Mr. Riley, a Manhattan Institute senior fellow and Journal contributor, is the author of “Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed” (Encounter Books, 2014).
Posted on 08/26/2015 7:17:57 AM PDT by KeyLargo
Gangsta Rap’s Grim Legacy for Comptons Everywhere A hit movie about the rap group N.W.A. is a reminder: Glorified thuggery poisoned poor black communities.
By Jason L. Riley Aug. 25, 2015 6:39 p.m. ET 242 COMMENTS
For two weeks the top box-office draw has been “Straight Outta Compton,” a meandering biopic about the rise and disintegration of the Los Angeles-area rap group N.W.A., or Niggaz With Attitude. N.W.A. helped popularize “gangsta rap” in the late 1980s, and even this hagiography can’t hide the fact that its legacy has endured to the detriment of poor black communities.
The most prominent members of the quintet were Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and Eazy-E, and they distinguished themselves from other rap acts mainly through relentless, jarring profanity. Materialism and braggadocio were already rap staples, but N.W.A. added heavy doses of sadistic sex, misogyny, gun violence and all-round thuggery. Typical are the lyrics to a song on their second album that invoke gang rape of a 14-year-old “preacher’s daughter.”
“Straight Outta Compton” not only doesn’t dwell on N.W.A.’s glorification of self-destructive behavior, anyone appalled by it is portrayed as a racist or a square. The film is more interested in presenting the rappers as authentic voices of decent young black men in poor communities who are regularly victimized by police. Still, the viewer can’t help but notice that our protagonists regularly engage in criminal behavior, dress like gang members in areas infested by ruffians and defy the police who suspect them of being up to no good. Their problem is not that the cops harass them but that the cops interfere with their lawbreaking.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Mr. Riley, a Manhattan Institute senior fellow and Journal contributor, is the author of “Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed” (Encounter Books, 2014).
First African-American music not to originate in the south.
It was white kids in the suburbs who actually bought the records/CDs.
Challenge:
Go copy and paste the lyrics to the top 5 rap songs today to this thread.
Your post will get pulled. Possible suspension.
I remember 2 Live Crew out of Florida. They hit the first nerve as I recall.
“This Is President Obama’s Favorite Rap Song Right Now
The Pres is cooler than a polar bear’s toenail.:
http://www.mtv.com/news/2202158/president-obama-favorite-rap-song-outkast/
The frat I was in (mostly white engineering college) used to listen to Eazy E’s solo album.
“woke up quick at about noon, just thought that I had to be in Compton soon.” “gotta get drunk before the day begins, before my mother starts bitchin about my friends.” lol
Who’d a thought it would lead to this much decline.
Side note: When a group opines for supposed equality, yet only people with a certain skin color are allowed to say one of the words from their group name aloud, we have a problem.
One of many.
OBAMA’S HOME TOWN
CHICAGO
Year To Date
Shot & Killed: 276
Shot & Wounded: 1621
Total Shot: 1897
Total Homicides: 318
Yep. Amazing how we are supposed to say this movie is the history of the group NWA, but we aren’t allowed to say what NWA stands for.
Rappers are America’s retarded children.
We allow them to get away acting like fools and saying really stupid and ridiculous things, simply because they are “different” and people do not expect much from them anyway.
In all the fawning media coverage, nobody has the guts to talk about the bad influence of rap. The media are afraid to touch that subject. But the whole rap culture/gang culture/ghetto culture is what drives ghetto problems. But people in the media will never tell us that, otherwise be accused of racism and be banished from TV and public life forever.
Well, white kids certainly made them rich, but plenty of black kids bought them too. Were it not for the Beastie's first album making the genre palatable to white kids, gangsta rap may have never made the jump into mainstream.
I liked "The Crusher" 
Oh plenty tried. The warnings were countered with similar previous warnings about how Rock and Roll was going to lead to ruin.
Murder, misogyny and mutilation, at least it’s sharia compliant!
Fathers were once harsh by today's standards. They would speak their mind in their homes. Their children would receive an 'education' about culture often times pointing out negative aspects of other cultures while using derogatory and demeaning terms. Children would in turn take those terms to school and the playground, despite being told not to use such language. Their friends at school would hear the same things at home. The odd kid out that listened to such crap would be teased by fellow schoolmates. I suspect many teachers overlooked this because they either agreed or didn't want to deal with angry parents.
Certainly there is more to this cultural problem, such as a lack of decency in the record industry. The fact remains, family and home should have the biggest influence on children's development of tastes, values and culture.
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