posted
The words of hip-hop makes people stand and take notice and many groups realize that for them to be noticed (consciousness) they adopt hip-hop as thier own. I saw a report of even some Tibetan people listening to hip-hop, where they like ths music but do not understand the words but they feel the defiance!
Posts: 1290 | From: usa | Registered: May 2005
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Black America is no more correctly spoken for by hip-hop artist than white America is spoken for by rock artist.
Kids in the entertainment industry is NOT where one looks for serious representation of any ethny despite that the media wants to project Black American spokespersons by entertainers (whether in music, sports, or talk show hosts).
Black Americans have politicians, historians, analyst, etc., like any other ethny. Find out who these specialty educated adults are and turn to them.
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
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quote:Originally posted by alTakruri: Black Americans have politicians, historians, analyst, etc., like any other ethny. Find out who these specialty educated adults are and turn to them.
Posts: 1549 | From: California, USA | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
Exactly which is I say people need to stop relying on hip-hop (regardless of color). If anything, hip-hop should rely on the people as music should be!
And in any rate, what the heck does that have to do with the subject of this forum?! (Herukhuti, is that you?)
You should no better by now then to bring your hip-hop fanatics in here.
Posts: 26243 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
I disagree. Being raised in the Hip-Hop culture, and being both academic and analytical, I can assure you that if Hip-Hop is grounded in the social political causes that were part of its inception/conception, then Hip-Hop can be a powerful force in this world. Right now, it is being hijacked by coporate America, combined with a few rappers who don't care about anything but themselves. Hence, the chaos within the culture today. But I can assure you that there are MANY Hip-Hop artists who are all about community development, culture and nation building, etc. This includes, and is definitely not limited to: KRS-ONE, Mos Def, Talib Kwali, Dead Prez, Immortal Technique, etc. Listen to these rappers before you say, "No". Salaam
Posts: 826 | From: U.S.A. | Registered: Jun 2006
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I disagree. Being raised in the Hip-Hop culture, and being both academic and analytical, I can assure you that if Hip-Hop is grounded in the social political causes that were part of its inception/conception, then Hip-Hop can be a powerful force in this world. Right now, it is being hijacked by coporate America, combined with a few rappers who don't care about anything but themselves. Hence, the chaos within the culture today. But I can assure you that there are MANY Hip-Hop artists who are all about community development, culture and nation building, etc. This includes, and is definitely not limited to: KRS-ONE, Mos Def, Talib Kwali, Dead Prez, Immortal Technique, etc. Listen to these rappers before you say, "No". Salaam
Entertainment [standup comedy, music, talk shows, documentaries and so forth] might as well become "an" avenue [though not the only one, obviously] to spread socio-political consciousness, since the supposed corp controlled "news" outlets that many have come to rely on don't really do much of that. This could be a potential conduit for especially those youngsters who are simply too lazy to read books/articles from diverse sources via self-motivation, or get directly involved in the workings of the very geopolitics that affect our daily lives.
Posts: 5964 | Registered: Jan 2005
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posted
Music can indeed spread the message. Message music has permeated a variety of musics birthed in the Americas by those of African descent.
The Spirituals from plantation slavery days kept the Wonderful AEthiopians in mind and cloaked resistance in biblical parables often used as codes. Was Steal Away to Jesus a hidden reference to Hawkin's slaver the the "Good Ship Jesus?" Did the lines "steal away to Jesus, steal away home, I ain't got long to stay here" an allusion to commandeering vessels to chart course home to West and Central Africa?
The so-called RaceMan music of the early 20th century was used by Marcus Garvey's and other movements of the time.
Innovator Jazz of the 60's and early 70's like Coltrane's Africa Brass, Pharaoh Saunders and Leon[topolis] Thomas, the countless "African Classical Music" artists whose music had Kawaida based lyrics (even a foray from Haki Madhubuti that set his analyses and poetry to "the Music").
Other artists of that ten years had the message like Billy Paul, Sound Experience, etc., using Progressive Black Pop. Eddie Palmieri's Harlem River Drive drove an eclectic Afro-Latin Jazz sound with the message. Then Felipe Luciano was one of the Original Last Poets. Even the Spaniard group Barrabas with their Rock tinged vibes kept alive the call to Pay Me What You Owe Me ("pay me for the tall hanging tree pay me, pay me for the spirits in the sea pay me, etc.").
