Church Bulldozes Gangster Rap

[TexasStooge]

ARLINGTON, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - An Arlington church staged a creative protest Wednesday night against gangster rap.

Around 300 people put music items they said promotes violence and drug abuse in a pile and then smashed it with a Bobcat bulldozer.

Full Story Here
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If ya wanna listen to rap, buy a Will Smith CD. That's fo' shizzle.

[kevin]

A long tradition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonfire_Of_The_Vanities

[GrimReaper]

I vote to make ALL the shizzle fizzle!! Rap is not a form of music....it's just an ethnic form of protest.

[kevin]

Thankfully people have constitutional guarantees and your vote doesn't mean anything. People can publish whatever they wish as long as it does not infringe on the rights of others. And if it is a protest instead of music (which it isn't), that is explicitly protected in our country.

[Regit]

I just love these things. Someone had to buy those things they're smashing. Do you think the rap artists care what you do with a record after they get their profit from it?

Some church burned 1,000 Harry Potter books on the weekend one of these editions was released. This means someone had to buy 1,000 books. That's called being counterproductive.

I wanted to laugh, but then I realized that people who believe in witches and goblins scare me.

[coriolis]

That's right. I wonder where they got all the music items. Do you think that those 300 people all had the material and suddenly saw the light? I'll bet that someone bought the stuff just so they could make a show of smashing it.

If you have money to blow on that, wouldn't it be a better use of the money to contribute to a food bank or something?

The evil record industry can crank out cd's faster than all the christians in the world can buy them up. While the buldozer operators are making an expensive show, the purveyors and their minions just get richer. Meanwhile the hungry are still hungry.

[coriolis]

P.S: Personally I despise gansta rap. It's just that those misguided zealots are not thinking things through.

[Regit]

Coriolis,

I agree with you. I don't like today's gangsta rap. When rap music first came about, a lot of it was uplifting. It became popular on the streets because it gave hope of being able to overcome poverty and make something of yourself.

A lot of it was kid friendly also. I remember in the early 90's, the artist Coolio, who actually made some very good music and one of the best songs of the decade, was a staple on Nickelodeon.

The title of his most popular song, "Gangsta's Paradise" is intended to be an oxymoron. Upon accepting a grammy for the song he said, "There are no gangstas living in paradise."

A lot of adults didn't like it back then either, but it wasn't because it was sending a bad message, it was because adults normally hate their kids' music.

And I'm not one to hype up how media and entertainment is ruining America. I don't think watching an episode of Law & Order is going to make a 9 year old shoot his teacher.

But I do think rap music has reached the point that it's teaching young kids that all you need to do to be a success is have sex as much as possible.

The artist 50 cent is being boycotted by groups and individuals like Jet Magazine and Al Sharpton because he said that black kids should stop trying to do things like get an education, because they're just trying to "become white."

It used to be racist whites that chanted "stay black and die." Now it's black superstars.

Acts like 50 Cent need to go the way of the dodo.

Oh for the days of Coolio.

[GalvestonDuck]

Thankfully people have constitutional guarantees and your vote doesn't mean anything.

I realize I'm taking your comment out of context. But thankfully, votes do mean something.

[GrimReaper]

Thankfully people have constitutional guarantees and your vote doesn't mean anything. People can publish whatever they wish as long as it does not infringe on the rights of others. And if it is a protest instead of music (which it isn't), that is explicitly protected in our country.

Kevin, I wholeheartedly agree, freedom of speech is what makes our country so great!! Sometimes I just get depressed that certain groups of some people use that freedom to spread hateful and destructive messages. While I personally wish to shut them up, I realize that freedom of speech does mean everybody. And believe me, I DO VOTE, I have those same freedoms too.

I remember when rap meant MC Hammer.....that was fun.

-Grim

[Lindaloo]

I love the Hammer and RunDMC.

