What's Happening???

tumbling.dice · Sep 20, 2018

TipsyGypsy said: ↑

Why are the barefooters now after me?!
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If they're harassing you report them.

Driftrue · Sep 20, 2018

Noserider said: ↑

I like rap for three main reasons: Information, innovation, and intimacy.

Information...
As the great urban poet Chuck D once said, "Rap is CNN for black folks." What he meant by that was that rap music reflected the harsh realities faced by black America. The mainstream media told us crack was a thing; they never told us what that meant to a community. We knew minorities were poor, but we didn't really know about the desperations of poor people. We were aware of racism, but had no clue what it felt like to be discriminated against. We knew black Americans faced unique struggles that us privileged white people growing up in cul-de-sacs didn't deal with, but we were completely, totally, absolutely ignorant to what any of these struggles were. Rap music became this lightning rod through which frustrated black people in our inner cities channeled their messages. It was CNN for black folks in the sense that it tackled subjects black people were aware of and cared about, but it was CNN for white people in the sense that it educated us on what was going on in our cities, and what was happening to our fellow Americans. I grew up in a small New Hampshire town about 45 minutes outside of Boston. You think I had any clue what was happening in places like the South Bronx, Bedford-Stuyvesant, or Compton? Not until Boogie Down, Biggie, and NWA told me what was happening.

I think rap has a misunderstood reputation of glorifying crime and violence. I don't think it's glorifying anything; it's showing us the unpleasant truths associated with these things. I don't listen to these songs and go, "fuck yeah, I want to be a gangsta!" I go, "thank God I'm an upper-middle-class white lady who doesn't have to deal with any of this." Basically, rap shined a light on a very dark corner of our society and enlightened people like myself.

These "reports" from our inner city ghettos opened my eyes wide. I would equate our modern day urban poets with Jacob Riis: They have shown us privileged people how the other half lives. But more importantly, they broke down racial barriers in ways never before achieved. For the first time, white kids had black people as cultural icons. Tupac Shakur was as important to my generation's voice as was Kurt Cobain or Kathleen Hanna. Rap music brought us a little closer together; it narrowed the gap between the suburbs and the inner cities. It educated us.

Innovation...
Rap was born at a time when our leaders decided to cut public school funding in our inner cities. The post-World War II baby boom and gentrification in American cities shifted around demographics, and suddenly, money had fled from cities. What were once affluent Irish, Italian, or Jewish neighborhoods were now poor black and Puerto Rican neighborhoods. With poverty rates climbing, tax revenue declined, and city leaders began putting less and less money into these neighborhoods. Whole generations of kids were growing up without things like art and music being taught in their public schools. They had no access to things like musical instruments. We just...decided they didn't need those things. We took away their ability to create...to paint, to dance, to make music. And then, this happened...

They made their own dance...

They made their own art...

They made their own music...

They made their own culture. Hip hop, to me, represents the artistic voice of a people who couldn't be silenced. And it's beautiful. MCs have gone on to develop a reliance on literary techniques that would cause most writers to blush. Remember, these weren't people who went to college. They don't come from an upper class educated background. But they make great use of things like literary allusion, alteration, and metaphors and similes.

Allusion is a brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance. It does not describe in detail the person or thing to which it refers.
This is a clever double entendre. In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck flees home with the slave Jim. So in a very literal sense, he was taking his "nigga" out on an adventure. However, in 2011 a publisher began putting out versions of the book with the N-word removed and replaced with the term slave--literally taking "nigga" out of Huck Finn. So is Black Thought alluding to the plot of the novel? Or the censorship of it? Or both? Either way, it makes the listener both think and acknowledge that Black Thought has more insight on the topic than the average Joe. That's right. Rappers are inventive of language and incredibly intelligent. You have to be to pull off this level of word play.

Aliteration...we all know that Peter Piper picked a pack of pickled peppers (and Run rocked rhymes) and that Sally sells seashells by the seashore, but how many of us can actually say it?
I can't even read that, but Naughty by Nature's Treach can spit it out with rapid-fire intensity. A good tongue twister said perfectly is pleasing to the ear and warrants a certain level of respect. Again, these are classic literary techniques that writers work for years to master. Rappers, by default, are artistically-gifted orators who have mastered certain literary devices that elude all but the best of writers. These guys aren't studying this stuff. They just get it. In some ways, one could argue, these folks are just geniuses.

