For many within the conservative movement,
rap is a uniformly negative reflection of
the worst ills and excesses of society.
It romanticizing everything wrong with the
way society is headed, and the more hardlined
who hold this view believe it isn’t even
music in the first place.
This line of reasoning is frequently and most
notably echoed by the leading figure of the
conservative movement, Ben Shapiro.
Shapiro has commented on rap on a number of
occasions, but he published an article that
neatly summarizes his position on this cultural
force.
Titled ‘Rap is Crap,’ it’s a phrase
every conservative who reflexively mocks rap
has at one point thoughtlessly sputtered.
It’s thoughtless not because there aren’t
respectable reasons to simply not like rap;
people dislike whole genres undeniably often,
after all.
Think of the common statement “I love all
music except country”.
But disliking a form of music is much different
than claiming that opinion is an absolute.
And similarly, not liking a genre doesn’t
make you racist, as many of Shapiro’s leftist
critics idiotically claim.
In his piece, Shapiro holds up T.I. as a representative
model of rap as a whole, but he’s also prone
to purposely misinterpreting rap.
His analysis of Cardi B’s music video for
Bodak Yellow comes to mind.
Throughout, he’s confused.
He mocks the ungrammatical nature of her lyrics,
and he thinks that her being in a desert is
some sort of political statement on gender
equality in Saudi Arabia rather than a randomly
exotic backdrop for her music.
This throw into doubt the sincerity of Shapiro’s
“takedown.”
Is he genuinely convinced that people are
reading into this music video that Cardi B
is holding up Saudi Arabia as a beacon of
gender equality?
And though some interpret her song as a statement
on feminism, it’s doubtful that the artist
herself had thought that much into it.
In one breath, Shapiro scoffs at the seeming
thoughtlessness of this kind of rap, and in
another he assigns political motivations where
convenient.
His confusion doesn’t end with Cardi B’s
sand dunes.
He pushes on, in reaction to another popular
track, so very confused by Future’s “where
ya ass was at?”, well in-keeping with his
rigid attention
to grammar.
You begin to wonder whether he’s actually
unable to translate Future’s question into
plain English.
Shapiro likely knows what he means, but he’s
criticizing it for being ungrammatical.
That hardline way of thinking ignores that
much of art eschews strict adherence to rules,
grammar, and reality under creative license.
The meaning, in spite of the lyrics’ lack
of grammar, remains intact.
Future is conveying something that, at its
core, isn’t essentially unconservative.
He’s asking the question of where those
near to him now were when he was working his
way up the ladder, harkening to the fact that
his success had to be earned by he alone.
There are many ways to convey this sentiment,
but isn’t it more important that such messages
get across in the first place?
Language is a tool, not an end unto itself.
After all, it’s doubtful that a single,
basically intelligent person is going to start
ending their questions with prepositions and
tossing in “your asses” just because a
rapper did.
At the same time, one can encourage young
people to master the English language, while
enjoying rap as a simple form of exaggerated
entertainment.
And it would be equally silly to mock or act
confused while listening to jamaican dancehall
artists when they say “tings” instead
of things.
His tendency to overthink rap and inject political
motives that usually aren’t there blinds
him to properly addressing both rap’s flaws
and its merits.
Say what you will about rap or any other genre
for that matter, but if you approach it with
the mentality that it’s bad in every way
imaginable, it’s no surprise when you’re
unwilling to be receptive to it in every way.
Applying a political lens to everything is
harmful, whether that comes from the feminist,
or racially-tinged corners of the radical
left or the right.
It’s perfectly fair to dislike most of a
genre, but it is essential to understand its
appeal from a politically neutral standpoint.
Shapiro’s “Rap is Crap” article followed
rapper T.I.’s arrest for illegally owning
a variety of guns and suppressors.
But the gravest sin on the part of T.I. isn’t
his criminal extracurricular activities, but
instead the substance of his music.
That is the crux of the conservative mindset
on rap.
The typical conservative thinking goes, not
only are its performers frequently delinquent,
but they champion that style of living in
their music.
And while it is accurate to say that the most
popular contemporary artists today fall into
that camp, it fails to account for what drives
general interest in this form of music.
It isn’t motivated by a sincere desire to
plunge into absurd volumes of strange women,
hit some liqs, or wear gold chains that stretch
down as far as their sagging jeans.
