- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Letters posted here are associated with the following article:
The letters thread is now closed.
they would be criminals, shooting people on the streets so I guess it's a step in the right direction?
That "Gangsta" Rap has a long and suprisingly noble history?
Songs with the basic theme "I might as well rebel against society and commit crimes, because I will be punished no matter what I do because of who I am" date back to before the civil war.
It's not an attitude I would want anyone I know and love to espouse either, but it comes from a long history of oppression and it seems like a legitimate reaction to what some of the writers have been through.
My concern is that these guys certainly have troubled backgrounds but rather than use their power to influence positive change they just do whatever it takes to rake it in, thereby perpetuating the same misery they themselves escaped from. So their moral position is basically nil.
It seems like the logical question when people demand other people make positive change, especially people who have grown up in awful circumstances.
Also, some rap songs do have an uplifting message
Gaza ain't got nothing on black-people music for pissing y'all off. I wonder why that could possibly be?
So I can get a good sound experience. RIP Biggie.
Is that so?
No, it's an exaggeration for dramatic effect. Hyperbole.
But Salon's letter writers really really really really REALLY hate hip-hop, and they get super-uppity about it. It's funny.
