Rap, a topic that many people when heard about are often disgusted by it and want to sway away from it. Kendrick Lamar, one of the worlds most notable, well recognized, and accomplished rappers had this to say about it,”My whole thing is to inspire, to better people, to better myself forever in this thing that we call rap, this thing we call Hip-Hop.” From the point of view of people outside this spectrum, these words are not very rational to them on how they perceive it. Kendrick states how with rap, he wants to use it to inspire people, better people, and also himself, there are also many more just like him whose positive messages aren’t really noticeable to society.
Some that quickly come to mind when talking about artistic values of rap/hip-hop are both Jay-Z and Kanye West, two of the biggest rappers ever. The way that I perceive rap doesn’t exactly line up with the way others view it, which to me is a form of art. When the topic of rap pops up in front of me, it is usually always the negatives that are brought up about it. Contrary to all the criticism this genre receives, I think that listening to rap is much more creative and artistic than it is damaging to those who listen to it.
When it comes to choosing out a go to genre for music, rap is the one that always comes up first, although many peers and family like to critique it. It’s actually really curious, why exactly is rap criticized so much? There are two main points that come to mind when people try to debate against one. One point is that it has a negative influence on its listeners. The other is that there really isn’t any talent or skills when it comes to rapping, that no matter who you are if you follow through with a rap career you can be successful. Both of these arguments are inaccurate and are due to ignorance and misguided/misunderstood information.
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I am going to talk a lot about rap music, so I thought I should first answer the question, what is rap? Rap is not an actual genre of music but more a vocal technique artist use. This technique most commonly found in hip-hop. Today many consider rap to be a genre, but the actual genre is hip-hop which consists of a few parts most significantly one of those parts is rap. So, when the word rap is used it is referring to both the technique and genre as a whole and will be used interchangeably.
Not to speak on everyone’s behalf, but I have heard people talk about how rap is a bad influence time and time again, and personally that is an ignorant and uneducated statement. For someone to make this claim they really do not have any evidence to support what they are saying. On the contrary, if someone to make the opposite statement claiming there is no negative influence they would have some evidence on their side. A common claim made is that crime in rap is related to crime in real life and that it also influences others to commit crimes.(Britton) Luke Morgan Britton, a writer for Noisey, a section of Vice Magazine which is focused on music wrote a short piece debunking this claim.
In the piece, he uses The Rap Research Lab founded by Their Hemphill as evidence to support his claim. The Rap Research Lab conducted a study looking at rap songs talking about crimes paralleled next to crime rates in real life. Based on factual numbers they came to the conclusion that ‘[t]he data showed very little correlation between the crimes in the lyrics and their counterparts ‘(Hemphill) they then go on to note that ‘a significant crime drop between 1993 and 1995 is easily seen while crimes mentioned in rap lyrics are steadily increasing’ (Hemphill) defending the argument that there really is no correlation between the two.
The second common criticism that is said about rap is that it requires no skill or talent to produce. This claim I find almost comical. Like any other genre of music, rap or hip-hop is composed of different parts. There is production, writing music, writing lyrics, recording, mastering, etc. So, to make the claim that there is not talent or skill involved is yet again just being ignorant. You do not have to listen to and like the genre, but you should give something respect where it is due. Maybe you do not have to have the best voice to be as successful as a singer needs a voice. You do need just as many skills and talent as them in maybe another department. Now I am not saying all rappers write and produce all of their music, but we are not looking at individuals but the genre as a whole.
But if you are Kanye West then yes you do write, produce, sing and do just about everything else when it comes to your music. Kanye West is the prime example of talent and skill, not only does he do all of his music, but he produces for many other artists and was heavily involved in one of rap’s biggest names rise to fame, Jay-Z. Before his rapping days, Kanye West was a producer which makes him truly individual in a music sense. He began to produce for none other than Jay-Z back in the year 2000 but his name started to really make waves after he produced most of Jay-Z’s iconic album The Blueprint 2 in 2002. Other names that Kanye’s production is associated with are Beyoncé, Madonna, and Nas, just to name a few. If members of the genre of rap including Jay-Z and Kanye have no talent then explain the 21 Grammys that each have accumulated individually and have more than legendary musicians such as Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney and Prince but for some reason, they do not get the respect they deserve.
Rap is more than just music. Though many people use it as a means of entertainment which is 100 percent one of its purposes, it has the ability to do so much more and it does. One thing many artists do is use their music as a political tool to express their views and thoughts on political topics. With Such a controversial presidential election having just took place not long-ago music has taken their approach to expressing how they feel about that topic along with other topics commonly in the news. Deena Zaru, who writes for CNN, put out a piece earlier this year titled “7 hip-hop stars making America ‘woke’ again”.