Of course the Last Poets aren't to be forgotten. Nor Gil Scott Herron and the Midnight Band, the Watts Prophets, Nikki Giovanni, and so on. Melvin van Peebles even used Broadway Show music for his message.
Then along came Reggae with the most popular and danceable form of message music that made for the likes of a Bob Marley to be recognized as far off as Zimbabwe, playing at their independence festival there.
Yes all those forms of music, while having certain artists pushing consciousness and historical and cultural awareness, also had silliness and meaningless lyrics too. But none of them have been as devastating the sense of self and progress of Africans in the Americas as has Hip Hop with its sub-culture main message of wanton aggresive violence, gross materialism, misogyny, and glorification of crime and rudeness not to mention erosion of family values.
Thank goodness for the Rappers like Public Enemy, from old skool days, and the more current ones listed in the parent post of this thread. They offset the damage done to the Black (Wo)Man's psyche and self-esteem wrought by the general run-of-the-mill, make the white producers, lawyers, and recording company executives rich, Hip Hop opportunists.
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
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since you have an understanding of the POTENTIAL for good, then why do/did you seem to reject the possibility of good within the Hip-Hop culture? Trust me, there are alot of us that want to see change. And in some ways, Hip-Hop helps people deal with realities. For instance, 50 Cent's movie, "Get rich or die trying". Alot of people were against the movie because of "violence" and things like that, but the fact of the matter is that what people are scared of is "Ghetto Culture". This is the reality of societies where the poor are trampled on. They live in slums, and many times they have to go "illegal" in order to make a living. This is reality. 50 Cent represents that reality. Hip-Hop was birthed during a time in which there was a resistance to the political crap going on in the U.S.
Bottom line, Hip-Hop has powerful potential to be POLITICAL as well as CULTURAL ENTERTAINMENT, feel me? Salaam
Posts: 826 | From: U.S.A. | Registered: Jun 2006
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posted
Even al Qaeda is using the rhythm of hip-hop to attract sympathizers around Europe and other places for marketing. They leave a lot of this stuff out of the mainstram media because they realize it will be televised.
Posts: 1290 | From: usa | Registered: May 2005
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Why don't African-American (politicians, historians, university-certificate-holders, blah blah blah) adults use Hip-Hop as a medium to push the right message? especially if they KNOW this is the medium that the vast majority of "ghetto" kids are going to embrace? After all, no one is going to stop anyone from doing so (at least not by law).
As usual, adult Blacks continue to blame their children for the mess that they (the adults) created. The children have created Hip-Hop, yet the adults are too lame to use. What a damn shame.
For the record:
The two songs I posted in the parent posts of this thread are by the two CURRENTLY biggest artists (Jay-Z & Nas) in Hip-Hop right now, which means they have the largest audience and will no doubt be heard across all the ghettoes and projects and council estates and favelas and shanty-towns and "face-me-I-face-U's" and every other shitty place Black kids are growing up in today.
for using Hip-Hop effectively, there is no better time than now Posts: 3423 | From: the jungle - when y'all stop playing games, call me. | Registered: Jul 2006
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posted
Why do the watoto reject the ways of the Mwalimu? Tradition is handed down not up.
quote:Originally posted by Ijesha: Real talk from Israel as usual.
Why don't African-American (politicians, historians, university-certificate-holders, blah blah blah) adults use Hip-Hop as a medium to push the right message? especially if they KNOW this is the medium that the vast majority of "ghetto" kids are going to embrace? After all, no one is going to stop anyone from doing so (at least not by law).
As usual, adult Blacks continue to blame their children for the mess that they (the adults) created. The children have created Hip-Hop, yet the adults are too lame to use. What a damn shame.
For the record:
The two songs I posted in the parent posts of this thread are by the two CURRENTLY biggest artists (Jay-Z & Nas) in Hip-Hop right now, which means they have the largest audience and will no doubt be heard across all the ghettoes and projects and council estates and favelas and shanty-towns and "face-me-I-face-U's" and every other shitty place Black kids are growing up in today.
for using Hip-Hop effectively, there is no better time than now
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
I suppose... the poor Black youth in America might as well go ang grab their pots & pans and baking soda then. AND GET THAT MONEY. Hopefully, they'll end up in jail (new-age plantation for new-age slaves, effectively) instead of DEAD.
May the tradition continue....
