I agree with the principle that he is trying bring forth.

I find myself agreeing with Spike Lee? Must be the apocalypse...

I agree with Spike. The current rap climate is abominable. There is no balance of images within the genre and I see no political or overlty cultural voice in the music anymore like with the Self-Destruction movement of the late 80s and the "We're All The Same Gang" movement on the west coast. Lots of people hyper-fixated on making bucks and just simply being in the spotlight.

Spike is a smart man.
2 bad he ain't sayin some names.. like 50 cent for ex.

Spike's right on point.

Though I do own most of Jay-Z's cd's


Right on with the right on.
[This message was edited Sun Dec 21 8:10:24 PST 2003 by sinisterpentatonic]

Prince said some of this too in 1997 with Chris Rock on VH1

Rap is a "WEB".. the video images (money,women,killing) MOST videos are that now.

It seems 1 guys thinks of something and then 500 other rappers run in that door of concepts.

Nothing is original..

Has anyone listen to 50 Cent on their mp3 player? The dude is a average rapper at best! Ignore the $2 Million Video & the Hype Machine around him!

I personally know 3 friends that are 500% btter then him! He can't rap! He takes sooo many breaks.. it is like he raps 1 line (cut) then starts up the next chunk (cut) then the next part (cut) then paste the Hook with (pro tools)

His beats are pretty average too.

2freaky4church1 said:

Spike's saying the right thing.
[This message was edited Sun Dec 21 1:46:01 PST 2003 by Shapeshifter]

locoarts said:

Very true.


Another thing I dislike about rap is all the glorification of greed, excess and the champagne lifestyle. We live in a world where people live off credit to try and acheive the 'dream' lifestyle. It ain't funny, it's not big - it's very childish.

It's not funny. It's not fun!

daned said:

I know, and I can't (and have never been able to) stomach MODREN rap, even though I'm the target age. I guess I'm just not stupid enough? Early in its genesis, it was a great new form of expression in music, and people actually USED it to EXPRESS themselves. Rap lyrics were about issues, ideas and optimism. And that's all gone to hell.

OutKast is bucking the trend, though, and I love them.

i respect spike lee

he says things that many

r afraid 2 say

i like some rap music

all rap isn't bad

however, many current rappers

r over sensationalized

give me eric b and rakim

give me chuck d and public enemy

i'll take q tip and a tribe called quest

throw in de la soul

add LL cool j

i even thought bone thugs in harmony

had mad skills

tupac had his place

and i'm feelin jay z

and nas

don't forget mos def

and talib


rap can be powerful

it depends on the message

and the messanger

I love hip hop and what it could be, but Spike is 100-percent correct.

man, I love that man.

You rap haters..lol

Spike Lee is right on!!!

I have been a HUGE admirer of Spike and Aaron McGruder for many years now. If any African Americans in the spotlight needs more of it, those two brothers do.

By the way, on a sports show (whatever the one with John Salley, Tom Arnold, etc, on it) Spike was on there a couple of months ago, and he did indeed name 50 cent. In fact he mentioned the damage his image is doing to black people and said the only reason he is big and famous now is because, "he got shot 50 times and lived to rap about it".

There are those of us that understand on a "deeper" level, the power of words and images. It's NOT "just entertainment". There are spiritual laws that go along with speaking things and glorifying things, and I agree with Spike that what's out there does no one any good, particularly African Americans. That's why I appreciate the Cosby Show so much now. Sabrina Lebeauf (Sondra), said in a interview once that, the Cosby Show changed the way white people saw black Americans... and it did. That's why I know the images that we are consumed with today is hurting. Artist today must get a "understanding" of how powerful what they are doing is. It's NOT as black and white and simple as just, "it's the parents responsibility to what their kids hear and watch" (to me that's a "cop-out" answer anyway).

The Hip Hop world needs a wake up call.

Oh, and I forgot to mention in my last post:

MTV IS POISON!!! It is in desperate need of a make-over.

VelvetJ said:

BET ain't too far behind. . .

sumtymes said:

I agree with that list

I got into rap in 1982.. and to be honest by 1992-ish I was fading out. It turned into a WEB! One guy thinks of something then 15 guys rip that off.. (in style,beats,subject matter,music video concept)

BUT we do have some guys in the late 90's that have been puttin stuff out there which is nice!

* The ONLY thing I hate is BET & MTV!! They allow MILLIONS of Clones on their channel repeating the same stupid video concept!

ALL Unknown Poor guys that RENT Cars and make Music Videos :LOL:

"Image" :ROLL:

B who u b! Rap about what u are.. NOT this phoney Image you made up!

Rappers have lost being part of the Audience! Part of being talented but a normal guy! That is what Hip Hop was back in the Early 80's!

NOW we have Fake Images ..Fake Videos.. Fake Hype! and MOST are like "Bruce Li" compared to "Bruce Lee"

:LOL:

VoicesCarry said:

haha yep

2freaky4church1 said:

They don't even call it rap anymore. It's HIP-HOP!!

kiss85 said:

huh...Hip hop isn't a new term. Hip Hop is about the culture and not just music.


Russell Simmons has said that its not about the genre of music but who has the mic right now. He said that the ghetto and trailer park have the mic and so, this is what is coming out of the hood/trailer park right now. He said to have faith that the vibe of the music will change as more young people become more politically motiviated as he thinks is happening.

I like some of it and other things I don't. I would agree that we are missing the balance there use to be in rap...there has always been sexism, greed, etc in hip hop but also other music that promoted a consciousness. So it isn't that rap has changed but that one part of it, its there.

And remember, heavy metal has gone through the same crap..with sexism, etc.

Spike is a very smart man and I totally agree with him on this subject.