New rap problem: criticism from within

By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP Music Writer
Wed Feb 28, 7:33 PM ET


Enjoy..



NEW YORK - Maybe it was the umpteenth coke-dealing anthem or soft-porn music video. Perhaps it was the preening antics that some call reminiscent of Stepin Fetchit.

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The turning point is hard to pinpoint. But after 30 years of growing popularity, rap music is now struggling with an alarming sales decline and growing criticism from within about the culture's negative effect on society.

Rap insider Chuck Creekmur, who runs the leading Web site Allhiphop.com, says he got a message from a friend recently "asking me to hook her up with some Red Hot Chili Peppers because she said she's through with rap. A lot of people are sick of rap ... the negativity is just over the top now."

The rapper Nas, considered one of the greats, challenged the condition of the art form when he titled his latest album "Hip-Hop is Dead." It's at least ailing, according to recent statistics: Though music sales are down overall, rap sales slid a whopping 21 percent from 2005 to 2006, and for the first time in 12 years no rap album was among the top 10 sellers of the year. A recent study by the Black Youth Project showed a majority of youth think rap has too many violent images. In a poll of black Americans by The Associated Press and AOL-Black Voices last year, 50 percent of respondents said hip-hop was a negative force in American society.

Nicole Duncan-Smith grew up on rap, worked in the rap industry for years and is married to a hip-hop producer. She still listens to rap, but says it no longer speaks to or for her. She wrote the children's book "I Am Hip-Hop" partly to create something positive about rap for young children, including her 4-year-old daughter.

"I'm not removed from it, but I can't really tell the difference between Young Jeezy and Yung Joc. It's the same dumb stuff to me," says Duncan-Smith, 33. "I can't listen to that nonsense ... I can't listen to another black man talk about you don't come to the 'hood anymore and ghetto revivals ... I'm from the 'hood. How can you tell me you want to revive it? How about you want to change it? Rejuvenate it?"

Hip-hop also seems to be increasingly blamed for a variety of social ills. Studies have attempted to link it to everything from teen drug use to increased sexual activity among young girls.

Even the mayhem that broke out in Las Vegas during last week's NBA All-Star Game was blamed on hip-hoppers. "(NBA Commissioner) David Stern seriously needs to consider moving the event out of the country for the next couple of years in hopes that young, hip-hop hoodlums would find another event to terrorize," columnist Jason Whitlock, who is black, wrote on AOL.

While rap has been in essence pop music for years, and most rap consumers are white, some worry that the black community is suffering from hip-hop — from the way America perceives blacks to the attitudes and images being adopted by black youth.

But the rapper David Banner derides the growing criticism as blacks joining America's attack on young black men who are only reflecting the crushing problems within their communities. Besides, he says, that's the kind of music America wants to hear.

"Look at the music that gets us popular — 'Like a Pimp,'," says Banner, naming his hit.

"What makes it so difficult is to know that we need to be doing other things. But the truth is at least us talking about what we're talking about, we can bring certain things to the light," he says. "They want (black artists) to shuck and jive, but they don't want us to tell the real story because they're connected to it."

Criticism of hip-hop is certainly nothing new — it's as much a part of the culture as the beats and rhymes. Among the early accusations were that rap wasn't true music, its lyrics were too raw, its street message too polarizing. But they rarely came from the youthful audience itself, which was enraptured with genre that defined them as none other could.

"As people within the hip-hop generation get older, I think the criticism is increasing," says author Bakari Kitwana, who is currently part of a lecture tour titled "Does Hip-Hop Hate Women?"

"There was a more of a tendency when we were younger to be more defensive of it," he adds.

During her '90s crusade against rap's habit of degrading women, the late black activist C. Dolores Tucker certainly had few allies within the hip-hop community, or even among young black women. Backed by folks like conservative Republican William Bennett, Tucker was vilified within rap circles.

In retrospect, "many of us weren't listening," says Tracy Denean Sharpley-Whiting, a professor at Vanderbilt University and author of the new book "Pimps Up, Ho's Down: Hip-Hop's Hold On Young Black Women."