Or how about the use of the Wild West as a metaphor for living in America's ghettos?

Or Talib Kweli's use of similes?

Capped like an NBA salary. Oh. My. God. That's brilliant. And the line about Mickey and Mallory, Kweli actually combines a literary allusion to the Oliver Stone film Natural Born Killers with a simile. Why rap lyrics aren't dissected in English classes and given the same reverence as poetry is beyond me, but whatever.

Lastly, I find rap to be the most pure and intimate music form. There is little disconnect between artist and fan. It is raw and unpredictable. Rappers say whatever they want, other people's sensibilities be damned. There is a strong DIY ethic, and--if I may be so bold--rap seems to me to be an offshoot of punk rock. It's not overly self-indulgent. It's a basic, stripped down music form that emphasizes the message over the packaging. Rap is music for people who have something to say. And what they have to say is the purpose of rap music. Black America is talking, white America is listening, and rap is the device through which these previously disparate communities are now communicating. So, no. You're not going to have 20-minute drum solos in a rap song. But you're going to have a message.
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That was GOOD.

I think maybe I should be a rapper because I'm good at Peter Piper and the seashells, so I tried those lyrics and it wasn't hard. I've just realised a talent.

Meliai · Sep 20, 2018

Neo's post should be a sticky in the music forum (if HF still does those) so that when someone says rap music has no merit for the 4774747474th time, we can simply point them in the direction of the sticky.

Driftrue · Sep 20, 2018

I think it would make a good magazine article.

guerillabedlam · Sep 20, 2018

Meliai said: ↑

Neo's post should be a sticky in the music forum (if HF still does those) so that when someone says rap music has no merit for the 4774747474th time, we can simply point them in the direction of the sticky.
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It was a great post but if she can justify the merit of mumble rap she might be a miracle worker.

Aerianne · Sep 20, 2018

The last two JW that have dropped in on my day have been the laziest men I've ever had trespass on my property.

They drive really big, expensive vehicles and pull all the way up to the garage/carport of your house hoping to get you to come out to the vehicle rather than them having to walk 10 ft. to leave their cult newspapers with you.

Pisses me off, especially since the kids are out of school this week and many are home alone.

If this guy was a kidnapper, it would be difficult to see him getting a kid into his truck because he's pulled up so tight to the actual house.

Noserider · Sep 20, 2018

guerillabedlam said: ↑

It was a great post but if she can justify the merit of mumble rap she might be a miracle worker.
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Someone would have to explain it to me first, because I just don't "get" mumble rap.

Meliai · Sep 20, 2018

I dont know that there is anything to get. I think it is just bad.

guerillabedlam · Sep 20, 2018

Noserider said: ↑

Someone would have to explain it to me first, because I just don't "get" mumble rap.
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I think it requires a significant xanax or opioid habit.

Aerianne · Sep 20, 2018

Aerianne · Sep 20, 2018

SpacemanSpiff · Sep 20, 2018

Meliai said: ↑

Neo's post should be a sticky in the music forum (if HF still does those) so that when someone says rap music has no merit for the 4774747474th time, we can simply point them in the direction of the sticky.
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wrong section

rap isnt music

Meliai · Sep 20, 2018

SpacemanSpiff said: ↑

wrong section

rap isnt music
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Please refer to Neo's post. Thx. Xoxo

SpacemanSpiff · Sep 20, 2018

Meliai said: ↑

Please refer to Neo's post. Thx. Xoxo
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is it about rap?

mallyboppa · Sep 20, 2018

TipsyGypsy said: ↑

Why are the barefooters now after me?!
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Stick to your socks mate !

Meliai · Sep 20, 2018

SpacemanSpiff said: ↑

is it about rap?
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It is about art

Aerianne · Sep 20, 2018

Those two pics were supposed to be in Virtual Wilderness thread but, oh well. It doesn't hurt to share a little sunshine here.

SpacemanSpiff · Sep 20, 2018

Meliai said: ↑

It is about art
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should be in the art section then

McFuddy · Sep 20, 2018

Total Darkness · Sep 20, 2018

TipsyGypsy said: ↑

Why are the barefooters now after me?!
Click to expand...

Because you're wearing socks in your avi.

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