Proposal to Eradicate Misconceptions of Hip-Hop and Rap
by Ethan Yakhin 4/28/16
Since its origin, hip-hop has been considered just “yelling into a mic”, and hip-hop artists considered jokes. This is being written in an effort to subvert such misconceptions and educate, as well as take a broader look at what these misconceptions are and what caused them in the first place. When someone says the word “rap”, people often have a negative connotation associated with the word and I find that nothing short of an atrocity.
“Hip-Hop Doesn’t Contribute Anything Culturally”
Hip-Hop isn’t art. Rap isn’t music. We hear these refrains all too often. To even entertain these notions as minimally factual would be ludicrous. But it gets worse… On one occasion, a man told me that “rap music” is an oxymoron–an absurdity, and additionally an ignorantly directed insult to the people who have dedicated their lives to the art. I truly find it infuriating.
Ignorant beliefs and prejudice typically originate from one–typically obnoxious–person’s opinion that becomes repeated as others with no opinion of their own lazily plagiarize the original opinion and make it their own, without educating themselves first. Thus, a perhaps incorrect opinion begins to spread. I call this “idiocy.” This phenomenon is typical in America. As I’ve said previously, “There just seems to be cultural “truths” that the majority of Americans hold valid without any need for confirmation, and rap being “garbage” is one of those truths.”
The basis of the impression that rap isn’t art is the misconception that making it doesn’t take skill. Considering people spend years perfecting rap, as their craft, this shouldn’t even be questionable. (See: “Rappers are stupid and Rapping is easy”, below.)
The elderlies’ distaste and derogatory attitude for a new form of music is nothing new. Older generations have invariably found issue with their children’s music in every generation. This is the most likely cause behind the stigma that “Rap isn’t music.” When jazz was starting out, it was forbidden to be played at prestigious music schools and classrooms and regarded as a disgrace to the art form of music, due to its unconventional nature. Then came classic rock. Rock in any form has continually been perceived as a rebellious genre, from classic rock, to punk rock, to metal. And looking at today, many classic hip-hop head are confounded/dumbfounded when people show them electronic dance music. To them it’s just noise. And to previous generations, rock was just noise. And so was jazz. Perhaps that’s just the way it works.
Perhaps an additional obstacle that people face when attempting to identify hip-hop as music is they do not see any live instruments typically being used in rap performances, and there is a certain universal appreciation people have when seeing with their own eyes someone playing an instrument.
Many people associate originality with art, and since they have trouble distinguishing one rap song from the next, they find it dull, and therefore, unworthy of being labelled art. The underlying issue, however, is that you can’t arbitrarily identify something as art or not. The popular saying is, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Despite this sentiment,–agreed upon universally by artists and musicians alike–most individuals refuse to acknowledge it, which led me to search for definitions of art and music. One of my favorite interpretations of the term “art” is “works produced by human creativity and imagination.” Despite the incredible development and advancement of AI technology in the past decade, I believe it is still safe to say that humans are still creating hip-hop. Art is creative expression, and while there is perhaps unanimous agreement that rap is expressive, there is still some dispute as to whether or not it is creative. (Again, See: “Rappers are stupid and Rapping is easy”, below.), In my annotated bibliography, in reference to the song The Way I Am by Eminem, there is a snippet that will prove revealing in illustrating just exactly how rap covers another definition of art:
A common definition [of art] is, “Creative expression of an idea or thought through a medium.”--which checks out. Definitively, Rap is an art. In reference to the “What is Art?” page I dug up online, The Way I Am seamlessly corresponded with nearly all the definitions on the page, with the most noteworthy one in relevance to my research being André Gide’s, in which he claims, “Art begins with resistance — at the point where resistance is overcome…” I believe that statement and the ideal behind it truly embodies the spirit of hip-hop, and the entire idea that if you can eloquently enough express your thoughts, you can change your situation for the better. Thomas Merton’s quote, available on the same page, reads, “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”, and that indisputably does seem to be what Eminem is going through in the course of the song. The song is a clearly example of a song being used by its writer to vent their frustration, which is what hip-hop really is. An outlet.
Anyone still skeptical as to rap’s validity as an art form can read the book “How to Rap: Th
e Art and Science of Being a Hip-Hop MC”. Seeing as there is an entire book on hip-hop as both an art form and science, the evidence is against it being not one. Rap stands for “Rhythm-and-Poetry.” Wouldn’t you consider poetry an art? Looks at these lines:
“From a head full of pressure rest the senses that I clutchMade a date with Divinity, but she wouldn’t let me fuckI got touched by a hazy shade of God-help-me-changeCaught a rush on the floor from the life in my veins”
Atmosphere. God's Bathroom Floor. Stress, 2003. MP3.
