BTW, some intelligent rap artists:
Chuck D (Public Enemy)
Common
The Roots
Goodie Mob
Ras Kass
Saafir
KRS-One
Master Ace
Kam
Jeru The Damaja
Sho
Willie D
Stetsasonic
Just-Ice
Poor Rigteous Teachers
Confrontation Camp
Sister Souljah
......
BTW, I don't want this to turn into a hip-hop bashing thread. Hip hop is a culture and a way of life for many people on this planet. It encompasses the following: rap music, grafitti art, breakdancing, dee-jaying, style of wear, etc...) HipHop is not a form of music. It is a culture, which amongst the aforementioned list, also includes RAP music.
And I don't want this to turn into a black bashing thread either. I have never been a racist, and quite frankly, cannot tolerate it (I have enough problems dealing with it amongst my own family, and some members of our Armo community..........but that's an entirely different topic).
Throughout time, whites have always tried to emulate and eventually steal from black culture. Look at rock music as the perfect example. So, let's not begin to talk about blacks themselves being the problem. They are not the problem.
The thing is, commercial rap music (& mainstream hip-hop culture) in 2004 is a money-making tool, that successfully attempts to reel in the young suburban consumer (ie: white kids). Most of the albums that are sold are primarily to white kids who can afford them. These $100 FUBU sweaters are being bought by white kids. The Sean John apparel is being marketed to white kids. Courvoisier, Tommy Hilfiger, 24' chromes, etc... are being sold to the ever so impressionable young suburbanites.
And the rap artists are laughing, as our kids suck it up. Trust me, they are laughing!!!!!!!! The owners of FUBU have hundreds of millions saved in the bank (BTW, FUBU stands for "for us, by us"....us=blacks). Yet, it is whitey that buys it. I used to work in a record shop (HMV) for almost 5 years. I noticed alot of ethnics, including armos, begin to "notice" rap music around the time of the 2Pac/Biggie murders and controversy in 1995. Ironically, this was around the time I began losing my interest in RAP music, after I had vowed that I would NEVER listen to another form of music again.
P.Diddy & Suge Knight were the big winners of that giant 2Pac/Biggie fiasco. Every white kid now REALLY wanted to emulate!!!!! Every white kid was throwing up gang signs, and throwing up the big W (a hand sign that LA gang members would use to represent the "west coast"). Kids in Russia were throwing up W's, without the fondest clue of what it meant. And the smart business man that Puffy is, he banked in!! He owns Sean John. He is a billionaire! And many other rap artists, producers, record label owners, ......all banked in.
And i don't blame people like P Diddy. I applaud them, because their great grand-children will be set for life. I blame our parents, who are clueless and not hip to what their children are into!!!!
My parents were very strict, and although they were not "hip" per se, they still instilled enough fear (and Armenian Pride) in me that, even though I snuck in the new NWA or 2 Live Crew or Eazy-E albums, I would still have enough respect to honour my parents, my culture, my history, my teachers, my peers.......and myself. I knew that this was simply music, nothing more nothing less. Yes, there were rappers and rap groups that were violent & graphic (Geto Boys, Scarface, CMW and Ice-T, who happens to be a very intelligent rapper, save some of his material), but somehow I knew that it was fantasy, hence it didn't phase me. It fascinated me perhaps, but that's it. Perhaps it made me "harder" with respect to my attitude and outlook on life in general. But, I still knew my values.
I have enough black friends to know that nothing makes a black person laugh more than a white kid calling another white kid, "nigga". That makes them crack-up at how stupid some "whitey" kids are.
And all blacks should be given an award for having been able to take an extremely offensive word (nigger), and turn it into a hip, money-making machine!! Bravo!
Chuck D (Public Enemy)
Common
The Roots
Goodie Mob
Ras Kass
Saafir
KRS-One
Master Ace
Kam
Jeru The Damaja
Sho
Willie D
Stetsasonic
Just-Ice
Poor Rigteous Teachers
Confrontation Camp
Sister Souljah
......
BTW, I don't want this to turn into a hip-hop bashing thread. Hip hop is a culture and a way of life for many people on this planet. It encompasses the following: rap music, grafitti art, breakdancing, dee-jaying, style of wear, etc...) HipHop is not a form of music. It is a culture, which amongst the aforementioned list, also includes RAP music.
And I don't want this to turn into a black bashing thread either. I have never been a racist, and quite frankly, cannot tolerate it (I have enough problems dealing with it amongst my own family, and some members of our Armo community..........but that's an entirely different topic).
Throughout time, whites have always tried to emulate and eventually steal from black culture. Look at rock music as the perfect example. So, let's not begin to talk about blacks themselves being the problem. They are not the problem.
The thing is, commercial rap music (& mainstream hip-hop culture) in 2004 is a money-making tool, that successfully attempts to reel in the young suburban consumer (ie: white kids). Most of the albums that are sold are primarily to white kids who can afford them. These $100 FUBU sweaters are being bought by white kids. The Sean John apparel is being marketed to white kids. Courvoisier, Tommy Hilfiger, 24' chromes, etc... are being sold to the ever so impressionable young suburbanites.
And the rap artists are laughing, as our kids suck it up. Trust me, they are laughing!!!!!!!! The owners of FUBU have hundreds of millions saved in the bank (BTW, FUBU stands for "for us, by us"....us=blacks). Yet, it is whitey that buys it. I used to work in a record shop (HMV) for almost 5 years. I noticed alot of ethnics, including armos, begin to "notice" rap music around the time of the 2Pac/Biggie murders and controversy in 1995. Ironically, this was around the time I began losing my interest in RAP music, after I had vowed that I would NEVER listen to another form of music again.
P.Diddy & Suge Knight were the big winners of that giant 2Pac/Biggie fiasco. Every white kid now REALLY wanted to emulate!!!!! Every white kid was throwing up gang signs, and throwing up the big W (a hand sign that LA gang members would use to represent the "west coast"). Kids in Russia were throwing up W's, without the fondest clue of what it meant. And the smart business man that Puffy is, he banked in!! He owns Sean John. He is a billionaire! And many other rap artists, producers, record label owners, ......all banked in.
And i don't blame people like P Diddy. I applaud them, because their great grand-children will be set for life. I blame our parents, who are clueless and not hip to what their children are into!!!!
My parents were very strict, and although they were not "hip" per se, they still instilled enough fear (and Armenian Pride) in me that, even though I snuck in the new NWA or 2 Live Crew or Eazy-E albums, I would still have enough respect to honour my parents, my culture, my history, my teachers, my peers.......and myself. I knew that this was simply music, nothing more nothing less. Yes, there were rappers and rap groups that were violent & graphic (Geto Boys, Scarface, CMW and Ice-T, who happens to be a very intelligent rapper, save some of his material), but somehow I knew that it was fantasy, hence it didn't phase me. It fascinated me perhaps, but that's it. Perhaps it made me "harder" with respect to my attitude and outlook on life in general. But, I still knew my values.
I have enough black friends to know that nothing makes a black person laugh more than a white kid calling another white kid, "nigga". That makes them crack-up at how stupid some "whitey" kids are.
And all blacks should be given an award for having been able to take an extremely offensive word (nigger), and turn it into a hip, money-making machine!! Bravo!
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