I never liked RAP music.....

[NIGHTWATCH]

but then again, I dont like black street thugs listening to RAP music either. This is one SHTF scenario that is about as real as it gets and closer than we know. AND I CANT WAIT. Please God, let them be foolish enough to start this. Let their seed be wiped from our soil forever.The New American



*Please forgive the semi-vent, but I have just lived too long around ignorance like this that I would love to have a reason to end it.

[ronin308]

I never liked ROCK music simply because there is a BMW Bolshevik cacophony group called Rage Against the Machine.

Seriously, Farrakhan is and always will be full of it. There will always be musical acts that are full of it as well. I wouldn't write off an entire style just because it contains idiots, then we'd have no music, movies, books, etc. at all. The real problem isn't music, or styles of music, it's Islamic facists like Farrakhan and the people that believe his BS.

[PDshooter]

I agree!!!!!!!!!

"RAP" REALLY SUCKS":barf:

[NIGHTWATCH]

Its the "message in the music" that has worn me. Its hate. Pure and simple. I would like to see what would happen If the KKK made an industry of racism by way of music. A music award ceromony, globally telivised of course. Acknowledging their accomplishments. :barf:

Islam and RAP is going to set the african american back 200 years.

[Ceol Mhor]

Yeah, boy, the lyrics sure do suck. They're all mindless cop-killin' drivel, y' know? Now I'm no big fan of the music (my taste is in classic rock and prog rock), but I'm not going to just blow off the entire genre because of it's public image. Let's see here...

From Ice-T's "Freedom of Speech (verse 4, the only one I don't need to edit for TFL):

Freedom of Speech, let 'em take it from me
Next they'll take it from you, then what you gonna do?
Let 'em censor books, let 'em censor art
PMRC, this is where the witch hunt starts
You'll censor what we see, we read, we hear, we learn
The books will burn
You better think it out
We should be able to say anything, our lungs were meant to shout
Say what we feel, yell out what's real
Even though it may not bring mass appeal
Your opinion is yours, my opinion is mine
If you don't like what I'm sayin'? Fine
But don't close it out, always keep an open mind
A man who fails to listen is blind
We only got one right left in the world today
Let me have it or throw The Constitution away

And from Too Short's "I Want to be Free":

...
I wake up everyday and I just can't wait
To make mo' money, cause back in the days
When I rapped, I did the same damn thing I do now
Grab the microphone, and show you how
But I was broke, the only thing I had was game
I started makin' money and knew things would change
Bought a Benz, thought it might earn respect
But the OPD, found it hard to accept
I got jacked by the Task and jacked by the Vice
Face down on the ground keep my hands in sight
Put the handcuffs on backseat I'm in it
Illegal search for about thirty minutes
Askin' me, where's the dope
Where's my gun, but I don't know
I said I'm rappin', they laugh like I told a joke
And to this day they think I'm sellin coke

I want to be free! (and that's the truth) Ohhh yeahhh
I want to be free! Ohhh yeahhh

I be in Oakland California every day of my life
Bass so hard you think I'm smokin a pipe
And if I don't smoke it, I gots to grind
Searched all my stuff, and all you find
is a pocket full of money count seven G's
Now you wanna think I'm sellin' keys
Cause I'm a black man, but I run my own business
So why the police wanna send me to prison
They see a brother makin major cash
They knock a patch out his black ass
And that's the truth, you can't argue you at all
Tryin to give you ten years for a phone call
Ain't even trippin' on the dank smoke
'Cause all they wanna find, is guns and coke
In court all the time tryin' to fight it
We get rich, we get indeited [sic]
So what's the problem Officer this time?
Is havin' big money bein' black a crime?
Or did you take me to jail, to teach me a lesson
Charge me with somethin', or just ask questions
About the brothers I hang around
What's really goin' on in the Oakland town
Tell me who went broke, and who got rich
...

As with most everything, there's good rap and bad rap. Just because the majority may be bad in your view doen't mean it's all bad.

[Preacherman]

I'd just like to say that that article is pretty accurate... I've met every one of the groups mentioned there in prison. The Five Percenters are REALLY scary, and very dangerous indeed. If you want to know more about them, see their Web site: www.allahsnation.net/index.html.

[croyance]

What a myopic view of the world.
People use guns to commit crimes, as a matter of fact, when you hear about guns in the media, it is crime related. by your logic, guns are only good for crime. And not only unwashed rednecks own guns, as many will believe.
The Nazi's played a lot of Wagner. Wagner himseld didn't necessarily support their views. Non-Nazi's listen to Wagner too.

[Libertarian]

I like some rap and I dislike other rap.
I like some rock and I dislike some rock.
Same for country, classical, jazz, blues and every other type of music. There are even some Democrats and Republicans who I like.

Same for blacks, whites, tans and others. There are some bad people in all races. A blanket dislike is narrowminded to the point of foolishness.

