One, two, three and to the fo’ Snoop Doggy Dogg and Dr. Dre is at the do’/Ready to make an entrance, so back on up cause you know we’re bout to rip shit up.

And God said, let there be “crap music.” This verse from “Nuthin’ but a G Thang,” a budding track on The Chronic, was a 16 track blunt that got the game lifted. A game that was once captivated by the Edutainment of BDP, was Liscensed to Ill with the Beastie Boys and entertained Mecca and the Soul Brotha while kickin’ it with Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth. But when The Chronic came on the scene, rap was clearly too cool to hang out with hip-hop, so they went drastically different directions.

Welcome to the Bronze era (1992-2006), which began brewing with N.W.A’s ignorantly titled Niggaz 4 Life. The release of this album subsequently sacked rap behind the line of scrimmage, the good ole’ Jim Crow days. This album set a record for the number of times the word “nigga” was uttered (see Bambozled, very relevant supplement to this discussion), and thus we embraced our oppressor. Do you remember way back, when they used to treat us like lazy, hyper sexual, a-moral(sub-human) animals? Society would destroy blacks through violence (lyching, mob violence),false portrayals and flaunt privileges while we struggled for less, much much less. Crap music does the exact same thing today, except this time we are castrating ourselves. Lean and rock with that.

Rap originated from Hip-Hop music, which was once designed to vindicate voices often ignored or marginalized in society. Today’s societal climate promotes rap as a money making marionette designed to create stereotypes, endorse extreme levels of violence, and depict women strictly as an opportunity to attain an orgasm.

Yes, The Chronic was one of the most influential albums in music, but it was hardly conducive to the progressive nature of the message (intelligently scribed into the music). The issues on the this album were very touchy and taboo so its content made for a satisfying gangster rap smorgasbord. Yet and still, its hard to deny the crude content of the album. Examples please: “Bitchez ain’t Shit,” “Fuck wit Dre Day,” “Nigga wit a Gun,” “Stranded on Death Row.” Wow, what type of message is being sent to the audience? Good question author, clearly the message is not supportive of conventional wisdom, or any wisdom for that matter. I’m sure these titles fit the songs fairly well, but the implicit message is certainly pro-crap and anti-Hip-Hop.

This is where “gangster rap,” began to destroy the artistic vision of Hip-Hop music. Albums such as: Doggystyle, Dogg Food, Regulate and Thug Life were also chief contributors. Don’t get me wrong, I love these albums, I know them like I wrote the lyrics. My point is, that these albums encouraged the oversaturation of street anthems, thugisms, nihilism, and getting high over graduating from high school mentality. The last decade of popular rap, by at large has been an embarassment to black people, Hip-Hop music and music as a whole.

From 1993(Bronze Era) until now, we have seen a clear decline in the appropriate representation of Hip-Hop music in the mainstream. Society consists of different ideals, beliefs and lifestyles, so why does the music industry and radio stations believe we are all killers, pimps, block huggin’ hustlas, and sexually crazed dim wits? I’ve got an answer for you: because we literally buy into such trickery and overlook other facets of the genre.

Radio stations and record companies are based on consumer tastes, or the frequency to which we tune into a particular radio station. The only way crap music will survive is if we support it. Shame the devil, boycott radio stations that don’t cater to all listeners. Boycott record labels that exploit artists for capital gain and sell our community crack..I..I mean, poor values and shallow song substance. A brief list of essential Hip-Hop starts with these kats: Wordsworth,Edan, Intalect, Ghostface, Symmetry, Brand Nubian, Apathy, Pharoahe Monch, M.F. Doom, AZ, Papoose, Saigon, Canibus and Ras Kass to say the least. These emcees fill a niche in the game that no one else can. They possess seminal skills, realistic rhymes, clever concepts, personality and intelligence, no less. I know you haven’t been sleepin’ on prolific emcees such as these?

Dance tracks are cool, and booty shaking music ain’t bad every now and then (hey, thats where the most fun is sometimes). The real problem is disproportionality. All aspects of music should be represented equally. If not, my little cousins will learn more about rims and platinum grills than the arenas of society that will actually benefit them. Ignorance is certainly bliss, and its ugly head rears when people cannot afford anything they see on TV, but still lust over it (and will practically die for it).

Stop fantasizing, what’s on TV is not your reality, phone home and come back down to earth. The wealth in life comes from knowledge of self, knowledge of the world and prudent application of both. Until rap ends its Jim Crow, Uncle Tom, and Amos ‘N’ Andy impersonations, it will continue to cripple the profound artistic influence of Hip-Hop music.

So, return to the roots of the music, as well as the “Golden Era of Hip-Hop.” We need to bring the drums back like Run DMC on “Sucker MC’s.” Once the rhythm of the drum reasonates, the rhymes will elevate.Then we must look at our problems, discuss them in the music and reveal the horrid realities through stories and morality tales, like “Hey Young World” by Slick Rick, or “Love’s Gonna Getcha” by BDP. Songs like these never excluded the dispair of the ghetto, but they hinted at a remedy. It’s like Tribe Called Quest’s theory on Beats, Rhymes and Life. . All of these elements are intriguing and intricate parts of one profound whole.