The title really caught my eye because it was a play on words alluding to Donald Trump’s infamous ‘Make America Great Again’ which he stole from Reagan’s 1980 presidential election. (Margolin) What else caught my eye was the use of the word ‘woke’ and that it was in quotations. Zaru goes on to explain what woke is explaining that the ‘phrase originated among black activists to encourage skepticism in political systems that have perpetuated racism, but … has been used much more liberally over the last few years to describe any form of political engagement'(Zaru). A few artists she mentions are Jay-Z, Vic Mensa, and Kendrick Lamar
For Jay-Z, she breaks down one of his most recent hits titled ‘The Story of O.J.’ and parallels it with its video counterpart explaining how it shows common stereotypes of African Americans. She also uses a quote from the artist himself. Jay-Z says that ‘The Story of O.J.’ is really a song about us as a culture and how we’re gonna push forward’-Jay-Z, he then goes on to make a statement that ‘We all make money, and then we all lose money, as artists especially. But how, when you have some type of success, to transform that into something bigger.’-Jay-Z. Vic Mensa is an up and coming artist who I think is underrated. Zaru uses the song ‘We could be free’ off one of his latest albums titled ‘The Autobiography’.
Once again Zaru looks at the video for this song which highlights oppression and injustice not only in the U.S but all around the world. As for Kendrick Lamar, he is one of today’s most political rappers and Zaru agrees, that’s why she chose two songs to look at from Lamar’s latest album ‘DAMN’. The two songs she chose that were most political were ‘The Heart part 4’ and ‘XXX’ which featured U2. In ‘The Heart Part 4’ Lamar really goes in on Trump. He ‘calls out the administration on Russia and criticized the Electoral College system, which led to Trump’s 2016 win.’-Zaru, where ‘XXX’ critiques more general topics such as systematic racism and how America doesn’t treat people equally.
Another way rap is used in a sense that is more than just music, is reaching specific audiences like children. In a scholarly article from Brown University, the author explores many ways rap can be used in a positive and effective way. The three main examples that are provided are using rap to communicate with younger generations, using rap to make adolescence more expressive and finally using rap as a means of introducing new concepts and ideas for interaction. The author does a good job of explaining how rap has a negative reputation and that this might be not warranted. I couldn’t agree more with the fact that the negative reputation rap has is undeserved. Rap/hip-hop is a popular genre today whether parents want it to be or not so, what the author is pushing for us that parent uses rap to their advantage. They can use rap as a means to communicate, educate and inspire their children. From personal experience there are a lot of things that rap both taught me and introduced me to new topics. For example a small interest that I have for art came from Jay-Z’ song “Picasso Baby”
Another way rap is used is to raise social awareness. In a scholarly excerpt titled “Spreading the indigenous Gospel of Rap Music and Spoken Word Poetry: Critical Pedagogy in the Public Sphere as a Stratagem of Empowerment and Critique”, Cynthia Biggs makes a claim that through rap certain artists are using the genre as a platform to raise social awareness on certain subjects. A word that she throws around often is pedagogy, which means ‘the art, science, or profession of teaching.’ (Merriam-Webster) in this excerpt she considers the rappers to be educators and the listeners to be the students. Why this relationship is important is because most of the listeners are from areas where they are not as educated and like much of the younger generation they do not watch or read the news. So rappers become a sort of a news outlet for these kids and the rappers provide them with the information they would not have been able to get if not for music.
Another interesting piece I stumbled across was one titled “The work of art in the age of hip-hop reproduction: Ice-T and the cultural capital of keeping it real again in Kings of Vice” (2011) and “Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap (2012)”. In this excerpt renowned director, Jonathan Munby uses Ice-T’s documentary Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap as a basis for his argument that some rap has drifted from it political and musical roots. He is not arguing for or against rap music but rather the content and how it is changed from its origin to when this documentary was released in 2012.
I find this to be particularly interesting because that is a key component in the way people seem to view rap. Those who argue against the genre like to highlight things such as the degrading of women and abuse of drugs. He examines this documentary looking at the roots and intentions of rap which are not as negative as people think. I believe many people judge things in life in their current state and seem to disregard their intentions which is not the best decision when looking at something.
Rap is art. Some people would scoff at this statement while others might strongly agree. Surprisingly rap and art share common elements. In an article titled ‘IS RAP ART?’ Jordon Jellicorse answers the question asked in the title by comparing the way we look at art to the way we listen to music pointing out many similarities. He starts by talking about how we view a piece of art we have never seen before, how at first glance you only get a superficial look and upon examining it more closely you then begin to see the intricacies, detail and the true meaning behind the piece.
