 radio version of rap has turned into music that reflects the extremely limited world view of teenagers and people who want to keep thinking like teenagers. In that world view, life is nothing more than acquiring more money, getting bitches, eluding tricks and the ongoing search for props. There is a reason why this type of music is being sold to all kids, and that reason is not good. Notice how there are hardly any women in rap anymore? Poof! Something’s wrong there.

And I can say as person raised in an actual ghetto, even then, only immature people went around acting like the people rappers portray themselves as being. So for these guys to say “Yo, this is how it is in the streets!” is disingenuous. Such a guy isn’t speaking for everyone from the streets.

There is other, more positive and thoughtful, more spiritually-oriented (and I don’t mean “old bearded white man in a cloud” stuff) hip-hop out there designed to make you think. With actual non-bitch, trick or ho women, too. No bling. No shooting up someone for not kissing your arse. Seek it out. T.I. and his label will figure out how to live without your money.

@Mr_M – To say that rap isn’t music is not only incorrect but completely ignorant. Rap is part of the culture of hip hop that developed in the Bronx in the 1970’s and was highly influenced by Jamaican “Toasting” blended with various other elements of African diaspora. Just because you are not familiar with the culture does not mean it is “not music.” What is not music to you actually is in fact music to millions of other people.

Tell me, is West African drumming not music either? What about Aboriginal didgeridoo music? I guess this stuff isn’t music because it doesn’t include any “talented singing”, right? No, don’t listen to any anthropologists or ethnomusicologists, clearly you are the dictator of what is and is not music.

Realize that most of the music that we listen to is very heavily conditioned by the culture that we were brought up in, and just because a particular form of music does not conform to your expectations does not discredit its validity.

And to answer the posters original question about whether or not rap is a “good or bad thing” – I ultimately think that, as a cultural addition to this country, it is a good thing. Rap music gave a voice to a side of America that most people generally weren’t spending a lot of time thinking about. When we think of the American family we usually think of white, middle class, suburbanites living the American dream; however, this is not the actual case for many people. There are ghettos and poor people and people who live their lives with the constant underlying threat of violence because of the places that they were brought up in.

Rap music does a great job of making these issues visible in the realm of pop-culture, and rappers do a great job as “cultural news reporters” if you will to let the general public know what is going on in street culture.

It is easy to think of something like a pair of Nike Air Force Ones or 40-inch rims as “stupid” or materialistic, but the fact of the matter is those things, from a anthropological and sociological perspective, are actually important cultural symbols within the particular social subset (presumably young, black, lower/working class, urban). Rap music can be very grounding to the rest of us; that is to say, life isn’t all about the suburbs, sleek apple Mac Books, Volkswagen Jetta’s, square framed glasses, etc. We wouldn’t know about a lot of the cultural phenomena of street life if not for rap music.

I say it has beacuse now all the boys at my school can think about is sex and that’s all they want from a girl not a relationship

@swingliner: I hardly think the average rap listener subscribes to the actual lifestyle they are referring to in these songs. As @aprilsimnel points out above in her post, it’s a very limited view not a window in to a commonplace reality. Then again, you could try and live that lifestyle and end up just like TI.

@New_New: That has nothing to do with rap music.

yea it do because most rap music is about sex or getting screwed

bythebay what’s wrong with T.I.

@bythebay – What New New mentions has a lot to do with rap music especially given the context of the question that the poster asked. The role of women in hip hop culture is a very commonly debated topic in Womens Studies as far as degradation of women, etc. New New brings up a valid point.

nah

Having sex & getting screwed is on many boys minds, with or without the benefit of rap music. I’m sure the boys in prep school who don’t listen to rap have it on their minds too. Girls responses to that mind-set will determine the outcome. If the girls themselves have little to no self respect, with or without without the influence of rap, goes back to my original point (in my first post). It is a lame excuse for bad behavior to blame music for your choices.

As for TI; look where his good choices got him.

I’m sorry, what were we talking about?
I got distracted by the talk of sex.

We can use rap, action movies, video games, dancing, violent tv, genetics, Dungons and Dragons, mainstream sports, and a whole host of other things to blame all of our problems on when the true problem is that these things shouldn’t be raising our children. Why not take responsibility for how your kid turned out. Why not actually blame the parents that SHOULD be raising thier children.

let me quantify: Gangsta rap does not equal Ladysmith Black Mambazo. that is music. perhaps it has the same roots, but The Sex Pistols are not the same as Elvis Presley.

@eponymoushipster – Gangsta rap certainly does not equal Ladysmith Black Mambazo, but it is still music whether you like it or not.

@swingliner also music: a jackhammer, a car crash and a drunken sailor in a noisy bar.

i think that if your mind is that easily swayed by anything like that, you’ve already got some big issues.
some rap definitely encourages people to do shitty things, and i’m sure people are influenced by it, but the point is that if you’re that easily influenced to do something negative, we shouldn’t just put the blame on the music they listen to.

