video killed the [fill in the blank]
While watching MTV's "Wakeup" show this morning, [a once in a blue moon event], I watched two videos in their entirety. The first one was Eminem's "Ass Like That" and the second one was the Ying Yang Twins' "Whisper Song" (or something similar). A few thoughts popped into my mind.
Rap lyrics, at least on television and the radio, focus on the same two or three topics about 95% of the time...sex and toughness. The videos almost universally feature expensive cars, leggy women, lyrics about toughness and several other staples of the rap video of the 2000s.
The overall "feel" and "vibe" of this sort of music inevitably filters down to those who listen to it. The kids who listen to this music imitate such behavior and adopt such ideas...very counterproductive in my opinion. One need look no farther than the NYC subway system after school gets out to see this in action.
One also need remember the fact that ALL teens look up to musicians, athletes, etc. This was as true in the 50s and 60s as it is today. Kids acted like Elvis and others too. The problem today is that the "message" being broadcast to the teens is far more poisonous and dangerous today.
As Brent Staples wrote in this week's NY Times, "The segment of the hip-hop press that embraces violence and criminality is clearly growing, both in influence and affluence. This reflects the extent to which hip-hop itself has devolved from a richly blended tapestry that valued poetics and sophisticated political commentary into a field where only those who have been shot, committed crimes and spent time in jail are judged to hold the authentic street credentials that make them worthy of studio recordings." Too true...[remember the days of De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest?]
...with the exception of Eminem. My other thought, after watching the videos, was the fact that Eminem always picks on people who won't fight back. His "tough guy" approach is the weakest, most vapid attempt I've ever seen. In no particular order, I recall that he has had "beefs" with or dissed Moby, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (who appears in his latest video, apparently, they've reconciled), Christina Aguilera, the Olsen Twins and Jessica Simpson. Come on, guy...that sounds more like the guest list at Sesame Place.
Rap lyrics, at least on television and the radio, focus on the same two or three topics about 95% of the time...sex and toughness. The videos almost universally feature expensive cars, leggy women, lyrics about toughness and several other staples of the rap video of the 2000s.
The overall "feel" and "vibe" of this sort of music inevitably filters down to those who listen to it. The kids who listen to this music imitate such behavior and adopt such ideas...very counterproductive in my opinion. One need look no farther than the NYC subway system after school gets out to see this in action.
One also need remember the fact that ALL teens look up to musicians, athletes, etc. This was as true in the 50s and 60s as it is today. Kids acted like Elvis and others too. The problem today is that the "message" being broadcast to the teens is far more poisonous and dangerous today.
As Brent Staples wrote in this week's NY Times, "The segment of the hip-hop press that embraces violence and criminality is clearly growing, both in influence and affluence. This reflects the extent to which hip-hop itself has devolved from a richly blended tapestry that valued poetics and sophisticated political commentary into a field where only those who have been shot, committed crimes and spent time in jail are judged to hold the authentic street credentials that make them worthy of studio recordings." Too true...[remember the days of De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest?]
...with the exception of Eminem. My other thought, after watching the videos, was the fact that Eminem always picks on people who won't fight back. His "tough guy" approach is the weakest, most vapid attempt I've ever seen. In no particular order, I recall that he has had "beefs" with or dissed Moby, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (who appears in his latest video, apparently, they've reconciled), Christina Aguilera, the Olsen Twins and Jessica Simpson. Come on, guy...that sounds more like the guest list at Sesame Place.
posted by mattguiney at 12:43 PM
4 Comments:
true, but he is a funny guy. also, the people he does pick on do suck. he does mad pick on defenseless people, though.
-luke
true, but that has always been the complaint about music. Come on, that was the complaint about rock music or any type of new music. Music has such a profound influence on teenagers because of the alienation that they feel and go through. Therefore, popular music usually starts as counter-culture expression. I don't see why rap music is any worse than any other type of music. For example, mad teens who listen to dance music takes various drugs at parties and the music is a part of that atmosphere. I think that there is racial undercurrent to this message.
Evan
Evan, I hear what you're saying, but in my opinion what Guiney is saying has a lot of validity. The heavy metal videos of the 80s did feature scantily clad women and sexual innuendo, but not the "poisonous" (as Guiney put it) attitude that rap has. The bragging about still being in the crime game, etc...
I don't know how much of an effect rap does have on kids (I don't ride the NYC subway system) but it certainly can't have a positive effect.
But thinking about it though, as Evan said, that has been the complaint about the hippies, about rock, etc... Looking back at the past, have any music or pop culture trends or movements had any lasting effect on individuals or on society?
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