The relevance of a rapper's background?

[wingzboy]

That Drake article makes me think even less of dude... He went to a school with people like that...that had money like that...so for that to be even an option for you means your not that poor...because schools like that are not public schools...schools like that are not free...schools like that cost a lot of money...so there was enough money in his household to send him to a private school full of rich people...that seems to be closer to the opposite of struggle...

that entire article came off as "look i wasn't that rich...see i didn't have rolex money...i didn't have turtle wax money...i stayed in half a house..." ha ha ha...get the fukk out of here...i wish i could have stayed in a place growing up where i had my own basement and my mother stayed on a totally different floor...rather than have my entire family crammed into a little country ass house...

And as far as the relevance of a persons past...it is all general to the music you make and the image you portray...it used to didn't bother me...but as i've grown up i have to at least feel like the artist is not a complete fraud...otherwise i can't listen to his music...cause the entire time the song is playing i am thinking "this nikka aint never done any of this shyt in his life "...

look at the clipse...these dude called themselves coke rappers...then they manager got caught with some real drugs...was moving some real weight...and is now doing some real fed times...and both them dudes were like " it's just raps man. It's just metaphors man. We aint never sold no drugs man." Now...set back and think...how lame is that...how lame is it that you labeled yourself coke rappers...talked about everyone stealing your coke raps...and then when your manager really gets caught with that white...you both go into hiding...hell one of you makes a church rap album

i think it is just general human nature to just disregard anyone who is just portraying a fraudulent lifestyle...and it doesn't help that the majority of these rappers are lame as fukk and probably never even touched a woman until they signed a record deal.

Lol at Drake...nikka...they wouldn't even have let my black ass go to the school point blank period no matter how many flapjacks my gramma made them...

I agree with most of what you said. However don't forget how many "real" rappers glorify fictional gangster characters like "Tony Montana" and talk how they can relate etc. Furthermore, what if you had a rapper who never done shyt in his life but based his raps on authentic accounts from one of his "real" homeboys with no embellishing and compare him with a nikka who is to some degree is "real" but largely exaggerates in his raps? The latter would be accepted as "real" despite the fact that his raps would in fact not be as accurate bout that life as the first nikka's raps would. Additionally, the first nikka may even be a better rapper but would be dismissed by some because "his message is fake" when reality the nikka is in fact spitting more accurate tales than the other nikka.

Just like yourself I find it amusing when rappers make lame ass statements trying to conceal their real lives, like Ross claiming he was making 10 mill usd a year before rap, but I also found it amusing when "real" nikkas talk about shyt that is clearly as absurd as Ross' bullshyt. However a lot of nikkas will give the latter a pass not matter how far their raps depart from the truth, but automatically dismiss another nikka's talent as if there is some difference between a "real" nikka lying and a fake nikka's lies.

 

[JasonSJackson]

You just acknowledged that there is a way of distinguishing fake j's from the real thing, admitting that nikkas who know what specific thing to look for would be able to discern the real from the fake j's, which is why some would not want to buy fake j's as they may appreciate the craftsmanship involved in making the real. On the other hand if two rap records were played to you and the backgrounds of the artists on each record was not revealed to you, there's no way in hell you will be able to tell which rapper is spittin truth and which is droppin fairytales, you would be forced to judge them on the quality of their rapping.

To me cornball behavior is when a nikka attempts to develop some emotional connection with the rapper that has nothing to do with artist's talent, don't get me wrong, I could meet a street nikka who raps and would respect his hustle in the rap game and his previous hustle on the streets, however I am also capable of recognizing another nikkas talent on record without taking their interview or street talk seriously. However nikkas like you remind me of a point George Michael made when he was asked how he felt about all the female hearts that were broken because of him coming out as gay, he replied something along the lines that those hoes realistically would never have had a chance to sleep with him in the first place, their opinion of him changed based on something that has nothing to do with his music. Similarly nikkas like you could be a fan of an artist one day and stop liking him the next because of some feminine type emotional attachment to an artist that has nothing to do with their music. What today could be a hot track for you would all of a sudden no longer be something you enjoy tomorrow because of some piece of information that has nothing to do with the quality of the song you were just enjoying.

The song hasn't changed nor has the lyrical content, if it was real enough for you to enjoy and relate to when you first heard it, then you clearly believed the story enough to accept it as real and therefore was never capable of identifying the fraud element the same way nikkas can with a pair of fake j's.

lol at u thinking im going to read any of this

and lol at this nikka writing books and shyt.......

 

[A.V.]

look at the clipse...these dude called themselves coke rappers...then they manager got caught with some real drugs...was moving some real weight...and is now doing some real fed times...and both them dudes were like " it's just raps man. It's just metaphors man. We aint never sold no drugs man." Now...set back and think...how lame is that...how lame is it that you labeled yourself coke rappers...talked about everyone stealing your coke raps...and then when your manager really gets caught with that white...you both go into hiding...hell one of you makes a church rap album

I agree with the majority of your post, but you're saying in the middle of a Federal investigation, you want nikkas to be like "YEAH I SLING THIS YAY TOO"?

Any street nikka with any kind of background in prison, run-ins with law enforcement, or that has been under investigation before knows exactly what they were doing when/if they made these statements. You buggin wit that one my G.

