Drift Reality > Washington, DC > The Death of Rap

I was at the gym earlier today when I couldn't help but notice the steady torrent of crap coming out of the television, otherwise known as Gold's Gym music programming.

Let me preface this by saying this isn't the first time I've gotten irritated by the shit music I am forced to listen to at the gym. Back in the spring, I wrote an essay where I criticized the pop music at Gold's, mostly focusing on teenybopper music.

In the past six months, for whatever reason, there has been a shift from the teenybopper crap to rap crap. I use the term rapvery loosely because I'm really not sure what the hell it is I'm watching anymore.

Basically, the thing that set me off was when I saw a video that I could have sworn to be satirical. When I realized the video's intention was to be taken literally, I almost had a heart attack.

As I watched in disgust, a moron danced around with about fifty slutty girls at a mansion (one of them was Paris Hilton by the way), and rapped about money, clothes, cars, and pussy. I use the term "pussy" because using the term "women" would imply some sense of a legitimate and respectable approach to heterosexual relationships, which is simply not the case in the hip-hop ideology.

It irritated me so immensely I immediately stopped my workout, ran home, and began typing.

The first thing I did was to check The Billboard Hot 100. A quick glance at the chart reveals that almost all of the top 20 singles are from the likes of rap artists like Snoop Dog, 50 Cent, Lil John, and Ja Rule. A quick visit to the Recording Industry Association of America's Web site confirmed that in the past 10 years, the market share of the rapindustry has increased from 7.9% to 13.3% while rock music has decreased by almost the same amount.

What strikes me about this trend, is that although rap has been increasing in prevalence, I would argue that the quality of its most prominent artists has been drastically decreasing.

Take for instance, the following passage from Grandmaster Flash's "The Message":

Standing on the front stoop, hangin' out the window
Watching all the cars go by, roaring as the breezes
Blow
Crazy lady, livin' in a bag
Eating out of garbage piles, used to be a fag-hag
Search and test a tango, skips the life and then go
To search a prince to see the last of senses
Down at the peepshow, watching all the creeps
So she can tell the stories to the girls back home
She went to the city and got so so so ditty
She had to get a pimp, she couldn't make it on her own

While it isn't exactly brilliant prose (despite what Berkeley Literature Professors might thinkg), I think there is something poetic about the language in the verse and something vividly gritty about the images that the writer conjures. For me, this represents something meaningful, a social commentary about life for an alternative American demographic.

Now, contrast the message with the following lyrics from Busta Rhymes' Pass The Courvoisier, featuring P. Diddy.

Busta: Give me the Henny, you can give me the Cris
You can pass me the Remi, but the pass the Courvoisier
Diddy: Give me the ass, you could give me the dough
You can give me 'dro, but pass the Courvoisier
Busta: Give me some money, you can give me some cars
But you can give me the bitch make sure you pass the Courvoisier
Diddy: Give me some shit, you can give me the cribs
You can give me whaever just pass the Courvoisier

Okay, first of all, it took me about 45 minutes to try and translate enough of this verse into English so that I could attempt to analyze it, and here is what I came up with:

Busta: I like many types of alcoholic beverages, but Courvoisier is my favorite.
Diddy: I have affinities for many things: women, money, and marijuana; but Courvoisier is also my favorite.
Busta: I like money and cars, [I did not understand the syntax in "you can give me the bitch make sure you pass"] please pass the Courvoisier.
Diddy: [Once again, I got confused here - what does he mean when he says "give me some shit?" Does he literally want shit?] Give me the homes. Actually, give me just about anything, but please pass the Courvoisier.

For me, the contrast between the two of these lyrical passages is so extreme, that they should not even be considered the same genre. I think that while rap refers to a form of music, there is nothing musical about the crap coming out of the mouths of "artists" like P. Diddy.

What is even more disturbing is the lack of thought put into the messages that are being propagated through this "music," and the wide traction that these messages are receiving amongst an audience that is predominantly young and impressionable.

What is the solution, that might save us from a generation of children wearing their collars "popped up"?

STOP BUYING RECORDS PRODUCED BY SHITTY RAP ARTISTS!!!!!!!

Thank you and good night.