[stormie_skies]

CD bulldozings, book burnings and their kin will probably always be with us .... unfortunately there will always be those who feel they have the right to dominate the marketplace not through competition, but by force. I, too, thank God for the First Amendment and the freedoms it guarantees all of us - one of which is to be able to speak our minds, even if nothing but drivel comes out.

If you don't like the ideas perpetuated by rap music, give us better music with better ideas!!

Regit - Coolio??? I do remember him ....Gangsta's Paradise was a pretty good song, even though I was a mega-rockist back then... I reread the lyrics, and I don't think they are quite as tame as you remember them, but oh well....

Out of curiousity, have you listened to any of Kanye West's albums? You might just find your intellectual rapper there. I'd also advise you to check out the upcoming album by Lupe Fiasco.... he's a young Muslim half-ghetto, half-suburban kid who has a way around words that can't be beat. He refuses to talk about violence in any positive sense - talks about loving the genre but hating the "gansta" connotation - and hits on everything from the everyday to the political instead. I love his first single "Kick Push", it might just be the best skater song I've heard since the punk heyday.

I like rap. I think creating it takes more talent than most people give credit for (producing is a creative process, and I'd like to see doubters freestyle over random beats for half an hour or so straight, then they can talk). Its definitely an acquired taste, especially for those raised on traditional rock music. But once you get it, you realize that in good rap even the bawdy lyrics are witty, the force of personality that drives the genre can draw you into its charisma if you let it ... and I dunno that there has ever been better dance floor music, ever.

And while I agree that the glorification of violence can be tiresome (50, IMO, is one of the most annoying offenders, though I can't bring myself to hate "In Da Club", whats a girl to do?), I think people get carried away with focusing on the lyrical content...I think sometimes its less the actual mysogeny or violence than it is that traditional friction between generations. I mean, YES, there is plenty of sexism in rap - but are you going to try to tell me that rock music doesn't objectify women? Both are generally testosterone-fueled genres, so you are gonna get some of that silly man-bragging. And when it comes to violence, goodness, check out some metal lyrics - the violence in rap is usually linked to violent real life experiences, its part of the collective consciousness of the ghetto, sometimes superfluous and even obnoxious but at least its based on something real. Metal, on the other hand - there's some real serial killerish stuff in there, and its not linked to anything but the writer's imagination. Thats WAY more creepy, IMHO....

[GrimReaper]

Holy Cow, stormie skies, you are the lyrical one, you almost make me want to listen to rap...well not quite. However I am impressed with your intelligent counter response, to mine, and some of the other totally negative comments about rap. I do disagree with your comment that you can dance to rap... it seems to me nothing more than a bunch of angry people shouting evil nonsense to enough boom to give you a 4-powder Goodies headache!! On the other hand I would be interested in hearing a little of that new artist you mentioned, Lupe Fiasco, just to prove that I am not totally blind to the possibilty of a talented artist in the genre of rap!! PS...I'm a head banger from hell...lol

[stormie_skies]

Why thank you, Reaper ... what a sweet thing to say

A headbanger, eh? Yeah, I was a little punk & indie chic for the longest time ... still am in a lot of ways, I've just expanded my horizons a little bit. Really, it was quite by accident - the confluence of living in Houston just as our indie rap scene blew up nationwide, plus having lived in and around "the hood" enough to know people involved in the scene, making music etc.....it almost became an issue of local pride, yanno? So it started with kind of a fascination with name dropping (I hung out with that guy! I used to eat there all the time!) and turned into an appreciation for the genre.

A couple of songs you might find worth sampling:

- "Jesus Walks" by Kanye ....surely you've heard this one?!? I know they used to use it on commercials for the movie "Jarhead"... anyhow....one of my all time favs.

- "Rain" by Chamillionaire (w/ Scarface) Chamillionaire is my absolute FAV of the local stars ... he can outwrite and outstyle the others any day of the week, IMHO And the lyrics to this song - esp. Cham's first verse - are both sweet and real. Not a single YET, but should be....