Recently I went to see the kick-ass Fast Five. The movie was awesome, contained the best hand to hand fight scene ever (the Rock vs. Vin Diesel, yeah, I know), had drool-worthy cars, a very loose plot, and did I say it was AWESOME?! But that's not what we're here to talk about. The end credits started to a new track by Ludacris and was followed by a new Luda song. I'd sat through the entire credits sequence and the little scene at the end before I'd realized how much time had passed. This was entirely due to the awesome music, but four years ago I would have booked out of the theater as soon as the animated race scene started. I hated rap with a passion, only listening to it when forced to in public places and school dances. I had thrown away the Nelly CD a friend had given me in middle school because I hated the rap on it and had burned a copy of my Sting CD to remove the track with a chick rapping on it. I mean I really HATED Rap "music".
Now I listen to it, not always begrudgingly, and actually have a few songs I really like (anyone want to Make it Rain?). But when did this happen? Or HOW did this happen? Rap is not music by a long shot. The first definition Google gave me was "the art or science of combining vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion." Note the emphasized word. Can't find it? Look reeeeeeaaallll hard. There ya go! Rap is not beautiful. It may have a nice beat, impressive lyrical gymnastics, or a surplus if profanity, but it's not emotive or beautiful. I listen to classical, folk, rock, pop, metal, (very little) country, but rap? I'd like to blame film.
Sometimes the lyrics are still disgusting, offensive, and/or surprising to me. I find no point to the music, and I'm very attentive to lyrics, so that ruins many songs. Yet I continue to listen. This is likely due to desensitization. I enjoy violent movies, and directors (or whoever is in charge of music selection) often choose rap or metal to convey intensity, the slums, gangs, etc. After awhile your brain either has to choose to hate violent movies or accept rap as a necessary evil. Clearly my brain chose the latter. Television shows follow this pattern as well. Watch pretty much any cop show from the 2000's and you'll notice a trend: when someone from outside of a ghetto or comparable area drives/walks/unicycles into one of these areas you'll often hear rap. It can be coming from a radio, a store, or a car; or they can choose to make it part of the scene's soundtrack. It's a simple and effective way to let the audience know a character is in a rough area. It should also be an indicator of rap culture (that or the repeat stories of rappers getting shot, arrested, or caught doing other naughty things), but we just brush that off and say "I don't listen to the lyrics, I just like the beat."
Unfortunately, and I feel old just typing this, our overall culture has changed to be more accepting or rap and rap is changing our culture. I'm not saying that the music is a bad thing, but kids are malleable and if they learn that it's okay to talk about beating a ho because she'd not making you a sandwich or whatnot, why wouldn't it be okay to do it. Most kids have parents who teach the the difference between lyrics and real life, but clearly some don't. Those kids grow up to be rap stars or pro athletes. We're also creating a society where our billboard top 100 is full of people who made it big by cashing in on their days of cashing in on illegal activities. Now you may think back to my previous post "Death of the Movie Star," but most rappers are so far beyond the Charlie Sheen level that it's scary that we're supporting their lifestyles by buying their products and going to their shows. Ludacris has redeemed himself somewhat by showing that he's actually a nice guy in films. But that just confuses me. Is he a nice guy who has to use the lyrics he does because of rap culture? Or is he a stereotypical rapper who seems like a normal guy? I don't know. The big issue is that rap has rules (one of which is to be as incomprehensible as possible, so maybe Luda has hope) which makes most rappers the scum of normal society. Scum with a Bentley and a Jag.
Unfortunately, even after attempting to intelligently convey my issues with rap, I will continue to listen to it. I'd like to say I can stop whenever I want, but it's part of who I am now. A tiny part, and a part that discriminates against most rap songs, but it's there. Maybe the drug-dealers-turned-rappers are still dealers. It's like their tunes are laced with coke and we're all too high to realize they've got us hooked. Unfortunately (fortunately? I'm so confused now) it's never long until our next fix.
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