Replies

I disagre with you. It goes past simply a style difference. Much of rap is truly evil. For example, here is what we were listening to when I was a teen (yeah I'm pushin' 40):

Carry On Wayward Son
KANSAS

Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more
Once I rose above the noise and confusion
Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion
I was soaring ever higher
But I flew too high
Though my eyes could see I still was a blind man
Though my mind could think I still was a mad man
I can hear the voices when I'm dreaming
I can hear them say
Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more
Masquerading as a man with a reason
My charade is the event of the season
And if I claim to be a wise man
It surely means that I don't know
On a stormy sea of moving emotion
Tossed about I'm like a ship on the ocean
I set a course for winds of fortune
But I hear the voices say
Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more
No!
Carry on
You will always remember
Carry on
Nothing equals the splendor
Now your life's no longer empty
Surely heaven waits for you
Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

Here is what teens today are listening to:

50 Cent Lyrics: Rotten Apple

[50 Cent]
I'm on parole, I used to be on probaaaaaation
I'm with my gun I get full coporaaaaaation
I tell you "take it off" no hesitaaaaaation
Nigga you play around, I lay you down
That's how it's goin' down
Don't play wit' me, I don't have patieeeeeents
My headachin', and I need my medicaaaaaaation
Niggaz be hatin', they don't know what they faaaaaacin'
Nigga you play around, I lay you down
That's how it's goin' down
I be in court throwin' signs like I'm a maaaaaason
Nigga witness against me, I'ma eraaaaaase 'em
If they try an runaway, I'ma chaaaaaaase 'em
Now with the pound, and I'm a lay 'em down
That's how it's goin' down

[Chorus]
Better watch how you talk
Better watch where you walk
On the streets of New York
That's how we get down
22's on the jeep
Somthin' deep in the seat
When we creep wit the heat
That's how we get down

[50 Cent]
Wise men listen and laugh while fools talk
Stick up kids don't live long in New York
Fuck around and catch the wrong jukes on the street
Get caught slippin', then get hit wit' like three
In every hood in the US, I'm that nigga they feelin'
Rap full of good guys, 50 Cent is the villan
I play the bar with 8 bottles all night gettin' right
Teachin' the hoodrats what Cristal taste like
I put 60 on wrist, 12 on my fist, 100 on my neck
We in the hood nigga schemin', what you expect?
My S on 22's leave ya hos confuuuuuused
On the track ready to choose, like "Daddy we want you"
My love live ain't change, the shorties still hug me
Bullet wound in my face, and bitches still love me
Now Nelly told you how them country boys talk
I came to teach you how we put it down in New York
That's how we get down

[Chorus]
Better watch how you talk
Better watch where you walk
On the streets of New York
That's how we get down
22's on the jeep
Somthin' deep in the seat
When we creep wit the heat
That's how we get down

[50 Cent]
In the city, a young buck'll tell you how the mac spit
O.G. give 'em the word, you gonna get yo' ass hit
I don't know why niggaz like to talk bad about me
I'm the richest nigga they know without a G.E.D.
Man it could be the money, it could be the ice
It could be they'd like to be me and can't live my life
You should here they be sayin' man "50 be flippin'"
"Shot my man over 7 grams, that nigga be trippin'"
I know death is promised, I don't fear gettin' murked
It's when a nigga half-way killa ya homie, it hurts
Now we can hit the club and get it crunked
Or you could start some shit, and I could hit you with
the pump, you can have it how you want
But I know you like my style (Uh-Huh)
Ya like how I break it down, wanna get rich?
I'll show you how, take this pack, pump these pieces
That's how we get down

[Chorus]
Better watch how you talk
Better watch where you walk
On the streets of New York
That's how we get down
22's on the jeep
Somthin' deep in the seat
When we creep wit the heat
That's how we get down

Well, I could pick "Kansas" as an example too, but popular when I was a teen was "Black Sabbath" "Iron Maiden" "Judas Priest" "Ozzy Ozborne" Their lyrics ain't Kansas.

And, the guy's point is not lost on me, I don't think that raunchy coarse language in music is a good thing, but in my moment of feeling hip above, I thought "It really isn't any worse than what I grew up with".... and I grew out of it. We liked it ~because~ it was upsetting and offensive. It said stuff that we couldn't say.

For most kids, the appeal to repel and rebel gets old after awhile, when they grow up and have the independence they crave. Then, bit by little bit, they start to act like their parents.

Good post... But, to be fair, it's not just rap, it's nearly all of today's music. I periodically check out the Billboard top albums and songs, and cringe.

Like you, I'm in my mid-thirties, and grew up listening to Boston, Stones, Mellencamp, Bad Company, Elton John, etc. Many of those songs had meaning, were well-written, and certainly not vicouos towards others, spewing hate... Is today's generation of children/teens just not into a well-written song? Are they always oblivious to the lyrics? Do they all have the attention span of a flea?

I'm sure I'm being a little harsh, but I'm trying to get a point across

By the way, some of the best music of today is still classic rock and Motown. LOVE motown...

If any of you want to do yourselves a favor with an awesome treat- rent, or better yet buy (you'll watch it over and over again) the movie "The Temptations". It's absolutely FANTASTIC!

I was a big Kansas fan, too. Their stuff still turns up on the Christian pop station my son likes!

Translated into English:

Wise men listen and laugh while fools talk
Stick up kids don't live long in New York
Fuck around and catch the wrong jukes on the street
Get caught slippin', then get hit wit' like three

I am the alpha male of my group. I am physically superior to all other males. Those who offend me by failing to render me the respect I to which I am entitled will be attacked with overwhelming physical force.

In every hood in the US, I'm that nigga they feelin' Rap full of good guys, 50 Cent is the villan

Other rap performers have watered down their lyrical content to appeal to suburban white people. These rappers are sellouts at best, race traitors at worst. True Negroes, who inhabit inner-city ghetto areas, recognize me alone as an authentic Negro.

I play the bar with 8 bottles all night gettin' right
Teachin' the hoodrats what Cristal taste like

I am a succesful hunter-gatherer, and I regularly consume eight bottles of Cristal [champagne] per night as a symbol of my lofty financial and cultural status. Those who have never imbibed this superior vintage cannot help but be impressed by my financial and societal success.

I put 60 on wrist, 12 on my fist, 100 on my neck
We in the hood nigga schemin', what you expect?

I am fabulousy wealthy, and regularly wear expensive gold jewelry in order to display that wealth. This fortune was earned through illicit means, furthering my reputation as a succesful predator.

My S on 22's leave ya hos confuuuuuused
On the track ready to choose, like "Daddy we want you"

I drive a Cadillac Escalade with 22" diameter custom wheels as a symbol of my wealth and sexual prowess.

My love live ain't change, the shorties still hug me
Bullet wound in my face, and bitches still love me

My many offspring are proof of my ability as a stud. Not only am I a powerful enough alpha male to survive a bullet wound to the face, but the fact that I have done so makes me irresistable as a mating partner to the available population of prime females.

But it isn't the rap music that is creating the situation. The rap music is the result.

No family Units. The rappers grew up with absent fathers, mom's at work with one or two jobs...maybe grandma around if the kids are lucky.

The street becomes their home...gangs become the family.

The teens like the music cause it identifies their situation.