they got rap surrounded

Apr 18, 2007

they got rap surrounded · by Brandon Soderberg

Besides the aesthetic and emotional reasons that I enjoy rap music, I love rap’s ability to challenge everybody’s core values. What does the left say about music developed and indeed, still tightly connected to a minority group that often “degrades” another minority group? What does the right say about a music that is the “up from your boot straps” mentality defined, that is grossly capitalistic, but not conventionally moralistic? Rap can expose the weird in-betweens that all of us are unwilling to address and often, cannot reconcile. The inability of either side of the political spectrum to properly discuss rap should bring a smile to the face of anyone that is not a dyed-in-the-wool liberal or conservative, and any serious rap fan that knows just how wonderfully weird this rap shit can be.

The left at least, should be credited for finally taking a side. Most have come out against the “degrading” lyrics they willingly hear, maintaining their conventional role as knee-jerk, politically-correct police. The right is, unsurprisingly, hypocritical on the issue. Radically opposed to rap on moral grounds, acting as though they are discerning in their ongoing discussions of the “double standard”, the right take a decidedly oppositional approach to the music. Michelle Malkin’s article, at first glance, is insightful but quickly falls apart with any actual thought given to her presentation. She essentially copied and pasted the lyrics for each rap song on the Billboard top 10, added minimal comment, and offers no solution. I guess it’s a kind of pseudo-powerful “speaks for itself” type thing but it’s really the kind of knee-jerk contrarianism people like her accuse the left of all the time.

The right often labels the left as nothing but complainers, reminding us of the schools being built in Iraq and other things to contrast with the left’s anti-war stance but on the issue of rap, it is the right who refuse to find any good in the music. Crime Mob, dumb or not, have something of a feminist undertone to their music, as the female rappers more than hold their own. ‘Rock Yo Hips’ is something of a dialogue, hardly insightful but not utterly devoid of something notable. Malkin eschews “innocent until proven guilty” in relation to R. Kelly even as she critiques Al Sharpton etc. for doing the same to the unfortunate Duke students and is ‘I’m a Flirt’ even a rap song? The line between popular rap and popular R & B is rather porous, so Ciara’s ‘Like A Boy’, a song about actual “double standards,” not the kind Imus pathetically cited to cover his ass, contrasts with Malkin’s single-minded focus and is ignored.

Similarly glossed-over is ‘I Tried’ by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, listed at #10 on the charts. Exception to the rule or not, it is troubling that Malkin could not find something positive to say about a track that contains only one curse word and is the kind of song that someone of any political persuasion couldn’t help but be touched by. What rap music would Malkin approve of? There’s no hint of it in the article. Like the liberals she often criticizes, Malkin defines her opinions by what they are not rather than what they are. At least the left enjoy rap in theory, and once in a while stoop down to its level, the same way they give their Starbucks change to that one hobo with the particularly creative or witty “help me” sign.

This is the best that should be expected from people outside of the rap culture but it is even more problematic that so many of rap’s fans do pretty much the same thing. Rap is never good enough and the negative aspects are overwhelmingly talked up. In the name of preserving the culture or preventing hip hop’s demise, these fans criticize but never praise, reminding me of the same dissatisfaction of those talking heads on NPR or Fox News.

As Kanye West and Outkast became the most visible rappers of 2004, as Common two years ago, and Lupe Fiasco a year ago, had singles on the radio, few if any hip hop haters of the left or right seemed to care. Those of us within the culture, aware of the intricacies and complexities, do not demand our rappers be overtly political or political at all, nor do they need to be as milquetoast as the ones listed above but still, this was tangible evidence of something interesting occurring on the radio in this post-Puffy era that went relatively under-discussed.

Sure, Mike Jones talked about the same shit on every song but wasn’t there something charming in his mix of self-promotion and self-deprecation? The trap-rap trend is certainly problematic but it is even more troubling that so many couldn’t find anything to embrace in the music of Clipse or even Young Jeezy. Lil’ Wayne is the latest victim of this rap factionalism, as he is held up as either the truth or a nonsense-spouter; neither opinion benefits rap or the rapper. Personally, I don’t like Lil’ Wayne, in fact I kind of loathe him, but compared to the rest of what is on the radio right now, he’s at least rapping and saying some interesting stuff in an interesting way. He also has some pop appeal and has the potential to say relevant things (‘Georgia Bush’) but he’s not this or that, so he’s dismissed by one side or the other.

I understand the tendency in a fan to only embrace that which they really, actually like, I’ve wasted plenty of time hating-on granola boy Common and the just plain-creepy Weezy F. Baby, but when this shit is on Fox News, it’s time for us all to be a little more objective.

Comments for "they got rap surrounded"

The big problem with this entire conversation is that the people having it, at least the ones having it publicly and visibly, are not people with anything invested in rap as an art form. There is no utility to be found in a conservative country fan (I’m being generous; Michelle Malkin probably prefers Italian fascist marches) debating a liberal classic rock listener on the merits of hip-hop. It’s like trying to fix your car by consulting a plumber and an accountant.

