I have always been puzzled with why do I like music about violence? And does this violence in music cause violence in the world we live in? But this class has got me thinking that Im asking the wrong questions the better question is why is the world that we live in so violent that it produces music as painful as rap. Much like rap is the focus of watch dog groups and shunned by authorities jazz was in its hay day. Jazz is music based partly on the blues. The blues is music about sex, violence and pain. Not music to create any of the above but more so a way for the artist to share and heal.
The music serves the listeners the same. The music heals them by letting them share there pain by saying the verses in there head. This is what “gangsta” rap is. Gangsta rap is the blues of the 90’s. Young blacks grew up in situations where they saw there brothers, sisters, friends and themselves being killed, pulled into gangs, using drugs and getting the short end of the American stick. This music is the blues for anyone who feels like they are getting the short end of the stick any one who feels like they are exposed to violence and its eating them up inside. This music is no to creating violence.
This music is not to create cop killers this music is to heal those who have been hurt by violence those who have been mistreated by cops, America and or people in general. Eminem under stood this and this is why he, a white person, is such a successful raper. He knew rap wasn’t about killing cops or about being in gangs he knew it was about pain and the violent world the haves have created for the have nots. Its so ironic the people who criticize rap, politicians, are the one responsible for the causes of violence. They create or do nothing about school systems that reject children from inner cites.
School systems that breed gangs and violence. The school systems encourage or little to nothing to stop situations amazingly similar to “lord of the flies”. And once the children are corrupted and lost. They create situations that force the children from wanting to try to get an education. The result is whole generation of children who have been bred to fight, be violent and not want to get an education. Then the politicians go one step further by creating these places that guarantee to strip away any humanity or sense of belonging to the society. They call these places correction facilaties.
But that name is beyond ironic. These places also known as jails do not correct people. They do the exact opposite. They are like super schools: super breeding grounds for lord of the flies situations. They destroy people physically, emotionally and spiritually. What goes on in jails is unimaginably worse than what any song could ever do. So there are two, of the many the reasons why politicians are responsible for the violence in our world. And the reason why rap is so violent: when one lives in a violent world it takes violent blues to heal one self.