Gangsta Rap. Misconceptions.

In response to the latest lecture on Hip Hop i think there was something missing. The thing that was missing was focusing on Hip Hop as a form of defying the political stronghold. Like that of Punk Music as "Fuck you all" type of signification. Hip Hop carries the same boundaries. Many rap songs of famous artists touch basis on the impact that the state has on there lives and the implications of living within a poor and often rationalized country. Rap music from famous artists uses rhymes as a target for expressing the hardships of a government that does not have a steady future for those living in poor conditions. Such as the Ghetto. I want to particularly focus on the ideas of Gangsta Rap and a underlining discourse and presumption that Ghetto, Gangsta rap is seen as perhaps the lower form of rap music and carries negative connotations with it that perhaps record companies do not want to be associated with the presence of gangsta rap.

When in fact Gangsta rap is highly political and sophisticated in narrative. When Gangsta rap began and movies were released the critics placed gangsta rap in a negative light. However this form of rap only expressed the ideas of the ghetto and messages that they wished for other people to hear and perhaps take in and relate to. Gangsta rap was developed to deliver and mediate a message that there world is being ignored there are people dying on the streets, drugs, but the simple fact is that there was no choice. It was a way of life. These ideas are delivered in numerous Gangsta rap songs, but when reached to the local populace, that of "mainstream" media these ideas have been manipulated and passed through a filter of censorship and disregard.

This political ideology carried within gangsta rap was most notably founded or began in the gangsta rap group called NWA. "Niggers With Attitude". The group called forth issues of the political system failing them and creating perhaps a highly racialist environment. And even though the lyrics may seem to adhere to brutal force and harshness, the simplicity of the lyrics however mean more than just "Fuck the Police". The meaning of these carries the weight of the community crippled by foundations, these are state run organisations that did not support them enough, but rather neglected the ghetto community in order to pursue the greater demand for capitalism. The driving force for control was the police in the ghetto. But to defy the police was to defy the political system in which was failing these men.

From the lyrics of NWA http://www.lyricsdir.com/nwa-fuck-tha-police-lyrics.html
we can interpret a kind of language that basis on race if now racism. Something that is important for the Bronx, with influences such as Martin Luther King and Malcolm. What is important is the message itself, not the pervasiveness and harshness of the tone. People must recognise the lyrics in rap music and portray a societal understanding that the rap music was made in. There is such a strong almost stereotypical notion that gangsta rap is rubbish and they wish to now adhere to it. However It carries political messages and a long history of black revolutionary changes. We must not ignore the cultural content of gangsta rap. Before making presumptions one must understand the culture itself, and the holistic view. That is perhaps the discourse of mainstream media. If the music of pseudo Individualised than it will pass as acceptable. Throw gangsta rap in the mix, and it must pass a filter in order for it to be played. There is a certain sense of censorship that must be seen in a different context. Remember, as Marshal McLuhan states, "The medium is the message". We must not forget this. Or else industries will filter the medium so much so that the only message coming out of the medium is that of a filtered and highly constructed kind. That is why NWA can be regarded as a form of Gangsta Rap true to its meaning. "Fuck The Police" will never be replicated in today's music industry, it is simply too concentrated and controlled. Even the Dixie Chicks have been made amends to. With there songs against President Bush, facing criticism and losing out in the mainstream sector.

Gangsta rap is not what most people read the text as. It is a message of identity. Of being. Like punk music it is a message that must not be forgotten for people in society.