— tps12 Apr 18, 10:46 AM
I’m willing to take the totally uncool-in-hip-hop-blogs position that Michelle Malkin, Al Sharpton, et. al. are totally right about [much of mainstream] hip-hop’s responsibility for (1) the increasing popularization of degrading depictions of women, (2) the glorification of the drug trade, especially among poor Black youth, and (3) the “mistrelization” of Black culture as perceived by whites.

Sure, not every hip-hop artist is to blame for the art’s worst examples, so it’s unfair to blame “hip-hop” as a monolithic category, but its equally unfair to use examples of positivity in hip-hop as an argument that hip-hop doesn’t share blame for the aforementioned social ills.

Mainstream rap music isn’t just an art form, its an intensely-marketed commercial enterprise. For poor, disenfranchised youth, looking for some sign that there’s hope for them, there’s nothing more irresistible than a a rap video’s depiction of someone who looks like them, dresses like them, came from their same socioeconomic background, sitting in a room full of naked women, with money raining down all around them, and exciting music playing in the background. Rap music sells more than music, it sells an idea about what constitutes success and quality and beauty. Many of these kids are looking for male role-models, and Young Jeezy and Snoop Dogg and all these other cats make money by filling in that void with their own irresistible versions of what life could be like. To say that the impact of these artists’ music on the minds of young people isn’t enormous is to put one’s head in the sand.

The other side of this is that white people, largely disconnected from the day-to-day life of your average, everyday black person, form their ideas about black people from these depictions in rap music and rap videos. From experience being a white person and living in white communities, I can attest that the typical white person’s image of a black person has less to do with reality and more to do with these media images. And its largely the fault of these artists, and the corporations that support them, who market these images so heavily to white people.

I’m at work.. So I better end it there.. But I just think that the unwillingness to recognize the obvious impact that popular rap has on our culture really prevents a serious discussion on these issues.

— jamie radford Apr 18, 10:54 AM
“The other side of this is that white people, largely disconnected from the day-to-day life of your average, everyday black person, form their ideas about black people from these depictions in rap music and rap videos. From experience being a white person and living in white communities..”

So being a white person from a white community, you’re just completely talking out of your ass when you make all these claims as to how rap music has completely destroyed the moral fiber of black America and blah blah blah… look, just do us all a favor and stop listening to the music if you think it’s so evil, and for the love of god stop talking about it.

— mothership Apr 18, 12:39 PM
Jamie-
While I appreciate your thoughts on my article, I must say you should give people a little more credit than that.

Having taught at an “at-risk” alternative school in Baltimore (in the city, at-risk usually means black), I can attest to the fact that many of these kids, while in love with Rick Ross (this was over the summer) treat it quite similarly to pop music. These kids, all of whom had a record, can very quickly pick-up the difference between reality and fantasy.

Second, in terms of whites and blacks as well, you are using what is generally referred to as “old racial politics”. Old in the sense that the culture, the world, etc. etc. isn’t as it once was. It is hardly perfect but to suggest that white people still obtain all of their information on black people from rap music is absurd. White people, particularly the ones under 30, those buying rap music, are not race-retarded as you portray them.

You must give human beings some credit. Your response is Exhibit A of what my article was discussing. Giving a few seconds to the “positive” and then focusing overwhelmingly on the negative and blowing-up its impact.

Rap is so damned weird, that someone like Rich Boy can have a HUGE hit and most people over 25 have no idea who he is. The rap that Malkin, Sharpton etc. are coming out against is some weird outdated idea of rap music (tps12’s comment explained it well). In 2007 or 1995, the same criticisms of rap are being used. Al Sharpton sees no difference between Wu Tang or Huey, you know?

— brandonsoderberg Apr 18, 12:42 PM
I might write a blog on this later.. I have a lot of thoughts to share re: the two responses to my comment. Too bad I’m so slammed at work today. But, just briefly, I think that the “old politics” are still alive and well, and that your average American is indeed fairly race-retarded.

As for the comment above that, chastising me for, as a white person, speaking to the effect of rap music on black youth, I don’t think that people of one race are precluded from analysing the situation of people from another race. Sociologists, etc. do this all the time. And most of my feelings developed from working in an educational setting, with a group of mostly young black kids, who I formed bonds with, and learned a lot from both about their culture and rap music’s intense effect on their lives.

Also, mothership, I don’t just talk about and listen to rap music, I’ve been creating it for years, and I feel like that gives me some license to comment on it.

Anyway.. back to work…

— jamie radford Apr 18, 12:53 PM
I’m positively shocked that minstrels were brought up in this discussion.

