Rap's been described as the "Music of the streets", and most songs i've heard deal with violence, hustling, ect. Is it possible to suceed in rap, without having lived on the streets, shot a gun or sold prostitutes? Do you really need these things to qualify as an artist?

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"I’m a mercenary, I don't care how I get richer,
Like American companies that did business with Hitler"
-Immortal Technique

Depends what your target audience is. I mean you can do a song with J-Lo and say "I'm Reeeeeal" and your not.

Or you can NOT rap about shoot'n people, and still be about the streets. Try to compare peeps like

J-Live/Jay-Z = both ill rappers, totally different audience, both from the street.

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I just think, if rappers are sayin 'i shot some muthafucker and sold drugs and shit' then it makes it more interestin and it sells more records.

I bet most of the rappers sayin they've shot somebody actually havnt, they just wanna make loads of money by sayin it

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HARRY R.I.P
1940 - 2002

In Respect

Real gangsta's are people who don't claim to be gangsta.

I ain't on your dick or nothing but damn,m you speak'n the truth.

is it THAT COOL to shoot someone. My God, Lord help me if I have to blow someones head off for any reason. That shit's just retarded. Anyone with street cred don't get put in higher level than anyone with lyrical talent. Or at least they shouldn't

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Actually I think it's cooler to be shot nowadays than to actually shoot someone

I mean everybody knows the prime example of this...and he's the coolest mother fucker on the planet "apparently"...well according to his record sales anyway.

Duh, you aren't cool if you sell records. your only cool until you sell a record. Once you sell THAT record, your mainstream, no longer underground,. and you've sold out to corperate America.

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But everyone in the mainstream is sooooooooo cool.

You hurt my feelings dangit

i agree with canuck, it depends what ya targert audience is, jus look at Will Smith is target audience is like 12 to 15 year olds and he dont cus in his tracks either

canuck u are speaking the truth.(no d/r)
y shud i kill some1 jus so ppl out there will go he's dope to watever i bring to the game. rappers shud be crdited on flow, lyrics, the way they construct sentences to make them the best ever, apparently 50 dnt belong here, coz to me he's another manufacturerd bitch.
the game is fucked and ppl see it from different sides, its jus how u view it which makes the game unique for every 1 whose ever listened to a track.

it just depends on how you sayin it..most rapper prolly
sold drugs, but killin naw!

who cares most rappers are full of shit anyway, they all have the same exact storys and most of the time their story is bullshit made up to sell records. as long as it isnt vinallia ice claming ghetto when hes from suburbs i dont care.

if i gave a damn about street cred i wouldnt listen to guys like mos def.

who cares if you sold drugs or got shot that doesnt make your music dope.

Thas speaking the truth right there.. There should be nomore post

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.DoperThanThouRecords.
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It depends... for me, credibility means truth. If your telling the truth, then you deserve all the credit you get, if you make good music. And your making crappy music, and lying to sell records, then you don't deserve credibility.

For example, Nelly had two proffessional baseball contracts before he started rapping, and he preaches his thug mentality, his drug hustling, his "thugness" on most of his music. His music just happens to be over-produced pop garbage.

Then we got Immortal Technique, who tells stories that people can relate to, talks about real issues like government and politics, whilst preaching that he had to hustle to stay alive. He also happens to be a great lyricist in terms of vocabulary and poetry, and his flow is awesome. He has a mic presence. He came from a poor country in South America, and most likely struggled in the American ghettos to survive because he didnt have much money as a child.

Immortal Technique = truth + skill

Nelly = fake image + no skill

Immortal Technique gets credibility, Nelly doesn't.

most rappers get there original funding selling drugs where they live until they got in a financial position to get studio time and market themselves.alot get shot or put in jail before they get an oppurtunity to sell records and that gives them the sense of street cred that the hip hop world looks for these days-1