Do you not find that poetic? The assonant, and at times entendric, nature of rap irrevocably links it to poetry, an art form that is well-known and respected. Why is hip-hop any different? And if you still are clinging to the ridiculous notion that hip-hop isn’t music, isn’t music definably poetry plus rhythm, often with instrumental accompaniment? I find that music, in its most archaic sense, is something you can nod your head to, which tends to be especially true for the average hip-hop song. The rhythmic nature of the vocals in hip-hop songs further curtails the notion that rap is just “yelling into a mic.” Although on occasion a rapper will utilize yelling, there are nevertheless rap songs that are singing-heavy or even whisper-heavy: Apparently by J. Cole being an example of sing-heavy, and Wait by the Ying-Yang Twins extensively utilizing whispering as a mechanism in the song. Thus rap is not just “yelling into a mic.” It’s art, it’s music, it’s expression, and it damn well has a place in our culture.
“Rappers are stupid and Rapping is easy”
Art is something that takes skill–that is a common platitude amongst the public, and many hold it to be true. Conceivably supplementary to public perception of rap as being intrinsically unartistic and simply “not art”, is the stereotype that rappers are unintelligent and simple-minded, and that making rap takes no skill. And while there are unintelligent rappers, aren’t there idiotic musicians in most genres? High-minded rappers will create complex raps while low-minded ones will not–just like in any genre. I find it astonishing when time and time again, upon asking a person why they dislike rap, their responses illustrate how little they’ve listen to the genre before dismissing it as useless drivel. White noise. Producing hip-hop consistently–good hip-hop–generally requires verbal versatility and a working understanding of the human language. To rise to prominence in the genre, requires standing out in some form, which is never easy.
As of hip-hop’s inception, the majority of MC’s had not completed high school. (Though this is changing.) They generally grew up in an environment that didn’t encourage learning, and fostered distrust of authority figures. The fact that many rappers have not been traditionally or formally educated does not undo the truth: there are a plethora of alternate albeit unconventional ways to acquire knowledge asides from a traditional education. Scholastic achievement isn’t always indicative of intelligence. Snoop Dogg’s IQ is off the charts, and Lil Wayne had straight A’s in high school. Appearances aren’t everything.
Causation of derogatory perceptions of rappers’ intelligence stems from multiple constructs. A distinct one is that people tend to think you have to play an instrument or sing to be a musician. When I was at my college orientation, I went to the music table to ask questions. They told me I can’t be in any music theory classes unless I sing or play an instrument. What they didn’t know is I had taught myself sheet music and written my own symphonies, whereas much of the music majors at my school have probably very little original works. People are also subject to perceive rappers as ignorant or simple-minded due to the way many of them speak. AAVE is traditionally looked down upon. It pushes the audience away when they have difficulty understanding the lyrics, and that tends to be a huge turn-of, killing their interest. Furthermore, most rappers hail from low socioeconomic backgrounds and poverty is associated with a lack of intelligence. Due to the explicit nature of a majority of hip-hop, it comes across as unpalatable to a large part of the population. (Which is hypocritical in itself, seeing as how much of us pretend we don’t curse but do. But that’s another matter) Utilization of crude language is also typically associated with ignorance.
Some research, however, links its use to honesty. That certainly is something to think about, given the notion that bluntness and honesty are so interrelated and hip-hop itself is so assertive. I like to think of hip-hop as an UNFILTERED reflection of our society. And reflections have ripples, so while their perceptions of our culture may come across as a little distorted, I believe that most rappers really are saying things how they see them. They just want to tell their story. I’m not sure what is so bad about that, nor why people are so quick to demonize them. Watch a few interviews with rappers and you’ll see that many of them are distinctly deep-thinkers. Rappers have become philanthropists, authors, and social activists. They do their taxes and it’s safe to say that they for the most part are functional members of society.
Rappers tend to employ slang extensively in their lyrics as well as their every-day speech, which the average person may find stupid if they do not understand what those words mean. People are quick to forget that so much of the words invented by Shakespeare were labelled slang when he created them yet have since then been indoctrinated into the English language as well as our every-day speech. And Shakespeare’s works today are studied in classrooms today in-depth, and are furtherly considered masterpieces by today’s scholars. Additionally similar to Shakespeare’s plays is wordplay being present and common in modern rap, as well as the use of meter. In Eminem’s The Way I Am, anapestic tetrameter is utilized and as noted in my annotated bibliography:
“…[for] Em [to] even used a meter at all and stayed consistent with it showcased him having a strong grasp on the English language, shattering the absurd stereotype that rappers are simpletons. It’s utterly inane...”
