Has hip-hop/rap music done more good or bad for the Black American community?

[theworldismine13]

I'm going to take the third option. It hasn't made or broke the black community. The thing that is constantly fukking up black communities is, drugs, drug dealers, low levels of education, unemployment, high levels of prison incarceration, private prison industrial complex, mass media feeding stereotypes of the black community (Black men successful now fall from grace stories), the "Black Church" (reinforcing complacency in the community), lack of support for Black owned businesses in Black communities, lack of a black community and actual Black Leaders. Too many baby mommas with the Tyler Perry mentality. But more importantly it is acceptance of the bullshyt that harms us as a people that is dragging us down more than anything. The media makes a big national panic about bombs going off in Boston but the amount of killing that goes on in Chicago makes it seem Chicago is really Iraq (Like it's not part of the United States). But pressure creates diamonds over time. The "community" will rebound, unless crack happens again. Music isn't even close to the real problems with the community.

But I digress.....when the community changes...the music will too.

Not necessarily disagreeing but the unstated suggestion is that there is a one way street and that music is just a reflection of the society, which is a half truth, music and arts reflect society but music and arts also impact society, it's a two way street and a symbiotic relationship

It's a lie to suggest its simply one way street, no society works that way and that lie leads to another lie which is that it doesn't matter what an artists says and that lie leads to a other lie which is that the people that listen to the music are not responsible and are incapable of fixing said problems

 

[the mechanic]

I say neither helped nor hurt at first because it was pure art which was a reflection of the people at that time

Then the corporations moved in and now its an overwhelmingly negative influence

 

[newarkhiphop]

Interesting, saw something at work today that was going to make me make this same exact thread, will go more in depth in the morning

 

[Wild self]

anyone over 27 years old who has actually been around to witness the changes and anyone with half a brain can tell you the overall affect is negative. Is it THE problem facing young black americans? No, but it is another stone on the road.

There are social subtleties that music affect that aren't always so obvious. As with most things there really is no black and white.

Hip hop affects kids, young impressionable kids if you're not affected then kudos you are mature enough to recognize art for art. Sadly a lot of kids can't.

I really wish someone would do some real work into this situation so we could quantify something. As a parent, who also listens to hip hop, my kids ain't touching this shyt with a 10 foot pole until i feel they are mature enough. What's funny, a lot of parents, particularly younger parents don't do this and you have 8,9,10 year old listening to shyt and it affects them.

Co sign with that. Before Dr Dre, few people smoked weed regularly. After he dropped the Chronic, everyone smoked weed as a fashion choice. Like when Public Enemy was popping off with their own Black Power movement, everyone was doing so. When the negativity came in with the gangsta shyt in the early 90s, everyone wanted to do it. Now, with the homo shyt and the feminine shyt popular, everyone wants to do it. Its a jungle of dysfunction that fukks up the perception of black people and makes fun of level headed black folks trying to strive to do better things. Someone like a J Cole or a K. Dot gets looked down upon, despite their success when you see these Trinidad James' and Nicki Minajs getting worshipped, promoting exaggerations of homo behavior.

 

[88m3]

Interesting, saw something at work today that was going to make me make this same exact thread, will go more in depth in the morning

You don't seem like the kind of guy who can flip burgers and do more than one thing at once.

 

[Ghost Utmost]

In my hood - before it was even called a 'hood', before NWA - when I was growing up we used to fight fairly often. You could be with one partner and get into it with a nikka with 10 friends: a likely outcome would be to let the two who had beef go ahead and scrap and once one started getting the better of the other we'd break it up and dust off and maybe the guy who got beat would vow to knuckle up next time he sees dude. By and large we were about honor and bravery and jumping people and hitting them with sticks was just considered weak. No bragging rights.

Even when guns started showing up, it was scary ass nikkas who packed them and alot of times they would be too shook to actually catch a body so they would get te gun took and get smacked with it. Then little by little nikkas became quicker to shoot so even the guys that had mad heart started packing just in case. Soon after that it was just mayhem.

I remember clearly nikkas listening to Eazy E and proclaiming "fukk all this getting my hands dirty. I'm gonna get me a gun". I know for a fact that we got all that shyt from rap music and movies like Boyz in the Hood.

Why are blacks more sensitive to this influence? It's like asking why young muslims across the world are able to be influenced by radicals. Rap speaks directly to poor black people. We identify with the message in a way that outsiders cannot.

The most destructive turn was when almost all record deals were given to gangsta rappers. We don't think of Nas as a gangsta rapper but he absolutely is. Even Canibus has plenty of bars about kidnapping and shooting. It's like a prerequisite these days. All rap is associated with thuggery. You will never see another Kid N Play or Queen Latifah.

Don't forget: Hip Hop was originally an alternative to gang life. It actually stopped a generation of New Yorkers from cracking each others' skulls with hammers. The corporations stripped it down to the most vile elements (cause that's what middle America was most interested in hearing from us).

