BET News takes an unprecedented look at the controversy raging around Hip Hop.

Sound off and post your comments here about;

• What do you think about violent lyrics, degrading words and images in Hip-Hop?

 

•  What does contemporary Hip-Hop mean and what  kind of message does this portray about Black America?

What do you think about violent lyrics, degrading words and images in Hip-Hop?

I'm supposed to say I love it? I hate it. and I don't know why BET continues to show the videos, although I know the artists' record labels are paying the network big money to show them. I know these rappers have freedom of speech, but at some point you have to say enough is enough!

You know we have to always please the white kids (per most of America...they are the ones who are buying most of our music) so since they are buying it , then it won't be banned until they become bored with it or until M&M starts dropping mutiple albums back to back.

Whatever... REAL HIP HOP is and always will remain the truth. Must I keep reminding everyone of the True Greats and the One Hit Wonders that people just let fall by the way side?//

The stuff that is in heaviest rotation is probably the trash and the least creative joints, I'm sure!!

Of course, this is the way the industry has it now, the hottest and most skilled artist don't get very much recognition whether it be Hip Hop or R&B. It's just a business like everything else in America. Lies are believed, whats right is wrong...You know the rest. My only advice to the real Hip Hop Heads out there (I don't consider myself a true Head anymore... since that fiasco went down with Big and Pac I don't keep up with it as much anymore but I will never forget the Old School Greats)... So my only advice to you all is Don't Believe The Hype!!! Industry standards are bogus so don't feed into it as much. Yeah Brothas tryin' to eat and get paid, but remember, people, don't lose yourselves or sell your self to the Devil just to get a dolla'. Eventually, you will have to come crawlin' back to reality, and in the end you will realize that you were just a pawn in the industry's game (the devils)...Oh and some of the greedy never learn and thus, they keep puttin out garbage but the strangest part of it all is that they really believe that their mess is true talent and that based on their bogus record sells, they runnin' thangs. That's just temporary, the blind ones will be bankrupt in a few years. For example, the industry devils had Hammer thinkin' that he was the truth and the ultimate rapper and see what they 'caused him to do??/Yep, he bumped his head and they talked about him bad. He had to go crawlin' back to his roots. It happens all the time/..!!

there is alot to be said on this but lets keep it real. hip-hop sells just like sex sells. when the last time you went to a movie that didn't have shooting in it or someone gettin beat up or somthing gettin blown up. take a sec and think......you can't unless its a cartoon but they just as bad as movies these days. or when the last the last time you went to the movies and there wasn't someone sayin some kinda of bad word or some kind of sex scene. it's the same with hip-hop. i'm tried of people always tryin to blame Americas problems on our hip-hop artist. they get paid to entertain us. its not there job to tone down what they do or say. if you don't want your child listen to what they say thats your job to make sure they don't. last time i check you can't buy explicit music without an adult and they make clean versions of music. and to be truthful it only became a problem when WHITE America started to buy it. if these ladies want to dance half naked in a video thats there choice. they are making a paycheck just like the rest of us. so i hope hip-hop don't change a damn thing. my mom raise me great i didn't listen to the music that had explicit lyrics until i was old enough to buy it myself. cause my mom made it very clear to me that if you can't buy it than you don't need it and this is her house. why causes she was doing her job as a parent. which is raising me not hip-hop, not movies but her!!!!!

Honestly, I am 35 years old and I grew up on NWA whose lyrics were always degrading but we had sense back then. We didn't feed into it like these kids are today. We knew that Eazy E and Dre wasn't doing all that gangster type stuff they were spittin' because they would be in jail. There has always been video hoochies, not as bad as today's hoochies. That part of it, I don't like. These young ladies are out here imitating how they see these girls dancing in videos, basically looking like stippers. They see that the young boys love it and that's what they want to be. I'm so glad I grew up in the De La Soul era, Queen Latifah, Salt & Pepper, Heavy D and my nucka KRS ONE, the list goes on and on. This was when hip hop was about being original. It was straight up WHACK to come out sounding like someone else. Or if your name was similar to someone elses', you got dissed for that, talked about bad. That's why during that era you had all kinds of hip hop, everyone was saying something. It was original. To me, all these hip hop artist today ain't saying nothing. I can't listen to it if it's current, it's ol skool for me 24/7. I cannot relate unless it's Dr. Dre, Snoop T.I Jay or Nas... and LiL John... I love him. Pardon me, but who the "HELL" is Soulja Boy, he is lame as hell!!!!!!!! Perfect example of what I mean. Hip hop SUCKS as of today. Sorry