This is especially not the motivation for
the vast majority of the public who listen
to this music casually.
Given that it dependably tops the charts,
if that were the case we would be seeing pandemic
bloodshed on the streets and uncontrollable
domestic abuse (not to mention STDs galore).
Clearly, there is an unignorable entertainment
factor that accounts for its eminent popularity,
and it’s the same one that undergirds the
scenes and plots from violent video games
and ridiculous movies.
It can almost be seen as absurd self-satire;
for instance, when you see rappers talking
about having as many bitches on their dicks
as they claim they do.
It’s hard to believe conservatives are genuinely
convinced this reflects any semblance of reality.
In fact, artists themselves acknowledge what
they say in their records is often grossly
exaggerated or ridiculous.
Raps many and reoccurring feuds, for example,
mirror performances like the WWE, which doesn’t
exactly market itself as fake, but is scripted
for the audience’s entertainment.
Like WWE superstars, rappers love to ignite
them and flex for the sake of driving public
interest, streams, and sales.
And most of their fans know it and the 10
year olds that don’t inevitably find out
that it’s all for show.
The act of overthinking the ridiculous lyrics
found in the newest trap banger would be as
silly as condemning Dumb & Dumber for romanticizing
stupidity or the WWE for romanticizing unrepentant
violence.
The WWE itself, for that matter, often found
itself the target of such criticism.
It similarly faced backlash for negatively
influencing youth, as if the WWE painted this
violence as something worthy of imitation.
Unfortunately for such critics, we’ll see
these elements of human nature play out in
virtually every medium of entertainment, because
it’s just that: a piece of human nature.
For these reasons, conservatives miss quite
a bit when they point to the foolish actions
of someone like T.I. and suggest that this
is the impression any sane listener will come
away with.
But not all conservatives think that the music
of T.I. and others is going to have some sweeping
impact on the culture, but rather that it
will impact vulnerable minority communities.
Liam Julian of National Review, for example,
writes “Hip-hop does not, for instance,
play a big role in the lives of most affluent
kids, who may just listen to rap while traveling
to and from school, or at weekend parties,
or while playing sports.
This group of young Americans does not see
truth in hip-hop’s messages nor strive to
emulate its “lifestyle” … Sadly, the
same cannot be said of lots of poor, black
kids.
For these young Americans, hip-hop’s lyrics
are too often real reflections of life; too
often they come to embody goals, and aspirations.
The public, to its immense discredit, is less
honest than it should be about rap’s pernicious
influence.”
But even accepting that this is true, does
the problem lie with the medium or the culture
itself?
After all, when someone falls prey to video
game addiction, is the fault with the video
game developers or the addict himself?
On those grounds, you would make the same
and largely discredited case that the Nicholas
Cruzs of the world will be inspired by the
violent imagery in video games to carry out
their deadly, vengeance fueled acts.
You can hardly blame the industry as a whole
when people attempt to act out whatever form
of entertainment they’re consuming in extreme
ways even while the overwhelming majority
of others are able to do so and go about their
lives happily and healthily.
More pressingly, if you do, what is the solution?
The only apparent one is to demonize a type
of entertainment that is otherwise enjoyed
by the bulk of people for not only innocent,
but lighthearted reasons.
Critics of rap like Liam Julian of National
Review are also mistaken to claim that the
genre one dimensionally glorifies a lifestyle
of degeneracy and violence.
Even the artist he cites, T.I., in one of
his most successful tracks ever, Dead and
Gone, speaks of this “lifestyle” in dark
and decidedly unromantic terms:
Never mind that now, you lucky to be alive,
Just think it all started you, fussin' with
three guys
Now ya pride in the way, but ya pride is the
way you
Could fuck around, get shot die any day
Niggas die, every day all over
Bull shit
No more stress, now I'm straight,
Now I get it now I take time to think,
Before I make mistakes, just for my family's
sake
That part of me left yesterday, the heart
of me is strong today
No regrets I'm blessed to say, the old me
dead and gone away.
In the same way, the idea that rap simply
glorifies misogyny also reveals a lack of
familiarity with even the genre’s most popular
tracks.
Take for instance the chart topping “Violent
Crimes” off of Kanye West’s newest album:
ye.
