Recently a friend of mine reached out to me with a dilemma. Which I know my parents had, I will have and alot of the parents out there will have. He has 16 year old daughter at home listening to rap music that he does not approve of. Wheather it is lyrical content or visual content, most mainstream music will have objectionable content matter. When my parents and your parents were growing up, I'm sure there were records that their parents didn't find appropriate.
Hip Hop and Rap has, over the past 30 plus years become a musical genre to be reckoned with. It may not always be family friendly. They talk about sex, drugs, violence, drinking, and everything in between. I also know that Rock, Metal, Punk, Country among other musical genres also has examples aformentioned subject matter.
Today I want to show examples of Hip Hop that may include questionable subjects, but lyrically are used to enlighten the listener. The first thing about art in any form is "do what you know". If you grew up in the ghetto around drug addicts and prostitutes, that's what you will be able to describe the most vividly.
I can't explain where hip hop is today without showing you where it came from. Below is an interiew with Afrika Bambaataa.
An interview with one of the pioneers of Hip Hop
and the creator of the Universal Zulu Nation
Afrika Bambaataa
In the very begining hip hop music was geared more for fun and partying. The first example of "reality" or gritty rap came from Melle Mel, Gramdmaster Flash and the Furious 5's The Message. This song with it's lyrics and video was the first time the "outside" world saw and heard what was going on in the ghetto's of America.
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
Broken glass everywhere
People pissing on the stairs, you know they just don't care
I can't take the smell, I can't take the noise no more
Got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice
Rats in the front room, roaches in the back
Junkies in the alley with the baseball bat
I tried to get away, but I couldn't get far
Cause a man with a tow-truck repossessed my car
Chorus:
Don't push me cause I'm close to the edge
I'm trying not to lose my head, ah huh-huh-huh
[2nd and 5th: ah huh-huh-huh]
[4th: say what?]
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
Standing on the front stoop, hangin' out the window
Watching all the cars go by, roaring as the breezes blow
Crazy lady livin' in a bag
Eating out of garbage pails, used to be a fag-hag
Said she danced the tango, skipped the light fandango
The Zircon Princess seemed to lost her senses
Down at the peepshow, watching all the creeps
So she can tell the stories to the girls back home
She went to the city and got social security
She had to get a pimp, she couldn't make it on her own
[2nd Chorus]
My brother's doing bad on my mother's TV
She says: "You watch it too much, it's just not healthy!"
"All My Children" in the daytime, "Dallas" at night
Can't even see the game or the Sugar Ray fight
The bill collectors they ring my phone
And scare my wife when I'm not home
Got a bum education, double-digit inflation
I can't take the train to the job, there's a strike at the station
Neon King Kong standin' on my back
Can't stop to turn around, broke my sacrophiliac
A mid-ranged migraine, cancered membrane
Sometimes I think I'm going insane, I swear I might hijack a plane
My son said: "Daddy I don't wonna go to school
Cause the teacher's a jerk!", he must think I'm a fool
And all the kids smoke reefer, I think it'd be cheaper
If I just got a job, learned to be a street sweeper
I'll dance to the beat, shuffle my feet
Wear a shirt and tie and run with the creeps
Cause it's all about money, ain't a damn thing funny
You got to have a con in this land of milk and honey
They pushed that girl in front of the train
Took her to the doctor, sewed her arm on again
Stabbed that man right in his heart
Gave him a transplant for a brand new start
I can't walk through the park, cause it's crazy after dark
Keep my hand on my gun, cause they got me on the run
I feel like a outlaw, broke my last glass jar
Hear them say: "You want some more livin' on a seesaw?"
[4th Chorus]
A child is born with no state of mind
Blind to the ways of mankind
God is smiling on you but he's frowning too
Because only God knows what you'll go through
You'll grow in the ghetto, living second rate
And your eyes will sing a song of deep hate
The places you're playin', where you stay
Looks like one great big alley way
You'll admire all the number book takers
Thugs, pimps, pushers and the big money makers
Driving big cars, spending twenties and tens
And you wanna grow up to be just like them, huh,
Smugglers, scrambles, burglars, gamblers
Pickpockets, peddlers even panhandlers
You say: "I'm cool, I'm no fool!"