WORD. Trecha & Diamond are spittin' gems on this topic. but here's the exclusive: KRS-still doin' it, De La-still doin' it, Large Professor, Brand Nubian, X Clan, Prince Po & Pharaoh Monche, Hieroglyphics, Dead Prez, etc...still doin' it. but who's buying it??? No one. garbage-*** *73* rules the airwaves cuz people buy it.  then they complain its mysoginist an degrading then buy the albums of wack *** rappers...no room to complain. be part of the solution y'all. tell me where you live & I can tell you ten dope CONSIOUS rappers you ain't never heard of in a 10 mile radius. ugly people be quiet.

personally I think that some of these rappers are doing a gewd job like cOMMON AND ALL DEM OTHER DUDES. But some of the rappers need to stop degrating women and calling dem a *** and all. I think they need to stop talking about f***ing a firl and getting money and all of that. They ned to stop talking about girls, bling, and money. Cuz I don't know if people have noticed but kids wanna be just like the rappers. Don't get me wrong I love hip hop. I love 50 Cent, Cassidy, all of them. But don't forget who are watching the videos.

I just wanna clarify 1 thing .. can we please stop labeling this garbage they call music now hip-hop!!! Hip-Hop is a culture, a artform, a movement and I don't see any of this in today's music. It started out as B-Boying, Grafatti, Djing, and MCing. When was they last time you heard a record with a DJ scratching or mixing? Now as for the women being degraded .. It is what it is!! Nobody is making these women shake their asses so how can I be mad. We need to stop acting like these women are defenseless creatures. I mean 75% of the video women are straight off a stripper pole. So what do you think they would be doing if they weren't in videos. It's like this if you are tired of this crap do like i do buy an IPod. I haven't listened to the radio or watched a video on BET in months. These rapper's are just products of the system if you want to change the system support the real artists. If you call in a request real music everyday the stations have no choice but to play it. I requested Lyfe Jennings til I made them play it on the radio and look where he is now.

 sonycarson wrote:I just wanna clarify 1 thing .. can we please stop labeling this garbage they call music now hip-hop!!! Hip-Hop is a culture, a artform, a movement and I don't see any of this in today's music. It started out as B-Boying, Grafatti, Djing, and MCing. When was they last time you heard a record with a DJ scratching or mixing? It's like this if you are tired of this crap do like i do buy an IPod. I haven't listened to the radio or watched a video on BET in months. These rapper's are just products of the system if you want to change the system support the real artists. If you call in a request real music everyday the stations have no choice but to play it. I requested Lyfe Jennings til I made them play it on the radio and look where he is now.

::applaudes:: Thank you so much for clarifying a few things.

Commercial rap is not Hip Hop. I repeat: Commercial rap is NOT Hip Hop! Like my dude said, Hip Hop is a culture, a lifestyle as well as a music genre. I live it, love it, and appreciate it and always will.

Yes, MCs do rap in Hip Hop, and yes, I would dance to a rap track at a party or at a club. But I embrace Hip Hop, not the average rap *73*t you hear on the radio. Though MCs today are rare and far between, they do exist: Kanye West, Dead Prez, Common, Mos Def, Nas, etc. Now I'm not saying the MCs I'm mentioned having said anything bad about us women or whateva, but whateva they have said, they spoke off of life experiences or to made a point metaphorically, not said it "just because". People need to stop confusing dudes like 50 Cent and other rappers like him for Hip Hop. They may rep Hip Hop and live Hip Hop, but they damn sure don't sing Hip Hop.

So instead of asking why is Hip Hop degrading our women our people, ask why is commercial rap overshadowing true Hip Hop with bull*73*t lyrics and why is Hip Hop getting all the blame for it.

