Hip Hop in Review: Part III Dumb down the lyrics

In the documentary "Hip Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes" filmmaker Byron Hurt takes a critical look at Hip Hop.
What we hope to do here is offer some feedback on the show and take a closer look at how mainstream Hip Hop got to where it is today and discuss what we need to understand about the images and messages in Hip Hop music.
Guests:
Courtney Morris, researcher who studies the impact of Hip Hop on black women.
Mahdi Fard Muhammad, author of "It's Time: The Race Is Over To Open A Black Man's Eyes" and director of the Relationship Fitness Center.
D. Solo, host and executive producer of the Hip Hop show "Street Flava"

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Hip
• Hop
• Music
• talk
• discussion
• PBS
• HoustonPBS
• sean
• nixon
• Street
• Flava
• Relationship
• Fitness
• Center
• documentary
• Byron
• Hurt

[RTBreal]

The lyrics are far beyond dumbed-down at this point. It's at a drooling toddler level.

[1KillaSkrilla1]

man female emcees are either femenist all natural chicks or like nicki minaj or trina...why cant there just be a cool chick that spits some real shit...

[ArbourParq1]

Dumbed down??? Talib, Mos, Common, The Roots, Ninth Wonder, Blackalicious, J5, Roots Maunva, Lupe, Kanye,.......etc

Why doesn't this guy on the panel know where to go to get good music, what's that about! Research!!!

What's this corporation talk! what a croc. If Talib went 20 times platinum, they'd push him like anyone else!

and bling.....fuuuck, everyone knows this (or you are retarded, and not old enough to listen to hip hop or understand business) Lease agreements people.



[boboshantist]

Black feminists, ie women who have subscriptions to Ebony magazines and stuff conciously promoted themselves as sex objects. I cant take that arguement serious from a sister with a perm.

[boboshantist]

Hip hop was dumbed down to allow white people to take it. Rappers are not academics they are poets and drug addicts so rap was stolen from there dumb ass.

[RealmofNight50]

@tokinblckgie I think TV, movies and music reinforces the behavior in youth but most of the negatives in behavior are learned at home and on the street. Sometimes because their is a lack of teaching at home, children learn from their friends. Drugs are on the streets and drug users are on the streets and in schools. Violence is out there also and has been out there.

[tokinblckgie]

@RealmofNight50

I think the youth are more a reflection of their culture and society, of which music, movies, tv, internet, play a major role. If the 1st major stages of human development are observation and imitation, it only makes sense that children will pick up what they see and hear on tv and in music, especially if there's constant repitition of those sights and sounds. So when young kids listen to and watch morally corrosive entertainment, they will often mimic what they see and hear.

[RealmofNight50]

Todays music is a reflection of who todays youth are!

[RealmofNight50]

Rappers were wearing gold chains back in the day. Female rappers had on the trunk gold ear rings and black youth back then was just as obsessed with it as todays youth are with bling. Rappers were talking about making money back then, bragging about their posessions (wether they had them or not i.e Special Ed "I got it Made" and BigDaddyKane "I'm so Smooth") because even then rap was known for its egoism. Todays rap owes all that it is to yesterdays hiphop.

[RealmofNight50]

I respect these men and women but what they all seem to forget is that black on black violence in major cities existed back when rap was positive. Teen pregnancy existed back then and these problems continue today and have taken their toll on the black community. The Rappers themselves in many cases were making single mothers off stage. Rap gave birth to gangster rap, Booty shaking (i.e 2LiveCrew, Luke Cambell) and today, Sex and violence (and soon homosexuality) rules the music.

[daleva187goligo]

@SwaggerLikeUz i agree 100 percent, i couldnt have said it better myself