I don’t like it when people who don’t listen to a particular genre of music criticize it. There is always going to be a lack of knowledge about the music in these cases and as a result, you are bound to generalize a couple of things…

You say “duh” on my point, but if it is that obvious, then why would you put the microscope on rap? If the problem is that negative things influence people who have little positive influences from other sources, then that is the problem. If we have to attack rap because it should be the positive reinforcement to the household when nothing else in the world is, then I don’t know where you got this image of rap. You are almost expecting hip-hop songs to be like Barney sing-a-longs where the rappers tell you how to do your homework. The songs that you hear about are not just some imaginary never, neverland where people kill each other everyday and then those songs get misconstrued as reality. Stuff like that actually happens out here everyday. 50 Cent became popular because he got shot…he didn’t get shot to become popular (though some people would disagree with that)…

The underlying issue is not the music…nobody is telling Hollywood to go and ban Silent Hill or Hostel or Kill Bill from the theaters. Nobody is protesting Wal-Mart from selling the Godfather or Scarface or Donnie Brasco or Lansky on its shelves. We as Black people criticize so much of our own culture and act as if we don’t live in the world we live in. Rap is a reflection of society. The stuff in these songs…people really do that stuff. Some songs are positive, some aren’t. But even if the artists really don’t do it, somebody does. So why do we feel the need to always shield everyone from reality…if it was something that doesn’t happen, that would be one thing…

As for the chicken and the egg thing, that is the entire point. We are talking about whether music influences life or if life influences music. To say music influences life is a bit of an overstatement to me. Name one thing that you were inspired to do, non-music related, from a song. I have heard many songs…Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing”. I don’t try to go out and have sex when I hear the song. William Devaughn’s “Be Thankful”…I am not particularly more thankful when I listen to the song. Donny Hathaway’s “Giving Up”…I don’t just go and commit suicide when I hear the song. So how much are you trying to say that it influences us…I think those songs are more reflections of the people who sing them and write them rather than of the people who listen to them…

T, I am not sure of where you live or anything, but to make it seem as if rap is the only thing that can negatively affect you…which is what you are doing…is seriously trivializing everything else in life. We live in a time where I hear about a murder everyday on the morning news…someone else dies in Iraq…the bird flu is predicted to kill tens of thousands in upcoming months…North Korea is threatening to blow us up with nukes. And for you to feel that rap or hip-hop is one of the most significant negative influences that we are taking in is definitely a misassessment…

OF COURSE RAP IS NOT THE ONLY THING WRONG! Duh! The point is, the rap stuff we’re inundated with (not the marginal stuff you seem to love) is more harmful than helpful, ESPECIALLY for the kid with little positive influence from other sources…I thought I said that, but apparently not clearly enough, lol.

And on the chicken/egg thing, that’s beside the point. The POINT (again) is music DOES influence our lives because it’s such a huge part of our existence, you can spin your wheels denying this very obvious fact, but there’s no point in it.

So go ahead and convince yourself that you can continuously intake trash and mysteriously come out with gold, lol, go ahead and try to defy the laws of nature…I’m getting off this train…

Toodles,
T

P.S. Sorry for highjacking your blog Panama.

“…listening to some gold-tooth thug talk about smoking his “stickey-ickey,” hittin this “ho,” smackin that “b****,” and gettin “tore up,” not just once but OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER (like on the radio) WILL IMPACT some folks, ESPECIALLY those with limited parental/church/mentor influence, i.e. many young Black folks…”

…what is funny to me is that you have articulated the real problem, though you seem to deny it. The problem is the limited parental/church/mentor influences. Back in the day, even if you were only raised by your mother in your household, you still had grandma/grandpa and the neighborhood to raise you. But these days, we don’t even know our neighbors. The burden on families to raise their kids is heightened in this day and age because there are not as many individuals that reinforce what you get at home. So to always point the finger at rap music is unjustified…

How is it that you can focus on the effect of rap music and not the effect of action and horror movies, punk rock, raves, the prevalence of drugs in the community, lack of enrichment and extracurricular programs for children and a whole host of other things that have taken a turn for the worst in American society. With a microscope, we can focus on the ill effects of anything…but when you look at these things in a vacuum, you really don’t get a complete picture. Rap music is really not as big of a detriment as you would make it…

In addition, the rap videos that you see on TV and the songs you hear on the radio might be less than 10 percent of the hip-hop music out there. You, yourself have said many times how you don’t listen to much hip-hop. So while you are complaining about it, you are not changing what you see as the problem. There are more artists out there who are along the lines of what you are claiming that you are looking for. You just don’t support them…so it is unfair to blame rap music for the state of Black American society. Rap is the artform…the business of music is not the music. Don’t get it confused…what you see on the tube is the business of music. Who you see at the show around the corner is the art of music. Support the art and don’t lump the business and the art together…

I don’t like the music influences lifestyle argument because what influences music then? You make it seem as if music is just concocted to steer people in certain direction. Music is a reflection of the person who makes it. Even club and party songs reflect the imagination and creativity (or lack thereof) of the person who pens the lyrics to that song. Stevie didn’t write Music of My Mind because he was thinking about how he could influence others…it is called Music of MY Mind. We take the personal accountability out of listening to music. We all get something different from a song. That does not mean the song was intended to evoke that emotion or that feeling from us…

Lastly, I agree with DYoung about the chicken and the egg thing. You can argue that all day. But let me bring this up as a point…you are reading Panama’s blog. He is a guy with a Master’s degree and NWA’s “Niggaz4Life” in his album collection. Why isn’t he thugging it on the corner like you feel he should be as a result of listening to that album repeatedly? Simply put, he had people in his life to show him right from wrong. Everyone doesn’t…just because they listen to rap does not make rap the cause. That’s like saying that because your car won’t start on a day where it is 20 below zero that the cold is the reason for your car problems. It could be that someone stole your battery…LOL. Point is that we cannot draw parallel just because two things coincide. Correlation does not equal causation…

for “t”, i have a question? since we were pretty much all raised by people who were listening to songs like “shining star” on repeat in the late 60’s and early 70’s, then how did we get to this point? since they’re our elders, our teachers, and you pretty much only know what you’re taught, maybe the free popcorn and pussy 70’s aint everything it was cracked up to be.

But on the real, from what I can tell you’re not in a position to say rap does not negatively affect lifestyle…you probably had positive parental influence/college/friends/etc. so of course YOU can listen and it not affect you…but the “least of us,” those are the ones who are in trouble…and you know the saying “you are only as good as the least of you…”

Have a good week Panama…don’t let my anti-rap ish stress you too much, lol
T