A man without a past has no future.

Uh... well let me put it this way. You all know punk music right? Personally, I can't stand listening to it. But on a political level it's okay. Because it's about revolution, in this case rock music, and about being anti-disco. But the main thing to note about punk rock is that it was designed to have no future. It did this by not having a past. It was a huge impact in American culture in general, but it came without rhyme or reason and it left as suddenly. Like an Earthquake in Canada.

And that is what we DO NOT want to happen to Hip-Hop. We want Hip-Hop to not only have a past, but for everyone to be fluent in its past. This way we have a chance at bringing it a future.

Now, relevance to the current subject of original post.

It is clear that not many people in this thread have a clear and understanding of the history of Hip-Hop. I on the other hand have spent many nights reading up on things through the power of the internet. (Hey, it aint like Lil' Moe lives down the corner or anything.)

Now "rap" is purely a british thing as far as I know. How? Well... "rap" means to utter sharply and quick. And the word is in the English language, which for the most part developed in England. However, the word "rap" may have derived from an older language, hebrew, latin, sanskrit etc. etc. etc.

I do not know much about what Hindu priests do. But I do know that what they were doing is in fact rapping. But you can also find rap in a LOT of places. Even in such an unlikely place as say... country music. Need I remind you of that song Devil Went Down to Georgia?

The devil went down to Georgia
He was looking for a soul to steal
And he was in a bind
'Cause he was way behind
And was willin' to make a deal.

That guy was rapping for certain. Hell, that song Pekes and the Paullicles from the musical Cats by Andrew Lloyd Webber is rap.

But it isn't Hip-Hop. Rap is part of Hip-Hop, yes. But it is a part of Hip-Hop as a spine is to a monkey or to a crocodile. Two different animals, same part of the body.

So yeah... rap was around when Hindu priests were praying. But it was probably around a long time before that. The japanese word for 'fuck' is like fifteen syllables long. Just imagine trying to curse someone out on the highway, you'd have to rap it out.

Now onto the second subject of blacks in Hip-Hop.

The fact is that Hip-Hop is seen as a "black thing" for many reasons. One, it originated in predominitly black areas. I mean, you try and find "The Man" in Bronx or Harlem. You'd be hard pressed to find a cocky caucasian there.

But even then other cultures had their influence in Hip-Hop. I know one of the original graffiti taggers was a white guy known as TAKI 183.

Later on in Hip-Hop, it became commercial. Big name music companys saw all these black performers doing Hip-Hop and wanted to profit. They made a lot of money off of groups like Run-DMC and NWA. But this is where Hip-Hop stops being a "black thing" and becomes a "white thing".

It becomes a "white thing" because while the performers are black, they are all working for the White Man. It's the White Man who controls everything. And even then, their music isn't being targeted towards black folk, but white folk. Young white male teenagers to be exact. After all, what better to bang your head to after listening to Metallica then D12?

It only makes sense to target white kids. They make up a huge percentage of the population and is one of the largest demographics to target for any purpose whatsoever.

So on a pure commercial level, Hip-Hop is a bunch of rich old white guys telling a few black guys what to do and say so a bunch of angst filled zit faced insecure white kids can learn how to live their insignificant and soon to be immoral and corrupt lives.

Of course, people of other races and breed listen to Hip-Hop. But that extra few million dollars are insignificant to the billions of dollars that come out of the pockets of white kids.

It's the performers that need to diversify. But they need to do it properly. I mean, Tai Mai Shu isn't exactly helping the fight against the stereotype of asians being crappy rappers. And Vanilla Ice and Marky Mark didn't do much to help other white guys get into the game. And "Rap/Rock" groups like Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park are exactly the kind of things big music corporations love to pander to people.

Then again, maybe I should shut up and keep my opinions to myself.

~Shalom~

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Quote:

Originally posted by Bruklor Nec is just dumb

I'm taking that as a compliment.