Diamonds on my necklace...

Why are rap artists so stuck on material things and sex? I'm listening to the radio and everything I hear is "I got this many cars, I got that much money" or "Girl, you *** so phat!" I mean, I can't stand it. I grew up up to rap and R&B, but its getting so ridiculous.

And people wonder why I don't listen to most rap anymore.

There's a difference between Hip-Hop and Rap. I'm trying to get back into Hip-Hop because its more about expression, music, change. Stuff like that. Rap is about making a buck. I mean why would anyone sit in a studio and produce a song that calls a girls butt Laffy Taffy? I guess a better question would be, "Why in the world would anyone buy it?" Well the song was very successful in the south as well in my area, so I guess the artists succeeded.

I'm going to cut myself off here before I rant for a few pages.

I totally agree with you...now a days rap is all about making a buck. This is my own theory, but ever think that all the materialism in rap lyrics is deliberate, to brainwash or influence the listeners to think that the only things that matter are doing drugs, shooting people, stealing, selling drugs and materialism. I mean people listen to this over and over and over again, and start to think that the life of crime is cool, or the only way to make big money, so they follow, ending up in jail, or with legal troubles which, I dont know if you've ever dealt with the legal system, but thats all about money anyway. Numerous RIDICULOUS fines, lawyers, court fees...all that stuff costs money. Also if you get people so infatuated with rims and jewelry and crap, they get blinded to the real important issues going on in the world. When society starts thinking only about personal gains, those that are in power know they arent threatened because one person cant make a difference. And it seems in this day and age, people arent willing to work together to make changes, they want to work for their own greed, their own gain and thats it. I kinda feel that way with alot of the mainstream media. I dont want to sound like some ultra crazy conspiracy theorist, but just look at the media and think about its effects. More sex on t.v. = more kids having sex, and at younger ages = more std's, more teen pregnancies, more single parents = the std's need medical treatment which if you dont have insurance mean your in debt for the rest of your life cause medical treatment is soooo expensive (its a business) the teen pregnancies and single parents may not have the opportunity for higher education due to the fact that they have to raise a child (work, buy food, clothes,shelter) so they may not be able to be financially stable. To me this equates to the non-rich being held down, not having an opportunity to attain the knowledge, careers, income and success of the rich. SO the rich stay in power, and the poor and middle class stay poor and middle class.

Rap is just a poem about sex.

You know, these days there's a lot of crap out there, still, doesn't make it all crap. I mean, I'm getting old, I'm outta touch, but I remember listening to some true poets in the hip hop scene. People like Gravediggaz, Roots Manuva, and Jeru Tha Damaja:

Artist: Jeru The Damaja
Album: Wrath Of The Math

One day about six 'o clock I'm woke up
By the sound of my buzzer and a car or a truck
Screechin' off so I jump up scratch my nuts
But when I'm like "Who's that?" nobody speaks up
So I go to the door there's a note it says:
"We have Hip Hop hostage with guns to his throat
Do the right thing and we might let him go
But if you call the police that's all she wrote
You know what the motive is it's all about dough
And in case ya think we bull#tin' here's the photo."
I couldn't recognize the clows because they was all hooded down
But I peeped Foxy Brown sippin' Cristal in the background
With fake alligator boots on
And smack dab in the middle was hip-hop with a Versace suit on
I immediately called Primo
I said "Hip-Hop is in trouble, meet me at my rest on the double
Don't even jump in the shower, matta'fact scratch my rest
Meet me and D & D in an half an hour
And bring all ya # wit' you cuz you know what we got to do."
Yo Afu! (Whassup?) Lets jet-son like Elroy
If I recall correctly I last saw hip-hop down at Bad Boy
We'll see if Puff knows whassup
Cuz he's the one gettin' him drunk and #in' his mind up
We go to the office, he's nowhere to be found
So we snatch up Jay Black and beat his bitch ass down
"Now where's Hip-Hop?!" "Aaight, aaight..." he confessed:
"Suge came and took him from Puff last night,
He said he'd give him up if a real nigga came to retrieve 'em..."
So we went to L.A. later that evenin'
When we got there, everything was aaight
And we brought Hip-Hop back home that night.
ONE DAY...

Originally posted by Shaione
Why are rap artists so stuck on material things

Because they're shallow dumbasses?

and sex?

Whats wrong with sex?

There's a difference between Hip-Hop and Rap.

Sex first and then the material things?

Rap is about making a buck.

So is everything in the music industry.

It depends who you listen to. Immortal Technique and Roots Manuva are the only real rap artists I listen to. I mainly stick to my European death metal, they write songs about REAL things that effect ALL of us, even some "far out" things, like spirituality. My favourite band, Scar Symmetry, even have a song about the 2012 dimensional shift theory, it's called, "2012 - The Demise of the 5th Sun".

I strongly advise any REAL metal fan to check them out!

Originally posted by Implosion
You know, these days there's a lot of crap out there, still, doesn't make it all crap. I mean, I'm getting old, I'm outta touch, but I remember listening to some true poets in the hip hop scene. People like Gravediggaz, Roots Manuva, and Jeru Tha Damaja:

I believe the creator of this thread specifically stated that the problem was with rap and not hip-hop, so.....


Anyways I totally agree. The materialism and attitude towards women and other human beings in general in rap is really disgusting. I do see children picking up this attitude as well after listening to that stuff and it's really sad. The ones who aren't glorifying money are bragging about how big, bad, and violent they are.

Also in the same light as everyone else has said, there are exceptions to every rule and there are some great artists who aren't glorifying all those things. They just aren't getting nearly as much attention as they should.

Originally posted by snowflake_obsidian

Originally posted by Implosion
You know, these days there's a lot of crap out there, still, doesn't make it all crap. I mean, I'm getting old, I'm outta touch, but I remember listening to some true poets in the hip hop scene. People like Gravediggaz, Roots Manuva, and Jeru Tha Damaja:

I believe the creator of this thread specifically stated that the problem was with rap and not hip-hop, so.....

You're splitting hairs, to my mind there is very little difference, The two have always, and will always go together. Cheers.

Originally posted by Nygdan

Originally posted by Shaione
Why are rap artists so stuck on material things

Because they're shallow dumbasses?
.

Yea, that's so true. I agree with the rest of your post, too. I just quoted the part that made me think.

I'm only 24 and I'm find myself lecturing this high school kids at my old job. The last conversation was about why this one guy should save his money for college instead of buying a grill. I told him that this advice is coming from first hand experiences. I had a rough time (and still am), with debt when I first started college because I was trying to keep up with the Jones. His priorities are similar to a lot of kids I know. They use up all their money on material things. Then, I hear about people getting robbed or killed for those expensive shoes and jackets. One of the most disturbing story I read was about a 6 foot 200+ pound 16 year old who punched his own mother because she told him he couldn't have the newest Jordans' because she couldn't afford them.

I'm not blaming rap alone, its the media in general. MTV's Cribs and almost all of VH1's programming throws the star's good life in our faces everyday. So, its only natural for someone to want to be like that.