And I'd rather a kid listen to The 4th Branch, The 3rd World, The Martyr. Dance With The Devil has a message behind it. Nothing Lil Wayne says has anything that even comes close to anything Immortal Technique says.
The question should be why the public or radio stations don't ever call out mainstream artists for using it?
The difference is as I said above is in context. Public Enemy, Paris, Immortal Technique's reason for existence is to provide a platform for raising issues and awareness that is the black experience. An experience that many white people like me, were raised to learn and understand issues like racism, police brutality and oppression. When they say it, it's used in context and as a reminder of a racially charged historical past. You might be familiar with the song Cuttin Heads by Chuck D and John Mellancamp that addresses this very issue. The problem with your example is that their use does NOT define their music - Their socially politically charged lyrics does. Fight The Power became our anthem where today it's "N--- in Paris".
This sits in direct contrast with the artists and how they use it in their music today. Because there is no historical racially charged context - as well as no social awareness, young kids of today use it as a term of endearment. In my very own family, I've had to educate the younger members of my family because they think it just means "black person". They don't bother to learn anything of the words origins and it's dehumanisation of a people. But they can download a black artists song and repeat the N word can't they? This completely damages everything socially conscious artists work so hard to address. When you have Nicki Minaj disrespecting Malcolm X by putting out an image of him with this word next to him, you can see the disconnect of this generation and mine. That's the very definition of REAL hip hop.
So you think an artist that offers nothing to the artform but auto-tuned sounds and lyrics that are about *****es and hoes is less counterproductive to the culture than Public Enemy? When you have songs like "N--- in Paris" and 2 Chainz "N--- Like Me", this is what is counterproductive to the art. What's counterproductive to the culture is having people pick up CD's and slang but not understand the history or the people it comes from. It's important not to be a Hip Hop apologist.
"I don't know exactly when it started going downhill
Let's take it back to the days it was about skill
Before it was sweet boys parading as tough geeza's
Educated men naming themselves after drug dealers
When it was a way to vent a mans pain
Before it became a tool for presidential campaigns
Before the 50's, Lil' Wayne's and Rick Ross's
I'm about to show you the essence of what Hip-Hop is
Before it was about street credibility
When it was he's alright but he's better lyrically
Think about the zombies your bad words influence
Before Hip-Hop became an advert for ignorance
Before it became Kamikaze
I'm half Gil Scott-Heron and half Talib Kwelli
It used to be all for the love
Now pricks are greedier
This business is sicker than an infant with leucemia
I live Hip-Hop, don't disrespect my household
I'm about to kill these rappers sales like internet downloads
We've come a long way from the old timers
Now it's all 360, deals and ****ing ghost writers
Am I controversial 'cause I'm not commercial?
Or 'cause I don't rap like a rapper that wants to hurt you?
Every man's bragging, making anthems with gang-banging
I'm like a man standing, over the Grand Canyon
Hip-Hop broke down barriers like skin tone
Hip-Hop 2008 is selling ring tones"
Lowkey. The Essence
The quote from Lowkey I posted in my previous post says it all.
If you know what is meant by real hip hop then there is no reason to be offended or defensive. Hip hop has always been about different forms and sounds. It ranges from Run DMC, Cashmoney, Arrested Development, Public Enemy to Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. That isn't the point. What you are having a problem with is the use of the phrase "REAL hip hop". The problem here is balance. Put bluntly,commercial radio doesn't play "REAL hip hop". Ever wondered why rap music with meaning is never played on the radio? Most people if you ask them to name a rapper they would respond with "2Pac or Eminem". They fail to mention Public Enemy, Ice T, Marcel Cartier, Akala, Lowkey, Logic, Bliss N Eso, Run DMC, Paris, or even Grandmaster Flash!.When you have kids that think the art started with 2Pac and ended with Eminem, you have a problem. It totally misses the point of WHY it was created in the first place. What is counterproductive to the art is having an artform that was created out of expression and is turned into commercial artificial garbage that has nothing to say. That's not hip hop, it's pop music. The real hip hop phrase distinguishes the kind that offers nothing from the kind that offers something. Nicki Minaj and Iggy Azalea isn't real hip hop. Public Enemy is...They have made 3 of the most influential albums of all time. Chuck D once called hip hop the CNN of the black community. It's now turned into the Disney channel.
Paris said it best in the 2nd verse of this song:
[YT]yXZYZAkbPCo[/YT]
No problem. I think we are probably in agreement in most things. I've been into hip hop myself for over 20 years, so I'm pretty confident in my understanding of the music.
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