@eponymoushipster Just because a type of music doesn’t conform to your cultural expectations does not mean it is “not music”.

I’d also just like to note that I always find it extremely suspicious when people show so much disdain for rap that they go as far as attempting to delegitimize its validity as a form of music. It reeks of the same thinly veiled racism that is shown when people snark about how ebonics is “grammatically incorrect” when in fact it actually is, linguistically. Boo hoo, not everybody is acting like white people; clearly that is difficult for some people to comprehend.

Rap is a genre of music whether you like it or not, and millions of people listen to it. Get over it.

@swingliner wow. that’s a lot of anger. perhaps too much rap music?

listen – how can “she be noin i be mad” be linguistically or grammatically correct?

rap is genre – ok. cheers!

@eponymoushipster – perhaps you should read more about linguistics or take a course and you would better understand how linguists view all dialects and languages as equal variations of Language, based on their functionality. But that’s a completely different subject for another thread.

The point is, everybody is not like you – there are different cultures with different values, ways of speaking, and of course, forms of art and music. More people should recognize this instead of pointing their finger and saying “look how dumb”.

Yes, I know. I’ve taught English before, actually, and in some instances to people who have no idea how to structure a sentence or spell properly. That’s why I feel the way I do.

And yes, I realize not everyone is like me (a good thing too); however, when a style admonishes someone to act and speak in a way that essentially flaunts ignorance as a virtue, I have a problem with it. You can call it cultural, but there are more than a few who would call it a breakdown of culture.

Listen, you’re welcome to your opinion, but I don’t have any desire to get into an argument about something as trivial as the legitimacy of rap music.

@swingliner: I’m curious to know why you think accusing someone of racism is better or even different than someone decrying someones taste or the legitimacy of a music genre?

It’s not as much of an argument, but a fact. Rap music is a legitimate form of music, just like Country music, mongolian throat singing, or abstract avante garde electronica.

And whether you see a style of speaking (in this case, African American Vernacular English) that has, for centuries, refused to assimilate to the same vernacular that white people have been using as a “breakdown of culture” is completely your opinion (though in my opinion I think it’s a shitty one…but you know what they say about opinions, they’re like assholes…)

@bythebay I think you’re confusing “taste” and “legitimacy” here. I could not care less if someone doesn’t like rap music, but that’s simply a matter of the particular genre of music not suiting their fancy. When they go as far as to try and discredit it as a form of music at all makes me question their views on race and class.

Yes, I think calling someone out for subtle racism is “better” than just shitting on every form of art that – surprise, surprise- may not have any interest in assimilating to a white, western, middle-to-upper class standard. I would hope that some people will read this thread and be courageous enough to question their own perceptions of race and class, their own place in society, and learn to be a little more open minded while they’re at it.

I wish you luck in your hope to flush out those who you believe are deluded in their perceptions. I think you’re overzealous in your attempt to label those who have differing opinions. I also find your approach to be a touch crass. But as you so eloquently said “Opinions are…..”.

I’m sorry, I also do not want to confuse anyone – I don’t mean to accuse anyone of being a straight up racist because nobody is, but I just find it strangely paranoid when people try to take elements of another races culture and accuse it of being “wrong” or a “breakdown of culture” as if it somehow threatens their own. Of course, I’m not saying that just because you think that rap is not music, or that Ebonics is “incorrect”, means that you somehow automatically hate black people – but I do think it’s a valid display of the type ignorance that has the potential to lean toward racist views.

As for opinions, when people say that “rap is not music”, it is not about opinion, it is denial. I’ve said it many times and I’ll say it again: Rap is music. This is a fact. You can ask any anthropologist or ethnomusicologist; distinguished scholars will tell you the same.

Whether you like rap or not is completely different. That is opinion. I don’t like what is coined as “emo”, but it’s still music.

@swingliner: Well said.

Rap is a form of music that I utterly despise, and there is a type of classical which consists of fat women singing in Italian called Opera, another form of music which I find annoying. So I guess I am a racist against not just black people but also fat women that sing in Italian. Who knew?

so some one dislikes the type of music you admire, who cares? If I hate NASCAR, does that mean I am prejudiced against southern rednecks?

no not always but yea boys do only have one thing on their minds and they listen to the nasty songs because they think it makes them look cool n front of girls but it really just makes them look sickening.

@evelyns_pet_zebra – Wow, congratulations for failing to read what I have written.

I’ll use NASCAR as an analogy for my statements about rap since you seem to have missed the train:

I don’t care if you don’t like NASCAR. However, it is still a sport and is very culturally relevant in our society, even if its presence is not as strong within your (or my) social class. Whether you think NASCAR is the coolest thing ever, or you think that it is stupid and just rednecks watching cars go in circles – neither changes the fact that it is still a sport.

