Official Umar Johnson Thread

[trynafeelmink]

In before people come in here & act like rap music doesn't have a huge influence on the youth

BTW.... these are Europeans from a completely different country........ AND LOOK AT THEM.... imagine the effect it has on kids growing actually growing up in those environments

 

[WASHED KING]

The music is just on the right side of the equation not the left. Its an effect not a cause.

You don't get gangster rap/drill music without the hood and poverty.

 

[Raji Lowenthal]

Drill rapper Lil Mabu is a model student at a rich prep school

Lil Mabu — a drill rapper who has amassed 2.6 million followers by dropping beats about fighting cops, knocking over jewelry stores, and sleeping with “b—hes” — is actually …

nypost.com

not sure how this works in the streets. Need to have Umar to have a word.

 

[trynafeelmink]

And as usual nobody denies that..... at what point do we be truthful with ourselves & admit that this **** is doing nothing but adding negatives to an already bad situation.

It's like saying i'm already in debt, so instead of trying to get out of it i'm gonna double down on making bad investments

 

[spiderjericho]

The music is just on the right side of the equation not the left. Its an effect not a cause.

You don't get gangster rap/drill music without the hood and poverty.

I won’t lie. I’m a life long consumer. I also grew up in the hood. Probably wasn’t impressionable enough and luckily never got into the situation.

But it just seems to be an aggressive (due to mainstream push for that type of music late 1990s to now) mirror of the reality black people face.

Unfortunately, the mainstream drowns out all the positivity, party, education, etc.

In that regards, I don’t disregard with the title of that video (if that’s what Umar is saying).

Also, at this point, we need to shift the gate keeper role to our people. That’s why I may dislike the content but love where Tyler Perry is.

 

[DCAllAfrican]

For some odd reason, We pick and chose which forms of media are used to destroy/demolish the human mind.

Pron, we have NO reservations about admitting how it affects the way men view women in "that" space.

But with guns and rap, we somehow like to play stupid about how influential/detrimental they are to society as a whole.

I don't understand why. (Especially with guns)

But yes, lack of resources/economic equality was an issue long before rap came on the scene.
But yes, lack of resources/economic equality was an issue long before rap came on the scene.
But yes, lack of resources/economic equality was an issue long before rap came on the scene.

 

[WASHED KING]

I’m not saying the music is positive because it’s not.

Just bigger more important issues should be tackled first IMO.

 

[DCAllAfrican]

I’m not saying the music is positive because it’s not.

Just bigger more important issues should be tackled first IMO.

I mean we can tackle more than 1 thing at once. There isn't a list that has to be crossed off in sequential order.

 

[trynafeelmink]

I’m not saying the music is positive because it’s not.

Just bigger more important issues should be tackled first IMO.

I promise you changing the messaging in our music is a MUCH easier task, than toppling the Well oiled machine that is America. Kids were getting murdered in the streets & lighting towns on fire & our politicians did what they did in my Avi....

Your 100% right today's rap is a result of systematic failures, my thing is given all we know about the very structured & detailed American system...Why do we believe that system is going to change towards black people

 

[Mark Antony]

Violent rap as mainstream has run it's course.

 

[finessence]

In before people come in here & act like rap music doesn't have a huge influence on the youth

BTW.... these are Europeans from a completely different country........ AND LOOK AT THEM.... imagine the effect it has on kids growing actually growing up in those environments

The Italian mob was before rap….. the mafia has more of European influence then rap…. Stop it.

No gun has EVER been manufactured in the hood

 

[finessence]

Violent rap as mainstream has run it's course.

Violence has been mainstream before rap, and will be after rap. Y’all have to stop blaming irresponsible peoples decision making on a 40 year old genre….

 

[trynafeelmink]

The Italian mob was before rap….. the mafia has more of European influence then rap…. Stop it.

No gun has EVER been manufactured in the hood

Fam tune me in to where the Italian Mafia started claiming blood sets & getting sturdy . That video is 100% hiphop influence

 

[finessence]

I promise you changing the messaging in our music is a MUCH easier task, than toppling the Well oiled machine that is America. Kids were getting murdered in the streets & lighting towns on fire & our politicians did what they did in my Avi....

Your 100% right today's rap is a result of systematic failures, my thing is given all we know about the very structured & detailed American system...Why do we believe that system is going to change towards black people

Today’s rap has NOTHING to do with systemic failures. These dudes just DON’T have talent and don’t know how to rap.

We had dudes like Tribe Called Quest, Brand Nubian, Mos Def, Native Tongue movement, etc. at the PEAK of the crack epidemic.

