American Politics & Pop Culture

After listening to some songs written around the time of the LA race riots and listening to some of the rap songs that are popular today, I noticed a stark difference between the songs of then and the songs of now in overall content. This made me wonder why the rap music of the late 80s-early 90s had a very meaningful, and often political message, while the rap music that is widely heard and widely available today has very little meaning. The majority of the songs I have heard recently center around the topics of sex, the nightlife, superiority, and overall stupidity and egocentricity. Although rap music isn't my first genre choice, I respect all GOOD rap; rap with a purpose and a message as an art form. My question came after reading Theresa A. Martinez's "Pop Culture and Oppostitional Culture: Rap as Resistance." Martinez argues that gangsta rap music from the late 80s to the early 90s was a powerful outcry against the racist and injust establishment, and “perhaps, one of the most intriguing examples of…resistance� (Martinez 272). Does rap music today still seem to hold these important values and ideals that it did twenty years ago or has the message of the music completely changed direction? The answer to my question came briefly into the panel discussion, inspired by similar questions from the audience and answered by both Alexs and Melisa. The answer came in parts. First, Alexs referred to the crap you hear on the radio nowadays as "cookie cutter" rap, most likely produced and sold to you by someone who is capitalizing on the "sub-culture" movement and selling your image right back to you. Alexs said that this meaningless noise that fills the airwaves, clubs, and parties nowadays is particularly an American occurrence. He said that "on a global level, hip hop is still very political, and those outside of the US don't even consider the 'rap' coming out of the US rap at all." Good rap exists, it is just hard to find these days. "Conscious hip-hop," as it is called, is a unique art form and is great because it is real and deals with real issues that are a concern to modern people in those circumstances. We can all learn about problems people are dealing with by educating ourselves with this "conscious hip hop." I dig it.