PS: This is not a cue to start a discussion about NASCAR. Only an analogy.

@swingliner you’re welcome.

@swingliner – Didn’t evelyn cover your point with his first 6 words?
What train was he supposed to be on?

@fireside Evelyn missed the point not because of his first 6 words, but because he then assumed that I would imply that he is a prejudiced person. If he took the time to read my post above, he would understand that is not the case and was not my argument. If Evelyn doesn’t like Italian Opera singers then that is fine; however, if he were to have a serious issue with that genre of music that goes beyond a simple taste disagreement (like if he were to think it’s “stupid” or that fans of Italian Opera are “dumb”, etc), I would be suspicious about his attitudes and his own prejudices.

Of course, that doesn’t seem to be the case with him as he misunderstood my argument, which he read as “If you don’t like the music, then you are prejudiced.”

@swingliner if you read my above comments more closely, and perhaps without a chip on your shoulder, you’d see that i did not call people who enjoy rap “dumb” or “stupid” but that they glorify people acting that way. There’s a difference.

@ eponymoushipster, I second your opinion that someone has a chip on their shoulder. I understood his line of reasoning, convoluted that it is, (I am not as fucking ignorant as he would assume), I was rather tired when I posted that answer last night, so perhaps it came across as too flippant or confused.

Okay, i have a lot to say to some of you people. For number one, I absolutely do not think, but no for a fact that rap music is well, MUSIC. Another thing is I totally, agree with everything @swingliner said. That person makes so much sense to you people who are saying they are atomically calling you a racist, just because you do not like the whole rap genre. I do have a seconded opion to how you stating things in you answers to where she actually has the right to not atomically just put the finger in your face but were she just wonder’s if you are a racist but question’s how you say some things to people that would be offended too.

Another thing, okay @eponymoushipster in your early comment above you stated that rap music has messed with people’s mind. If rap were the cause of all the things you say it is well then would it steady be playing on the radio? WOULD people have new songs every day that would land in the category of being known as rap music? I think personally that people who even think that would really be ignorant. Yes rap could maybe cause a person to think about some things in there life, but it would completely dumb to state that rap has, “took over the minds.” Me being African American I would say that i think even if you dont even like rap you should just listen to those songs that do have meaning. I am not saying that all rap songs do have meaning but the ones that do they are the ones that mean a lot so those would be the songs that would be to listen to. Now unless you people that dont like rap or say absolutely things that have no meaning to this question i ask on why really you think rap has took over the mind or how anyone could think that and not just cause YOU AS A PERSON DO NOT LIKE RAP, THEN I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOUR ANSWER!!!!!!!!

hi @firefly, how are you?

1) it’s “know” not “no”.

2) “atomically calling you a racist” – ?

3) of course they would continue to play it. It’s called a viscous cycle, because this genre promotes blindly attempting to gain acceptance and succumb to peer pressure.

4) of course there would be new songs. And usually from a new rapper, because the turnover of “artists” is pretty high in this genre.

5) I’m talking about artists like Mos Def, Talib, KRS-One or that type of music, which is rap but also actually music, not advertising. The Roots would be another example. Those artists DO have a message, and convey it. On the other hand, you have artists that don’t have a message, which you yourself acknowledge, and are promoting a lifestyle that is both dangerous and negative for those that try to emulate it – would you say that the values conveyed by the latter type of rap have had an upbuilding effect on those that listen to it and attempt to emulate it? so apparently I have listened to some

6) all caps is yelling. stop yelling.

7) apparently, you link not liking rap with racism. Eminem is a rapper, a successful one and typically spews filth. And he’s white. I don’t like him. Does that make me racist against white people? Also, how do you know I’m white myself? If I’m black and don’t like rap, am I still a racist?

Well if you are black then no you are still not a racist. Even if you are red, blue, white, or etc. But the point I am trying to make is that no you are not a racist but things that you may have said may have not been meant that way but the way of your sentencing may have caused a person to say what they did. Also, i was not yelling, i was just doing that so those words would catch your attention and i guess they did. Another thing is I firefly, rockstar4411, or whatever name I have had and had to change

@humanbean yes, we all know you’ve been banned 4 times. thanks for the heads up.

the way of your sentencing is quite breath-taking. kudos.

@eponymoushipster:

“I’m talking about artists like Mos Def, Talib, KRS-One or that type of music, which is rap but also actually music, not advertising.”