Alternatively, the grown-ass Blacks (who are not totally devoid of wisdom) could find a way to reach their youth with messages of real hope (i.e. like getting an education to begin with) via those mixtapes they cop (without fail on a weekly basis) from their local bootlegger, along with a $20 bag of marijuana.
Posts: 3423 | From: the jungle - when y'all stop playing games, call me. | Registered: Jul 2006
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Black America is no more correctly spoken for by hip-hop artist than white America is spoken for by rock artist.
Kids in the entertainment industry is NOT where one looks for serious representation of any ethny despite that the media wants to project Black American spokespersons by entertainers (whether in music, sports, or talk show hosts).
Black Americans have politicians, historians, analyst, etc., like any other ethny. Find out who these specialty educated adults are and turn to them.
I disagree. I've grown up with Hip-Hop, and at one point in time it was very socially aware and very political. It's nothing like that anymore because the genre has become too whitewashed and sanitized for the mainstream pop audience. It's quite sad really because that's when rap music was its most original. You still have some artists like Nas and Damien Marley (Bob Marley's son) who get political. But Nas doesn't get nearly the amount of radio play as your typical club song does. I blame it on the corporate-controlled radio stations for playing the same sh*t over and over again.
Posts: 1219 | From: North Carolina, USA | Registered: Jul 2004
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quote:Music can indeed spread the message. Message music has permeated a variety of musics birthed in the Americas by those of African descent.
The Spirituals from plantation slavery days kept the Wonderful AEthiopians in mind and cloaked resistance in biblical parables often used as codes. Was Steal Away to Jesus a hidden reference to Hawkin's slaver the the "Good Ship Jesus?" Did the lines "steal away to Jesus, steal away home, I ain't got long to stay here" an allusion to commandeering vessels to chart course home to West and Central Africa?
The so-called RaceMan music of the early 20th century was used by Marcus Garvey's and other movements of the time.
Innovator Jazz of the 60's and early 70's like Coltrane's Africa Brass, Pharaoh Saunders and Leon[topolis] Thomas, the countless "African Classical Music" artists whose music had Kawaida based lyrics (even a foray from Haki Madhubuti that set his analyses and poetry to "the Music").
Other artists of that ten years had the message like Billy Paul, Sound Experience, etc., using Progressive Black Pop. Eddie Palmieri's Harlem River Drive drove an eclectic Afro-Latin Jazz sound with the message. Then Felipe Luciano was one of the Original Last Poets. Even the Spaniard group Barrabas with their Rock tinged vibes kept alive the call to Pay Me What You Owe Me ("pay me for the tall hanging tree pay me, pay me for the spirits in the sea pay me, etc.").
Of course the Last Poets aren't to be forgotten. Nor Gil Scott Herron and the Midnight Band, the Watts Prophets, Nikki Giovanni, and so on. Melvin van Peebles even used Broadway Show music for his message.
Then along came Reggae with the most popular and danceable form of message music that made for the likes of a Bob Marley to be recognized as far off as Zimbabwe, playing at their independence festival there.
Yes all those forms of music, while having certain artists pushing consciousness and historical and cultural awareness, also had silliness and meaningless lyrics too. But none of them have been as devastating the sense of self and progress of Africans in the Americas as has Hip Hop with its sub-culture main message of wanton aggresive violence, gross materialism, misogyny, and glorification of crime and rudeness not to mention erosion of family values.
Thank goodness for the Rappers like Public Enemy, from old skool days, and the more current ones listed in the parent post of this thread. They offset the damage done to the Black (Wo)Man's psyche and self-esteem wrought by the general run-of-the-mill, make the white producers, lawyers, and recording company executives rich, Hip Hop opportunists.
^^Good point. Real talk from al Tukruri as usual.
quote:Real talk from Israel as usual.
Why don't African-American (politicians, historians, university-certificate-holders, blah blah blah) adults use Hip-Hop as a medium to push the right message? especially if they KNOW this is the medium that the vast majority of "ghetto" kids are going to embrace? After all, no one is going to stop anyone from doing so (at least not by law).
Good idea Posts: 5555 | From: Tha 5th Dimension. | Registered: Apr 2006
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Do your chain hang low do it wobble to da flo do it shine n the light iz it platinum iz it gold could u throw it ov'r ya shoulda if ya hott it make ya cold do your chain
Black America is no more correctly spoken for by hip-hop artist than white America is spoken for by rock artist.