We had R&B, Jazz, Blues, etc at the PEAK of heroin and cocaine use in the 1930s-1990s…

R&B and conscious hip hop were being made during the 80s and 90s during rampant and violent times…

It’s the PEOPLE lacking skills. Y’all gotta stop

Public Enemy and the likes at the height of the crack epidemic. It’s the people. People have changed.

 

[finessence]

Fam tune me in to where the Italian Mafia started claiming blood sets & getting sturdy . That video is 100% hiphop influence

I’m not about to watch that video. I’m not talking about bloods or crips. I’m talking about the fact that there have ALWAYS been European mobs, European gangs, etc. before rap.

And again, show me where one gun is manufactured in the hood. Y’all choose to listen to some of these non rapping dudes. That’s a choice. Plenty of dudes who spit traditional lyrics.

If you don’t like rap, stop listening. There are other genres out there.


That’s my point.

 

[finessence]

The mind of a 16 year old in 1983 is COMPLETELY different than the mind of 16 year old in today’s society.

 

[trynafeelmink]

 

[fluid hips]

The argument is why drill and all this degenerate **** is being pushed on mainstream radio. It's by design. All these "urban" (codeword black) stations aren't owned by black people.

Alot of these impressionable kids take cues from these street kids turned artists because it's "cool". Drug use/ being illiterate/ pants sagging/ having baby mamas.

Conscious rappers don't get play time for a reason.

It's a war on black people and alot of black people are oblivious and unwilling participants. They just care about getting paid and can't see the bigger picture. Getting paid peanuts at the detriment of your own people.

How do you create an art form and 40+ years later, you don't have any control over it. It's like building a house and having someone else have control and make money off of it and not you.

You have these jimmy iovines and lyor cohens calling the shots and making the real money.

Slavery never really ended. You have these slave masters and these field slaves who are expendable. These artists come and go/die and these same dudes are still there decades and calling the shots.

Until there is a collective outrage and denouncing, this will keep going on. People gotta stop with the it's just music/entertainment excuse. It's deeper than that.

 

[MetalMario]

Oh wow rondo got posted in here. Fire rapper

 

[spiderjericho]

 

[spiderjericho]

 

[Raji Lowenthal]

Anybody that doesn't see a majority of the rap today as negative and choose to bump it with your children cool. Issa trap..

 

[gry60]

Anybody that doesn't see a majority of the rap today as negative and choose to bump it with your children cool. Issa trap..

A lot of the **** we grew up listening was awful (but entertaining):

Ante Up? Tip Drill? Early UGK (especially Pimp C)? DMX's hits? Onyx?

Next to that, there was ATCQ, Black Star, the Roots, just like you have Kendrick, J Cole, and other cats who put thoughts and skills into their lyrics today.

I agree with you about playing certain songs/artists to kids, but parents doing so shouldn't be a reason to crucify the whole genre.

 

[Raji Lowenthal]

A lot of the **** we grew up listening was awful (but entertaining):

Ante Up? Tip Drill? Early UGK (especially Pimp C)? DMX's hits? Onyx?

Next to that, there was ATCQ, Black Star, the Roots, just like you have Kendrick, J Cole, and other cats who put thoughts and skills into their lyrics today.

I agree with you about playing certain songs/artists to kids, but parents doing so shouldn't be a reason to crucify the whole genre.

Subject matter is what's being crucified not the genre.

Most of the rap I grew up listening to my mom's would tell me turn it off if it was on that bs, rather than ask me to do a tik tok with her.

 

[spiderjericho]

I mainly listen to podcasts in my car. But when I have my daughter, I play the radio. There’s the top 100 station, which is mostly benign. But the “urban” stations is where there are some songs I deem questionable to play in front of her.

I grew up listening to hip hop in the 80s, where it was diverse. But post Uncle Luke, NWA, and East Coast drug/murder rap (Mobb Deep, Lost Boys, Nas to an extent, etc), stations began “favoring” that music more, where it’s the norm not the exception. During that mid 90s to early 2000s rap, there were groups like Outkast, Goodie Mob, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Pharaoh Monch, MF Doom, etc but besides Big Boi and Andre that music didn’t deliver commercial success. As the South exploded with party and trap music, G-Unit dominated the charts…the demand (from white audiences) cemented back pack rap being the exception and not the standard (yes yes, Black Eye Peas, Kanye West, etc).

So it’s moreso the gatekeepers pushing this sure win violent, misogynistic, toxic music on us. Kind of like Chinese food, Crack, Liquor stores in the hood.

No one is dismissing post slavery, Jim Crowe/segregation, post Civil Rights, 90s crime bill, police brutality, etc.

It’s just the control of the music and art form we created.