— R.H.S. Apr 18, 01:26 PM
Yeah, I don’t know…I’m going to go ahead and say that: Jamie Radford…you are fucking lame. Taking the link off your name might help your argument a bit more. Clicking on your link gives one access to some of worst album art ever and probably the most worthless blog I’ve ever read…“the freedom to be reckless”...c’mon…lets be serious here…
Also, I’m calling that mothership is on to something…but only in relation to this guy…who is truely unaware of what he is talking about…

— that guy Apr 18, 01:28 PM
Can’t the pantywaists who get the heeby-jeebies from listening to the scary rap singing just go back to listening to fucking Tracy Chapman already?

— R.H.S. Apr 18, 01:35 PM
please go to this link…you’ll never believe it….actually, you will..and then it will all make perfect sense

— that guy Apr 18, 01:38 PM
R.H.S-
Tracy Chapman is bad too! Her song ‘Fast Car’ is appalling, telling those oh-so confused black people to drive all fast and such…

— brandonsoderberg Apr 18, 01:41 PM
Truly reckless men do not own convenient specialty brushed for safely cleaning out wine glasses

— R.H.S. Apr 18, 01:49 PM
This entire post and conversation in the comments is nauseating. What the hell is this even about? Has the team been given liscense to just go off on ill conceived tangents about whatever they want?

— bullshit police Apr 18, 01:57 PM
OhWord Records present: “License To Ill-Conceived Tangents About Whatever They Want” LP in stores Neveruary 56th

— R.H.S. Apr 18, 01:59 PM
“That guy.” Congratulations on your manly ad hom attacks on me and my art, all made behind the veil of internet anonymity. Let me know when you learn how to create something rather than make feeble attempts to bring other folks down.

I’m disappointed that my attempts to make reasoned arguments were responded to mostly by personal attacks.

And I always keep my wine glasses clean, believe that.

— jamie radford Apr 18, 02:00 PM
Yeah but the thing is you’d be so much happier listening to Tracy Chapman and UB40 and DC Talk, so why not end the misery of having to listen to those horrible inner-city black rappers and be Audi already, dun?

— R.H.S. Apr 18, 03:08 PM
I’m disturbed by the notion that “the left has come out against degrading lyrics” like it’s really that simple. I’ve been labeled “left” and “liberal” and all sorts of other terms that get used in hateful ways when you live in the heartland, but if the shoe fits I’ll wear it and say as the person who archives these “degrading lyrics” that I’ve supported art for art’s sake all along. There are plenty of rappers I find personally disturbing (I love Necro’s beats but his rhymes are just vile) but I recognize that not all artistic expression is beautiful. Since art is subjective to the individual, I see my role as kin to a librarian. In other words, a library’s curator may consider an autobiography of a serial killer disturbing and feel uneasy at putting it on the shelf, but they would feel even more uneasy NOT putting it on the shelf because it is the first step on a slippery slope to censorship. I live comfortably with the rap songs that are disturbing and vile because they’re part and parcel of the same hip-hop art that creates beautiful songs like “Swan Lake.” Life is not a box of chocolates, sometimes there are turds in the box too. You accept that and try to carefully pick out the chocolates, but every once in a while someone blurs the lines even further and covers a turd in chocolate (catchy pop rap song with vapid misogynistic lyrics and violent nihilism). Use your sense of taste and smell and pick out what’s good to you, and if somebody likes chocolate covered turds that’s their business – it’s a free country; or at least it USED to be.

— DJ Flash Apr 18, 03:36 PM
RHS — Alright man, you’re right.. I have no right to listen to rap music, based on my opinion that much of it is destructive. I’ll just quit and listen exclusively to Traci Chapman et al.

What an ass.

— jamie radford Apr 18, 03:50 PM
aw man…DJ Flash…I guess you are first liberal martyr….a real fuckin’ philosopher.

still flossin’- that guy

— that guy Apr 18, 04:58 PM
good post & some thoughtful comments from Flash & Radford.

Ignore the nameless bitchmades that try to kill the discussion with random ad hominem attacks.

— NoMamesBuey Apr 18, 07:56 PM
one thing that annoys me is the amount of Americans that spew & accept association fallacies.

As an example, the MSM always labels rap as myognyist or otherwise evil, ignoring the Commons/Kwelis/etc.

Of course they never do this with other music genres. Otherwise, they would be denouncing Norah Jones as having “satanic lyrics” by association of being in the same rock music genre as Marilyn Manson.

— NoMamesBuey Apr 18, 07:59 PM
at the other end of the spectrum, you got Little Wayne stans constantly spewing association fallacies.

These Wayne Staynes holler non-stop on the XXL Blog that any criticism of their hero Wayne is an attack on the entire South region, as well as anyone born in 1980s (ironically Wayne YOB = 1979)

— NoMamesBuey Apr 18, 08:02 PM
The talking heads in the MSM are criticizing
1 Imus
2 rap artists

Why is no one criticizing mAnn Coulter & Michael Savage, who have said more racist, xenophobic, & sexist comments than Imus + all rappers combined?

— NoMamesBuey Apr 18, 08:09 PM
“George Bush is a gangsta.” – 50 Cent

— DC Apr 19, 12:48 AM
Eloquently conveyed

— Swag Diesel Apr 19, 07:40 PM

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