Thursday 5 July 2012

10 Reasons why people don't like Hip-Hop


This is not a Top 10, but the answers are in some sort of order....

I guess




10. They cannot relate to it
Excuse legitimacy: Average



I really doubt we would be able
to empathise on deeper level.

Many will say they do not like the genre of music due to their inability to relate to the lyrics. Most Hip-Hop comes from the depths of the city, for it is of course, where it originates. I never understood everything, but I don't mind figuring it out. The same can be said about metal or other genres of music. Of course concerning the city culture or ghetto perspective of most artists, some cannot connect, although I struggle to grasp this as an dismiss an entire genre of music. I'll go easy on this one...


9. Laziness (of the artist)
Excuse legitimacy: Reasonable


The Infamous "Notebook" incident. //  Birth of the Blackberry Freestyle.
Canibus further damages his disposition within Hip-Hop taking out a notepad during a rap battle.
A lot of fans criticised him for not at least using an iPad. //  Drake transforms the landscape of Hip-Hop,
"Freestyling" off his Blackberry on Funkmaster Flexs show. This has become quite common & acceptable.

From my perspective, Hip-Hop got REALLY lazy in the early 2000's, a huge percentage of the "artists" stopped trying, we slowly saw the "Age of the Hustler" dawn. Commercial Rap got scared & stopped taking risks, everything became paint by numbers...This excuse is mostly common in former Hip-Hop fans who stopped (or didn't) dig deeper for new material. Even the underground got lazy & got caught in a loop of complaining about the mainstream if not stubbornly making songs that sounded more & more similar. Since the early 2000's & the growth of online music, the spread of different sounds in the genre & dramatically brought the music forward.




8. Over-saturation
Excuse legitimacy: Reasonable



This is your typical group of rappers, almost picture perfect, colour by numbers in
image. You can never truly predict what they have to offer...But I can make a close
guess...
Another feeling from former/part-time Hip-Hop followers, becoming one of the most influential & popular genres of music, while being diverse & simple enough to adapt to or pick up, it's become a common statement that 'Everyone is a Rapper' or 'Wants to be a Rapper'. The over-saturation is understandably unbearable too since every popular media outlet at some point pushes a rapper in your face, these all being the rappers who embody reasons 9, 7, 5, 4, 3 & 1.
The over-saturation of Hip-Hop parodies itself a thousand times over & the amounts of clichés are remarkable. Sadly the only cure for this, is for the art to become less popular, divided up, un-cool or a fruitless hustle.


7. It ALL sounds the SAME
Excuse legitimacy: Absurd



Left to right.
Hodgy Beats pictured in a snapback & retro shades on Instagram. Wiz Khalifa
pictured in a snapback & retro shades on Instagram. Dappy pictured in a snapback & retro shades on Instagram. B.O.B pictured in a snapback & retro shades on Instagram. Drake pictured in retro shades on Instagram. Kid Cudi pictured in retro shades on Instagram.
This is the popular opinion of EVERYONE who know NOTHING about Hip-Hop. A great Emcee has the ability to cross to ANY genre & adapt their style to a point of not even being recognized as Hip-Hop music. This excuse is basically a cover for a bias against the genre, the culture & most quietly, race. Hip-Hop can be found in Metal, Electric, Dance, Alternative, Acoustic & does go on...This excuse means nothing more than; "Out of all of the things force fed to me, I hate this the most".

6. Production style/ethics

Excuse legitimacy: Poor

To me, this is what the sound of Hip-Hop
on the radio would look like to me.
 
This one is close to the last, but a lot more sophisticated. Hip-Hop was created by those with the least musical instruments/expertise, with minimal equipment; a turntable & a microphone. From break & beats from records looped to re-sampling songs & flipping them entirely into something different, it's a characteristic synonymous with the genre. I understand the disappointment of producers not creating their beats entirely, while on the other hand I have learned to appreciate it as an art. Thing is, sampling isn't restricted to Hip-Hop, it's common that other genres to sample songs, in fact it's more common outside of Hip-Hop to remake songs as close to the original possible, whereas in Hip-Hop remakes are much further off & far less original. Besides this though, Hip-Hop has a lot of original production, you just have to find what you like.    

5. General Ignorance/Arrogance

Excuse legitimacy: Average


These guys love to brag about all of the awful things they portray,
it's a basic no loss tactic for a pretentious human being.


Ignorance & Arrogance in Hip-Hop is sadly, vastly, common. Being that Hip-Hop is from the slums, the slums being synonymous with poor education & hostile environments, these create masses of quirky, hilarious characters who'll use anything to make lunch money.

