by Osa the Healer AKA Mr. DontSleep
Sooooo, the other night I got a text from a friend asking me to read a blog post about hip hop and the author's general distaste for it at the moment. The editorial was very entertaining, as the author spoke on the demeaning lyrics of rappers and lack of substance on the radio. All the while, I couldn't help but think to myself, "Are people still trippin off dat?" I mean, its 2010 now, I thought everyone knows the radio is biased. Nas declared it dead and I thought that's where the convo ended. Needless to say my curiosity made me read the entire article and ALL 36 comments. As I read the comments I noticed that responses from the readers (including the author) seem to blame and criticize the artists for the type of material they make. To me that's criticizing them for being who they are and expressing themselves. Not kool. Hip hop, to me, is a truly deep form of expression that can be interpreted many ways. I feel, at this point, that over-emphasized criticism quite honestly speaks more to about the complainer more than the complainee.
We all know that there should be more variety on the radio blah blah blah but money talks too loud to ever hear any good music on the radio so why waste your breath? One of the issues that stood out most was the message it sends to the kids. "Ohh the messages are too explicit for the kids" "There's too much sex in the lyrics" "Parents need to police their kids". WTF?!!! Police? I don't think our kids need more police, matter of fact how many hip-hop songs are there in opposition to police?...Aha! I got it. I think I know what the problem is. Let me take a stab at it. I think those of us still wasting energy are not in tune with our own self expression and we retaliate by taking it out on these artists (who seem to be doing a very good job of finding their own, if nothing else). We can get mad at Lil Wayne or Gucci Mane for encouraging a "party party party everybody get wasted" life style but that's their choice of expression. Besides, art imitates life and I don't care how "conscious" you are, we all know that every weekend people head out to the clubs and all different levels by the tens of thousand to do exactly what rappers reference in those songs. I think that maybe you are worried "for the kids" because you feel like you lack the ability to teach your own kids that there is more to life than just partying. I dont know though. I'm just speculating.
"Well what about the sex and raunchy lyrics Osa, that's just not right?" Let me say that I have to keep it real, I don't like the way sex and women are portrayed sometimes either but IT'S SEX! Who doesn't think about sex in some form or another? It's like one of the greatest feelings a human can experience. Its right up there with experiencing your first high or having an encounter from God or something. C'mon let's be real honest and admit that we don't want our kids to hear about sex on the radio because we are too uncomfortable with expressing it to our children in the appropriate manner. Its such a taboo subject that we haven't learned to embrace the beauty of sex even as adults therefore we don't know how to express the honest meaning of that sensation to our existence as humans. We expect our children to figure it out on their own and pray they don't have any kids along the way. I don't know though. Im just speculating. It would be silly of me to 1.try and "police" my kids and prevent them from that music (because they always find a way) and/or 2.expect them not to be influenced by it. They will def hear the raunchy stuff but best believe I'm a let them hear Dead Prez's "Mind Sex" to add some balance (this of course is in addition to the actual "talk" about sex at a young age).
I feel as though if we put all this negative energy we feed to radio artists into positive energy for "good" hip hop then maybe the radio might actually switch it up a little. I don't know though. I'm just speculating. All in all I think ALL artists (even hip hoppers) should be allowed to express themselves without persecution from some "holier than thou" critic. No matter how much we don't agree with another artists message, its important to remember that their art is their personal freedom. Just like your art does the same for you. Besides there is so much "GOOD" hip hop music out there that who cares about the radio anymore? At a certain point ALL artist share the same creative energy, that was used to create this universe, in order to conceive and express themselves through whatever muse they choose. I hope in this new year we can all start respecting each others art more and acknowledge every artists right to find their own personal freedom.
Oooooh yea, in case you wanted to read the article I referenced you can check it out HERE
Follow Osa on Twitter
Monday, February 1, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment