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DAILY NEBRASKAN
Critics say music fuels fire
Rap’s sex and violence
- eim 3 :l--7
DAILY NEBRASKAN
&
Daytons: expensive
car tire rims
Dead presidents:
American money
Def: a high form of
praise
Dime: ten dollars
Dis (or diss): to
disrespect
DJ: disc jockey; in
dancehall reggae, the
rapper is the DJ and
the record spinner is
the selector
Do damage: doing
something well
Dog: to treat badly
Do-or-die Bed
Stuy: the Bedford
Stuy vesant section
of Brooklyn
Dope: a high form
of praise
Double deuce: .22
caliber pistol
Down: to be closely
involved with a
person or situation
or to be in agree
ment
Down by law:
officially involved in
a situation as de
creed by someone in
charge, as in crew,
posse or employer
Drive by: a West
Coast, gang-style
shooting that occurs
from a passing car
Drop science: to
inform, explain and
educate in a knowl
edgeable fashion
□ By Anthony D. Speights
uring its infancy in the
1970s, rap music was
carefree, geared toward people
partying and having a good time.
Then it grew up, and began to cast a
reflective eye on the problems of society,
such as gangs and violence.
But critics say rap got too caught up
in those problems. And rather than
helping to solve them, they say, rap now
fuels violence, overshadowing the positive
messages many rappers are trying to
convey.
Some rappers, Such as Hammer and
Young MC, try to spread the word against
violence and portray women as some
thing other than sexual objects.
In 1988, M.C. Hammer broke into the
music scene, and by the time he
released Please Hammer Don’t Hurt
‘Em," he was rap music’s equivalent of
Michael Jackson. Hammer brought with
him messages of peace, love and anti
violence.
But by the time Hammer released his
latest LP, Too Legit To Quit” fans were
few.
Diana Campbell, a senior engineering
student at the University of Nebraska
Lincoln, said rappers with a positive
message often turned off some listeners,
because they failed to give listeners even
a smidgen of reality.
“He has so much gloss to his music
that he has lost his flavor," Campbell said.
% People who
have to listen
to rap music
want to listen
to music
that’s real on
a mature
level, and
Hammer no
longer caters
to this."
Damion
m lumer, an
investigator
with the ^
Douglas
County
Attorney’s
Office in
Omaha, said
Ns work with
gang members made it clear that artists
such as Hammer weren't dealing in
reality.
Those who boast of their women and
riches may be equally far removed, he
said, but kids don’t know that.
Ice Cube echoes that sentiment in
“Gangsta Gangsta’:
To a kid looking up to me/life ain’t
nothing but bitches and money"
Turner said young kids were impres
sionable. And groups such as NWA who
boast about gang banging make a bigger
impression than DJ Jazzy Jeff & The
Fresh Prince grumbling about parents
who just don’t understand.
Grant “Klass K’ Kauffman, a senior
broadcasting major and a local rapper,
said artists like Hammer were entertain
ers, not rappers. Real rappers out there
are trying to be positive, but they don’t
get the recognition they deserve, he said.
Donnie “DJ Romeo’ Jones, a local DJ,
said rappers such as Def Jeff, DJ Jazzy
Jeff and The Fresh Prince and Young MC
tried to be positive, but kids wouldn’t
spend money on their messages. The
market right now is for the DJ Quicks and
the Ice Cubes, who rap about violence
and degradation of women, he said.
Critics worry that a violent society is
made more so by influential rap acts
such as NWA, Compton's Most Wanted,
and AMG, who raps in *Word 2 Tha D:"
"I shoot motherfuckers to get my
kicks/super saco and gin to get me bent/
and a thick-ass bitch to get me laid/and
a smoke down fiend to get me paid."
Steve Exon, an Omaha city council
man and member of Omahans for
Decency, said such lyrics became
threatening when placed in the context of
a crippled family structure. The burgeon
ing number of single parents and families
in which both parents work creates a
society of children who don't receive
proper home care — a society of
children who lack an adult perspective on
the music they listen to, he said.
Music plays an important part in
shaping a generation, Exon said, citing
the influence music-had on the hippie
movement and values of the .’60s.
but alone, ne said, music aoesn t
determine people's actions.
“I don't think that driving down the
street (listening to rap) will make
somebody kill a cop," Exon said.
Lincoln Police Officer John Ways said
rap music alone usually did not provoke
violence among kids.
But to kids who already have troubles
of their own, he said, rap’s violent
messages can be powerful. Even if the
underlying message in the violent lyrics is
positive, he said, listeners don’t always
put the emphasis in the right place.
Sharityn Bullock, an undeclared
graduate student, said rap was not to
blame for violence.
The kind of people who kill because
of a song will kill anyway," she said.