 

[Wild self]

In my hood - before it was even called a 'hood', before NWA - when I was growing up we used to fight fairly often. You could be with one partner and get into it with a nikka with 10 friends: a likely outcome would be to let the two who had beef go ahead and scrap and once one started getting the better of the other we'd break it up and dust off and maybe the guy who got beat would vow to knuckle up next time he sees dude. By and large we were about honor and bravery and jumping people and hitting them with sticks was just considered weak. No bragging rights.

Even when guns started showing up, it was scary ass nikkas who packed them and alot of times they would be too shook to actually catch a body so they would get te gun took and get smacked with it. Then little by little nikkas became quicker to shoot so even the guys that had mad heart started packing just in case. Soon after that it was just mayhem.

I remember clearly nikkas listening to Eazy E and proclaiming "fukk all this getting my hands dirty. I'm gonna get me a gun". I know for a fact that we got all that shyt from rap music and movies like Boyz in the Hood.

Why are blacks more sensitive to this influence? It's like asking why young muslims across the world are able to be influenced by radicals. Rap speaks directly to poor black people. We identify with the message in a way that outsiders cannot.

The most destructive turn was when almost all record deals were given to gangsta rappers. We don't think of Nas as a gangsta rapper but he absolutely is. Even Canibus has plenty of bars about kidnapping and shooting. It's like a prerequisite these days. All rap is associated with thuggery. You will never see another Kid N Play or Queen Latifah.

Don't forget: Hip Hop was originally an alternative to gang life. It actually stopped a generation of New Yorkers from cracking each others' skulls with hammers. The corporations stripped it down to the most vile elements (cause that's what middle America was most interested in hearing from us).

I agree with the Easy E part, but Hip Hop post 2004 has eased up on the gangsta tone and more light hearted artists been getting burn. Now, the super thugs are almost gone from the mainstream light. And "Menace II Society" is 100 worse than "Boyz in the Hood" times a million in terms of self destructive behavior.

 

[Brown_Pride]

HEre's the thing.

Music in general has always influenced youth (white, black, brown). The difference between now and yesteryear is that hip hop represents a people without leaders. The artist become the defacto leaders. Now the difference between these defacto leaders and say an MLK is intentions.

The intentions of MLK and folks of that ilk was the betterment of "their" people.
The intentions of "artists" and folks of that ilk is the betterment of their bank accounts.

As with damn near everything MONEY corrupts. The interesting thing is as has been pointed out "hiphop" was about bettering "the people", it was an alternative in darker times. The perversion of "hip hop" that we see today is a far cry from what it once was.

 

[bzb]

personally i think we should look deeper than just hip hop / rap artist...

the music moguls who demand this type of music from the artists and dictate to the radio stations that these songs must be played deserve a huge part of the responsibility imo.

i think it's bs for them to use the excuse 'the people don't want that' or 'we're giving them what they want'. prime example when public enemy was creating positive empowerment music it sold, de la sold, atcq sold, sh1t even lame azz young mc sold back in the day. if you beat people over the head with it enough, and the music is good, they'll listen to it. and maybe they'll also emulate some of the message in the music.

these music and radio execs deserve just as much and perhaps even more hate than the artist get.

 

[DEAD7]

who cares?

Spoiler

 

[cleanface coney]

its only bad becuase whites,jews,fags run it now

if it was still in the streets we would be good

 

[Prado210]

some good, most bad

 

[Blackking]

Because (many) black people think of hip-hop as their culture, whereas whites tend to just think of it as entertainment. Black kids watch BET and whatnot and actually aspire to be like nyggas they see on there.

When I was younger I would've said that hiphop only brings attention to pre-existing issues, but at some point I realized I was just rationalizing shyt. The effect on black culture has definitely been negative, and this is coming from somebody that grew up on it.

I've seen things go from the street right into music. People made it rain way before there was commercial songs about it. People joined gangs, shot people, acted like ratchet hoes, and sold drugs- before rap was even popular.

I grew up on hip hop music... aren't u from Detroit as well? There is fukkery going on right now that will end up in a song.
Hip hip does glamorize sh1t and make it so that white people can gleefully enjoy the entertainment value in the mental destruction of an entire group of people... but in reality, the limited resources and economic conditions are what's bad for black people, along with institutionalized racism.

We see that positive or conscious music barely has an effect if ur not already conscious... negative music only has the affect if your already a certain way. A normal black girl will listen to a ignorant song and may like the beat... A normal rat in the hood, tries to relate and vibe from the sh1t because that's her environment anyway.

 

[bzb]

who cares?

Spoiler

come on man... this has impacted and entire generation and those that come after. you care...

 

[Mr. Somebody]

Hiphop has always been a reflection of the people. If anything hiphop today shows how lost people are.

Bragging about drug use, fornication, infidelity, adultery, greed, murder, death, praising the devil, rape and Prison really shows where the minds of friends are at right now. It doesnt help that we have real life demons in the gay community taking on the appearance of heterosexual males and mixing their filth in with this already lost bunch. To make matterse worse we have demons on the outskirts of the culture dictating its path demonically as a form of commerce to the detriment of our children. I dont think hiphop is doing it because hiphop is our expression through spoken word, friends.