"gangsta" fad

The only problem I have with whites or anyone else "doing it" is if it's not their normal speech pattern. Many of the black kids I've come in contact with already speak that way, so they're not faking it. But when the white kids start putting on that affectation, it's annoying simply because they sound so fake and silly. It's like an American doing a really bad imitation of an English accent, it just becomes rediculous to listen to. *L*

I feel bad for the kids who are truly in dire straits socially and financially, who are looking to the lifestyle surrounding this music and plunging into it. They won't get anywhere, and will be judged as stupid even if they aren't, just because of how they speak and present themselves. It's not fair that someone with potential will be stuck in fast food or something else low-rung just because their formative years were spent learning how to sabotage themselves. Slang is one thing, everybody uses it to an extent. But when you get to the point where mainstream people can barely understand what you're saying, it's a real problem. I bet in court or across the dealing table with other record execs, Snoop, Dre and Diddy speak perfectly fine. That's what these kids don't see.

Very good point never thought of that. It seems the music industry is really being exploited more than I thought how sad

thats not how i meant it the great 59. i mean it like what torque said if its it not your normal speech or dont normally act like that then dont do it.

There are enough rap & r&b artists out there that are real musicians and produce real works of art.




Sorry, but I totally disagree with you JediMaster. Lots of these people grew up speaking two kinds of English: What you call "proper" English and Ebonics.

In the Caribbean people grow up speaking what we call bad English, some of the grammar we use are similar to ebonics. But it's what we speak and it's in our culture, and no one can take it away from us. Jamaicans for example have their own English dialect, the language you hear in reggae, dancehall and now often in Hip Hop is Jamaican english. Now are they stupid or retarded for speaking that kind of english? I doin' (=acting) retarded or stupid by speakin ma bad caribbean english? British people still complain that Americans don't speak proper english, so who are you to say who speaks "proper" english or not???




Rap is music. Lots of those producers have studied music, and are artists. Believe it or not. Let everyone be in their own value, that's all. I love and enjoy Rap, it's poetry, it's wisdom, it's art, and it's skill. Not everyone has that. And it's also Universal. I've heard artists rapping in Reggae, dancehall, soca, zouk, merengue, salsa, rock, jazz and lots of other kinds of music.

People used to think the Rocker fad was stupid and that they were all idiots, and that the music was stupid and without taste. All of you please don't be hypocritical.

Bandit...if you werent staff I would vote for you for TWATS award. I agree with you 110%.

Where I grew up not many people spoke very good english...hell, there were almost no americans there...all russian and native alaskans. Everybody spoke a distinct dialect of English, and you could almost always understand them 100%.

[Edited on 20-8-2004 by dreamlandmafia]

I have to say that everyone here bashing rap/hip-hop music and the "culture" are 100% completely full of #.

There are good and bad points one can make about almost every type of music out there. Rap is not a fad, it's never going away. So get over yourselves.

As for the way some people choose to speak, hey listen as a Puerto Rican male I speak and write Spanish and English. But I also use slang and I speak differently when I'm talking with my friends. When I�m talking to adults or in a formal situation I speak differently. It all depends on the situation.

So what if kids imitate what they see on TV. Oh like any of you have never done that? If you say no then you are completely full of #, and not being honest with yourself.

Every generation had their "thing" and people complained. Civilization didn�t end. We are still here.



[Edited on 20-8-2004 by Ocelot]

i agree rap is good music not all the lyrics are good but as far as music ggoes rap is good.

thegreat59,

please tell me if I misunderstood, but are you saying white people listening to rap is wrong?

because, if so, it is you my friend that is the racist.

oh no no no no i could care less what race listens to what music i am not racist i dont see where you got that .



Exactly, i have no problem with a person speaking how he's always spoken, bit when a person changes the way they speak and are because of what i consider a fad i find that annoying.



Great i fully know that rap is a kind of music an have myself listened to it a couple times i could go as far as to say that i enjoy wholesome R&B/rap music but when it comes down to people like Snoop Dogg, 50 cent, and Eminem i don't see what it contributes to the world other than a plethra of 13 yr. old boys who want to be pimps and have hoes i find it very disturbing . Rap does have its good artists and songs and i respect it as a valid music type, but it can go to far.



These different people were raised with that accent as much African Americans were raised around the "gangsta" accent, but again when people change their ways to follow an "unhealthy" fad i have a problem with it.



The music itself might not but the comepletely ridiculus idealism behind the gangsta rap out there these days will it's just a matter of time.



