Feb 16, 2018

there's a huge difference between adopting g--- slang/fashion/imagery and actually joining a g---. (there's also a difference between joining a g--- and committing violent acts, but that's another discussion.) rap music plainly inspires some people, especially kids, to adopt the window dressings of g--- life, but "rap music" surely ranks very far down the list of reasons people actually join gangs. and if we go that route, we should also consider that there are plenty of kids for whom hip-hop––that is, being an active participant in some sort of creative scene––acts as an alternative to or deterrent from g--- life.

 

Feb 16, 2018

man quoted foxnews im weak

 

Feb 16, 2018

Honestly WPG pretty much summed it up further up there but it would be dismissive to not intertwine the two cultures together since both sides have shared aspects of each other; disenfranchised upbringings, bonds of brotherhood, anti-establishment, etc.

I came up with family that carried the blue/purple flags but never did I see that hip-hop music was the forefront of why they committed to that lifestyle, sure it was the soundtrack + style but not the core motivation of it.

 

Feb 16, 2018

you said "look at the statistics" and then linked to a partial transcript of a bill o'reilly interview. i'm sincerely encouraging you to jump off a tall building.

 

Feb 16, 2018

g--- violence fuels rap music

 

Feb 17, 2018

If you think people growing up in low income households, being persecuted by police and government are going “well I wasn’t gonna join a g--- but I listened to Still Brazy and it convinced me” you’re probably sheltered af

 

Feb 17, 2018

Bro kys

 

Feb 16, 2018

Rap is just the scapegoat. Poverty, family dysfunction and drugs have the biggest influence.

 

Feb 16, 2018

This has been a good interview.

 

Feb 16, 2018

dumbass

first of all, i reject the idea that this question applies uniquely to rap music. you get at that yourself, but i'm not sure i even agree with how you hedge it. like, sure, it's a cliche to say that rap fans demand "authenticity," but i don't think that actually means––as so many people assume––that rappers have to have literally done everything they rap about.

three case studies: nas, rick ross, vanilla ice.

nas was not the crime lord from It Was Written, and while jay-z used that against him pretty effectively, in a broader sense people accepted that because nas was from queensbridge and grew up with people who were those crime lords, he was doing the sort of reflection and reportage that we expect from art.

ross takes it a step further: his music was outed as more or less pure fiction. but it was good-faith fiction, so after an initial blowup over his past, people more or less let it slide.

with vanilla ice, rap fans correctly sensed a craven, cynical manipulation of rap's "authenticity" metrics. what distinguishes him from ross is, first and most obviously, race, but also the way ice was positioning himself relative to other rappers. he was leveraging middle american ideas about what rap was to make himself a star.

but back to your initial question: i don't think art has any obligation to be moral. you have to engage with it on its own terms. i also don't think violent art is necessarily amoral art.

 

Feb 16, 2018

Eating a--- is haram

 

Feb 16, 2018

/ thread

 

Feb 16, 2018

Big Shaq and the ting going skraaa deserve 100% of the blame

 

Feb 16, 2018

if rap music influenced people then all rap listeners would be fake fa---- f---s anyway cause that's exactly what the current popular s--- is. Drake as number 1 example. If anything Drake has influenced more white people to say n----- and more people to partake in gay gangbangs.

 

Feb 16, 2018

^racist troll not worth engaging with

 

Feb 16, 2018

Whichever ignored user is posting is getting owned right now