---

~*The Mecca of de City*~

Hip Hop thats a word that has been turned upside down, twisted, stepped on, spitted on, and took its real true meaning of it. People and young generations to come are losing its respect towards Hip Hop the word, the belief , the struggle , the postive outcome it brought but now kids and others see it as its all about money makeing that dollar, cars, woman, oh yeah and being better on top of everyone.!The understanding of the truth about the REAL HIP HOP is Hip Hop is way to bring people together and be one meaning to share ideas to make the community around them to be positive and productive not to show the world " LOOK AT ME ! LOOK AT ME ! I HAVE WOMEN, I HAVE CARS, AND LOOK I HAVE MONEY MONEY MONEY!!its not the rappers fault that the woman expose themselves its the woman beacause they put themselves out there its there choice if they want to be in the videos not the rappers.A woman has the right to say NO but here we go sayin "its the rappers fault that  the woman are all up in da video" yeah thats true but its the womans fault also. she chose that and thats what they wanted. really pay attention to what the woman want i feel personally as a woman that the woman in the video show a bad example for most woman who have a mind and that are trying to make a diffrence! and you have little kids that think " i wanna be just like him when i grow up" its sad to me because you have thesecrap rappers that come out to these events for the TRUE HIP HOP and they go to the camara and say " I LOVE HIP HOP, ITS MY LIFE, IM HERE FOR THE COMMUNITY" but then this hypocritical rappers still talk talk and talk about girls, money and cars and how " OH IM A BETTER RAPPER CAUSE I SOLD MORE RECORDS THAN THE OTHER ARTIST THAT MAKES ME BETTER BLAH BLAH BLAH " you see how dumb that sounds ! its crazy how these rappers have that momentum that there changeing the world but in reality there not you have the real eemces now see here i used EEMCES not RAPPER because the rappers don't have the respects for the word. The eemces today and even the back in the day DE LA SOUL, BLACK SHEEP, BOOGIE DOWN PRODUCTION, MONE LOVE, MOS, COMMON, ROOTS, PUBLIC ENEMY,ERIC B & RAKIM, GRAND PUBA, PETE ROCK, CL SMOOTH,KRS ONE,KOOL HERC, AFRIKA BAMBATTA, SOUL SONIC FORCE, MELE MEL, GRAND MASTER FLASH , so on and on my point is they are still makein a diffrence no matter if there from back in the day because as of today there still talking the truth and soul of HIP HOP they made it progress and grow. Lets bring the true meanig HIP HOP BACK.

honesty some of todays music SUCKS but can you blame them. the world is built on the almighty dollar ,me personal i am a 80's baby which the 80's are called the lost generation because they killed our leader before he was able to develop a movement knowlegde is a M*** f*** hiphop started with music like SELF DESTRUTION by Public ememy or what about the ROBIN HOOD ACT. did we forget "we aint ready to have a black president all of the prisons are packed and they filled with blacks" TUPAC

I have to agree with you one that. But the thing is, people don't see anything wrong with the lyrics and messages of hip hop. First of all, it's contrary to the WORD OG GOD. Having women all the time is wrong, because it's fornication, they talk about slanging drugs, being better than everybody else, being hard, and all that dumb stuff. Slanging drugs is wrong because drugs defile the temple of GOD. Trying to boast about how much better you are than anybody else is wrong because in GOD'S eyes we are all the same without the BLOOD OF CHRIST. Being hard is wrong because if we would all educate one another on who we are as a black people it would be unnecessary. We have obviously forgotten where we came from as a people with all the violence and ignorance that we show towards one another. Rappers don't want to take any responsibility for what goes on out in the streets but they ae steadily promoting it. They want to say that they are taking lemons and making lemonade but they aren't. They are taking lemons and squeezing the juice out of it and telling people that the sour juice is good. There is a difference between speaking out on the things that go on in the ghetto and saying that they are wrong, and promoting what goes on like it's a good thing. But, for those who have been to or live in the ghetto know that there is nothing good about waking up to gun shots and police sirens or looking out of your window and seeing someone get shanked. It's because of rappers and people of this nature that make it seem like the gangsters are good people and other people are just punks. Therefore, they raise the bar on drugs, violence, sexually transmitted diseases, and things of that nature. Then there are some rappers that say that they are not responsible for what goes on because there is a difference between what we are rapping about and how we live and since that is the case then you rappers that say that aren't as real as you say you are in the songs. And if indeed you want to say that the ghetto life is so glorious, why then, when you snatched your little bit of money, did you move out of the ghetto? Why didn't you stay where you were if it is such a glorious life to live? Because you know it is not as good as you proclaim. You ain't as gutta as you say you are because you got body guards that do all of your work for you, but for those who you are promoting this message to, they don't have a body guard to protect them. All they have is themselves. When you promote this message it excuses the bad and ignorant behavior that children have. It is wrong and totally not GOD like. You are partly responsible. Accept responsibility for what you say.

