Don't you think it sends the wrong message when we send kids out on stage with rags on their head, ice on their wrists, talking about how they're ballers or "soldiers" and how they get all the girls?

I can't stand the stuff coming out of the Lil' Bow Wows and Romeo's of the world, talented as they may be.

Thoughts?

namepeace said:

that's what's wrong with our culture 2 day. We gotta raise them on the funksmanship. It's just what the media is showing them, and since we (as black people) fall in2 the fantasy of "being rich like the white man" they tend to diminish themselves in the same way and it makes us look bad. I wish to all that they will c the light of funk!

namepeace said:

Welcome to real life, MAYNE. If you think Mr. Hardcore balla/gangsta DON'T get all the girls, then you are fooling yourself. Mr. Niceguy Joe regular is simply BORING to most women. The "balla" has all the things that fascinate women. He's dangerous, exciting, RICH, arrogant (but she can change him - so she thinks). She feels safe because he'll cap anyone who fucks with her. She gets to ride in cars she would otherwise NEVER set foot in and gets to live lavishly when she's around him. All she has to do is fuck him. Wrong message? HELL YEAH, but its ALWAYS been that way. It used to be Italians, now its "brothas". Rags on their heads? Irrelevant. Its just a fashion statement like leather jackets in the 50s/60s.

BlaqueKnight said:

Nuh-Uh!

GIRLS like REBELS?!?!

That's not in my instruction book!

Thanks for the lesson.



i kid. anyway, as someone who's been into hip-hop since the beginning, so whoever said you were wrong. the balla motif is the same wine in different bottles. but to promote that motif using 12 year-olds? i mean, really.
it may be the way it is, but that don't make it right.

anyway, the "balla" is a myth. someone with your knowledge of the industry knows or should know, anyway, that most of the emcees you see in the videos rent those houses, cars, boats, etc. even fake ballas are catching real bullets nowadays, but i digress.

as for the rags? i have cousins in south central that buried friends for wearing the wrong color rag at the wrong time. it's more than a fashion statement sometimes, playa.
sometimes it's a death warrant. excuse my "ignorance," but i get a little disturbed when i see that.

but that's beside the point. they're kids, tho, man. kids.

it's getting to the point where it's becoming a deadly minstrel show anyway.

hip-hop needs a Nirvana.

Blaque, of all people, you should be with that.

I have to agree, I do not like the image these young bruthas n sista's are emulating. I especially do not like the slang, there is nothing wrong with talking slang, I still do quite often but you have to be able to turn it off when neccessary. The young bruthas I work with in the Urban League here in Houston are just young men who need direction from a strong black male role model and that is what it basically boils down to because there are sooo many young black boys who are lacking that in their lives...

BlaqueKnight said:

Its all a matter of choose your poison. As long as they don't take the music SERIOUSLY, its all in fun. Entertainment.

Yup. But these days, if you talk it, you gotta live it, regardless of whether you're bling-blinging yourself into hock (see Jermaine Dupri) or keepin' it gangsta (Tupac). Sometimes even whether you want to or not. Real G's have no compunction in taking out a studio G. NWA et al. created a monster they wouldn't believe.

It used to be the biggest hip-hop labels had names like Def Jam and Tommy Boy. Now there's Murder Inc. and Death Row. Sad. And they're letting the kids imitate this? Shameful.

The true problems lie in the lack of good parenting skills in today's society. I could get into that whole thing, but I won't.

I don't disagree with targeting the execs for picketing. Yet and still, these emcees know enough about the history of racist imagery in this country to realize they're shuckin' and jivin' for white audiences who romanticize urban squalor but can trade in their rags and throwbacks for chinos and LAX hats any time they want.

paisleypark4 said:

Well said!

Funksmanship! Can I use that one?!

Right, the record industry, the movie industry, let this become the sad monster that it has become. Let them rappers glorify the negative, the sadness and destruction of gansta lifestyles.

It's sad, because it permeates every pore of society, of marketing, TV... (shudder)

Kids don't care about musicianship or being original, different, unique, individual, just a cloned out, copy cat, sheep mentality they can reach into the "Hip Hop" closet and pull out pre-concieved hand gestures and slang words, "tennis shoes and caps" to put on.