[ATTICUS]

What is N.C. A&T State University- and why would they let an organization like this use their ballrooms for a meeting/fundraiser?
Dates listed on website http://www.allahsnation.net/index.html

I assume this is a state University that receives state funding?

One of Farrakans ex-henchman Kalid Muhammed (now dead- praise Allah) tried that at the Columbus city schools. I called the school board, along with many others I would guess, and got it cancelled. Would they let the Aryan Brotherhood use their facilities? Don't think so.

BTW- I agree with Libertarians view- there's good and bad in every group. But the bad should be rejected equally.

[Monkeyleg]

A different perspective from a different time: back in the early 70's, the money trail for rock groups led to Disco. :barf: The BeeGee's made a career-killing decision to follow that money trail.

Rock n' roll has always had its roots in blues, country, rockabilly and, to a lesser extent, jazz. Everytime RR veers from its roots, and gets bogged down in the latest copycat syndrome, the music dies.

Fortunately, the vaccum has always been filled with good talent.

In the early 80's I was worried about all of the "head-banging" music that, to me, didn't seem to have any roots. Lo and behold, along came Dire Straits, with a lead guitar player who could tempt the Devil himself. About that same time, Stevie Ray was working his way up, showing the old bluesmen how it could be done Texas-style.

R&R is in a cultural void right now. Image is more important than music, which is nothing new.

When you hear that first guitar riff that gets your soul a-rockin', you'll know that the music is back.

In the meantime, teach the Gangstahs to shoot their guns sideways. Consider it your civic duty.

[M1911Owner]

When I used the term "rap music", my son informed me that the correct term is "rap", not "rap music", because it's not music.

[NIGHTWATCH]

As ATTICUS said, the bad should be rejected equally. What your saying is that I should be tolerant and balanced? Tolerance is to blame and there is no balance here. Let me hear voices within the RAP community speaking out against this and black.... I wont call them civil rights leaders... also taking a stand against black racism and then maybe, just maybe I might see things differently.

[Hkmp5sd]

Good thing I listen to normal music like Shania Twain, Marilyn Manson, Nazereth, Faith Hill, Britney Spears, Kiss, Pink, Sheryl Crow, etc.....

[CWL]

Freedom of speech, like other rights (RKBA) are inalienable rights in this democracy of ours.

I don't have to agree with it to defend it.

[sven]

Music is a pattern of sound organized in space. Get over it, rap is music. So is the post-post-modern 12-tone stuff you might hear on the indie radio station while changing stations.

The way the hiphop guys quote each other (and themselves) adding bits here maps pretty darn well to the way the jazz players quoted each other and themselves in their solos.

Problem is, you'd really have to listen to this type of music to start to get these inside jokes and such (or even the language), and while you can lead a horse to water... I wouldn't want to force any of this stuff on anyone. It is definitely an 'acquired taste'.

I'm with Libertarian on this one - there are good and bad in every category. I love Miles, Charlie Parker, Hendrix... and I love Snoop, just the same.

Stop the hating.

[ATTICUS]

Freedom of speech is terriffic, and it also applies to those who speak out against hate speech. If the KKK or AN wants to hold a rally at the trailor park... fine. If the 5%'rs want to hold a rally at a private club ...fine. We don't have to fund hate groups, and their rhetoric, with our tax dollars.

Regarding Rap- When did it become my obligation, and my six year old kids obligation, to listen unwillingly to every imaginable vulgarity while sitting at a traffic light or walking into the grocery store? Total BS.

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.
1601 East Market Street
Greensboro, NC 27411
Tel. (336) 334-7500

[NIGHTWATCH]

BTW, I have equal hatred for Manson & heavy metal. Classic Rock Rules.


ATTICUS, I could not have said that better.

[DerGlockenpooper]

"While in Tripoli, Farrakhan was warmly received by terrorist dictator Muammar Qaddafi, who reportedly promised a large cash donation to help the Nation of Islam "mobilize oppressed minorities....
....In April 1996, about 500 representatives of black and Mexican gangs met in the Watts section of Los Angeles for the fourth annual LA Gang Truce Rally — a celebration of Mexican and black gang unity. Gang colors and "Black Power" symbols were displayed alongside symbols of the "Aztlan Nation" (the mythical Chicano homeland in our Southwest). The featured speaker at that event was Tony Muhammad, the West Coast representative of the Nation of Islam. Speaking on Farrakhan’s behalf, Tony Muhammad retailed the same message that Qaddafi had given to Farrakhan — gang bangers should unite in an armed struggle against bourgeois society:

When we come together as one army, we can take Watts, we can take South-Central, we can take Los Angeles and then the West Coast, because God is going to send the Original Man. And when I say the Original Man that includes Mexicans — that includes La Raza — that includes the Brown, that includes the Yellow. God is going to bring us together, and from that he is going to raise a mighty army that’s ready to move for God. So I’m not telling you to give up your weapons. I’m just telling you to turn them somewhere else (on white people)."

