Walter Broes
Enlightened Member
Don,dklsplace said:Went out to dinner with my family tonight. Came to a stop light & a vehicle pulled up next to me with the windows down. The unending stream of profanity upon profanity spewing out it's sound system made me have to roll up my windows & say a few words to my 2 & 5 year old boys in the back seat about the use of "bad words."
Twern't no music there. :x
even though I get your point - Hip Hop or Rap or what you prefer to call it is not the only genre by far that (in some cases) contains an "unending stream of profanity". I don't think it's fair to shoot down a whole genre because of a song (or even a thousand songs) you heard.
Elvis wasn't talking about fish when he sang "like a one eyed cat, peeping at the seafood store" in "Shake Rattle and Roll", but I think we both agree that it's a nice little piece of music. Who knows, maybe he (or Big Joe Turner) would have even worded that line more graphic if he'd lived in different times? (even though I agree there's no need, but that's a whole other discussion...)
I don't think it's fair to shoot down a whole genre of music (yes, music...) because of a couple (or a lot) of examples. The crusade against hard rock and Heavy metal comes to mind.
Even though I'm not a big hip hop fan myself, a band with a positive message like "De La Soul" comes to mind, and if you want to discuss whether it's music or not, you're already on pretty thin ice (modern classical "music" anyone?), but I don't think a gifted guitarist like Charlie Hunter would have played with the "disposable heroes of hiphoprisy" if hip hop wasn't music.
I think the real issue in the debate is whether record companies capitalising on an aspect of hip hop because it's easy to sell and promote because of a certain shock value are at fault here.