I’ve MADE rap. It’s hard. Take it from me, an educated college student. Writing the lyrics to a hip-hop song is significantly more difficult and time-consuming than writing lyrics to other genres of music. An obvious reason is that the amount of words are often about four times the amount as in other songs, but an additional, elusive explanation is the amount of time rappers put into their rhyme schemes, often through heavy use of multisyllabic rhyming. Whereas the average song might have rhymes only occurring at the end of lines, rap songs have rhyming words littered through the verses. The lyricality is at such a higher level than ordinary songs. Writing all that takes effort, dedication, and skill. It definitely comes with a prerequisite: exhaustive understanding of phonetics and the way individual syllables sound. The book, How to Rap, and its sequel, both do a brilliant job of illuminating just how much dedication and passion becoming a skilled MC takes. Good rap takes a lot of skill and bad rap takes less, but trust me, rapping isn’t easy. Requires extensive vocabulary, a comprehensive understanding of the English language, as well as a grip on rhyme, phonics, and the plethora of connotations associated with any single word. For instance, a rapper might use the word “stage”, as a way to refer to his platform, as well as a literal stage. While doing that, he must also be acutely aware that there are stages of life, you can stage a coupe, and that stage rhymes with beige, cage, and rage. In the back of his mind, he will be associating the word stage with acting, and acting with the idea of being fake. Or he could associate stages with levels, like in a game. And that gives him directions to take the song in. It’s irrefutable. Rapping takes skill, and art takes skill. Rapping is art. Rappers aren’t stupid and Rapping isn’t easy.
“Rappers sell drugs; Rappers are criminals.”
People are further convinced that rappers are idiotic due to the belief that the majority of rappers are criminals. The sentiment that rappers are all criminals or gangsters is utterly false. Although many have had questionable lives in the past, they typically forego a life of crime in exchange for one of producing beautiful hip hop. As for selling drugs, why would you do that if you were already rich? That would be ridiculous.
And while it is true that many rappers do drugs, there are those that don’t. I used to hate rappers that would talk about weed. But now when I look back, I see that most the people I know in my life have smoked or do smoke marijuana. And most of these people lead productive lives. A fact that many people choose to consistently ignore is that drug use is linked to many forms of music, not just rap. It spreads into other art forms, notably stand-up comedy. I remember George Carlin saying that when he hits blocks writing material he’ll smoke some marijuana, and he did it about once a month. And he’s considered one of the best comedians that ever lived. Artists do drugs. Musicians do drugs–and not just rap musicians. If other musicians and artists use drugs, then why is hip-hop singled out?
“Rappers are bad role models”
A lot of people believe that rap promotes violence, misogynist, and as noted, drug use.
No it doesn’t. A more accurate statement is that our culture promotes those things, and rap is a reflection of that culture.
People aren’t used to the shock value used in rap, which is similar to what is employed by many stand-up comedians in their act. It’s a device used to stir people up, to awaken them. And when that isn’t the case, it’s off the record labels that are pushing materialism. Rappers tend to additionally come off as violent and perhaps even dangerous due to the often aggressive nature of their music.
I personally believe that there is no correlation between hip hop music and increases in drug use or violence. Rap doesn’t incite violence. If anything, it just provides insight into the rappers violent thoughts. Hip-hop doesn’t increase violence in society any more than people say video games do. They’re both outlets for violent impulses. Healthy outlets. At any rate, it is my belief that volatile people will find something to enable them to be violent regardless of the circumstances.
An issue that frequently comes up when debating the morality of rap is its depiction of women. Objectification of women is highly prevalent among males–and hip-hop is a male dominated industry. From what I’ve seen, female rappers will rap about their asses and bodies more than male rappers do, much to my frustration. They push people to see them as objects in a sense but this is also motivated by the “BodyPosi” movement, and the idea that bigger women are also beautiful. There are many different viewpoints on the issue and no easy answer. The fact is, misogyny is prevalent in all types of music, not just hip-hop. The difference is that other genres bathe it in subtlety. The misogyny is reflective of western culture.
