Why Don’t We Look At What’s Right With Hip Hop?
Words & Image by Tarik Lawrence
Too many people concentrate on what’s wrong with hip-hop nowadays as opposed to what’s RIGHT with hip-hop. As with the recent airing of Hip-hop vs.
America too many people blame a “tip-drill” video for being too explicit. That video specifically aired on BET Uncut and the Internet as a use of discretion for younger children not to watch. That video is nothing compared to what you can see on the Playboy channel, and other pay-per-view channels. Just like how parents make sure not to order these XXX movies or have them
available, Parental control should be used for watching these videos with too many images of sex. Not every video is like that. “Tip drill” only dealt with
the subject matter of that particular song.
Hip-hop has created so many jobs for people and have made them continually grow into young, rich, entrepreneurs, with a strong sense of business. From clothing lines to directing videos to big budget movies, to video models, to even websites such as REALTALKNY.NET which gives up-to the hour updates in this culture around the world it is clearly a big business. I have watched co-workers in “hip-hop magazines” move to different levels in the culture and create history.
Honestly I am starting to think those that can not cash in on this culture is just seriously hating what’s going on. Anytime one does not understand
something the next step is FEAR, JEALOUSY, or HATRED. Everything has its ups and downs, wrongs and its rights, but as with anything it is mostly pure
entertainment. Now lets talk about “WHAT’S RIGHT WITH HIP HOP”.
 |
31 Comments so far
WHAT’S RIGHT WITH HIP HOP
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
I couldn’t list anything……..damn….
no cuz hip hop got me talkin slang being gangsta(thats natural) but most importantly not caring about nothing but that dollar ,dollar bill yall
Its alot easier to complain about the shit we dont have rather than the things we do…look how far hip hop has come…if the shit started in the 80’s and its only 2007 that means its one of the youngest genres out.
Its something black people created for black people about black people… and it now churns out billions in profit making people that normally would be living fucked up in the hood, into rich and powerful forces which infulence people of all background and race and gender…its simply to powerful…
cuz the streets is a short stop either u slinging crack rock or you got a wicked jumpshot it is sad to say but due to the adversities that exit in urban societies Hip hop sports and drugs seem to be the most lucrative means of making in to a level where black males can support their families i definitely thank God for HIP HOP for opening up doors to try other ventures for every negative gansta rapper they are ten to twenty individuals (stylist photographers stage hands directors choreographers etc) that benefit from that one song so please take heed to the positive and allow hip hop to shine
Yo wats good Tarik
its HOllYWooD Ya boy you know im maintaining
these r true statements made indeed…
but does not speak 2 de essence of greed…
hip hop is dead…
& i mean what i just said…
rap music is alive…
& thus, off with our heads…
money rules the game…
not the artist or the name…
not the lyircs or the beat…
but the green 4 which it’s played…
i say this outta love…
it isn’t born in hate
it’s like a yard with high grass…
& a very low gate…
the passerby cannot see the home…
& expresses distaste…
inside the mansion…
they eat on golden plates…
platinum forks & knives…
livin the best lof lives…
but the yard is a jungle…
snakes & scorpions abound…
who would want to wade through all that.?.
just to look around.?.
& so the house gets run down…
people viw it with frowns…
those who attempt reconstruction…
are swallowed by the weeds into the ground…
so can i say the house is nice.?.
surely the structure is sound…
but it’s harder to appreciate the home…
because of the jungle that surrounds…
or something like that…
more good music…
less bullshit…
who will save what seems lost.?.
It’s not that I don’t think there is some good in hip hop. But you fail to realize is that with those stations like playboy you have to PAY for those. You just don’t have easy access to that like you would with the other venues that video was shown on. Tip drill had it’s parental advisory but if it’s free to catch on television or on the internet then how can you compare? There’s no way you can justify that video, there’s just no way.
Things good about hip hop are classic albums and good music.
The business side has kind of ruined it in some ways cus the quality of music has suffered.
i commend any “artist” who does charity work.
besides a list of tight albums this year. that’s it.
good drop!