 

[MouseTeeth]

Only thing that matters is good records

 

[wingzboy]

lol at u thinking im going to read any of this

and lol at this nikka writing books and shyt.......

You took the time to to read and respond to my last two posts, and clearly had enough time to respond to the post "you did not read." If you really did not read it you would have not posted in this thread again and kept it moving, we all know you read it nikka, and we all know you just struggling to digest that L that exposes the similarities between you and george michael's female fans.

 

[wingzboy]

I agree with the majority of your post, but you're saying in the middle of a Federal investigation, you want nikkas to be like "YEAH I SLING THIS YAY TOO"?

Any street nikka with any kind of background in prison, run-ins with law enforcement, or that has been under investigation before knows exactly what they were doing when/if they made these statements. You buggin wit that one my G.

I forgot to comment on that about the clipses statement, but I agree with what you said, the smart thing to do would be to distance yourself from that ish if you really were involved in that shyt, lol.

 

[RTF]

The difference is that in rock music, the artist is allowed a lot more artistic freedom...

Also, in rock music, the lyrics tend to be very abstract, and the actual meaning of the song is up to the listener's interpretation...

The problem with hip hop is a problem all throughout black culture...Artistic expression is VERY limited in black culture...Black people limit themselves to the "ghetto" in almost every art form they engage in...

Nah that's certain types of rock. Anything edgy - indie rock, grunge rock requires a sense of authenticity. Hip-hop is and has always been about some type of "black experience". Nothing wrong with that. Non-street artists like Common, Kweli, Mos held a certain demographic of the black community down for several years.

Artistic expression is not limited in black culture. We've had it all.

 

[TheLoneRanger]

For me personally if the product is real and authentic it's easier to enjoy and support and become a fan of. I can't support something i know is 100% lies and fake shyt.
Most rappers tell white lies and exaggerate their story a bit and i'm ok with that because everybody in the world at some point does the same for what ever reasons, but when you cross that line and go into fairy tale land and start telling bold face lies that shyt ain't cool.

Off the top of my head i can think of Young Scooter and William Roberts. Those 2 crossed the line by 3000 miles with all their fairy tales. I just don't know how people can listen to the music and enjoy it when it's obviously all lies and the people who do always come out with the same excuses. it's only music its entertainment all rappers lie. THAT EXCUSE AIN'T GOOD ENOUGH.
It makes me question their character and the sort of person they are.

 

[Djimonu]

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[Djimonu]

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[Still Benefited]

How can I feel you if it ain't the real you.....and I beg to differ that you can't tell whether or not somebody is really about that life or not......it only becomes an issue with fans when you do it SO WELL or SO EXCESSIVLEY that they start askin questions like "is he really real?".....I only love the ones that spit real shyt on a level that you can't convince me they ain't come up in the streets around street nikkas....there's a level of believability and authenticity only rappers who really beeen around it can bring..

Those that don't bring it on that level I can still listen to,but I assume they just rappers who might just be rappin about guns and drugs and shyt bcuz its the thing to do

I think u can typically tell who the real ones are by what they spittin and those are the only ones id be dissapointed to hear was homeschooled,from the burbs and never been in the streets.....how many times have you actually been fooled?like did u hear Yung Berg rappin about guns and how real he is and be like "I believe you Yung Berg"....its hard to make it sound authentic even when it is cuz not every rapper who's real know how to get they message accross on wax.....but its damn near impossible to not have come up in the streets and just fake your way to getting that real love from the streets without actually bein real and doin what u rapped about yourself,or spending a lot of time around it and it comes from a real place.

 

[MysteryT]

Aside from perhaps inspiring brothers from identical walks of life, why do some of you feel that a rapper's background should be "real" if they make certain types of tracks? I personally will view an artist who does attempt to walk that lane as corny, but it won't affect my judgment on whether the track is good or not.

For me, I don't really care about these rappers backgrounds. Either you're talented or you're not. Either you make good music or you don't. If I don't know these cats personally, then what's the purpose of stressing over their background and if it's real or not. How does that help me? What's funny is, a lot of the so called goons and gangsters are corny. I say that, because they're only human but folk be making them out to be super heroes, like they did something great. Just because they have a criminal record or fight and shoot people. Nothing about what they do or did should be praised or glorified. That's ignorant and that life gets you no where at all. Music is suppose to be a universal language. And last time I checked, your geographical location or economic status (money), had nothing to do with whether you struggle or not. Because people, no matter what walk of life, struggle with something everyday. You never know what somebody is dealing with. Point is, all these mofos are human, therefore making them real.

 

[wingzboy]

For me, I don't really care about these rappers backgrounds. Either you're talented or you're not. Either you make good music or you don't. If I don't know these cats personally, then what's the purpose of stressing over their background and if it's real or not. How does that help me? What's funny is, a lot of the so called goons and gangsters are corny. I say that, because they're only human but folk be making them out to be super heroes, like they did something great. Just because they have a criminal record or fight and shoot people. Nothing about what they do or did should be praised or glorified. That's ignorant and that life gets you no where at all. Music is suppose to be a universal language. And last time I checked, your geographical location or economic status (money), had nothing to do with whether you struggle or not. Because people, no matter what walk of life, struggle with something everyday. You never know what somebody is dealing with. Point is, all these mofos are human, therefore making them real.

agreed breh.