He then goes on to explain that this is the way we go about hearing a new rap song on the radio, you start with just a superficial listening then you start to dive into the lyrics and what they mean and eventually the entire message the song is trying to express. He made a very interesting point that I liked and agreed with. He said if someone is not interested in art then they are not going to want to look into it and see beyond the surface and that if someone is not interested in rap music they will also fail to see the art behind it. That statement is so simple yet so effective. I think like rap sometimes art gets a bad rap as well. When people see a painting, they do not like they make ignorant comments like ‘I could have painted that’. That initial lack of interest blind people and limits them. As humans, we should approach things like rap and art with an open mind in order to accurately judge them.
Rap has come a long way from its beginning and is continuing to make huge strides in a forward direction. What comes to mind is something that happened very recently. For the first time ever, a rapper has won the Pulitzer Prize. That rapper is Kendrick Lamar. This is groundbreaking news for the rap community elevating it to new heights. The Pulitzer award is one of the most prestigious awards one can receive. This is such an accomplishment not only for Lamar but for rap because he is ‘the first non-jazz or classical artist to collect that honor'(Petrusich).
Doreen St. Felix wrote an article in The New Yorker titled ‘WHAT KENDRICK LAMAR’S PULITZER MEANS FOR HIP-HOP’. What the Pulitzer did for rap was validate it as a form of art and finally give the genre the respect it deserved. St. Felix makes an interesting statement claiming, ‘that the award is a bigger event for the Pulitzers than it is for Lamar'(St. Felix). She does make a good point though, she says by awarding Lamar the Pulitzer organization is ‘ahead of the curve'(St. Felix).
The proof is in the pudding. A way to see this music is wrongfully criticized is to look at the lyrics themselves. There are many songs that come to mind expressing raps imaginative and artistic side. The first song is one by Chicago native artist Vic Mensa titled We Could be Free, Zaru mentioned it in her CNN article but there is so much she left out that should be looked at more in depth. What Zaru talked about was the music video which does pair wonderfully with the song, but the true beauty is within the lyrics.
We could be free
If we only knew we were slaves to the pains of each other
One thing I believe I can learn
To see my enemy as my brother
Then we could be free, truly
Then love could wash away all the sorrows
I’m not afraid to bleed
If it means, we’ll make a better today not tomorrow (lines 1-8)
What I see on the hook of this song is Mensa breaking it up into three different parts each one of the parts contains a key to freedom. In the first part, he says we must be aware of what we are enslaved to in order to free ourselves from that. Secondly, Mensa says that we have to forgive our enemies and see them as our ‘brothers’. Finally, Mensa says ‘[he’s] not afraid to bleed / If it means we’ll make a better today not tomorrow’ (7-8) expressing how he is willing to do whatever it takes including to ‘bleed’ if that is what is needed to achieve freedom. Another interesting sequence in the song is when Mensa says ‘You fools, saying ‘all lives matter’ / But it’s black lives you refuse to include / Blocked from the polls, locked in the hood / Trying to stop you from voting and stop you from growing.'(56-59). In these four lines, you see his more political side, criticizing those who refuse to accept the ‘black lives matter’ movement by using a term of their own ‘all lives matter’. He is saying that the same people using that slogan are the ones not caring for black lives. In the second two lines, Mensa pinpoints a big topic about how people including the government try to stop minorities from voting by ‘locking them in the hood’.
Jay-Z is another artist whose work really shows the good in rap. He can do almost anything in a song from educating you about art to give you financial life advice. A song I mentioned earlier was one titled Picasso Baby. In this song, Jay-Z says ‘Jeff Koons Balloons, I just wanna blow up / Condos in my condos I wanna row of’. You might read this and it probably makes no sense. Well for me at least it made no sense, but when diving deeper into the lyrics you can see both his creative play on words as well as his extensive knowledge of the art. The first line he is talking about famous artist Jeff Koons who is well known for his sculptures of balloon dogs hence the use of the words ‘I just wanna blow up’. In the following line is where his lyric skill and art knowledge really complement each other.
The first time Jay-Z uses the word Condo he is referring to the artist George Condo and relates it by saying Condos in my condos. What he is saying is that he has Condos (the paintings from George Condo) in his condos (his condominiums) and to me, that line was really impressive. A notable mention for Jay-Z would be two lines from his most recent album 4:44. In the song, The Story of O.J, Jay says ‘You wanna know what’s more important than throwin’ away / money in a strip club? Credit'(32-33). Another example to exemplify his versatility in music, how many other rappers or even artist are offering these important lessons to the listener?
It is quite evident that contrary to much criticism of the genre rap music is indeed more artistic and imaginative than harmful to listeners. In a world where changes are made everyday things like rap music are still being wrongly criticized. This is due to people being blinded to raps positive aspects such as its positive influence on society. Another thing people fail to recognize is the talent and skill involved in the rap industry. Finally, by being so ignorant some people fail to see rap for the art that it truly is.
