Thread: Boycott hip hop

http://mmailey1974.blogspot.com/2011...t-hip-hop.html read this post about one should boycott hip hop for various reasons.

I'm boycotting you.

That whole list could be applied to any of the various genres who have been largely overtaken by cooperations and fat-cat record companies, not just hip hop.

Well written article! I'm convinced.

Boycott? Seems to me you either listen to it or you don't. But it's always a bit risky to condemn an entire genre. You may think you hate a type of music and before you know it someone may come up with something you really like.

I've been boycotting rap and hip hop my entire life, and it has nothing to do greed or lack of altruism or excessive misogyny and/or violence. It's a pretty one dimensional art form that has, and probably always will have, merely unfulfilled potential. If you want to hear what the music could sound like, check out Pete Townshend's reworking of "Who Are You?" in the Lifehouse Chronicles. The rap portion starts a little after the one minute mark.

A lot of rap and hip-hop is all too generic now - same tired topics, same 'attitude', same tired 'moves', same bling, same clothes, same babes gyrating near a pimpmobile...most of what is aired now is lowest common denominator push-button bullsh*t. Watch any bog-standard rap or hip-hop vid released these days and it could be from any year between now and 1991. Probably why more semi-feral juveniles like it now more than ever - the musical cul-de-sac that the genre finds itself in keeps them in their chavvy comfort zone while they fantasise about being from Compton or the Bronx. It goes without saying that any intelligent and thought-provoking stuff (i.e. like quite a lot of it used to be) remains underground - away from the mainstream charts and to a large degree away from the hoodie-wearing losers who aren't interested in anything that goes beyond the same old sex, weed and violence cliches.

Edit. Nevermind.

Originally Posted by elgars ghost

A lot of rap and hip-hop is all too generic now - same tired topics, same 'attitude', same tired 'moves', same bling, same clothes, same babes gyrating near a pimpmobile...most of what is aired now is lowest common denominator push-button bullsh*t. Watch any bog-standard rap or hip-hop vid released these days and it could be from any year between now and 1991. Probably why more semi-feral juveniles like it now more than ever - the musical cul-de-sac that the genre finds itself in keeps them in their chavvy comfort zone while they fantasise about being from Compton or the Bronx. It goes without saying that any intelligent and thought-provoking stuff (i.e. like quite a lot of it used to be) remains underground - away from the mainstream charts and to a large degree away from the hoodie-wearing losers who aren't interested in anything that goes beyond the same old sex, weed and violence cliches.

Very eloquent.

I think it should be noted that the OP's blog consists of six posts, each calling to boycott something different. Along with hip-hop, the OP is boycotting the music industry in general, sports, religions (with a picture of Hitler), "evil Asians," and the rich.

To be honest, I couldn't get past the OP's link so I haven't seen what was said - I'm guessing it's a bit on the inflammatory side, then.

Originally Posted by Kopachris

Very eloquent.

I think it should be noted that the OP's blog consists of six posts, each calling to boycott something different. Along with hip-hop, the OP is boycotting the music industry in general, sports, religions (with a picture of Hitler), "evil Asians," and the rich.

Gadzooks. Then I'm sorry I dignified it with a response. I did not venture further than the hip hop rap.

I was going to additionally mention a nice rap-country combo performed by Wyclef Jean at a Johnny Cash tribute back in the late 1990s. Rap as a stand alone muscial form is very limited. I think it could be combined with other genres to great effect (as Townshend and Jean showed). I'm not sure why it has not been, since most other types of music have successfully done so to liberate themselves from the confines of their musical idioms.

I think I'll boycott HIP, or boring wig operas at least. A friend was dragged along to one here recently by his partner and he was in a comatose state by the end of the first half. So give me hip-hop over that any day, & I don't mind some things like Kanye West once in a while. More relevant to my life than some guys in wigs standing around singing about the gods...

Originally Posted by Sid James

I think I'll boycott HIP, or boring wig operas at least. A friend was dragged along to one here recently by his partner and he was in a comatose state by the end of the first half. So give me hip-hop over that any day, & I don't mind some things like Kanye West once in a while. More relevant to my life than some guys in wigs standing around singing about the gods...

Sid James, you constantly say that people who bash and attack modern music are disrespectful. Yet, in this occasion, even though no one has particularly bashed any of your favorites, you go and show the exact same disrespect, but this time towards the music that you don't like.
It doesn't have to be this way, is all I'm saying.

^^Well it's *** for tat kind of thing.

I've been here for a while and had heaps of stuff thrown in my face from the other direction (the HARD conservative direction I mean). People who insinuate that if you don't like certain types of music they like, you're not a "real" classical listener. Or if you like things they don't, then that's a problem.

We all make value judgements, but usually I talk from experience, or a degree of it. We all have our own ideologies and ways of seeing the world. But these people don't understand - there are many ways, not just THEIR way.

BTW, the guy who started this thread, his avatar is Beethoven. I love Beethoven's music, he's one of my favourite composers. Just listened to his Fidelio after like 10 years. A joy. But one must understand that there are a hell of a lot of people out there who don't care about Beethoven, they prefer something like hip-hop. Just as I prefer hip-hop, or some types of it, over wig operas.

So that's all I'm saying. There's an element of tongue in cheek, but also giving back these jokers a taste of their own medicine. But I get the message, and I'm trying to not rant that much, it's become cliche as well now...

I absolutely dont like hip hop and rap. But I like young people that find it as a part of their integration an selfe esteem. But looking to that article..... I must say that I found it ironical...