Kids in the entertainment industry is NOT where one looks for serious representation of any ethny despite that the media wants to project Black American spokespersons by entertainers (whether in music, sports, or talk show hosts).
Black Americans have politicians, historians, analyst, etc., like any other ethny. Find out who these specialty educated adults are and turn to them.
This comment is FACTUALLY CORRECT, I wish more native Afrikans would understand this FACT which alTakruri wrote here. The images that is shown in the Media DOES NOT potray the average Afrikan American.
quote: Myth or Reality: Do Whites Buy More Hip-Hop Than Blacks? 05/05/2005 10:35
Well, this has become a modern age-old question--one that even has the revered Wall Street Journal posing a similar question in its Thursday, May 5, edition. Here is a reprint of the article.
Is the Conventional Wisdom Correct In Measuring Hip-Hop Audience?
It's hard to read an article about hip-hop without encountering the claim that 70% to 80% of people who buy rap music are white.
The statistic is a favorite of journalists and industry executives because it defies the misconception still making the rounds that rap's fans are mostly black, and shows that it is instead mainstream music and mainstream business. It's been stated so often that it's become an "industry convention," Will Griffin, president of Russell Simmons's Simmons Lathan Media Group in Los Angeles, told me. A mention in a Wall Street Journal article last week sparked reader Dave Osborne and a colleague to suggest that I check it out.
The Journal article was one of dozens of mentions I've found in the media stretching back for over a decade. They have taken different forms. Sometimes it's 70%, sometimes 80%. The proportion is of rap buyers, or rap listeners, or total rap purchases; it's of teenagers, or of consumers age 13 to 34.
Often, the 70% statistic isn't attributed but merely recited as gospel, making it tough to find its original source. Many articles, stretching from 1999 to this year, attribute the numbers to SoundScan, a sales-tracking company. For example, this Philadelphia Inquirer article from last year reported, "According to SoundScan, which tracks sales in the music industry, as much as 70 percent of the paying (and downloading) hip-hop audience is white kids living in the suburbs."
But a spokesman for SoundScan, now part of VNU's Nielsen media-tracking unit, says the company has never tracked the race of music buyers. He says a related company, SoundData, may have reported the stat in 1999, but SoundData no longer exists and he couldn't locate anyone who recalled the details. A 1994 Advertising Age article attributes to SoundData that "roughly 75% of rap records are owned by white teen-agers," suggesting that the statistic could date from a time when hip-hop was half its current age.
Simmons Lathan was cited in a Forbes.com article last year: "SLMG says its customer base is the 45 million hip-hop consumers between the ages of 13 and 34, 80 percent of whom are white." But Mr. Griffin says the company was using statistics from Vibe Magazine. Vibe, in turn, was using stats from Mediamark Research Inc., best known for reporting the demographics of magazine readers, according to Lou Lopez, research consultant for Vibe. "It's important for our advertisers," Mr. Lopez told me. "Sometimes they have you slotted as a black magazine. Currently almost a quarter of our readers are white."
And so my inquiries led me to MRI, where I found out that this is a statistical story with a mostly happy ending. Conventional wisdom, for once, turns out to be mostly correct -- with the caveat that there's a lot we don't know about race and rap sales.
Each year, MRI researchers go into about 25,000 homes nationwide and talk to residents for an hour about their media habits. Then they leave a thick booklet -- last year's is 104 pages -- full of questions about 6,000 brands in 500 categories. As compensation for answering all the questions about their buying habits, respondents get between $20 and $75, depending on where they live, says Anne Marie Kelly, MRI's vice president of marketing and strategic planning. The overall response rate among households that MRI initially contacts is about 40%.
Among the questions MRI asks is whether the respondent purchased pre-recorded rap audio tapes & compact discs in the last 12 months. MRI (which United Business Media PLC agreed to sell to GfK Aktiengesellschaft last month) sent me the results for 1995, 1999 and 2001, for both adults 18 to 34 and for all adults. For both groups, the percentage of recent rap buyers who are white was about 70% to 75% for all three years .
A caveat: Race is a slippery concept. Spurred by a change in Census Bureau methodology, MRI researchers no longer decide for themselves the race of their respondents, and the group has expanded the number of races and allowed respondents to check more than one. In fall 2004, using the new method, MRI found that just 60% of rap buyers are white, though 78% of Americans self-identify as white. Apparently, a significant number of people whom researchers thought were white wouldn't identify themselves as such.
