Why has rap, an American music that in its early global spread was associated with thuggery and violence, come to be so highly influential in these regions? Rappers are like journalists. They speak about what's going on in the world but they do it in a way that they love. By using music as an expression they talk about things to try and get their own message and interpretation across. Rapping doesn't only consist of "violence & thuggery," it's about talking about what past experiences happened in your life that you want other people to know. It's about speaking on the issues that are happening in the present and are not only affecting you, but everyone else. Rappers feel like by expressing it through music they can convey their message and their intake on it. Just like the rappers in Egypt, and I'm pretty sure everywhere else, they are trying to get their message out by making music so that it can appeal to others and hope that they understand what's going on and make their own interpretations on things. On the other hand, speaking your mind about certain issues and basically anything else comes with the negative comments and concerns from people.
For example, when Katrina hit in August of 2005, many people of New Orleans were left helpless. Of course there was "help" trying to be made available for those people by doing things such as donating money, volunteering with the Red Cross, and providing as much as they could. With that being said many people out there, including the people of New Orleans, felt as though there was more that could've been done and that it was not being done due to their skin color and where they were from. Rapper Lil Wayne is from New Orleans and was personally hit by this tragedy and to express how he felt the situation was being handled he made a song called "Georgia Bush." It was targeted towards George Bush and how he felt that the President of the United States was overlooking the trouble in the city of New Orleans and that more could've been done. "This song is dedicated to the one wit the suit, Thick white skin and his eyes bright blue.." -first verse of the song.
I found that giving Katrina as an example of how rappers express their intake on issues that are taking place, would be great seeing as though we are planning to talk about the incident where there was a "Katrina" before Katrina. Lil Wayne is not the only rapper out there that talks about issues like these through music, as you have read the article it's happening in places like Senegal and Tunis. Rapping is just another form of expression and I feel that no matter what you say or how you say it, someone out there is going to have some negativity towards it.
I love your post!! This is very sad but very true. I knew a lot of artists expressed their feelings about how George Bush handled hurricane Katrina in New Orleans but I had never seen this before. It is very interesting how Lil Wayne expressed himself in this song. I believe that a lot of the anger in this song not only comes from how the government did not respond very well, but also because of the government that is predominantly the "dominant" race. Like you mentioned above in the first verse of the song, "this song is dedicated to the one with the white suit, thick white skin and eyes bright blue". This verse demonstrates how his first thoughts were about the race of the one who didn't help. GREAT POST!
ReplyDeleteWow,I never heard this song before.Thanks for sharing.And for song to start off with such powerful words only gives us the impression that this artist is expressing himself and that the issue has hit home for him. The idea that rap is associated with thuggery and violence is silly because what would christian rap be?...as you indicated its just a different way for one to express their feelings.I agree that no matter what you say or how you say it there will be negativity to follow.
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