is rap music a conspiracy to destroy the language?

reply to post by degenerate oto


Rap music is the product of years of oppression? I'm sorry but that statement could be said about a lot of genres of music. Music is an expression, an expression of ones personality and livelyhood, isn't most music an expression of this???

All art is an expression of oneself. If this is expressed in a manner that is not conventional, it does not take away from the artistic merits of the piece.

For example, your idea of a nice painting might be Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa". Another person's favorite painter might be Picasso. They both use paint, but express themselves in a different manner. When the surrealists were gaining force, I'm sure many declared the movement as the death of art. Nowadays, many of these artists are considered geniuses with their paintings going for 7 figures at Sotheby's.

Sure, you might not like Hip Hop music. You might not enjoy the rhythms or the everlasting bass or the lyrical content, but to completely dismiss an entire genre of music is arrogant/ignorant.

This thread is focused on the language used in rap and should be looked at from an objective standpoint. We all use different sorts of linguistic patterns when we speak, and these patterns change depending on the situation. If you are talking to your high school buddy about sports, you will most likely use some slang (ie. that team sucks) and be unconcerned about how grammatically accurate your sentence structure is. If you are interviewing for a job, you will most likely refrain from any use of slang or grammatical shortcuts. If you are writing a song, you will write in a manner that is fitting to that situation.

A rap song is no different. Artistic use of language is not bound by grammar. Some of the words and/or expressions used in a rap song might seem foreign to you, but there are millions that know exactly what is being spoken of.

If you honestly believe that rap is a leading factor in the decline of the English language in America, I completely disagree. It has never been the responsibility of art to teach the proper use of language. That responsibility lies with the parents and the school system. If your child cannot discern between conversational English and grammatically correct English, do not blame rap music or punk music or movies or TV or whatever other medium you might not agree with or enjoy.

Language is not something set in stone and is forever evolving. English itself was forced to evolve with the European migration to the US. You should not assume that this evolutionary process has stopped.

[edit on 11-8-2008 by kawz1]

Originally posted by Slothrop

i don't see anything offensive about what i said. i personally do not want to be dragged down to the same level as those people, nor do i want to see the american language corrupted and ultimately destroyed.

I'll supply you with this link:
C Of Tranquility

OR

Layered Prayers

Now, listen to any one of those carefully, please. It's of vital importance that you do. Hopefully, it will encourage you and anyone else who thinks the same, to open your minds a little bit about what you think you know about Hip Hop. Just a quick note, the 1st link is pretty hard to understand. One has to be very knowledgeable to understand what's being said in the 1st link. The 2nd link is easier to grasp.

I will also add that a lot of mainstream rap(Not Hip Hop, as Hip Hop and rap are two separate things) is used to undermine blacks. I truly believe it used by big corporations to distract us, misinform us and keep most human kind where they think we should be...dumb. I will also say, that Rap music is not mostly listened to by blacks. Surprising huh? Rap music(mainstream music at least), is mostly geared toward kids between the ages of 12-18. What kind of kids you ask? White kids! Shocked huh? I think the number was 60%. Yes, 60%. Of course, they're more white people in America than black people...so it's obvious to a point. A lot of mainstream music companies do not target the minority of the population. They target the largest group in the population. This is how they gain more and more money. You think Jay-Z going platinum was because of the black Hip Hop supporters?

This is not my main point. I will not go into the history of Hip Hop, as I do not see the need to provide people who do not care about how Hip Hop got started, the culture of Hip Hop, or why it was started in the 1st place. I will say though, that, like Rock music, there are different artists, all coming from different places, with different experiences and varying degrees of knowledge on different matters. So, to say that Rap music is this and that, is to speak rubbish mostly, even if you're counting and referring to the mainstream. For you see, majority of rappers are not the ones you see on MTV or BET. Majority of rappers are underground, get no radio play, no media coverage, and to my knowledge this happens because they do not rap about your typical cars, bling bling and booty.

[edit on 13-8-2008 by sdrawkcabII]

language is a fluid, evolving thing.

shakespeare spelled the same word multiple ways in the same play.

there is no 'right' way to use language.

The ultimate purpose of rap music is to dumb down the youth and make them more interested in hoes and bling than the world around them. You could see this garbage excuse for art gaining momentum in the late '80's, and you knew when it took over, things would go to hell really quick.

Well, here we are twenty years later and the same noise pollution continues to poison the youth and any other culturally devoid individuals who take a liking to it. Art...yeah sure. This stuff is about as artistic as used toilet paper.

Originally posted by nahsik
A culture requires a art form (graffiti) a dance (breakdance) a voice (MC) and an instrument (dj). This is the four powers of hip hop.

I think I'll pick Michelangelo over graffiti, choose Waltz for the dance part, make Pavarotti my "MC" and pick cello as my instrument. These are the four powers of human culture.