I'm 100% Boricua from Fajardo and hey i use slang when i speak with friends and such but once again I WAS RAISED AROUND THE SLANG I WAS I GUESS TAUGHT TO USE IT, when you change your ways for a fad it's bad done and done



Yes i have imitated stuff off tv so has about everyone, but i didn't imitate having tons of sex, taking drugs, being a pimp, having shootouts, and how to complete a drug deal.

I saw your flag in your avatar but I was a little hesitant to say hi until I knew if you were a "real" boricua or what I like to call a "poser" boricua. You know the type that was born in the states, says he's boricua, but speaks little spanish and has never even step foot on the island. LOL!

Anyways good to see another fellow countrymen on the boards. If you need any help or just have question then U2U me.

Yeah i know what you mean about the poser boricua have a million and one of those over here. thanks for offerin ill put you in my faves

Keep hope alive!

Keep Hope Alive!!!

Sorry. I said the same thing about punk. My Uncle said the same thing about Mod. My Mom said the same thing about crooners. And God only knows what my Grandfather thought when Swing ended.

I know what you're saying, but from my perspective Hip Hop already KILLED real rap 10 years ago. Everything changes, blends, merges, gets sucked up by mainstream, recontorted and remarketed and comes back 1000% different even if it never officially goes away.

Success kills everything. Art is change. Revolutionary by nature. Hip Hop (rap) whatever will reinvent itself eventually or someone will do it for it.

My friends and I used watch MTV in high school and make "next thing" predictions. I called "flannel rock" sometime around '85 watching a Big Country video and sure enough... grunge.

Everything dies. Everything. That's life.

I think we need to make English the first official language. If I'm not mistaken, we have no official language.
We do not need a second official language. Before you know it, either part of the US will want to be a separate country, or we will be seceding Mexico as the 51st state.
People who wish to become citizens need to have at least a rudimentary knowledge of American English.

Wow, there are alot of people here that don't like rap music.

Personally its all I listen to. I used to listen to some rock but now its pretty much all rap. and Eminem in the best rapper that has ever lived.

Lets say you listen to country, if they sing the lyrics and it sounds good then they tied the song together nicley and did it with a slow country beat. But if its faster and talks about hip hop things then its rap music. I respect some country and rock artsist, Its not just about if they can get the crowd pumped up or if they have a good voice. For instance, In rap the have a thing called battle, where you think of things of the top of your head and make a sond out of it, if you can do that No matter what music it is, then yopu are a good artist.

And No rap isn't going away in fact its doing just the opposite, it gets bigger and bigger every year. Which I like cause then new artist emerge like 50 Cent and G-Unit, then older ones like Jay-Z can retire.

I think theres alot of old people talking in this room, alot of people seem to like older music and stuff.

I think all music has its place in the industry. Rap music when your cruisin in your car, Country when your trying to calm down and relax, Rock if your trying to get pumped up for playing a sport or working out.

Music is not to blame for any violence! alot of people think that theres gangs or violence because a rapper said its ok for them to do it. Please, people arn't that dumb.

When you listen to music it puts you in a different state of mind, your not thinking about all the hectic things going on in your life, your just enjoying the moment for what it is.

my 2 cents

here comes a story, a personal story in fact. the kind i normally dont share on this board.

i have an older brother that is three years older than me and for while i looked up to him.

throughout the years he listened to all kinds of music and one day discovered rap. first it was run DMC and the like, rap that was rap. then came NWA and what i would call hateful rap. nigga this nigga that, # the police, slapping bitches robbing liqour stores. while this maye have reflected the life some of them lead or saw in their neighborhoods what people fail to realize it once they start rapping about it on major labels they lived in mansions at the time. so while they may have been showing us what the ghetto is like some other people clung onto the violent ugly part of the rap and totally missed the point that these rappers were showing how bad life is. of course it didnt help that easy e dr dre and crew acted as if they were still thugs. my brother picked up on this and being a white kid from the suburbs i couldnt help but lose all respect for him. i watched him act differently, more defiant, seemingly for no reason, i watched him start to talk differently dress differently and had different friends. he even got a speaker box and a stereo system in his car which was stolen not long after with both windows smashed out. so what made him turn this way? i couldnt tell you to be honest. i think its an anti authoratative message that some pick up on and adopt, all forms of music have had it in some way shape or form.

