Rap About Nothing: Hip Hop Chat Thread

[sneakaprince]

Hovs Scarface line was previously referenced but what about this one here:

If I would have grew up to be a doctor / My nephews would have grew up to do the same (same, same...) / But since I grew up through the game / And my influence is the same

During American Gangster the character played by T.I., Lucas' nephew, says: I want what you got Uncle Frank. I wanna be you. Jay is recognising his influence over those that look up to him. Regardless of how he acts, he’s seen as a role model purely through age and perceived wisdom. During...

genius.com

While I get Jay is not responsible for the plight of all young black men, I also think he knows the power of his words and actions. There's reasons he doesn't perform Big Pimpin etc. He himself has admitted it did more harm for culture than it did good for him (which by the way the record worked and was hugely successful for him).

 

[alexody]

All his features with Mozzy straight, I ain't know he had this much heat.


[ME

Fam too dope to be making such short songs

 

[VARNELL HILL]

Hovs Scarface line was previously referenced but what about this one here:

If I would have grew up to be a doctor / My nephews would have grew up to do the same (same, same...) / But since I grew up through the game / And my influence is the same

During American Gangster the character played by T.I., Lucas' nephew, says: I want what you got Uncle Frank. I wanna be you. Jay is recognising his influence over those that look up to him. Regardless of how he acts, he’s seen as a role model purely through age and perceived wisdom. During...

genius.com

While I get Jay is not responsible for the plight of all young black men, I also think he knows the power of his words and actions. There's reasons he doesn't perform Big Pimpin etc. He himself has admitted it did more harm for culture than it did good for him (which by the way the record worked and was hugely successful for him).

 

[D StaXX]

Boston Richey should have released a project by now smh

I'm saying. Bro needs a better team or direction.
There's really no excuse for it.

 

[WASHED KING]

Just playing Devils Advocate:


Thug himself has admitted that Lil Wayne is one of his biggest influences. As evidenced by his early music, Thug pretty much wanted to be Wayne.

While all the other things you stated are true, how much influence do you think Wayne had on Thug getting down with the Bloods and eventually becoming "the biggest blood in America" (his words not mine).

While I agree that due to surroundings maybe that was inevitable, but how much influence do you think younger Wayne proliferating gang **** at his peak had to do with Thug staying active even when had literal songs with Elton John.

I get it this might be a chicken or the egg thing but as someone who spent years working with kids let me tell you what you should already know: Kids are impressionable as hell. Too many artist glorify street ****, that makes it look "cool" to kids who would otherwise avoid those things.

We all heard those stories of white (and black) kids from the subburb being obbessed with hip hop and looking for the real thing so they go to places they shouldn't be and get involved with things they shouldn't, and yes those parents should be more involved with their kids but we've all been kids before. Sometimes even the most committed parent can't battle a message thats being reinforced day in and day out via entertainment.

Wayne's influence had little to no impact outside of music. Thug was going to become who he was as a person regardless of what Wayne rapped about. He grew up in Zone 3 in the projects, he saw his brother die in front of him, he saw another one of his brothers get locked up for murder, he was in juvie for 4 years. He didn't have to go look for the trouble he was already there.

I understand what you're saying about children being impressionable I'm a high school teacher I've been one the last 5 years. I work at summer camps in the summer, I volunteer tat the local Boys and Girls club in my free time. I've worked in predominantly upper middle class white schools and low income predominantly black schools.

In both schools the kids are listening to the exact same music. However at one school I was breaking up gang fights every other week, we had two years straight of having missing chairs at graduation and parents having to pick up a child's diploma due to gun violence, clear book bags and elevated police presence at the school during the week due to shootings that happened over the weekend. The middle class suburban white school the biggest issue was mask wearing.

Are there some kids who are enamored with gang culture and don't have to be yeah for sure but those are anomalies. A child's parents and home environment are the biggest factors on their development whether good or bad.

 

[wavycrocket]

All his features with Mozzy straight, I ain't know he had this much heat.

Crazy to see a ***** from my neighborhood, actually make it out the way . Zone39

Caught on with this as a group (I know you heard it on the radio)



then REALLY caught on with this out Cali.