Mos Def and Talib is just as legitimate music as Eminem and 50 cent. Of course Mos and Talib make a different style of rap that may appeal more to your taste and share more of your values. However, millions of people feel the same way about Eminem – and by the way, a lot of him and 50 cent’s music does have a “message” – though I will disagree with you again and note that “having a message” is also not criteria for being music.

eponymous, I don’t know what your race is, but I do always find it interesting that so many white listeners will listen to all of the “backpacker” or “abstract” rap because it contains uplifting messages and they can relate to it (or whatever)... and then they’ll put down all of the music that really does encompass a lot of the aspects of black urban life. Sorry, but to me it hints of casual racism. “Black urban trends are so STUPID. Such FILTH!” Hopefully this isn’t you eponymous, but what I’m saying is it seems to be the case with a lot of people who think that some sort of good/bad line is drawn between “uplifting” rap and gangster rap.

I also think it’s worth noting that a lot of the social problems that rappers talk about have existed long before rappers have been talking about them (or as you say, “promoting them”). While it’s easy to point our fingers and blame “the rap music” every time we see an inner city youth who has turned to a life of drug dealing and crime, the fact is that it’s a lot more complicated. (the fact that a child growing up in such a neighborhood is reinforced with seeing their successful neighbors making easy drug money while their other neighbors who make an honest living are still struggling may have a lot more to do with it then rap music.)

I think what firefly is trying to say is just because you dont like rap music doesnt automaticaly make you racist no matter what color you are. What she is trying to get across is that rap music is not the main thing messing up peoples minds these day and it is not the main thing to put ALL of the blame on. Am I right firefly?

I’m with swingliner here. I think some of you are confusing the issue. Let me break it down for you:

“I don’t like rap.” This is an opinion and it’s fine. You can not like whatever you want.

“Rap is not music.” This is a blatently wrong statement and can be reguarded as thinly veiled racism. In the same way slave owners use to say that the gospel sung by the slaves was not music, you are now saying rap is not music. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to draw parallels.

@bodyhead okay wait im confused now can you break it down more

so is what I was trying to say is what you are saying?

Yea, we’re on the same page. Just because you don’t like rap doesn’t make you racist but when you say it’s not music, we’ve got to wonder.

@bodyhead okay

@bodyhead Good analogy. For a more recent example, consider when jazz was first coming out in the earlier part of the 1900’s. It was looked down on by white people because it was just “black music” (well, more often there was an N-word involved…) and it was considered to be strictly reserved for junkies and trash. A lot of whites pretty much claimed that it wasn’t even music, it was just garbage; but the real fact of the matter was that most of the white elites simply didn’t understand the fundamentals of jazz at the time: that it was based on improvisation, that it used different kinds of notes and had a different kind of song structure.

Today, it’s considered almost an “American Classical Music” and is extremely highly regarded. Of course, if you told that to white people in the 1920’s they would laugh at you.

how about everybody just take a breath in and out…then have a group hug?? haha lol rap is rap yo…sex is sex…rock is rock…rnb is rnb…electro is electro…there are soo many genre’s out there and people are arguing if this type of music is actually even music…
music has rhythm and beats to it…when people can open their minds up to music, some want to close it. Open your mind, listen to a variety of music, if you don’t like a certain kind then don’t listen to it anymore but quit judging…
and yes there are probably genre’s devoted to sex lol

I delliebrately sought out this question because i am currently sitting next to a youngster who is rapping along to the most offensive garbage i’ve ever heard. Him and his friends also have the vilest of attitudes and manners and listening to him now, i can see where they get that from.
Although i previously agreed with many of the comments here i have to say i have now changed my mind. Kids really shouldn’t be listening to this kind of stuff.

Look.
A lot of people have this stereotypical image of what people call “rap music” when essentially Hip-Hop is the culture, & rapping is an action within that culture. Many artists are on different areas of the spectrum as far as what they are saying and portraying in their songs. Judging Hip-Hop by a color or race is nothing but asininity. Generally speaking you can say Hip-Hop progressed from the streets, the streets where minorities have inhabited. But it shouldn’t be perceived as a one race thing when Hip-Hop music is utilized through many different ethnicities and is now in fact internationally diversifying.

& honestly if you know how to parent your kids, and if you actually become aware of the various types of artists and their messages you would educate them on what they are listening to. I mean the key is to educate, not brainwash or take away their free will. If you can’t get this across to your kids that’s your own damn fault. Don’t blame the artists, blame yourself.

Again, music by itself is subjective. What you may think isn’t music, some other person may. You shouldn’t knock it especially if you’re judging it based on its stereotypical image. There are numerous rappers out there (some mainstream, some underground) who are lyrical geniuses. Take Nas for example. Major controversial, intelligent, yet political figure within the Hip-Hop community who actually instills socioeconomic troubles and political messages within his songs.

From the time I wrote my first answer to now I can say that I’ve become enlightened by Hip-Hop music (mostly underground) & in actuality it’s the only kind of music I listen to now.

:)