Shaking like a “Saltshaker” is okay for a while, but we must discuss our lives in their entirety, the problems and solutions, the good and the bads, or we are not “keeping it real” with others, much less ourselves.

As we speak, our culture is living a lie because we don’t honor this formula. Word to everything I love: Hip-Hop is one of the only genre’s that has the potential to pull a Jesus, by dying one day and being resurrected soon after. Hey, if Reverend Run can make a comeback, why can’t we? Hip-Hop fans, this is a call to action, support genuine Hip-Hop music, not high-casuality, low-quaity Crap music.

Thursday says:

“Consciousness is King”

3 Responses to “Rapping of Mass Destruction”

1. JtothaI Says:
   April 5th, 2006 at 5:04 pm

   There has always been what you define as “Crap Music” and it existed pre “Chronic” era. What about Too $hort? What about Digital Underground? (both artists I wouldn’t be able to live without) Generalizing Hip-Hop into two-halfs like you have done with the “golden” and “bronze” eras makes no sense.

   I like and support Brand Nubian, Ras Kass, and some of the others you mentioned as much as I do Eazy-E, NWA, Lil Wayne, etc., I support what I like. Of course a return to the golden era would be nice, i think it to myself and discuss it with friends all the time, but its not going to happen. All you can do is support the artists that make the music that moves you, whether it moves you spiritually, mentally or literally at the clubs. Yes, the amount of support a lot of “crap” music gets at radio, retail, and TV is insane, but there is little the average joe can do to change that. All we can do is support the artists/music we like by purchasing their product, attending their shows and promoting them to our acquaintances.

   I’m probobly going off on a tangent here but when you say that “Radio stations and record companies are based on consumer tastes” you are absolutely right, so its obvious that SOMOENE out there likes “Crap” music. Does it suck that so many people do, sure. Would I love to hear the radio filled with the type of Hip-Hop I like? Of course. I think if given the chance, people listening to commerical radio would definately be intested in a lot of the artists I like that get no radio play, all they need is the chance to hear them, but the majority of the people listening to mainstream radio are looking for quick satisfaction, they don’t want to have to seek it out through the internet, obscure magazines or filthy, grimy venues, they want to flip on the dial and have it waiting for them.

   Until someone (are you listening indie artists, producers, etc?) decides to put their money where their mouths are then the majority of people who are instersted in just listening to watever is on the radio will continue listening to whatever comes on. Why haven’t some of these successfull artists making quality music tried to purchase a radio station, tried to get a show on in dirve time on a radio station? Non-”Crap” music needs somehwere to advertise, if there was a radio show or station that catered to non-”Crap” music audience, you could easily fill radio spots from like artists trying to promote their music.

   In LA, KDAY is back on the airwaves. Back in the day it was THEE station to break new music from all coasts, something they were respected for. Today in their new incarnation they are playing a lot of the same music they did back then because there is an audience for it, but spread throughout that music is all the “Crap” music of today. If non-”Crap” music was broke right next to the 50 Cent, 2Pac, Cash Money (music you think is “crap”) the people listening for the old school stuff would almost certainly gravitate towards some of the new music that deserves to be heard because it will remind them of the “golden” era music and now they are being exposed to new music they probobly never would have. The people listeing to the “crap” music may even like some of the music bein broken, and maybe now some of this non-”crap” music would get in rotation and be requested. But no, no one there in programming has the balls to do it.

   Back to issue at hand…BASICALLY my point is if you support what you like and worry less about what other people like then at least the artists you support will hopefully become financially stable enough to continue making the music you want to hear and won’t have to conform to be heard, they will be getting paid regardless of Clearchannel.

   PS. Reverand Run hasn’t “made” a comeback? Have you heard his shitty music or seen that awful video?

2. Get Ya Mind Right Says:
   April 5th, 2006 at 5:25 pm

   […] So I’ve been checking out this new site, FreshOut Media and found some interesting stuff there on various genres of music. Then today I see THIS editoral about “Crap” Music that got me to type an essay of a response that I figured I’d post here (i took all that time to type it, why not?) Here are a few excperts that got me typing away, of course they are taken out of context so head over there and read them in their entirety if you’re that interested)… Welcome to the Bronze era (1992-2006), which began brewing with N.W.A’s ignorantly titled Niggaz 4 Life. The release of this album subsequently sacked rap behind the line of scrimmage, the good ole’ Jim Crow days. […]

3. JtothaI Says:
   April 5th, 2006 at 5:42 pm

   Sorry for the double post, bur re-reading that, I really shouldn’t be telling anyone to “worry less about what other people are listening to,” because in reality I do all the time for some reason, maybe because I am too passionate about what I like. But would be nice if we didn’t, wouldn’t it?

Give the Author Some Feedback!