but i saw my brother who had a fine education speak as if he grew up in the ghetto his entire life. in fact he isnt the only one in my family that has done this, my half brother does this as well although i think his reasons are a little different as he's half black and i think he's tried to "act black" by imitating what he sees in rap videos and how his friends act. for two siblings of mine that have better educations than they protray i am deeply saddened to see how they acted. now my older brother out grew it. in fact when country start to get popular again he jumped onto that band wagon and started hating rap. my older brother is a complete tool and i regret ever trying to be like him when i was a kid. my younger half brother is a total tool with a mouth writing checks his body cant cash, he acts all tough and then his sister, my half sister comes and defends him and fights his battles for him. he lived in nice houses and was treated well. he was never in a poor environment so i dont understand why he acts this way anymore than i understood why my older brother did it.

not everyone who acts like a thug lives in the ghetto and as far as i know blign bling hasnt always been around. it'd be one thing if this form of talk had been around for generations, and i mean several generations of people saying shizzle nizzle and so forth. in fact it bothers me to see these "rap artists" talk all "ghetto" and i bet off camera they talk like normal people. we all have some accent or slang we have in our daily speak but some of this just comes off as an act for the most part.

i never understood fads, i liked them but never followed them aside from one or two, but they werent lifetsyle altering fads, i wore swatches, oooh! big frigging deal. i still remember wearing flannel because they were comfy and then grunge hit the scene and everyone wore them. so i stopped because i didnt want to be accused of thought of as joing the fad wagon with this grunge business. BTW i wear flannels again, something about that material!

anyway my point is for some it is a fad, its a trend and some companies and society at large has picked up on the whole ebonics thing more than they have ever picked up on a trend before. i do think one day bling bling and fo shizzle muh nizzle will get stale and people will drop it like yesterdays diaper and pick up something else but for now some of this is just annoying. i see people all the time acting hardcore, as if its cool to act like a criminal. it isnt about rap really, i know there's different forms of it and its too bad the "gangsta" crap is pushed more and focused on more than the other forms of rap you enver hear about. its just annoying to see people from all walks of life dress act and talk a certain way that pretty much makes them look ignorant uneducated and no surprise many of them are treated with suspicion. although i always find it odd that people are so quick to pick up on trends that require they act stupid. when was the last time you saw a fad that encouraged proper use of ANY language? or encouraged you to be a role model? or encouraged you to be a better person? or encouraged you to be nicer to women? or to avoid drugs?

its hilarious to hear people saying "yo im jus keepin it real dawg, im being my self" when they havent always been that way. it is also equally funny to see them trying to claim they're trying to be different when they're just like a ton of other people out there.

i outgrew the fashions fads, the music fads, and most other fads that come down the pike anymore.

nothing wrong with fads but people take them too seriously, when you start to mimmic some "Gangsta" rapper when you never grew up in the ghetto you need to take a step back and examine yourself.

while so many take it all seriously by acting all hardcore and thuggish these "gangstas" are making hundreds of millions of dollars off ignorant people who are trying to imitate a lifestyle some of them escaped from and wouldnt return to if they can help it.

Look, heres the problem. When people are younger they emulate their heros. When i was younger it was all about heavy metal. I had my long-hair, my stone washed jeans with the tears in them and a jean jacket with all the patches sewn on. I was bad ass, I tell ya.

But, fads come and go. What is cool today will not be tommorow. I know someone said "rap is here for good". No its not. You think it is, because your 20 something and know everything, but rest assured it will dissappear. There are little kids running around right now, that will one day become the teenagers, and they are going to hate your music. The thing you call rap now, will no doubt be changed and altered to something you can not stomache, much like what happened to rock music.

Personally, I cant wait for the change to happen. I could care less about the "musical" aspect of rappers. Im sure you cant name a single one who has ever had any type of true musical study. And by that I mean, can one rap artist discuss musical theory, or even tell the difference between a bass cleff and a treble cleff? Does any fan of rap have the ability to tell me what a metronome is? Odds are they cant. What they can do, however, is take someone elses music, cut out the vocals and rhyme over it. Not all that hard, but since everyone hated it when it first came out, it was bound to take off sooner or later.

But, no. My problem with rap is what it is doing to the young women in our country. Since the youth is ignorant on the power of suggestion, they digest all the crap that is spoon fed to them and take it for the Gods-honest truth. When someone is rappin about "drinkin,smokin, straight west-coastin" well, all the little brain stems want to run around with baggie pants, a 40 and some bud. The girls want to dress like what they see on TV. It is very damaging to a teenage girl to be used by guys like this and think nothing is wrong.

