Rap music and the stereotypes

[Cameron]

After seeing a video on Much Music the other day, I had to ask myself a question about rap music and the message that it sends. The song My Hood by Young Jeezy is a song that I thought was about overcoming life in housing developments and creating a good life from nothing, but when I listened to the lyrics, was I wrong.

The streets love jeezy and I love 'em back

If I still had the work I getcha sack

So if he was still working, he could get you a sack of dope, whatever it is.

Take you back when I was sixteen wits a bankroll

Posted on a corner like a light pole

They used to call us track stars

Before they even stopped we ran to dem cars

And everybody on the block got the same agenda

Hustle from the beginning of January til the end of December

Wasn't smokin purple then it was more like bobby brown

Sixteen years old and selling dope on the corner. Nice.

Ford Taurus pulls up everybody run

White boys jump out running wit they guns (5-0, 5-0)

Ford Taurus leave everybody came back

Hope dem boyz didn't find my sack

Running from the cops. Wonder why?

The one main thing that got me mad about this song (if you want to call it that) is the video is shot in a happy type mood. It is as if he is proud of what he has done, and that this lead to a better life. One major disconcerting factor is the young kids that are in this video. They range from 1-16 years in age, and having fun singing along. I just wonder what that does to their Psyche when they relate to dealing drugs and living a life of crime as a life of rewards and prosperity.

The early hip hop was about overcoming this type of life and fighting back against discrimination. Now it seems they are turning 180.

Full lyrics

[theloniusfleabag]

Dear Cameron,

Speaking of stereotypes, I have a turntable with hundreds of LPs. Thank goodness they are from a time before 'rap' became a musical style.

I just wonder what that does to their physique when they relate to dealing drugs and living a life of crime as a life of rewards and prosperity

Usually their 'physique' is shown as impeccable, like that 50 Cent fellow (all muscle and 'bulletproof'), and everyone is encouraged to "get rich or die tryin'. Are you suggesting that this is somehow 'wrong'?

[Cameron]

Dear Cameron,

Speaking of stereotypes, I have a turntable with hundreds of LPs. Thank goodness they are from a time before 'rap' became a musical style.

I just wonder what that does to their physique when they relate to dealing drugs and living a life of crime as a life of rewards and prosperity

Usually their 'physique' is shown as impeccable, like that 50 Cent fellow (all muscle and 'bulletproof'), and everyone is encouraged to "get rich or die tryin'. Are you suggesting that this is somehow 'wrong'?

Sorry, Psyche.

[JerrySeinfeld]

After seeing a video on Much Music the other day, I had to ask myself a question about rap music and the message that it sends. The song My Hood by Young Jeezy is a song that I thought was about overcoming life in housing developments and creating a good life from nothing, but when I listened to the lyrics, was I wrong.

The streets love jeezy and I love 'em back

If I still had the work I getcha sack

So if he was still working, he could get you a sack of dope, whatever it is.

Take you back when I was sixteen wits a bankroll

Posted on a corner like a light pole

They used to call us track stars

Before they even stopped we ran to dem cars

And everybody on the block got the same agenda

Hustle from the beginning of January til the end of December

Wasn't smokin purple then it was more like bobby brown

Sixteen years old and selling dope on the corner. Nice.

Ford Taurus pulls up everybody run

White boys jump out running wit they guns (5-0, 5-0)

Ford Taurus leave everybody came back

Hope dem boyz didn't find my sack

Running from the cops. Wonder why?

The one main thing that got me mad about this song (if you want to call it that) is the video is shot in a happy type mood. It is as if he is proud of what he has done, and that this lead to a better life. One major disconcerting factor is the young kids that are in this video. They range from 1-16 years in age, and having fun singing along. I just wonder what that does to their Psyche when they relate to dealing drugs and living a life of crime as a life of rewards and prosperity.

The early hip hop was about overcoming this type of life and fighting back against discrimination. Now it seems they are turning 180.

Full lyrics

Some kids take it seriously some don't. But everyone used to think Black Sabbath was a horrible influence back in the day - now they're just harmless classic rock.

What should be really entertaining is to see what comes AFTER hip hop...could be hilariously nasty or a backlash into the goodytwoshoes. My guess is nasty- kids love to rebel.

[Riverwind]

Some kids take it seriously some don't. But everyone used to think Black Sabbath was a horrible influence back in the day - now they're just harmless classic rock.

Black Sabbath did not perpetuate negative stereotypes about a particular ethnic group. The trouble with rap is it creates a very negative image of black culture amoung the rest of society and rap artists are troubling role models for kids in black ghettos which don't have many role models to choose from.

[Cameron]

The problem that I have with this song is that he talks about the bad life and how it helped him, and he glorifies that.

Take you back when I was sixteen wits a bankroll

Posted on a corner like a light pole

They used to call us track stars

Before they even stopped we ran to dem cars

And everybody on the block got the same agenda

Hustle from the beginning of January til the end of December

Wasn't smokin purple then it was more like bobby brown

Take a look at these verses. He is selling dope on the corner at 16. Gimme a break, why are you singing about this and acting all though about the "bankroll" that you have. He is glorifying a type of lifestyle that people assume with blacks. The song does not condemn the practice of dealing drugs, nor does it discourage young people from doing it. The song is littered with young people singing along with him. This isn't the message that I'd want to be sending about my old neighbourhood. This is not a way to change things with the poor of the urban centers.

[JerrySeinfeld]

Some kids take it seriously some don't. But everyone used to think Black Sabbath was a horrible influence back in the day - now they're just harmless classic rock.

Black Sabbath did not perpetuate negative stereotypes about a particular ethnic group. The trouble with rap is it creates a very negative image of black culture amoung the rest of society and rap artists are troubling role models for kids in black ghettos which don't have many role models to choose from.

SO what - it's blacks perpetrating stereotypes about blacks. WHats your point anyway? You want to censor it?

[michao]

A) Rap is not music, just felt I had to say that.

WHen it comes to the image of society and life created by rap and the videos, well its BS, every rap thing is about living a bad life in the ghetto, getting shot at and becoming rich but still hanging out with drug addicts, what surprises me is that people do listen to this and they take it seriously and they begin to believe that that is what their life is. The way they make the videos is BS too, what is it trying to show, its not music anymore, its just a complaint about what some person think is a bad life.

C) To compare Black Sabbath to this rap makes no sense, balck sabbath does not suggest these stupid messages, although it was interpreted into various things but rap says it loud and clear with no interpretation needed.