Hip Hop is not whack... foo'

I have been trying to expand my musical inclinations to extend beyond the current Indie trend of bands like Hot Chip, Yeasayer, MGMT, Grizzly Bear, etc. Realizing that my hip hop knowledge is embarrassingly limited, I have decided to search for more artists besides Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and Nas. I haven't begun just as yet so I won't be name dropping any new mcs until after my research is over. However, the real reason I'm writing today is to talk about this ongoing trend of people who don't like rap music, calling it crap. I remember in middle school I fancied myself an avid "rock and roller," and along with my peers, felt it necessary to say "rap is crap." Looking back now, it was only childhood naivety. I have since overcome my hasty judgment of rap music. Nowadays, though when people my age take such a passionate stance against rap music, purely on a nonsensical bases, stating that none of the songs make sense and sound "bad," I get really irritated. For instance, I googled "rap music" and this image came up

The image is from laughitout.com. I think we all know who the true idiots are ^ ahem^.


When I talk about certain artists, I'm more likely to call their music hip hop and not rap because of the varying connotations of each word. Alright, here's where it gets a little fuzzy. In my mind rap is more beat based, not focusing too much on lyrical ingenuity, but music you can get down to. Hip hop is more intellectual, explicating problems of daily life, with more of an experimental element to it. Here are some examples: Rap to me sounds like Cash Money Millionaires, Nelly, Ghostface Killah, etc. Hip Hop sounds like Jay-Z, Pharrell, The Roots, Jurassic 5, etc. I can be totally wrong, but these are my interpretations of the words and of course there are exceptions, but that's my general comprehension. Rap music has gotten a bad rep, considering its sordid history with unapologetic sexism, homophobia, and in some cases predilection for violence. It is what it is. I used to get upset with certain rappers for talking about women in such a foul, despicable context, but I can't let some stranger singing about stupidity get under my skin. Although, I understand the arguments about young people listening to the music and being influenced by what they hear, I always consider "What about their parents?" Music is entertainment, and if parents are upset by what their kids are listening to or nervous about them developing unsavory mentalities then they should talk to them about it. Get more involved. People love to blame outside forces for their own imprudence.  Musicians are entertainers, not role models but people get them confused, which causes lots of problems.

 photo taken from smc.edu

I totally pulled this picture out of context from an article asking if rap music had a negative impact on young people. Oddly enough, the question was posed by someone named Chris. Most of the comments are really vapid. Here's the link if you wanna check it out.
Maybe I'll get into country music too... Nah. I do like some country music though! I'm not saying all of it is horrible, though a majority of what I hear I am not a fan of, but no longer will I say, "I like all genres of music, except country," because that's just like grouping every rapper/hip hop artists together without rhyme or reason and making an uninformed, blanketed judgment- not cool. So begins my quest... my journey if you will, into the depths of underground hip hop. If you don't hear from me in 48 hours... it's because my mind's been blown and I'm immobilized by the music. Ha... we'll see about that.



I'm out.