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Fan Asks Hard Questions About Rap Music
The NY Times ^ | December 24, 2006 | ERIK ECKHOLM

Posted on 12/24/2006 6:06:24 AM PST by Condor 63

Byron Hurt takes pains to say that he is a fan of hip-hop, but over time, says Mr. Hurt, a 36-year-old filmmaker, dreadlocks hanging below his shoulders, “I began to become very conflicted about the music I love.”

A new documentary by Mr. Hurt, “Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes,” questions the violence, degradation of women and homophobia in much of rap music.

The intended audiences include young fans, hip-hop artists and music industry executives — black and white — who profit from music and videos that glorify swagger and luxury, portray women as sex objects, and imply, critics say, that education and hard work are for suckers and sissies.

Chris Bennett, 36, took his daughters, ages 15 and 11, to see Mr. Hurt’s film in Chicago because he said he wanted them to think about the music. Mr. Bennett, a school security guard, said he saw the effects of gangsta rap in his job. “Everyone wants to be tough now,” he said. “Everyone wants to be hard, and education has taken the background.”

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: annoyingbeats; crapmusic; garbage; immatureartists; insecureminorities; rapmusic; thecinrapissilent
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1 posted on 12/24/2006 6:06:26 AM PST by Condor 63
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To: Condor 63

Most pop music these days are full of sexual inuendo and other filth. The crap they put out targeted towards kids these days is disguesting. There have always been some, but it seems to get worse and worse every year.


2 posted on 12/24/2006 6:12:12 AM PST by Always Right
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To: Condor 63
“Everyone wants to be hard, and education has taken the background.”

Grammar challenged. Perhaps he should try again -- only this time express himself in rhyming couplets.
3 posted on 12/24/2006 6:12:41 AM PST by BenLurkin ("The entire remedy is with the people." - W. H. Harrison)
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To: Condor 63
Rap is krap. It sure is not music. Just the same beat over and over or they use a "real" song because they have no talent of their own.

Rap is to music ad islam is to religion.

4 posted on 12/24/2006 6:14:11 AM PST by isthisnickcool (If you can't light a fire in the vacuum of space what's the deal with the Sun?)
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To: Condor 63
When rap infected the American airwaves I gave up most American music radio. Switched to talk and it enriched my life. I filled the gap in music with Latino music, of which there of course is a growing abundance, and has also enriched my life. Sadly, the American music monopoly has strangled innovation within the American musical culture. We can still produce the finest music on the planet, but no one will hear it. The internet has become a great means to distribute and listen to new and innovative music, but sadly the American music monopoly has savagely curtailed the ability of most musicians to ever get their music out to the public.

I've seen some new sites promote new indy bands, but I don't have the time or desire to download music I'm not sure I want to hear. Music's best media is radio, of course. And the exposure via radio is both controlled and exceptionally competative. If they didn't cater to the lowest common denominator in music, our nation, our very culture would be much better off.

5 posted on 12/24/2006 6:17:14 AM PST by Caipirabob (Communists... Socialists... Democrats...Traitors... Who can tell the difference?)
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To: isthisnickcool
"Rap is to music as islam is to religion."

LOL!!!
6 posted on 12/24/2006 6:20:05 AM PST by NewCenturions
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To: isthisnickcool

"Rap is krap. It sure is not music. Just the same beat over and over or they use a "real" song because they have no talent of their own.
Rap is to music ad islam is to religion."

I like that - rap is crap! You are sooooooooooo right.

That's the truth. Never mind that MANY rapsters are criminals. We don't allow that "crap" in our household.


7 posted on 12/24/2006 6:24:04 AM PST by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God) .)
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To: Condor 63
“Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes,” questions the violence, degradation of women and homophobia in much of rap music.

  http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/box-dvd/BREAKIN2-box_hires_dvd.jpg

And why in God's green earth this movie was ever made. 

8 posted on 12/24/2006 6:26:50 AM PST by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: Condor 63

Some where I read that 80% of rap sales are from WHITE males.

White males may be major customers, Mr. Hurt said, “but it influences black kids the most.”


9 posted on 12/24/2006 6:28:33 AM PST by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God) .)
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To: martin_fierro
Well, wasn't that one of the signs of the apolocalypse?

Pestilence, war, famine, death... and bustin' a move with Electic Boogaloo?

The funny thing is, Breakin' 2 came out about twenty years ago, and the 'scene' as it was back then seems so quaint and almost chaming compared to the crappage it's become now.

10 posted on 12/24/2006 6:32:00 AM PST by RepoGirl ("Tom, I'm getting dead from you, but I'm not getting Un-dead..." -- Frasier Crane)
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To: martin_fierro
And why in God's green earth this movie was ever made.

To create jobs for homosexual black men?

11 posted on 12/24/2006 6:33:42 AM PST by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
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To: nmh
Some where I read that 80% of rap sales are from WHITE males.

Or maybe you didn't.

would providing a link have killed ya?

12 posted on 12/24/2006 6:33:56 AM PST by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: Condor 63
A new documentary by Mr. Hurt, “Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes,”...

You mean they're actually considering adding melody...?

13 posted on 12/24/2006 6:35:44 AM PST by randog (What the...?!)
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To: nmh
> Some where I read that 80% of rap sales are from WHITE males. White males may be major customers, Mr. Hurt said, “but it influences black kids the most.”

You're talking legal sales in stores, for actual money, not copies of copies of bootlegs. My guess is that the white-boy wannabes have more money to throw around.

I can't stand rap. I'd rather listen to metal, and I don't like metal all that much.

There's lots of good music out there -- country, jazz, blues, even some of the pop is still listenable. You just have to look for it while the rap crap is slamming you in the head.

I've found emusic.com to be a good source for non-commercial country, jazz, and blues.

14 posted on 12/24/2006 6:36:37 AM PST by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
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To: BenLurkin

He's correct though. They want to portray themselves as hard, tough thugs. Education is barely an afterthought.


15 posted on 12/24/2006 6:38:01 AM PST by theDentist (Qwerty ergo typo : I type, therefore I misspelll.)
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To: nmh

axe' M&M 'bout dat.


16 posted on 12/24/2006 6:38:51 AM PST by ßuddaßudd (7 days - 7 ways Guero » with a floating, shifting, ever changing persona....)
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To: dayglored

"You're talking legal sales in stores, for actual money, not copies of copies of bootlegs. My guess is that the white-boy wannabes have more money to throw around. "

I wonder what the ILLEGAL stats are by race.


17 posted on 12/24/2006 6:38:52 AM PST by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God) .)
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To: Condor 63
Music?

It ain't music.

18 posted on 12/24/2006 6:39:14 AM PST by CaptRon (Pedecaris alive or Raisuli dead)
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To: martin_fierro
And why in God's green earth this movie was ever made.

Yo, don't be hatin'. That movie was fly! Those dancers were illin'.

19 posted on 12/24/2006 6:40:07 AM PST by Freedom_no_exceptions (No actual, intended, or imminent victim = no crime. No exceptions.)
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To: RepoGirl
"Crappage"

Heh! I'll be using that a lot!

20 posted on 12/24/2006 6:41:16 AM PST by CaptRon (Pedecaris alive or Raisuli dead)
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