Notice these people are willing to include all American "minorities" in their Army to start a race war on the whites.
Not that the blacks care one whit about the browns or the yellows, but they will gladly use them for their conquest.

[Don Gwinn]

We're getting just a little bit overwrought here, fellas. I'll tell you right now, I basically hate rap music. But that's changing. I worked with a guy this summer who helped me understand what a kid like him sees in it, and the more I understand it, the less irritating I find it. Within the rap culture, these "I got seven Benzes and four Rolls, I got lotsa Cocaine and nineteen 'hos" rappers are seen as the equivalent of Poison or some of the other stadium-filling big-hair bands from the '80s. They are not the only thing rap has to offer, just the most visible representatives.
Listen to "Lose Yourself" by the man I loved to hate, Eminem, and tell me it's all about hate and killing. I don't know if I've ever heard a more expressive paean to ambition and the desperation of a poor boy trying to "get out."

Ice-T, in my opinion, deserved his boycott. If you look up Heston's "Culture War" speech from Harvard, you'll find a few of the lyrics he read out loud at a Time-Warner shareholders' meeting. However, the PMRC was and is a pack of Nazis bent on censorship.


Croyance,

The Nazi's played a lot of Wagner. Wagner himseld didn't necessarily support their views. Non-Nazi's listen to Wagner too.

Actually, the reason Hitler like Wagner so much was that he had been a pretty strict racist himself, but your point is well taken.

[Christopher II]

Classic rock? You mean, "Their Satanic Majesties," the Rolling Stones?

Music is music. As an unnamed friend of mine once told me, "It's all the same twelve chords, just in a different order." Some is always going to suck, but you can find good stuff in any genre. If you want to hear good rap, go download/buy some Dilated Peoples or World Famous Beat Junkies. Go listen to Bless The Mic or Target Practice, then tell me that all rap is bad.

- Chris

[spacemanspiff]

glad i listen to 'normal' music...

parabola:
This body. This body holding me. Be my reminder here that I am not alone in
This body, this body holding me, feeling eternal
All this pain is an illusion.
Twirling round with this familiar parable.
Spinning, weaving round each new experience.
Recognize this as a holy gift and celebrate this chance to be alive and breathing.
This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality.
Embrace this moment. Remember. We are eternal.
All this pain is an illusion.

lateralus:
I embrace my desire to
feel the rhythm, to feel connected
enough to step aside and weep like a widow
to feel inspired, to fathom the power,
to witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain,
to swing on the spiral
of our divinity and still be a human.
With my feet upon the ground I lose myself
between the sounds and open wide to suck it in,
I feel it move across my skin.
I'm reaching up and reaching out,
I'm reaching for the random or what ever will bewilder me.
And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been.
We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been.

reflection:
So crucify the ego, before it's far too late
To leave behind this place so negative and blind and cynical,
And you will come to find that we are all one mind
Capable of all that's imagined and all conceivable.
Just let the light touch you
And let the words spill through
And let them pass right through
Bringing out our hope and reason ...
before we pine away.

h:
And the snake is drowned and
As I look in his eyes,
My fear begins to fade
Recalling all of those times.
I could have cried then.
I should have cried then.
And as the walls come down and
As I look in your eyes
My fear begins to fade
Recalling all of the times
I have died
and will die.
It's all right.
I don't mind.

fortysix and two:
I choose to live and to
Grow, take and give and to
Move, learn and love and to
Cry, kill and die and to
Be paranoid and to
Lie, hate and fear and to
Do what it takes to move through.
I choose to live and to
Lie, kill and give and to
Die, learn and love and to
Do what it takes to step through.

push it:
If, when I say I may fade like a sigh if I stay,
You minimize my movement anyway,
I must persuade you another way.
There's no love in fear.
Staring down the hole again.
Hands upon my back again.
Survival is my only friend.
Terrified of what may come.
Just remember I will always love you,
Even as I tear your throat away.
But it will end no other way.

[Christopher II]

If Brian Enos likes Tool, it's good enough for me.

(See, gun-related after all... Ga-harf!)

- Chris

[Hkmp5sd]

Let's not forget ZZ Top. Not every band has a drummer that shoots himself in the foot, literally.

[4V50 Gary]

I never dignified it by calling it music. One thing to remember about RAP is that virtually all kids listen to it - not just blacks but Asians & Hispanics and whites. I've even heard it in Munich when I was there (Bismarck must be spinning). And folks, it's not just in Inglese any mo' and it can be heard in Eastern European tongues. It escapes me how a people who have given us so much culturally (Jazz, blues, all sorts of dances) now give us "RAP". It's a sorry statement for the heirs of Louie Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespe, Cab Calloway, etc.

Guess we're all "fogies" here at TFL.

[Don Gwinn]

. . . . . Which is exactly what old fogies said about Jazz back in the day, Gary.