***** moved to Cali, been on that wave for a minute. And now a Hoover . But he been going crazy. Salute!

https://youtu.be/f5EKpFxwxPQ

 

[Maximus Meridius]

 

[Present]

The standard literally being the crack Era in order to state things have gotten better is Wild

Yes crime has went down…. After cities got billions in funding for crime, more jails were built, and technology advanced to a point where there’s cameras on every corner & everyone’s pocket.

The consciousness of the rap community is just as bad if not worse than it was 30 years ago & we keep making excuses for the bull****.

Have y’all seen what these politicians doing out here?? Those outside factors are always gonna be there … so we gonna be in a helpless situation until we decide to switch **** up

If you think todays "rap community" reflects the Black community then you probably think Wal Mart does too.

All that ended when the corporations moved in Fam - way back in the 90s. The death of the DJ.

Rap reflects the culture of its owners - profit driven corporations, and the overwhelming consumers of today rap are suburban white kids.

Black folks haven't owned BET in decades.

Why concentrate on the songs of crabs from a barrel but never once consider who made the barrel and put the crabs in there?

You walked right past the man behind the register to check whether or not the crabs were singing gospel songs and praising the Lord for the barrel as if its their natural habitat

You can still hear LOTS of positive intelligent rap - you'll just have to go independent / underground for it. Where it started.

No different than going to another country / State and choosing McDonald's over the local cuisine, then complaining about it.

Also none of what you're saying is new...

How it started:

How its going:

 

[ahat]

Crazy to see a ***** from my neighborhood, actually make it out the way . Zone39

Caught on with this as a group (I know you heard it on the radio)



then REALLY caught on with this out Cali.



***** moved to Cali, been on that wave for a minute. And now a Hoover . But he been going crazy. Salute!

Thats the first song i ever heard from him. Thought it was annoying at first but the more i heard it was catchy. Hes nice on tracks with Mozzy, they work well together.

 

[sneakaprince]

Wayne's influence had little to no impact outside of music. Thug was going to become who he was as a person regardless of what Wayne rapped about. He grew up in Zone 3 in the projects, he saw his brother die in front of him, he saw another one of his brothers get locked up for murder, he was in juvie for 4 years. He didn't have to go look for the trouble he was already there.

I understand what you're saying about children being impressionable I'm a high school teacher I've been one the last 5 years. I work at summer camps in the summer, I volunteer tat the local Boys and Girls club in my free time. I've worked in predominantly upper middle class white schools and low income predominantly black schools.

In both schools the kids are listening to the exact same music. However at one school I was breaking up gang fights every other week, we had two years straight of having missing chairs at graduation and parents having to pick up a child's diploma due to gun violence, clear book bags and elevated police presence at the school during the week due to shootings that happened over the weekend. The middle class suburban white school the biggest issue was mask wearing.

Are there some kids who are enamored with gang culture and don't have to be yeah for sure but those are anomalies. A child's parents and home environment are the biggest factors on their development whether good or bad.

While I do agree with some of your points, others are shakey for me.


Let me start by saying I truly respect and appreciate what you do. I worked in education and it can often feel like a thankless job. What you have done and continue to do is to be commended. No bs.


When you compare white and black students you have to take into consideration that Black students are seeing entertainers that look like them and often come from similar places as them. Of course fewer white students would emulate that culture, they aren't being told that "this is who your people are". By and large Black People are fed an image of what it is to be Black and most of the time its negative or submissive to Whites. I do agree that parents play a key role in helping their children to form an identity of both who they are and what it means to be (black, brown, white, whatever).

You kinda downplayed the influence of Wayne, Idk if this was specific to Thug or to culture in general. Either way Wayne was hugely influential to both. Idk if you remember 06/07 but fake Bape resellers will tell you Wayne was culture for a while. We still see remenants of him today whether it be the gang heavy gang culture, tattoos, names, even hair.

Seeing someone that big not only rep the gang but glorify its culture was attractive to a lot of young people. Many of those young people are now artist in their own right. They've taken what Wayne did by wearing red (and blue) rags and turned it up a notch.

I would hope at Wayne's peak he never did some of the **** Thug's circle was accused of (I'm sure he did a bunch of drugs, and we know he ****** a bunch of women). However, I'm not sure the kids (or Thug) realize some of that **** was for show.

I had a bunch more to add but I keep having to go back and forth to work. I just wanted to reiterate, I appreciate what you do and you sharing your perspective. I hate being hard on hip hop and our culture in general but sometimes you gotta call a spade a spade.