 diamond1918 wrote:there is alot to be said on this but lets keep it real. hip-hop sells just like sex sells. when the last time you went to a movie that didn't have shooting in it or someone gettin beat up or somthing gettin blown up. take a sec and think......you can't unless its a cartoon but they just as bad as movies these days. or when the last the last time you went to the movies and there wasn't someone sayin some kinda of bad word or some kind of sex scene. it's the same with hip-hop. i'm tried of people always tryin to blame Americas problems on our hip-hop artist. they get paid to entertain us. its not there job to tone down what they do or say. if you don't want your child listen to what they say thats your job to make sure they don't. last time i check you can't buy explicit music without an adult and they make clean versions of music. and to be truthful it only became a problem when WHITE America started to buy it. if these ladies want to dance half naked in a video thats there choice. they are making a paycheck just like the rest of us. so i hope hip-hop don't change a damn thing. my mom raise me great i didn't listen to the music that had explicit lyrics until i was old enough to buy it myself. cause my mom made it very clear to me that if you can't buy it than you don't need it and this is her house. why causes she was doing her job as a parent. which is raising me not hip-hop, not movies but her!!!!!

I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to chime in here. I saw this post, and was so inspired to say something, I created an account and everything just to reply to this statement.The point of this has nothing to do with what you're talking about. Yes, parents could make it their mission to make SURE that their kids don't listen to what these artists put out. But, for one, how many kids out there do you really think are going to just NOT listen just because their parents say so? When I was a kid, I found different avenues to make sure that I was able to listen to my music, even though my mom destroyed it a soon as she found out. Point is, the fault shouldn't fall all on the parents. Why do these "artists" produce this mess in the first place? That's the whole reason for this. You can't get your point accross without falling into that stereotypical hype that corporate america believes in(well shows, anyway)? You can't get your point accross with speaking correct english(Black have already fought to make sure you wouldn't get killed if you knew how to read, write, and speak. So why not thank them by showing that you appreciate that?)? There was no problem with Hip hop a while ago, except from "WHITE America", because we spoke about real issues, and used our music to unite(Slavery anyone? They used they same method to get through that hell. So White America knows how strong we can be when we unite.). It's not the fact that "WHITE America" accepts us now, is that these rappers have allowed "WHITE America" to influence the reason why we started hip hop in the first place. If we still held those values in our songs, there probably wouldn't be an issue. So, why do the they HAVE to do it? For money? You can still make money and feed the family be doing something you believe in. Not just making something "WHITE America" likes. Music comes from the soul, not wallet, and you're always rewarded. Of course there are still a few that want to stay true to the original hip hop culture, and of course I'm not speaking of them.

SHOUT OUTS TO BET MY USER NAME IS TATBLASTBE BUT YOU CAN CALL ME BLASTBE AND IF THERE WAS ANY WAY I CAN GET MY WORDS OR MY VOICE ON THIS TOPIC BROADCAST FROM TV, PLEASE LET ME KNOW( SHOUT ME OUT ON TV). I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS OPEN DOOR FOR A LONG TIME.THANK YOU

Modern Hip-Hip or Corporate-Hop (as I call it) is about selling units off the shelf. Not music units or rap albums but generic plastic squares. White people like their squares with nine bullet holes all over it and a sweaty shirtless slave with his price tag on his back. Now they'll buy 10-12 million of those squares! Black people don't care about squares. We like music, we like art. If every black person alive stopped buying mainstream rap albums today, rap would become violent, racist pornos. Or is it that already? For example, lets look at the portrayal of black women in rap videos- strictly from the neck down. If she has no head, she has no eyes. And if she has no eyes, she has no soul. The eyes are the window to the soul. Whores don't need souls. And Black whores especially don't have or need souls. Black men love beautiful faces. It's white men who don't like their black women with faces. Strong black people, like my fellow active bloggers on this site, are the reason why hip-hop isn't the 100% menstral show the white label-heads and their children that buy the garbage want it to be. And for a solution (which is the most important part) we shouldn't label the debate as hip hop vs. America. That is anti-productive and in 2007, one of the biggest oxymorons I have ever heard. Modern-day, mainstream hip-hop is the very essence of Amerikkka. Divide the masses in two, make them war over something distracting, and get paid off of all of that. The most productive debate would have been Corporate Greed vs. Black America, with the subtitle, Hip Hop in America. I Love being Black, and I love you all. myspace.com/larrylambert