Cultural
Critique of Rap
The
current climate of rap is nothing like it used to be. Rap has changed
drastically from its humble beginnings fighting against social injustice. Rap
is now frowned upon as a genre, people see it as provocative and causing
problems rather than working to solve them as the genre originally intended.
New lyrics no longer speak of social justice but rather naked girls, guns, and
drugs. This is what is popular in the culture but there is also a lot of good
and positivity that comes from the rap culture.
Older
rappers (80’s and 90’s rappers) were similar to rappers today but also at the
same time very different. Some of the rap songs you heard back in the 90’s
would sound similar to songs today because technology was starting to catch up.
The big difference between the time periods is the meaning or lack of meaning
behind the music. Older rap songs spoke out against police violence and social
injustice. “Fuck that shit, ‘cause I ain't the one
For a punk motherfucker with a badge and a gun To be beating on, and thrown in
jail
We can go toe-to-toe in the middle of a cell”(NWA, 1988). Even though the
lyrics are very aggressive the song is meant to be taken seriously, NWA is
speaking to other blacks that have been oppressed and feel like they are being
targeted by police. Rap began to gaining popularity as the tension between
blacks and whites was beginning to boil over. Four years after ‘Fuck Tha
Police’ came out was 1992 when the Rodney King Riot occurred, this is one of
the deadliest altercations between blacks and whites during the civil rights
movement. This is no coincidence either, Rap acted as a platform for black men
to get behind to express their thoughts and say what they mean freely.
Rap
has changed since the days of NWA but there are still some artists that hold
the same values. Rap catches a bad rap (haha get it) from old white men who
still see it as a platform to cause social unrest. A big example of everything conservative
minded people hate about the culture is one of Future’s newest albums, ‘Future’.
This album focuses on drug dealers, guns, and everything associated with living
a fun life. People cannot understand that these songs are not meant to be taken
seriously. These songs do make killing and smokin’ dope sound pretty fun, doing
it once may be kind of fun. Old stubborn people think that these songs
encourage that kind of behavior and cause young impressionable kids to want to
follow in the rapper’s footsteps. The current culture of rap looking in from
the outside is a rough bunch of people who do not care about who they hurt or
how they make their money. If you understand the culture and can get passed
some of the rough parts, there are a lot of positive things that do come from
all of this. Although Future’s newest album focuses on Draco automatic
submachine guns and taking Percocets people do not realize that behind the
scenes Future does care about giving back and where he comes from. “Draco
season with the bookbag, Rat tat, got a little kick back” (Future, 2017), this
is a direct line from Future’s song ‘Draco’ rapping about gun violence. This
doesn’t paint rap in a good light even though these lyrics are very common
lyrics across most rappers in today’s rap songs. Although rap does have very
dark lyrics in the songs good things do come from these dark rappers. Some of
the good that can come from rap is coat drives that Future frequently does for
kids trapped in poverty. Honestly who gives a shit about coats but this does
show that these big bad dread head animals do have a soft and caring side to
them.
Rappers
couldn’t give a rat’s ass about looking good for the media, the reason they do
these charitable things is because they care about where they came from. Rappers
used to come from all over and there was no “hub” for rap until recently when
drill style rap took over. Atlanta has produced almost all of the top recent
talent. Atlanta rappers have a very unapologetic style to their lives. Future
being from the slums of Atlanta, the dirty ATL, knows the dangerous lives kids
go through growing up and now that he’s on top he cares about his hood so he
wants to give back. Recently Chance the Rapper, maybe not one of the wildest
rappers, donated One million dollars to the Chicago School district. Chance has
also been heavily involved in the school district trying to fight for reform to
help children get out of poverty. Chance even raps about is upbringing and what
it means to him, “My village raised ‘em a child, come through the crib and it’s
bustin’, You meet anyone from my city, they gon' say that we cousins” (Chance
The Rapper, 2016). The rise of hip hop hubs has caused competition in between
rappers but in a good way. Every rapper wants their city to be the best it can
be to show that the city they represent is better than their competitions. This
drives rappers to be good and give back, even vulgar rappers like Lil Wayne are
involved on the charity. After New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina
he donated 250,000 to recovery help. Even the villains can be good some times.
The
current climate of rap is far different from what it used to be, but is that so
bad? Many people will reminisce on the golden days of rap where songs matter
and lyrics meant something. If you’re stuck looking at the past you’re going to
miss out on all of the gold that’s dropping lately. The culture of rap has been
through a lot, it has: caused social changed, gotten people killed, encouraged
kids to sell drugs, clothed homeless kids. You can hate on the culture for
having dark spots but what culture doesn’t. No one’s perfect and no group of
people are perfect. The culture of rap is always evolving and changing and if
you can’t take a little bad with your good then go listen to Ed Sheeran or some
other bullshit.