Its always easier for people to focus on the negetive;; rather then the positive. Hip-hop is no different, especially with people like Bill O-reily running around.
there is alot of positive in music like rappers bein able to make it out the hood and tell there personal experinces,and the charity work,signing autographs touring, so these dam old people need to stop hatin on hip hop period…
the violence,sex drugs,violence sex drugs more more people!!!!!!!!!i want raaapp
Uhhh, by the way, hip-hop was not just created by black people for black people, it started out with black, white and latinos (ever seen beatstreet, style wars?). Anyway, just a friendly reminder, hip-hop lives and always will, it’s just going through things, like every genre. PEACE!
The reason people don’t disscus what is good with Hiphop is because there aint alot of postive things to say about Hiphop whereas there is alot of neagtive things in Hiphop. For instance just my Opinion of course but there has only been one classic Hiphop album this year in Common Finding Forever compare that to 2001 or 2001 and you can see there is a lack of quality music. And how easy it is too get a record contract these days Soulja boy,Hurrican Chris, etc; Ringtone rappers etc I mean Fat Joe latest album never sold but he was top of the ringtone charts. You can go on and on about the neagtive things but how much postive things can you say about Hiphop …..
hip hop brings young black folk together and alot of times in a positive way. look at this blog.
I dont know let me find something good about it and get right back to you.
I want to rebuild from scratch the already corrupted music scene to challenge both mainstream rappers and underground hip hop heads to step up to a level of real artistic lyrics and poetic skills. That it will draw both the commercial and underground from the beef between them by seeing music from a new perspective and not the deception. I also wanna challenge all music, not just hip hop to be positive role models for the Lord for their children’s sakes. God says, “For by Him (Jesus) were all … created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible (that includes hip hop)…. all … were created by Him (Jesus), and for Him (Jesus): And He (Jesus) is before all …, and by Him (Jesus) all … consist (or hold together). And He (Jesus) is the head of the body, the church: who is the Beginning, the Firstborn from the dead; that in all … (including hip hop) He (Jesus) might have the preeminence.” (Colossians 1:16-19). You see, hip hop belongs to Jesus anyway, cause when He comes back He’s gonna ask you what did you do with His talents and gifts He gave you, and how you used Hip Hop. To speak the devils lies, or to tell the world about Him and how much He loved us all enough to give us hip hop to have fun with. What’s it gonna be hip hop?
Nothing is wrong with hiphop, plenty of good albums out there to listen to if you just look, shut up & listen! Too much fucking complaining going on right now, if you don’t like it then don’t listen to it or buy it. Certain people are just mad that the artist THEY like aren’t at the forefront of the game, who cares??!! Support the artists you like and tell others about them, then hopefully the word will spread and the game might change. Peace, listennnn!!!
5) Joell Ortiz
4) Talib Kweli
3) Mos Def
2) Kanye
1) Nas
Damnit I forgot DEAD PREZ… dem dudes is what it is… KRS-ONE too!
There is a huge discrepency with this article. Hip Hop and rap are two different things. The cultivation of rap came after hip hop culture. Rap music is a small variable in the culture. Rap music died a long time ago, while the culture paved strong foundations for it’s future development.
Besides, you have to look into more deeper issues about rap music than just porn and vulgarity.
My thoughts about hip hop are as follows…
Mostly it isnt positive. Negativity sells. Thats just how things work. Rappers are sell outs! Many of them dont want to promote negativity, but do so anyway for the money. Thats the true definition of a sell out. One who sells his soul for money… i.e MOST RAPPERS.
Even the gentleman who wrote this column describes people selling out… He talks about the jobs that hip hop has created… Well so what!? People are getting paid to make the black race look like animals… Wonderful way to get cash! Thats about as bad as a person selling crack to pregnant women thinking that they are a model citizen because they’re getting money… Getting money doesnt make you positive!
Whites used to get money selling slaves… Does that make it right!? hell no! So selling music that degrades our women, that glorifies crime, and encourages our youth not to do anything when a crime is committed in our neighborhoods is not POSITIVE! Rap is telling our youth that crime sports or music is their only options… “Either you slangin crack rock or you gotta wicked jump shot” No one talks about education!
