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Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
A lot of music is a poor choice for an English lesson. Honky Tonk Badonkadonk? Slang is used widely in all generes of popular music, but again, rap is very blatant about it, so it is an easy target.
Rap is an easy target because it offends on multiple levels like I pointed out. If it was just bad English, it wouldn't be as readily singled out.
That being said, I always found it funny that when James Hetfield addresses the audience at a concert, he's quick to use slang and casual speak, yet when he writes a song, he uses proper English..... There is something to be said for taking that effort.
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Rap does take those social issues and run with them in many cases, but it's a reflection of where it came from. If an aspiring rapper lives in a ghetto surrounded by drugs, prostitution, violence, etc., that's what he or she will probably rap about. What message they choose to convey about those issues and how makes more of a difference than the subject itself. I will agree, a lot of it is the wrong message.
That's exactly my point. What are young white kids who live in their parent's house in the 'burbs "identifying" with in Rap? I can understand that relation with people who grew up in the slums, but more often then not, the "popular" audience for this music is kids that in no way, shape or form, can "identify" with the circumstances that defined what the rapper is rapping about. Rap would never have become popular and grown beyond its roots if only those that were able to identify with the artist listened to it. Instead, we have easily influenced youths glorifying and attempting to replicate and live-out that lifestyle in our towns and cities. It has become almost epidemic.
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And the same is true for other genres. There's country that deals with social issues in an artistic way (Whiskey Lullaby by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss) or that is simply pure idiocy (I love this bar by Toby Keith).
OK, but if some young kid slaps on a cowboy hat and some tight jeans and drives around in an F-250 talking like a bumpkin, that's far less of a sociological problem than ganged-together white kids who think they are "hard" because they listen to 50-cent and start doing drugs and manage to get themselves some firearms. Wouldn't you agree?
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I'd rather beat up on all [censored] music than use one genre as a whipping boy.
As I said, I'm not a fan of ANY music that advocates the dumbing-down of society, but Rap is singled out because of how far beyond the offences wrought by other genres it goes with what it promotes and glorifies.
A lot of music is a poor choice for an English lesson. Honky Tonk Badonkadonk? Slang is used widely in all generes of popular music, but again, rap is very blatant about it, so it is an easy target.
Rap is an easy target because it offends on multiple levels like I pointed out. If it was just bad English, it wouldn't be as readily singled out.
That being said, I always found it funny that when James Hetfield addresses the audience at a concert, he's quick to use slang and casual speak, yet when he writes a song, he uses proper English..... There is something to be said for taking that effort.
Quote:
Rap does take those social issues and run with them in many cases, but it's a reflection of where it came from. If an aspiring rapper lives in a ghetto surrounded by drugs, prostitution, violence, etc., that's what he or she will probably rap about. What message they choose to convey about those issues and how makes more of a difference than the subject itself. I will agree, a lot of it is the wrong message.
That's exactly my point. What are young white kids who live in their parent's house in the 'burbs "identifying" with in Rap? I can understand that relation with people who grew up in the slums, but more often then not, the "popular" audience for this music is kids that in no way, shape or form, can "identify" with the circumstances that defined what the rapper is rapping about. Rap would never have become popular and grown beyond its roots if only those that were able to identify with the artist listened to it. Instead, we have easily influenced youths glorifying and attempting to replicate and live-out that lifestyle in our towns and cities. It has become almost epidemic.
Quote:
And the same is true for other genres. There's country that deals with social issues in an artistic way (Whiskey Lullaby by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss) or that is simply pure idiocy (I love this bar by Toby Keith).
OK, but if some young kid slaps on a cowboy hat and some tight jeans and drives around in an F-250 talking like a bumpkin, that's far less of a sociological problem than ganged-together white kids who think they are "hard" because they listen to 50-cent and start doing drugs and manage to get themselves some firearms. Wouldn't you agree?
Quote:
I'd rather beat up on all [censored] music than use one genre as a whipping boy.
As I said, I'm not a fan of ANY music that advocates the dumbing-down of society, but Rap is singled out because of how far beyond the offences wrought by other genres it goes with what it promotes and glorifies.