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For some when they hear the words hip hop and rap they cringe. They think of the vulgarity that some rappers bring to the table, you know the "bitches" & "hos" aspect of it. But not all rap and hip hop artists focus their music on the disrespect of women or strictly talk about drugs. In fact much of rap and hip hop is a form of poetry and expression by the artists who produce it. With that said, its important to look at some of the history of the music to fully get an understanding as to why it really isn't all "bad". First I think its important to ask, whats the difference between Hip Hop and Rap? According to Kurtis Blow, one of the first rappers on the scene and also known as "Kool DJ Kurt" :
Rap is talking in rhyme to the rhythm of a beat while Hip-hop is a culture, a way of life for a society of people who identify, love, and cherish rap, break dancing, DJing, and graffiti (The History of Rap: Vol.1-The Genesis). Second I think its important to take a look at some artists. For me one of the most controversial rap artists to people over the last few years has been Eminem. Personally, I have a high appreciation for most of Eminem's music, not all of course, but I think that he may be one of the most honest and poetic rappers to hit the scene. He is also by far one of the most vulgar. Heres an excerpt form one of his song, I'm sorry Mama:
"Now I would never diss my own mama just to get recognition
Take a second to listen for who you think this record is dissing
But put yourself in my position, just try to envision
Witnessing your mama popping prescription pills in the kitchen
Bitching that someone's always going through her purse when shit's missing
Going through public housing systems, victim of munchhausen syndrome
My whole life I was made to believe I was sick when I wasn't
'Til I grew up, now I blew up it makes you sick to your stomach, doesn't it?
Wasn't it the reason you made that CD for me, ma?
So you could try to justify the way you treated me, ma?
But guess what, your getting older now and it's cold when your lonely
And Nathan's growing up so quick he's gonna know that your phoney
And Hailie's getting so big now, you should see her, she's beautiful
But you'll never see her, she wont even be at your funeral *hahaha*
See what hurts me the most, is you wont admit you was wrong
Bitch, do this song, keep telling yourself that you was a mom
But how dare you try to take what you didn't help me to get
You selfish bitch, I hope you fucking burn in hell for this shit!
Remember when Ronnie died and you said you wished it was me?
Well guess what, I am dead, dead to you as can be"
When you read the lyrics of this song you can see that he's talking about his life and what happened. It may seem crazy the way that he cusses and calls his mom a bitch but it is clear that this is a way to express himself. Eminem is just one example of artists that use rap as an outlet for their opinions and emotions. I could go on forever with examples but another 2 of my favorite are Kanye West and Common. I won't sit here and provide you a million examples of their lyrics but I will suggest that you look up a song each. For Kanye I'd suggest to look up "Through the Wire" where he talks about his near death accident and for Common I'd suggest the song "Dream" in which he talks about his dream of a better day for African Americans. Oh and one more group I'd suggest taking a look at would be The Roots "Been through the roots".
So overall the point is if you look deeper into Rap & Hip hop you will find that not all of it is really bad at all.