But then you wind up dropping out of high school
Now you're unemployed, all non-void
Walking 'round like you're Pretty Boy Floyd
Turned stickup kid, look what you've done did
Got sent up for a eight year bid
Now your manhood is took and you're a may tag
Spend the next two years as a undercover fag
Being used and abused to serve like hell
Till one day you was found hung dead in a cell
It was plain to see that your life was lost
You was cold and your body swung back and forth
But now your eyes sing the sad, sad song
Of how you lived so fast and died so young
Don't push me 'cause I'm close to the edge
I'm trying not to lose my head
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder how I keep from going under
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder how I keep from going under
The Message 1982
As Hip Hop progressed into the mid and late 80's many groups started writing raps about the world around them. Run DMC had songs like Hard Times. KRS-ONE and Public Enemy also came with a more militant edge. KRS-ONE recorded a song called Love's Gonna Get'cha which chronicles how youth in the hood can easily be lured into the drug life. In my opinion he is not glamourizing drug life, he himslef says in the hook "and tell me what the f--- am I supposed to do?". He is showing that when you have nothing, the promise of nice things leads you to making the wrong decisions.
Love's Gonna Get'cha 1990.
In the West rap was also making inroads into earyday life. In some parts of Los Angeles gang culture is a regular as little league and girl scouts is in mainstream America. You had Ice T and Ice Cube with N.W.A. paving the way for "Gansta Rap". Ice T has always said to him it's not gansta rap, but "Reality Rap". He always rapped about what he saw and the life he lived. In 1988 a movie named COLORS about gang life in the streets of L. A. came out. The title track performed by Ice T, tells a gritty story of the hardships of being in a gang. By the end of the song Ice T pleads with listener not to ever join a gang.
COLOR 1988
In the 90's hip hop continued to rise as a legitimate musical genre. Lyrical content was at an all time high. People such as Tupac, Notorious B.I.G., Nas, Jay Z, Cool G Rap, Scareface, Busta Rhymes, The Wu Tang Clan, Outkast and Gangstarr set the bar high for lyricism in Hip Hop. People were still rapping about drugs, sex, and violence but the with more extensive metaphors. You had to really pay attention at how clever and elaborate their rhyming had become. The Wu Tang Clan is Hip Hop's orginal supergroup. It consissts of 9 members. They mostly came out of Staten Island (which they refer to as Shaolin) and Brooklyn. They adopted their names and imagery from old Kung Fu flicks. The RZA, GZA, Methodman, Ghostface Killah, ODB, U God, Inspectah Deck, Raekwon, and Masta Killa were some of the most prolific M.C,'s to hold a microphone. They debuted in 1993 with Enter The Wu Tang: 36 Chambers. Da Mystery of Chessboxin' was one the first songs that showcased all of their lyrical abilities.
Da Mystery of Chessboxin'
In the new millenium Hip Hop was drastically evolved. It has become regional. The south has evoloved as the leader of the pack. New York still has some representation, but has lost it's luster. Other regions in the country have garnered recognition. Eminem, and Royce Da' 5'9' have put Detriot on the Hip Hop Radar. Miami has really come up in the last 10 years with the emersion of local rapper's Rick Ross, Pitbull, and DJ Khalid. New Orleans especially after Katrina has come to the forefront with Lil Wayne and Jay Electronica. The heart of southern rap is still in Atlanta. Ludacris, Bow wow, Young Geezy, Gucci Mane and T.I. have made Atlanta the new home of Hip Hop. Some southern rapper's have emerged from unconventional places. David Banner was one of the first rapper's out of Mississippi to chart. Caddillacs on 22's is a song written from the heart. He walks around bringing people back to life. He speaks about how God has helped him, and how he needs to be aware that he influences the youth with his music.
Caddillac on 22's 2003
I hope that after reading this you have a better understanding of where Hip Hop has been and where it is going. Whether you choose to listen or not it will be and contiinue to influence music and listener's in positive and negative ways. In many ways I don't believe the content is what we need to censor. We need to teach our kids what is right and what is wrong. Just like any other form of entertainment it isn't real. In the same manner that you don't allow your kids to watch certain movies. Know what they listening to, watching and most importantly looking at online. When I was a kid I listened to anything I liked. I liked hip hop, but also rock, oldies, and salsa. When the Parental Advisory stickers came out, some of my CD;s were consfiscated by my father. They included songs that talked about smoking weed and gang violence. I never heard that when I listened. I heard awsome production and wicked metaphors. The day after he took them I got new copies. I never did the stuff they rapped about. I did get in trouble growing up like any other kid, but never because a rap song told me to. My parents raised me in the church, they were involved with me, and were very clear on their expectations of me. I was given freedom, but also was expected and trusted to make the right decisions.
No comments:
Post a Comment