"She was onto something, but most of us said, 'They're not calling me a bitch, they're not talking about me, they're talking about THOSE women.' But then it became clear that, you know what? Those women can be any women."

One rap fan, Bryan Hunt, made the searing documentary "Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes," which debuted on PBS this month. Hunt addresses the biggest criticisms of rap, from its treatment of women to the glorification of the gangsta lifestyle that has become the default posture for many of today's most popular rappers.

"I love hip-hop," Hunt, 36, says in the documentary. "I sometimes feel bad for criticizing hip-hop, but I want to get us men to take a look at ourselves."

Even dances that may seem innocuous are not above the fray. Last summer, as the "Chicken Noodle Soup" song and accompanying dance became a sensation, Baltimore Sun pop critic Rashod D. Ollison mused that the dance — demonstrated in the video by young people stomping wildly from side to side — was part of the growing minstrelization of rap music.

"The music, dances and images in the video are clearly reminiscent of the era when pop culture reduced blacks to caricatures: lazy 'coons,' grinning 'pickaninnies,' sexually super-charged 'bucks,'" he wrote.

And then there's the criminal aspect that has long been a part of rap. In the '70s, groups may have rapped about drug dealing and street violence, but rap stars weren't the embodiment of criminals themselves. Today, the most popular and successful rappers boast about who has murdered more foes and rhyme about dealing drugs as breezily as other artists sing about love.

Creekmur says music labels have overfed the public on gangsta rap, obscuring artists who represent more positive and varied aspects of black life, like Talib Kweli, Common and Lupe Fiasco.

"It boils down to a complete lack of balance, and whenever there's a complete lack of balance people are going to reject it, whether it's positive or negative," Creekmur says.

Yet Banner says there's a reason why acts like KRS-One and Public Enemy don't sell anymore. He recalled that even his own fans rebuffed positive songs he made — like "Cadillac on 22s," about staying way from street life — in favor of songs like "Like a Pimp."

"The American public had an opportunity to pick what they wanted from David Banner," he says. "I wish America would just be honest. America is sick. ... America loves violence and sex." ___

good article


thanks for sharing

Suburban white kids are going Emo, they are tired of hip-hop.

butterfli25 said:

+1



so true

The funniest thing is that even the most bubble-gum-soda-pop hip-hop crew think hip-hop has gone to hell. You know, the criticism of the whole subculture is so widespread that they think they need to be a part of it themselves as well. So they'll just pick up a few names to criticize, while not understanding what's the motive behind the outsiders' observation. Quite simply, if you are going to be "keeping it real" you'll always need an opponent group that in your view is not doing it right.

No matter how small the differencies would be between typical Ja Rule and a Jay-Z followers. THe other group "is not getting it".

Hip-hop has been political, violent, and now it's just plain pointless. The only reason I listen to some of it now is for the catchy hooks and beats; gives me something to dance to and how I love to dance . Nowadays, you can always count on hip-hop lyrics to contain something about money, girls, cars, drugs, jewelry, or guns. Not a single one of these subjects has any real intellegence behind it. For me, hip-hop became stupid when it started glorifying diamond chains, grills, killing people, and pimping. How any of that shit is even remotely positive or praise-worthy to these individuals is beyond my understanding. It was like on that white rapper show with the whole "ghetto revival" nonsense. Why the hell would anyone want to revive the ghetto? The ghetto is poverty. There's nothing good about that shit. Everytime John Brown would say it, I would cringe. Hip-hop has become soo commercial now, that it's lost pretty much all of it's credibility. It's all about image over lyrics now. I don't think Hip-hop is dead, but I do believe it's become stagnant, stupid, repetitive, and useless as a whole. Just my

Hip hop died in 1983, 1989, 1998, and it's dying again

StarMon said:

like everyone someone cant tell the difference between rappers/groups that sampled james brown back in the late 80s? people thought puffy was bad using hooks and samples..but back then someone would make a whole damn song out of james'

Christopher said:

as i said in another thread that 2 of the top 100 selling albums this week on Itunes are Hip Hop..seems today hip hop acts are living off ringtones and 99 cent single sales..can it really be that profitable anymore?