Our generation emulated our artists as well, but the difference was the views about women. 80's metal cds always had one ballad on them. It was always some sad song about loosing your girl, it went well right after you got dumped. Now its "bitch" this and "ho" that, and it just really demeans girls that are allready in such a high risk group.

That being said, I dont think we have much to worry about. Most young people take the music seriously, untill real life starts. When your married or have a couple kids and you start to get older, you realize that music isnt that important. Then the older you get, you start to resent the little 18 year old talentless f_ck, whos making millions because shes pretty. Thats when most yong adults turn the corner and join the rest.

However, there will inevitibly be some kids from today who will never stop taking the music seriously. Our generation has it to. There are still alot of guys drivin around in their 87 Camaro, with Guns n Roses in the tape player and a nice mullet blowin in the wind. We call them loosers.

Rest assured, the 10 years from now, there will still be some old idiot wearing a visor upsidedown and backwards, and some old throw back jersey, in a beat up old car, jammin to Eminem.

The times may change, but people never do..

________________________






[Edited on 21-8-2004 by sublime4372]

[Edited on 21-8-2004 by sublime4372]

[Edited on 21-8-2004 by sublime4372]

[Edited on 21-8-2004 by sublime4372]

originally posted by ThePrankMonkey


Perfect, just about summed-up what I was about to say anyway .

Originally posted by torque


It seems though, that these are DIFFERENT people. There's growing up in the ghetto, being un-educated and not being able to stop that, then there's changing the way you speak to sound "cool". That's what most rappers do; change their way of speaking to sound "cool". I think that's also what thegreat59 was refering to; people who do it on purpose.



It's almost the same as I said above. They spoke that way because of the country they came from spoke another language, and they were used to it. When they come and try to speak english, it comes out a little differently just like if I tried to speak spanish. It's called an accent...if you haven't heard of it . Again, he's talking about these people who do it on purpose, and flaunt it when they do. They get kids to buy into these fads by pretending that they're un-educated and from some ghetto, when in reality they have millions upon millions of dollars to spend on stupid houses and cars.


[Edited on 21-8-2004 by Herman]

I used to like rap the old stuff like N.W.A but i have now grown outta it.

I dont have a taste for rap, but I feel like I need to defend it a bit, since its not just a "trend" and its not all negative. Most of you seem to think all rap is duragotory. There are, however, a few songs that are pretty astute. Look at the lyrics for "I can" by Nas. See? Its not always about the b!tches and the hoes...

Be, B-Boys and girls, listen up
You can be anything in the world, in God we trust
An architect, doctor, maybe an actress
But nothing comes easy it takes much practice
Like, I met a woman who's becoming a star
She was very beautiful, leaving people in awe
Singing songs, Lina Horn, but the younger version
Hung with the wrong person
Got her strung on that
Heroin, cocaine, sniffin up drugs all in her nose...
Coulda died, so young, now looks ugly and old
No fun cause now when she reaches for hugs people hold they breath
Cause she smells of corrosion and death
Watch the company you keep and the crowd you bring
Cause they came to do drugs and you came to sing
So if you gonna be the best, I'ma tell you how,
Put your hands in the air, and take a vow

Be, B-Boys and girls, listen again
This is for grown looking girls who's only ten
The ones who watch videos and do what they see
As cute as can be, up in the club with fake ID
Careful, 'fore you meet a man with HIV
You can host the TV like Oprah Winfrey
Whatever you decide, be careful, some men be
Rapists, so act your age, don't pretend to be
Older than you are, give yourself time to grow
You thinking he can give you wealth, but so
Young boys, you can use a lot of help, you know
You thinkin life's all about smokin weed and ice
You don't wanna be my age and can't read and write
Begging different women for a place to sleep at night
Smart boys turn to men and do whatever they wish
If you believe you can achieve, then say it like this

[Chorus]

Rap is a major part of the African-American culture, a minority creation that people should be proud of. However, rap is not seen as by many Americans as the art form it is, but rather a trend which they hope will die off. Raps been around for over 20 years in the united states. In fact, you can even trace the history of rap back to back to the "griot" storytellers in west africa.

thats kinda lame, cause all rap is, is just talking in rythym over someone elses music. its the ultimate in laziness. there is no creativity in it. exp: "how can one chaundra be so leevey? please. its made just to piss off people, make a controversy and have all the sheep go buy it. if your dumb enough to give these people money, the you dont deserve money.