 

[sneakaprince]

Say Hello - Jay Z View attachment 3003942

Is it Oochie Wally Wally or is it One Mic? / Is it Black Girl Lost or shorty owe you for ice?

Jay Z is asking for the “real” Nas: is it the “One Mic” Nas or the “Oochie Wally (Remix)” Nas? Hov ridiculed Nas for “Oochie Wally (Remix)” on “Takeover”: To your bodyguard’s “Oochie Wally”’s verse better than yours Matter of fact you had the worst flow on the whole ******* song But I know...

genius.com

There really is a Jay line for everything.... I'm all for switching the topic at hand to just Jay contradicting himself lol.

 

[a blinkin]

Shordie just dropped a tape last Friday

 

[a blinkin]

Song goes from him trying to convince himself that he’s not wearing a purse, to how he only partially rocks with his dad since he thought Uzi was gay, to him buying him and his girl bags at the same time.

Uzi a wild boy

 

[trynafeelmink]

If you think todays "rap community" reflects the Black community then you probably think Wal Mart does too.

All that ended when the corporations moved in Fam - way back in the 90s. The death of the DJ.

Rap reflects the culture of its owners - profit driven corporations, and the overwhelming consumers of today rap are suburban white kids.

Black folks haven't owned BET in decades.

Why concentrate on the songs of crabs from a barrel but never once consider who made the barrel and put the crabs in there?

You walked right past the man behind the register to check whether or not the crabs were singing gospel songs and praising the Lord for the barrel as if its their natural habitat

You can still hear LOTS of positive intelligent rap - you'll just have to go independent / underground for it. Where it started.

No different than going to another country / State and choosing McDonald's over the local cuisine, then complaining about it.

Also none of what you're saying is new...

How it started:

How its going:

Again nobody is saying that there isn't factors that influence the behavior.... not a single person.

You seem to be focusing on the rap business rather than hiphop culture which has always been & always will be directly attached to the majority black inner cities of america. Those places shape & create the culture which is then adopted by the rap business & scaled for big business & the masses.

If the culture started to shun certain **** the Companies would have no choice but to start funding the "positive intelligent rap" because the other **** would be deemed corny & lame. Your absolutely right in regards to the business portion for the most part black people never controlled that. But in regards to the culture we control that, even with all the outside influences.

 

[Present]

The bottom line is its nobody else's job to raise our kids.

Would you allow Meg to come to your house and have a private conversation with your teen daughter about the benefits of WAP?

Was riding in a car with my ex and her two daughters.

She played the "eating booty like groceries" song - full blast.

I asked her to turn it off because I felt it was inappropriate to play such music in front of her young daughters - especially as their Mother.

Her response?

"These aint your kids so mind your business."

I thought about it for a second, realized no lies were detected, put my headphones in and went to sleep.

Broke up with her immediately upon arriving back at my house.

All this starts and ends with the break down of the nuclear structure of the Black family IMHO.

Aint no way I could play NWA growing up in my parents house

IJS it aint the music Fam. The music is a reflection.

Way too many crab merchants / money to be made off cheap crab meat.

For them its just business and the market has spoken.

At the end of the day its on us to raise our kids and its exceptionally more difficult to do so with numbers like these...again, just my opinion / lived experience.

Family > street > neighborhood > town > city > state > country > nation.

Family is the foundation of it all.

When folks say "Black folks dont stick together" the first thing people think of is strangers working together but that aint it.

Unless / until Black Men and Black women figure out how to work together (get and stay married BEFORE having kids) it doesn't matter what's playing on the radio in the background.

Pardon the derailing. I'll shut up now cause thats all I really wanted to say.

Just grids my gears a bit to blame the music.

 

[VARNELL HILL]

Is it Oochie Wally Wally or is it One Mic? / Is it Black Girl Lost or shorty owe you for ice?

Jay Z is asking for the “real” Nas: is it the “One Mic” Nas or the “Oochie Wally (Remix)” Nas? Hov ridiculed Nas for “Oochie Wally (Remix)” on “Takeover”: To your bodyguard’s “Oochie Wally”’s verse better than yours Matter of fact you had the worst flow on the whole ******* song But I know...

genius.com

There really is a Jay line for everything.... I'm all for switching the topic at hand to just Jay contradicting himself lol.