And im not some bitter dude. I was in the music industry in NYC for years. Have been in the presence of so many record execs. i have had success in the game. I had a kid and left it alone… I could no longer sell my soul…
Hip hop is moving in the same direction that all of the other musical genres that we created have gone. Hip Hop is no longer exclusively a black genre. Whites buy more hip hop than anyone else.
If you recall we also created rock & roll as well as Jazz… Eventually whites took it over. Why!? because we always want something that is exclusive to us. We feel the need to have 100% ownership rights of the things that we create. Well folks… Hip hop is on its way to the whites just like rock & jazz… mark my words…
I think hip-hop is better now…the beats are better,the parity is better(coastal)more people know that it aint goin nowhere,young and old…men and women have stepped it up on the lyrics…You cant even say who’s the best anymore cuz its so many of em’…AND hip-hop just keeps on kickin the governments ass every time they try to ban any part of it.
I LOVE THIS GAME…ON DA GRIND RECORDS…Richmond,Va
And dumb asses keep tryna go against it(yall aint learn from Ron Reagan)Cant Stop,Wont Stop is a book co-written by Kool-Hurc which explains how it all started…a bunch of broke outcasts who love to party(shit aint changed its still oriented from the poorest conditions)Its da Shiyit!!!
Hip-Hop was made by rebels and OUTCASTS!!!Why turn into goodie goodies now hugh?Cuz of a bad name…PLEEEEZE!!!
Yall should target the bootleggers(illegal distributors and software thieves) who fuckin up the money…not the artists(creators of the music and deep thinkers expressin themselves for pay)who gettin robbed for the proceeds.
once it was commercialized hip hop has been on a downward spiral. but its still some positive, you just gotta go UNDERGROUND!!! mainstream stinks like shit and bleach!!
When a child saw a booty shake in a video,I don’t think is gonna jump on all girls he saw and fuck them!We got to stop this discrimination!Sex is a natural thing.If parents have done their work,when they see a rap video,they shouldn’t said”That’s horrible!We got to stop that!”.They should explain the things about sex at their son’s and daughter’s.Seriously what’s wrong with these fools?Who have never seen a booty in his life?Even child know what is a dick or a pussy.They just want to control this business,because if they can’t control one litle thing,they get scared.
One more thing,for all the hip hop haters:go live in any hood,I think you gonna change your opinion fuckin quick and turn up immediatly to hip hop!Hip hop have been created to turn up the negative energy of the gang/The hood to positive energy.I agree that it’s not the same today,But a rapper who talk about drug’s and gun’z his fucking better that the hustler up in the corner who sell his crack to live.This is ride or die,Survival of the fitest,you know what i’m talking about.
I Have talk.Peace everibody
This man is 100% correct… and i quote
“Uhhh, by the way, hip-hop was not just created by black people for black people, it started out with black, white and latinos (ever seen beatstreet, style wars?). Anyway, just a friendly reminder, hip-hop lives and always will, it’s just going through things, like every genre. PEACE!”
I think the person that wrote comment #2 is a douchebag! “It taught me slang”? Who are you, Vanilla Ice? Rap taught you about “the dollar bill”.? Rap is not a tool for the (wanna be) kids of the suburbs to base their fake assed lives around.
I think some one needs to record a hip hop hooked on phonics CD. That way people like “d-ice” might be able to write things we can understand. People Shouldn’t have to read your blog 5 times in row to make sure they understood it.
All of you: Listen to more Immortal Technique. Period.
whats right with hiphop??
common, blackstar, masta ace, nas, and countless others are wat make hiphop (in my opinion)…
and about tha tip drill vid bein inappropriate an stuff. i think i first saw that vid when i was 15.. if my mom was worried about what i was watchin on tv, she shoulda made sure i was in bed wayyy b4 3 wen bet uncut comes on…so kno one is to blame but tha parents…not tha artists who make these vids