It’s true that some rappers are avid drug users. Mac Miller. Flatbush Zombies. Some only smoke weed. Snoop Dogg. Wiz Kalifa. And some don’t do any at all. Tyler the Creator. Hopsin. Kendrick Lamar. In some cases, the rapper would even rap about drugs in an effort to make sales. 50 cent once stated in an interview with Piers Morgan, "I don’t drink and I don’t use drugs, and I didn’t back then, either. I put that joint on the first record because I saw artists consistently selling 500,000 with that content." Rap culture and drug culture are closely linked, but every year more and more rappers take a stand against drug use.
Football players are caught in inhumane scandals time and time again. Domestic abuse cases, dogfighting, murders, drug abuse… So why are they still adored by the public while rappers remain disparaged? There’s a disjoint, typical of American society, its double standards and hypocrisy,
The assertion that rap in anyway is direct causation for increases in crime or drug use is the height of incredulity. People commit crimes out of need, greed, or peer pressure. If a song can get you to do something stupid like commit a crime or do a drug, you’re easily influenced and not very unintelligent. Are rappers all bad role models? Some are. But certainly not all.
“Rappers are shallow and Rap is dull”
Like most famous people, rappers are usually perceived to be self-absorbed and shallow. Similarly, people tend to find rap lyrics lacking in substance and emotionally unsatisfying. They also find the beats repetitive and annoying. Why do people believe that there’s not a lot of meaning behind rap? My guess is that the singles that get pushed from albums onto the radio are typically reflective of western ideas of materialism and excess, and people hear that on the radio and assume those themes are prevalent throughout hip-hop. When you’re a musician, you’re attempting to appeal to the largest audience possible, and the way you do that is by finding the smallest common denominator. With hip-hop, that means dumbing down your lyrics and simplifying your beats. Reportedly, Eminem hates his two hit songs from his first album. He finds them catchy and annoying and he only made them because the label insisted they needed singles off the album. He made them the night before the album was done.
In other instances, listeners find the somewhat deadpan and fast-paced delivery of lyrics in rap music as monotonous and dull, or otherwise difficult to follow. It comes across as repetitious, when in reality, it is anything but. Non-hip-hop song are significantly more repetitious, I find. Looks at the classic Beatles hit, “She loves you”. That song has only 148 words, 23 of which are the word “you”. There also 23 instances of the word “yeah”, 14 she’s, and finally, 10 you’s. Despite the meaninglessness of the song, it was a hit. The Beatles today are considered revolutionary and in contrast, rappers–who are nothing short of poets–are seen as scum. It’s a travesty, to be sure. Rap songs like “Stan” by Eminem touch me deeply every time I hear them, and are reminiscent of bards and folk songs, which also tell stories
A sizeable chunk of the population will only listen to the instruments in songs and pay little or no attention to the lyrics. (This is a good explanation as to why pop songs with stupid lyrics are so popular.) Hence, to them, the song comes off as repetitive, and while it is true a lot of beats are catchy and repetitive to an extent, there are some that feature complex melodies and chord changes. Kendrick Lamar’s album, To Pimp a Butterfly was made almost exclusively using live instrumentation. There’s variation in rap, just like with anything else. I also believe that elderly people specifically are more used to the dynamic and tonal range of classical music, which is a far cry from the simplistic nature of hip hop. Additionally, in Hip-Hop the orchestration is typically lowered and the percussion raised–emphasizing the simple.
The media would like you to think that rappers love to spend their money in excess. They don’t tell you about the humble house Kendrick Lamar lives in, or any of that. Many rappers are prolific philanthropists and social activists. Recently and notably, Chance the Rapper–a man who isn’t even signed onto a label and releases all his music for free–underwent significant effort in order to provide all the homeless people in Chicago with coats for the 2016 winter. Rap itself isn’t shallow or materialistic or any of that, but some rappers are. Their music is going to reflect their personalities and their lifestyles; the people will choose what they like to listen to best, and while mainstream rap may be thematically materialistic, hip-hop in its entirety is anything but.
Lack of appreciation comes from lack of understanding. I used to hate rap before I listened closely to it. Hate is such a strong emotion, yet I remain truly feeling rage at thought of rap’s existence. Why? How could I despise something I had never even given a chance before? People will refuse to listen to rap, yet they continually insist it is bad. This is reminiscent of not liking a food simply based on how it looks. It’s irrational, prejudiced, and bluntly, childish. In one memorable rant, Bill O’Reilly referred to Kanye West’s and Jay-Z’s music as “gangsta rap.” He clearly never listened to the words of any of their songs.