These traits run far & deep, making Hip-Hop a harsh habitat. In every area of Hip-Hop you will get egos floating around people will find intimidating & the music has been used to project this as extensively as possible, creating a stereo-type built up since the early 90's that has evolved into a parodied image the ignorant use with absolutely no regard.

I understand some of these sentiments, since even some of the more conscience artists have said or done some goofy shit. Although in conclusion, I personally feel this is another excuse to dismiss the genre, other genres of music have issues which cross similar borders all the time, Raps image just looks worse due to the copycat nature of many rappers who feel Gangsterism & a thug mentality helps create an more convincing, legitimate front.



4. Offensive lyrics

Excuse legitimacy: Reasonable


2 Live Crews ''Me So Horny", got hit with the ban hammer,
although it's not the first song in the history of music to
get this kind of treatment.
There are some genres of music which have little to no offensive lyrics. Being fair, I won't play by the 'Anything can be offensive' card, Hip-Hop music (I'll finally admit I hate saying "Rap") is well known for its offensive lyrics, some hate the genre for it, or at least use it as another excuse to "dislike" it. In all fairness, disliking the genre, because there are lot of naughty words in it, but if you are going to dismiss an entire genre for such a lazy, uninformed reason, don't be a hypocrite & go easy on other Genres.


Hip-Hop isn't tied down to Rappers who aren't scared to be as vulgar as possible, Christian Hip-Hop (As much as I know) has no swearing, there are many other rappers who also believe in keeping it clean. But I'll go easy on you, it's hard to find what you want when these are you requirements.

3. "Street Culture"
Excuse legitimacy: Average


Once you've completed your orientation of Hip-Hop,
these gentlemen will become your 'Diplomats'. It'll all make
sense when you've arrived.
This is divided into two groups, the people that dislike Hip-Hop because they're scared of the world the music comes from, a compound of guns, fighting, drugs, theft, intimidation, some of the above & saayyy...loud...speaking.


Then there is the second group. This group is part of Number 1 in this list & I'll leave it at that. So focusing on the first group (and completely dismissing the second, until a later on in the list), I can understand it's basically intimidation, but at the same time when becoming dependant on your fear of people, that leads to something worse, with a lot less reasoning behind it, if you are intimidated by Hip-Hop, learn about it, understand it & you will know where you truly stand.


2. They Just don't like it
Excuse legitimacy: Understandable

Okayfinewhatever...
Some people just ain't feeling a majority of the beats, the rhymes or the style. It's just a taste thing...I mean it's a little ignorant to me, because I believe; even if you don't like an genre of music, there will be at least one song from that said genre you will like. Of course, I know that is all opinion & theory, people vibe to what reaches them & sometimes digging through an entire genre filled with common styles you don't like isn't worth the effort.


1. Discrimination 
Excuse legitimacy: Preposterous

Shit is depressing.
An enormous percentage of the time when someone shows a large amount of contempt towards Hip-Hop music/Rap, they'll use one of the above excuses as an excuse for their discontent towards it...These are the people who inspired me to write this long ass motherfucking post, with shit grammar from this goofy nigga!


These are the people who go around saying Hip-Hop is the reason MTV is an awful fucking channel. These are the people who go around saying Hip-Hop is not a real form of music & are willing to have a full on argument as to why it isn't. These are the people who want it censored, banned, erased from all forms of media & never spoken of again.
This is simply because these people are PREJUDICE, I was originally going to write RACIST, but it's even deeper than that. As time has passed by & I seen an art I love, get abused by the people within it & outside it at the same time, I tried to figure out their reasoning. Within, it's basic, Greed, on the outside though, people, like who I stated in Number 3: Are intimidated by it & therefore being to discriminate, leading onto prejudice of all connected to it, whatever race.


That's not where it ends, because Hip-Hop is THE most powerful new comer in music, no genre since has had the influence on the world it has, positive or negative.
What probably makes Hip-Hop quietly & truly a culture (as broken as it currently may be), is the prejudice against it, because unlike hating on metal, Hip-Hop isn't just the music, it's a way of living & people use rap to discriminate against the whole idea. I probably sound radical right now, but I've seen enough to know the different between difference of taste & straight prejudice.


The mixed race & cultures accepted into Hip-Hop is proof of this too, because these very same people, will show hostility or indifference to them too. All cultures project good & bad, but hating one & all within it, indiscriminately, is evidence of blind prejudice & nothing any different from Racism. 

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