Excellent article! It's good to see that many people,even those who consider themselves fans of hip-hop,are finally waking up and speaking their minds about the sorry state of that music.Today's hip-hop is creatively dead.

Interesting article.

CinisterCee said:

its pacemaker keeps going out.

THANK GOD I CANT STAND THOSE PEOPLE !!!!!

Hip Hop died September 13, 1996!!!

.


You are so right..also .when they started that bling-bling crap it was even worse...then when they found out about the diamond controversy that's going on in the Sudan, some not all, started showing less bling-bling, and now most of the rap songs are from the so-called "dirty south" with stupid, meaningless lyrics. Seems like the East Coast rappers focus more on violence and no one is trying to hear that anymore, just way too much negativity.

I do notice that a lot of the younger generation is craving for "real music", one of my younger nieces love the temptations. I remember she told me she loves music from that time, She actually said I was lucky because I had "real music" during my time,I was surprised to hear that from someone so young, she also attended the (new) Temptations' concert a couple of years ago with her Mom. Then her sister shocked me when she told me she heard some songs from the 3121 album and really liked it, so I gave her one of my extra 3121 cds.
[Edited 3/1/07 7:40am]

Hip-Hop died around 1993, and was never resurrected...

It's not going anywhere. I'll believe it when I see it.

It's just a damn shame that it would take the negativity in it to kill it. It needs to die because of people waking up and having the good taste to see that it's bullshit music altogether. There's no instruments, there's no rhythm, there's no ass shaking appeal....it's nothing but a boring weak ass beat and some talking. Unless people wise up and kill it for these reasons, something equally as boring could take it's place when it dies.

And don't forget, Shitney Houston did major damage in the late 1980s. It was her crossover adult contemporary "parent friendly" type shit that killed funk, slowed things down, and left a big void that opened the doors for shit hop to fill. Her influence is still around to this day. There are tons of Shitney Houston type singers today. The only difference is, nowadays they have a shit hop drum machine behind them. Her influence needs to die also before things can get back on track.

Well, anyway, even if something boring takes it's place, shit hop still deserves to die for the mere fact that it completely took rhythm out of R&B for 15 years.
.
.
[Edited 3/1/07 7:47am]

All I can say is that I can't wait until it's BURIED 4 good.

lazycrockett said:

thier going emo huh?
what are the emo kids gonna do, the ones that have always been around?
it seems more suburban white kids are going subrban white.
you know, enjoying the privlaged image instead of emo. The ambercrombie, orange county, britney spearse, spoiled brat thing.


..

I CANT WAIT FOR A NEW ERA OF MUSIC... cause hip hop is boring.. all the same... its stupid... I really can't stand it...

we need more video dance artist like madonna, janet, paula, britney, christina..

we need something other then hip-hop cause is so tired and over used... I Cant stand it... at first i thought it was cool... but now its boring

I remember I wrote an article back in the late 90s about how Hip Hop is dead and I can remember attributing it to a handful of people:

Puffy - With his blatant thievery of WHOLE R&B/POP songs, thus halting the growth of creativity once everyone else got into it

Jay-Z - With his glorification of blingage

The South: Timbaland/MJG & 8 Ball - Timbaland with his retarded samples of the Spiderman cartoon series and then the south just made it - by their own words - "dirty" and it has been stagnant ever since with the likes of TI, Nelly, Lil Flip, and the other "crunksters" that don't want to be creative anymore.

someone tell her the Chili Peppers are dead to.

CinisterCee said:

89? That was a hot year!!

JB to the rescue!

Interesting reading....

lilgish said:

lilgish said:

nooooo.....

Just ask acts like K-O's and The Roots if Hip Hop is dead.

Concious Hip Hop is alive and well, just not mainstream.


Later

lilgish said:

Sometime between Mohter's Milk and Blood Sugar Sex Magic.