Campbell agreed and said violent
people were troubled by something other
than the lyrics in a song. The lyrics may
add incentive to commit a violent act, she
said, but the intent is already there.
LPs such as "Music To Drive By," by
Compton’s Most Wanted or Ice Cube’s
"Kill At Will," simply reflect and capitalize
on what’s going on in the city streets,
Campbell said.
Romeo said profits were the basis of
the lyrics.
"A lot of times it’s all about the money
Some rappers are going to do things thal
make them money, even if it is capitaliz
ing on something violent to get it."
Exon agreed.
There is no question about this — it
is driven by the dollars, driven by that
money-hungry animal Time Warner who
has such groups as Ice-T and Luke
Records."
Violence has no place in rap music,
he said.
There is no place in any type of
music for this," he said. “As a place for
protest, yes. Violence perpetuates
violence, and glorifies it."
Rap is going a step further. It not only
glorifies violence; it degrades women, he
said.
Lyrics from AMG’s “Word 2 Tha D"
are an example:
“Wait till the tape drops then watch all
the stupid ass hoes jock/They want to
ride this dick like a motherfuckin’ cowboy
but I ain’t down boy/But a bitch ain’t
nothing but a bitch to me/Word to the
motherfuckin D.“
In its degradation of women, however,
rap is not alone, Exon said.
most music, not jusi rap music, is
degrading to women,' he said. “Music is a ®
reflection of the male ego. Music
encourages rape, sadomasochism and
domination of the femele sex*
But sexism in rap music is unjustified,
Wade said, and only serves to perpetuate
stereotypes and ignorances.
“By having sexist lyrics in music, it
represents the decline in the moral values
that we have seen over the years ,* Ways
said.
Marta Styles, an undeclared graduate
student, said sexism and violence existed
in rap music. And their presence is
justified, she said, “as long as it portrays
the truth ’
Kauffman said violence was selec
tively appropriate in rap lyrics.
“When you have people shooting
people in the face just to be hard or to
be gang banging, that is the type of
violence that hip-hop doesn’t need,* he
said.
“But when it comes to hate versus
hate or fire with fire when having to
defend yourself, then violence is justified.*
Kauffman said violence was a last
resort for many rappers.
They speak out that something
should be done about the way things are
run in this country, and if certain
situations don’t change, then violence is
going to happen.*
Turner said he believed that rappers
promoted violence, but freedom of
mirror society
speech protected their right to speak
their minds.
Sexism toward women in rap lyrics
seems to be a heavy draw. Women often
are targets of rappers — some raps
acts, such as Too Short, dedicate an
entire half of an LP to degrading women.
Yet, women represent a large chunk of
the audience for such music.
The reason is no mystery, Bullock
said.
“It's all about choice," she said.
“People listen to the music most of the
time and not the words; girls also do not
think that what the artists are saying is
talking about them."
Ways said that while people got
caught up in the beat, they still subcon
sciously heard the words, no matter
whether the message was positive or
negative.
“If you repeat something long enough,
you'll start to belief it," he said.
Romeo said some people listened to
sexist music because they wanted to be
gangsta and emulate what they heard.
They think that slapping women around
and having multiple sexual partners
makes them cool, he said.
But Tt • rap lyrics were no
model be y often distorted
reality.
While ;ts rap about what
they have led and are express
ing them' ner said, most
uppers s t to sell records.
^ Ways !rs tried to present
what was in the streets. But
they ofter ar distort their
message t to rhyme and make
the song flow, he said.
Still, the records sell, to people of all
colors.
Turner said that about two-thirds of
rap music was bought by the white
community.
Campbell said white people bought
rap music because it perpetuated the
stereotypes that they already had
regarding the black community.
Kauffman said that hip-hop was a
scapegoat and that signaling out a few
artists kept the conflict going about
whether rap was worthy of being called
art.
"As long as there are artists out there
working towards the positive, then the
good reputation of hip-hop music will
prevail in the end."
e
Drop top: a convert
ible automobile
Ducat: money
Eight ball: Olde
English 800 malt
liquor, also referred
to as a 40 ounce
Fade: hairstyle in
which the hair is
lower on the sides
than on top
Fat: living well, ^
doing well, being
successful
Fess (fess up): tell
the truth
Five-O: police
Flavor: the tone or
vibe of a person,
place or situation
Flex: to act in a way
that invites trouble
Fly: high form of
praise; often refers
to well-dressed
females
%
Freak: a wild,
sexually active
person
Fresh: positive
assessment and
appraisal of anything
Frontin’: trying to
impress someone or
telling lies
Gang bangin’:
being in and in
volved with a street
gang
Gangsta (gangster):
street hoodlum
Gas face: a silly
look when express
ing displeasure