Re: Choir girls sharing the gospel of Dre and Snoop
I don't think the problem itself is in the music. All music is good music to somebody, and people buy it for a reason. Sometimes, "kids" buy music because it's popular, even though it may not have any substance to it at all. Worse yet, it may be a concentration of negative feelings or thoughts, which the artist(s) may or may not believe in (but it makes them money).
Like it or not, the Hip-Hop culture is not a black thing or a white thing, just like Nu-Metal (God help us all) wasn't a white thing or a black thing. If an idea in music resonates with someone, they're going to embrace it. It's also a study in nature vs. nurture. If a teenager thinks a certain kind of music or clothing brand is cool, and they want to be cool, they're going to buy those MP3s and that clothing line and they're going to like it, whether they initially like it or not. A person may naturally gravitate toward a certain musical genre based on their upbringing or the crowd they run with, but in the end the choice of what to listen to (if anything at all) is theirs to make.
I don't like very much rap at all, and there are only a few new artists that I care to listen to. I'm not into the pop music scene, I'm not into the emo scene, I'm not into the hip-hop scene, I just like what I like. Depending on the day of the week, if you watched my musical selections, you could form the opinion that I'm a: vintage rocker, punk, hair rocker, thug, blues lover, classical aficionado, metal head, parrot head, redneck, or feminist. But the simple fact of the matter is I listen to what I like, and that doesn't change who I am. Who I am dictates my musical interests.
You can blame rap for bad or absentee parenting all you want. What you're actually seeing is a culture embraced by those who don't know where else to turn. What you saw in the 60's and 70's was a musical revolution born of a rebel spirit that was prevalent in the culture of that time. What you saw in the 90's was people getting away from the glamor and showmanship of the 80's rock.
Please don't be so closed-minded as to think that you know someone based on their musical preference or dress style. People of all cultures are just as similar to you and I as they are different. I thought the video was entertaining, and I think that it was meant as entertainment; as is most music that's produced these days. I like this song, give it a listen with an open mind and you may find out you have something in common with the rap world:
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