Other caveats: It's unclear how well respondents can recall what they've bought in the last year; gifts count, even if the buyer isn't a rap fan; MRI can't say how much rap respondents buy -- maybe white buyers are more, or less, intense fans than blacks; respondents decided what music is included in rap -- others may dispute their definition; and it's unclear how the numbers would come out if you removed just a few artists -- platinum-selling, white rapper Eminem, for instance -- or labels. Music writers should either update their stat or just accept that rap is mainstream and move on.
Those in the Music business have known for many years that most people who buy Hip Hop are not Afrikan Americans.
The Street Prophet Nas said it best in his new Album that will be released on 12/19/06 "HIP HOP IS DEAD" The N
Hip Hop is NOT a CULTURE, Hip Hop does NOT reflect the realities of the Afrikan American communities, anyone who says otherwise is lying to you.
Most Afrikan Americans DO NOT wear Bling, don't call women deragatory names, don't call each other the N word, don't drive cars with expensive wheels etc. Stereotypes such as these are just HOG WASH.
posted
^I think most people know all this, already .
The vast majority of hip-hop buyers are white people. True. How is that relevant to the topic of this thread?
Posts: 3423 | From: the jungle - when y'all stop playing games, call me. | Registered: Jul 2006
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As black female, there is nothing demeaning in this world to listen Hip Hop.
As a black male, there is nothing more demeaning in this world than listening to CNN (or any other 'mainstream' news).
Posts: 3423 | From: the jungle - when y'all stop playing games, call me. | Registered: Jul 2006
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I don't know which planet you're from (Maybe you're an abducted alien rapper--but again sources show there are no BLACK aliens, because they are too primitive to exist--afterall an alien needs a spaceship)
But kindly turn on MTV and tell me if it's not demeaning for any women to listen, HO,BITCH, and not to mention pornography.
You have to remember, there are kids who watch these videos, and assume it's normal.
I can't understand how these rappers can make money to demean their sisters and mothers.
Posts: 2198 | Registered: Jun 2006
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What you watch on MTV is a new-age version of the 'Minstrel Show'. You should be mad at MTV, not Hip-Hop.
Posts: 3423 | From: the jungle - when y'all stop playing games, call me. | Registered: Jul 2006
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posted
Although it too is tinged with the status quo the latest Lyfe Jennings CD is full of family values uplifting and inspirational to the Black American community. Will it go platinum like his last CD?
quote: So for all these cats out here doin what u do man, you Biggie, for all these cats out here doin something positive in ur community you Biggie, for all these rap cats that's on the struggle trying to come up on the stone you Biggie, for all you cats doin that nonsence on that bullshit?.You ain't Biggie Nigga ha ha ha It's your boy Lyfe Jennings man AKA Biggie Nigga
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
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quote:Originally posted by alTakruri: Although it too is tinged with the status quo the latest Lyfe Jennings CD is full of family values uplifting and inspirational to the Black American community. Will it go platinum like his last CD?
quote: So for all these cats out here doin what u do man, you Biggie, for all these cats out here doin something positive in ur community you Biggie, for all these rap cats that's on the struggle trying to come up on the stone you Biggie, for all you cats doin that nonsence on that bullshit?.You ain't Biggie Nigga ha ha ha It's your boy Lyfe Jennings man AKA Biggie Nigga
These rhymes are subpar . Dude can't rap.
Check this out: life is but a dream cant mimic my life im the thinnest cut slice inner cut the winners cup where winters rough enough to interrupt life thats why im both saint and sinner...nice this is jay everyday no compromise no compass comes with this life just eyes so to map it out you must look inside sure books can guide you but your heart defines you chica your corazon is what brought us on your great shape like Heidi Klum mighty (gone?, god?) i am on permanent vaca life is but a beach chair songs like a hallmark card until you reach here tilda she's here and she's declared free air i will prepare a blueprint for you to print a map for you to get back a guide for your eyes just so you wont lose in I'll make it stink for you to think i ain't these versus full of pro's so you wont get con'd out your 2 cents my last will and testament i leave my heir my share of roc-a-fella records and a shiny new beach chair
Jay-Z Beach Chair Lyrics (Final verse)Posts: 3423 | From: the jungle - when y'all stop playing games, call me. | Registered: Jul 2006
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UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
Al-Queda hip-hop??!![[Embarrassed]](redface.gif)
I don't even wanna know how that sounds!
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
. Dude can't rap.
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