There are a lot of things people who have listened to rap dislike about it. People dislike the percussive nature and the angry tone. It makes them upset. Stuart Burley’s entry on the Quora discussion page regarding why people dislike rap notes its aggressive spirit, while Anonymous cited racial division in addition to agreeing with Stuart Burley’s view, specifically noting rap’s “harshness.” I believe in many instances there certainly is a racial component in people’s deprecation of rap. Many white parents refer to rap as “nigger music.” Other people dislike the competitive side of rap, and songs that are basically just a person bragging. The bragging spirit originated from poverty stricken areas where you had to prove yourself and look better than the other person in order to win favors among your peers. People find it to be many rappers tend to be egotistical and confrontational, and don’t respond well to criticism. They also don’t think rap is deep–yet the typical non-rap song has about 8 separate lines.
It’s unfortunate that everyone is so quick to demonize hip-hop and that it has such a negative stigma behind it. I find I’m embarrassed to tell a person offhand that I make rap music. They are quick to make a lot of assumptions. But I love rap. I like it as a form of stress-release. It’s a non-violent outlet for me to express my frustration. Personally, writing hip hop has always helped ease my troubled emotion. I’ve found that rap is a way for people who grew up under constant judgement to say what they feel without fear of being judged. I enjoy how the hip-hop I listen to is more content-heavy–with stronger stories than the average song, and less drivel. Rap songs are splattered amongst the emotional spectrum–there’s happy ones, sad ones, angry ones… Rap often operates as a platform for social activism and thus has a positive cultural impact. People enjoy dancing to it.
Maybe some people will never come to appreciate Rap. Perhaps it will never in our lifetimes be considered a respectable art form. It could be that some rappers will remain unnoticed till long after their deaths. Van Gogh was poor all his life and now his paintings are priceless.
The truth is indisputable. Rap is an interpretation and regurgitation–to be vividly descriptive–of one’s surrounding. It reflects the culture we live in. Rap music gets people up on their feet and dancing. It gives us something to relate to and provides us comfort in dark times. Hip-Hop is not a threat to our culture, nor a stain on American society. It is the very embodiment of American idealism, the concept of free expression and everyone having a say. It gives people a platform to express their thoughts, fears, ideas, and opinions. Rap isn’t what you think is.
Rap is…
Good.
Works Cited
Atmosphere. God's Bathroom Floor. Stress, 2003. MP3.
Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap. Dir. Ice-T. Prod. Alison Toogood and Paul Toogood. Feltrinelli, 2012. DVD.
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Grebey, James. "Kendrick Lamar Says He Wrote ‘i’ For Inmates and Suicidal Teens." Spin. SPIN, 03 Nov. 2014. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.
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Mathers, Marshall. By Eminem and Bizarre. The Way I Am. Eminem. Eminem, 2005. MP3.
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Northup, Matt. "A Brief History of Whispering in Rap." Dot429. Dot439, 10 Sept. 2014. Web. 20 Apr. 2016. <http://dot429.com/articles/4797-why-sing-when-you-can-whisper>.
Eric. "Raplyzer." Web log post. Mining for Meaning. Eric's Data Science Blog, 13 Feb. 2015. Web. 20 Apr. 2016. <https://mining4meaning.com/2015/02/13/raplyzer/>.
Ajacobs. "50 Cent Explains Why He Never Used Drugs & Doesn't Drink." HipHopDX. HipHopDX, 31 Oct. 2011. Web. 21 Apr. 2016.
Hughes, Zondra. "50 Cent Lied about Smoking Weed to Sell Records." Rolling Out. Rolling Out, 17 Jan. 2013. Web. 22 Apr. 2016.
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Wagner, Laura. "Chicago's Chance The Rapper Joins With Nonprofit To Give Coats To Homeless." NPR. NPR, 18 Dec. 2015. Web. 26 Apr. 2016.
Additional Sources
"Interview with Jacob Oliver." Personal interview. 24 Feb. 2016.
"Survey on Attitudes towards Hip-Hop Music and Culture." Survey. 21 Feb. 2016.
"Interviews on Attitudes towards Hip-Hop Music and Culture." Interviews. 19-21 Feb. 2016.
Straight Outta Compton. Dir. Gary Gray. Prod. David Engel. Screenplay by Jonothan Herman. By S. Leigh Savidge. Perf. O'Shea Jackson Jr. Corey Hawkins Jason Mitchell Neil Brown Jr. Aldis Hodge. Others. 2015.
Bradley, Adam. Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop. New York, NY: Basic Civitas, 2009. Print.
Rose, Tricia. The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk about When We Talk about Hip Hop--and Why It Matters. New York: BasicCivitas, 2008. Print.
