March 6, 2006

March 6, 2006

Hip Hop and Hero Worship

Musicians are pretty much a bunch of guys blessed with good ears who know they will get laid much more often and by much more traditionally attractive women if they use their talent rather then sell insurance door to door.

I guess rappers are what you get when you don't even have the musical talent. Don't get me wrong...I love hip hop...always have...but the world of hip hop is less about music and melody and traditional elements of sonic art, and more about image, attitude, politics, etc. then any other musical genre. (*People who say the word genre make me nervous.*) What does this mean? It means that rather then listening to a song because it has a catchy sound, we are forced to actually pay attention to what the song is about.

So considering that hip hop lyrics are the most often heard, understood, embraced and quoted lyrics of all the popular music forms why are the most popular rappers void of depth and complexity, but merely super macho agressive characatures?

Here is my theory: The majority of hip hop superstars portray themselves as these uber-players born of the projects and ghettos who have transcended poverty and hopelessness to situate themselves at the top of the foodchain. So many brag about their heartlessness, their skill at exploiting women, sexual prowess, cunning, thuggishness (is that a word?), business acumen, material possessions, street wise ways, etc...sounds like a pretty dispicable person unless you are a young teenage male in this country. Then these men are your heroes.

And it occurs to me that perhaps the rappers are our epic heroes and the rappers we embrace are just a representation of our own beliefs about what an epic hero should be like.

Just as the rastafarian holds Bob Marley up as an epic hero, I believe our youth are holding up Jay-Z, Ja Rule, and Eminem as the higher visions of themselves. They picture themselves wealthy like Jay, lucky with the ladies like Ja, and flippant like Marshall. Afterall, to a teenager these men seem like masters of the universe as followers of some ghetto code of ethics that includes 1) carrying a general resentment for women (save your mother or your sister) but at the same time being able to sleep with any and all of said woman 2) ostentatiously displaying one's wealth while holding onto the world view, perspective, survival tactics, etc. that result from destitution and poverty 3) emotional indifference (except for anger which is acceptable) with the exception that sadness and remorse can be expressed toward fallen comrades. There are more rules to this code...but the code is strict and instead of Lancelot and Guinevere, we have Biggie and Lil' Kim...goodie goodie!

-dred