It doesn't make me stronger...it makes me SICK!
Rap music is dumb.
Ok, not all rap music is dumb, but a very large majority of rap music is dumb. I realize that most of the music is about beat not lyrics. I'll even admit that there are several rap songs I like. But when I sit and listen to the lyrics I shake my head.
Take for instance, Kanye West's "Stronger." Now Kanye considers himself the cream of the crop but that new song is dumb. The verses have nothing to do with the chorus. The main part of the song is "that that don't kill me can only make m stronger." Then the rest of the song talks about getting on some girl. You would think if the main part of the song is about overcoming and making yourself better, the rest of the song would follow. Nope. He turned what could be a positive message into something about sex.
Yeah, I realize that sex sells, but shouldn't someone be demanding more. I realize that teenagers don't know better, but am I the only one just shaking my head over this?
Ok, not all rap music is dumb, but a very large majority of rap music is dumb. I realize that most of the music is about beat not lyrics. I'll even admit that there are several rap songs I like. But when I sit and listen to the lyrics I shake my head.
Take for instance, Kanye West's "Stronger." Now Kanye considers himself the cream of the crop but that new song is dumb. The verses have nothing to do with the chorus. The main part of the song is "that that don't kill me can only make m stronger." Then the rest of the song talks about getting on some girl. You would think if the main part of the song is about overcoming and making yourself better, the rest of the song would follow. Nope. He turned what could be a positive message into something about sex.
Yeah, I realize that sex sells, but shouldn't someone be demanding more. I realize that teenagers don't know better, but am I the only one just shaking my head over this?
Comments
Actually the best part of the song is Daft Punk's sample of Harder, Stronger, Faster... love Daft Punk. (But I'm weird.)
Otherwise, I wholeheartedly agree with you. Rap lyrics are definitely assisting our plummeting moral values and our steadfastly degenerating society.
Not.
And I don't think that Rap music is the cause of the corruption of society. I am no that dumb. However, it certainly doesn't help.
The problem I have with the song is that where, say, Ice Cube steals from George Clinton, West is stealing from Nietzsche. (He's college-educated, so he likes to show it off.)
But you're basically right that it's silly to talk about the "will to power" and follow up with talk about macking on 'hos. (You didn't say it in so many words, but there you go.) :)
Then again, better to steal from Herr Nietzsche than Rick James, I suppose. Oh, and I like "The Good Life" more than I like "Stronger." :)
Also it is important to understand the new music genera "mash up" before question the artist that produce it. Mash up, a genera that describes Kanye's "stronger", is created by taking a sample for music created by another artist and adding the second artist's work to it and, can be easily perceived using traditional criteria as devoid of original artistic productivity.
However, if it is understood that that artist's intention was to use the original work that makes up the sample in a way that either redefines the meaning or intensifies the first artist statement the the artistic abilities of secondary artist, in this case Kanye West, become clear. That is to say that the presence of a piece of music composed by another artist in Kanye's work does not make it unoriginal. The creativity in works that are closer to the apotheosis of the "mash up", rather than closer to rap in form, easily demonstrate mash up artist's creative abilities.
An example of pure mash up with not rap lyrics are the super Mash Brothers please watch here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2_vKfErXVo&feature=related
See Millennial Make over by Morley Winograd & Michael D Hais for more information one the cultural relevancy of mash up. There is only a small section on the music genera as the majority of the book is on political realignment theory and modern communication technology.