Sorry Baller but that is actually the opposite case. In every instance I've seen there has been those of the younger generation taking the exact same stance you are here, and incidentally saying just about the same things that you're saying here. The difference between certain artists, who gets played on the radio, who's got a positive message as opposed to who does not. The difference between Elvis Presley and Pat Boone come to my mind. There's nothing new here. It just seems that way because you're seeing it for the first time. For the generation before you it was which artists or groups used profanity in their music which is actually where the warning lables on tapes and CD's came from.

 

From High Fidelity: Was I miserable because I listened to Rock music, or did I listen to Rock music because I was miserable?

I don't think there is any way to measure the toll it actually takes as there are so many variables to consider it would simply be unfeasible. But suppose a very significant portion of the population started reading Nietzsche routinely, don't you think there would be some changes of mind that would come about. While most if not all musicians lack that level of brilliance, I believe people who routinely have there ideas ingested by the public do hold some degree of sway over them, be it for or against their position. I am not suggesting people are automatons and others are responsible for their actions, it is just a simple matter of ideas being contagious.

But as I have been saying, should artist be held accountable for their content? I don't think they have a responsibility to sculpt public minds in a certain way, and the notion that there is only one way people should be taught to think about issues is very dangerous.

I may someday marry out of appeasement of a partner, but I can safely say it will not be for personal motivations. Unless you are looking for financial breaks (which can potentially backfire) I don't see how anyone is ever any better off after having married (unless of coarse by having increased economic leverage over your partner, you can subtlety coerce them to stay with you is considered being better off.)

 

If the ideas expressed in the kind of gangsta rap we're talking about were contagious then it would appear that rates of gang membership, gang related killings, murder in general and rape and assaults would increase with the amount of popularity of the artists and their music. Instead the statistics show that levels of all those factors have decreased instead of increased.

I would contend it is much more of a generational thing where each generation wants to try and separate themselves from previous generations. I think it also represents a general sense of dissatisfaction, feeling of injustice and rebellion against the status quo that has given rise to Hip Hops popularity.

And you raise as ineresting point about what if people read Neitzsche. I have wondered myself what our society would look like if suddenly people accepted his positon that there was noting to fear after death. That there was no judgement, and no retribution for anything we did in this life because there was not an after life. Would people then feel freerer to commit any number of horrendous acts not fearing going to hell or being judged in an after life? But then I noticed I didn't and I don't think most people would that's not why most of us act and respond in responsibile and moral ways.

 

I will have to concede I was thinking of music in general as opposed to gansta rap. I scarcely consider it music at all, but speculated it works like other music for those who listen to it.

As for if everyone accepted the works of Nietzsche, I think moral people would continue to be moral and immoral people would continue to be immoral. THe added benefits I think that would occur is that not only would people be able to live their lives more fully and realistically, they wouldn't be plagued by others telling them what they must do for their own good. I came across and outstanding quote speaking of this.

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." - C.S. Lewis

 

Whats going on here then?

 

Kweli is amazing. Good Mourning, Redefinition & Hostile Gospel are my faves....and Get By.

He's too deep for mainstream though. too political, too social, too real. he doesn't fit the description on a typical rapper. no bling bling , no talk of bitches and guns. he just keeps it real and has intelligent lyrics.

here's his take on Pop/Rap

[Talib Kweli- Hostile Gospel]
I call these rappers baby seals, cause they club you to death
I could call 'em Navy SEALs, cause they government feds
What become of the vets? They drugged up, they fucked up, they in debt
There ain't no love and no respect, it's like a gang it's like a club or a set
Hip-Hop's the new WWF
What do you rap or do you wrestle? Niggaz love to forget
We got til it's gone, you think you on, you still hustlin backwards
Your topical norm a tropical storm, it's a fuckin disaster
Back to the topic we on, it all started at Rawkus
They couldn't find the words to describe me so they resort to the shortcuts
Is he a backpacker? Is he a mad rapper?
An entertainer or the author of the last chapter
We living in these times of love and cholera
Synonymous with the apocalypse, look up the clouds is ominous
We got maybe ten years left say meteorologists, shit
We still waitin for the Congress to acknowledge this~!

 

Unfortunately I'm back at camp and don't have my Portable Nietzsche but he took a similar stance but more forceful. First he railed against the idea of an afterlife and contended it was the one single fraud that was perpetuated by religion in cooperation with the robber barons you might say to keep the serfs pacified and content by telling them something to the effect of; "sure you're suffering in this life but your great reward will come in the next life where you're probably going to be richer and happier than I am." In so many words he said it was a good scam if you can get people to believe it.

But what he reserved his most harsh criticism for is those who as Lewis says commit tyranny on others for their supposed own good. He countered that saying they actually did it out of the most disgusting motivation of all; a sense of pity for those they were pretending to help when actually what they were doing was using pity for someone else to make themselves feel good.

 

LoloLoloLoloLoloLoLol

 

any more comments on free love

 

That statement is the same as saying "if religion had such an influence on society, there would be more increasing church enrollments, conversions, etc etc. The crap music that I'm talking about, spreads more bullshit than just "join a gang, shoot up people, etc". It glorifies an image, just like the other forms of media and market have done. The image of the "thugged out G playa" type. The image of women being "hos" and sextoys, and supposed to be dancing around and waiting hand and foot or worshipping the ground any guy who fronts to being like that walks on. It glorifies people who try to intimidate others to get what they want, or pick on people weaker than them. Justifying people like that, and especially glorifying them, for whatever reason people do, is something that should not be done, yet these type of people get positively reinforced no matter what they do, when they should be knocked back down to Earth. I mean I can understand(not that I agree with it) when it's an athlete, or musician, or actor, etc because they do something very well, that doesn't hurt others and they don't step on others to get to where they are, but glorifying "G"s is just plain retarded. they are pieces of shit. I'm not saying gangster rap is completely responsible for this, or for the fact that the double standard of "playa/slut" is even more popular nowadays, but it certainly has a huge hand in it.

 

sounds like fun

 

on second thought. forget free love, where's the free sex?

P.s: old thread is old.