That's a whole other conversation I was going to touch on but didn't want to derail any further

Bottom line...all these conversations require nuance and that's really a hard thing to do for most. Everything devolves into a hardline stance in one direction or another on a basic surface level point, when it's really a much more complex, layered discussion to be had.

It's two sides to every coin. ****** keep ignoring whatever side they find convenient for their argument and that's where balance is lost.

 

[frshstunna]

While I do agree with some of your points, others are shakey for me.


Let me start by saying I truly respect and appreciate what you do. I worked in education and it can often feel like a thankless job. What you have done and continue to do is to be commended. No bs.


When you compare white and black students you have to take into consideration that Black students are seeing entertainers that look like them and often come from similar places as them. Of course fewer white students would emulate that culture, they aren't being told that "this is who your people are". By and large Black People are fed an image of what it is to be Black and most of the time its negative or submissive to Whites. I do agree that parents play a key role in helping their children to form an identity of both who they are and what it means to be (black, brown, white, whatever).

You kinda downplayed the influence of Wayne, Idk if this was specific to Thug or to culture in general. Either way Wayne was hugely influential to both. Idk if you remember 06/07 but fake Bape resellers will tell you Wayne was culture for a while. We still see remenants of him today whether it be the gang heavy gang culture, tattoos, names, even hair.

Seeing someone that big not only rep the gang but glorify its culture was attractive to a lot of young people. Many of those young people are now artist in their own right. They've taken what Wayne did by wearing red (and blue) rags and turned it up a notch.

I would hope at Wayne's peak he never did some of the **** Thug's circle was accused of (I'm sure he did a bunch of drugs, and we know he ****ed a bunch of women). However, I'm not sure the kids (or Thug) realize some of that **** was for show.

I had a bunch more to add but I keep having to go back and forth to work. I just wanted to reiterate, I appreciate what you do and you sharing your perspective. I hate being hard on hip hop and our culture in general but sometimes you gotta call a spade a spade.

Thug woulda been on the same **** regardless of Wayne’s “influence” or not …The people, places and things yo was already associated with since a youngin only lead down one path

It’s F’d up but some of these kids by the time they even ready to comprehend what they listening to they already lost or on the road to the bs with no end in sight …Now if you saying listening to certain **** makes it worse, I can agree with but it didn’t start with the tunes

 

[trynafeelmink]

Hiphop be the most influential thing on Earth on a case by case basis for ****** man

Same Hov

As where I used to have a few ****, I am just
Concentrating on making a new Hov through sex
I've awakened just in time to school those putos
Trying to follow in my shoes with jewels froze
Better adhere to this text 'fore you go
Broke, spending more than you've accrued on silly baguettes
I know silly begets silly you'll learn on your own
At least my conscience is clear, I'm no longer steering you wrong

Culture full of ****** who know better willingly filling the next generation with ******** for profit, knowing everything else they already up against. All ****** is asking is that those who know better be more responsible & it's met with every excuse in the world. A lot of these ****** are fully aware of their impact & choose to perpetuate something else

 

[rbk93]

Say Hello - Jay Z View attachment 3003942

Can I bring Walter White into the equation?

 

[Maximus Meridius]

Crazy to see a ***** from my neighborhood, actually make it out the way . Zone39

Caught on with this as a group (I know you heard it on the radio)



then REALLY caught on with this out Cali.



***** moved to Cali, been on that wave for a minute. And now a Hoover . But he been going crazy. Salute!

That explains how him and Mozzy connected. I was thinking how Mozzy find this _ in Baltimore.

 

[geno90221]

Imma start a Go Fund Me for Cubana

 

[wavycrocket]

That explains how him and Mozzy connected. I was thinking how Mozzy find this _ in Baltimore.

Mozzy been tapped in tho. He was F’n with Lor Scoota, before he passed. This years ago



Mozzy got **** with Tech too. Who really on his way, on some independent ****.

 

[Magic33]

Imma start a Go Fund Me for Cubana

She's gone my guy

They say you can't turn a bad girl good
But once a good girl's gone bad, she's gone forever
I'll mourn forever Jay-Z

 

[wavycrocket]

She's gone my guy

They say you can't turn a bad girl good
But once a good girl's gone bad, she's gone forever
I'll mourn forever Jay-Z

Like shorty from In Da House too. And Stacey Dash




Bonus

 

[Maximus Meridius]

Imma start a Go Fund Me for Cubana

Yikes, just seen that mugshot.