Niggas is savage, niggas is monsters
Niggas is pimps, niggas is players
'Til niggas have daughters, now they precautious
Father forgive me, I'm scared of the karma
'Cause now I see women as somethin' to nurture
Not somethin' to conquer
I pray your body's draped more like mine and
not like your mommy's
Just bein' salty, but niggas is nuts
And I am a nigga, I know what they want
Moving beyond the fact that rap is not nearly
as thoughtless or decadent as its critics
believe, by focusing solely on the excesses
of rap, they miss a key part of rap’s role
in the culture.
Where virtually every other industry of mainstream
entertainment and media has cloaked itself
in contempt for our capitalist system, the
overwhelming majority of rappers celebrate
their hard-won successes.
In doing so, they offer a message of inspiration
to those who otherwise would only hear that
their lack of success is because they’re
being denied something by an oppressive other.
This is the only cultural force that serves
as a rare voice of optimism in an increasingly
pessimistic world.
It, unlike any other, champions the virtue
of self-earned success.
A$AP Rocky - Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye 2
I ain't never lookin' for no handouts Broke
ass niggas never helpin' but they hands out
Devestated
At times I thought we'd never make it
But now we on our way to greatness
And all that ever took was patience
I-I-I-I used to feel so devastated
At times I thought we'd never make it, yeah
But now we on our way to greatness
And all that ever took was patience
Okay, just getting better each day
Stacking that cheddar, cheese cake
Looking up to the Lord, we pray
Trying to be my best each day
Until I'm laid to rest we lay, yeah
'Til the time being we lit
Hoping I don't let it get all in my head
I don't need money just to say that I'm rich
3.
Drake - Scholarship
I wake up, pray every morning These demons,
they callin' my soul I said fuck all of you
hoes I'm ballin' outta control I'm ballin'
outta control If I can give everything back
to you All this passion I got, all I ever
needed For me to move on and succeed For me
to move on and succeed Jealousy, envy and
greed Too much of that shit I don't need it
Naturally, conservatives look at the largely
leftist politics of rap artists and think
that that must be entirely what the philosophy
beneath their lyrics is saying.
When in fact, even the most vocal and angry
leftists, such as the now-infamous Eminem,
have passionately expressed important conservative
values--weird as it may sound.
A solid example would be this line from his
track Beautiful:
Nobody asked for life to deal us
With these bullshit hands we're dealt
We gotta take these cards ourselves
And flip 'em, don't expect no help
Now, I could've either just sat on my ass
And pissed and moaned
Or take this situation in which I'm placed
in
And get up and get my own
In another track, legendary Southern rapper
Gucci Mane represents the seemingly ignored
strain of rap that reflects a deep ability
to identify faults and fix them.
A message that is much needed within the communities
Liam Julian is worried about.
Sometimes I think about my past, it make me
start tripping
I was gifted with a talent that was god-given
But I was so hard-headed I would not listen
Sometimes I sit and I reflect about that cold
prison
And doin' pull-ups with a nigga got a life
sentence
They gave my nigga Grant life, he only gained
on me
Five years later, how we in the same room?
You go to jail, that's when you see who really
love you
I don't think nobody love me like my auntie
Jean do
But I forgive, I been forgiven, I hold grudges
too
I'm just a work in progress, I'm not even
through
But I forgive, I been forgiven, I hold grudges
too
I'm just a work in progress, I'm not even
through
This is to say that not only can rap be defended
against its negative criticisms, but it can
be defended on positive grounds as well.
Crudeness doesn’t negate meaning or value,
and oftentimes it doesn’t end there.
Misleadingly, it can seem as though rap is
one dimensionally celebrating sexual hedonism
and violence that conservatives are right
to detest.
But all isn’t as it appears.
If you looked at Kanye West’s “Power”
unthinkingly, for example, you could be excused
for coming away with the impression that it’s
merely an anthem for reckless indulgence.
What this piece really explores is a much
more sober, and self-conflicted take on the
perils of power.
This is why the Sword of Damocles lingers
over Kanye’s head in its music video, even
though he’s surrounded by models and precious
metals.
West compacts a wide array of artistic and
even philosophical meaning in what amounts
to a supremely thoughtful piece of music.
Mr. West’s video and lyrics are inspired
by Roman Philosopher Cicero’s meditation
on Damocles to illustrate how captivating
grand wealth and power might seem on the surface,
but how often forgotten is the responsibility
that comes with it.
This is a theme Kanye’s song draws upon
in a way that directly butts heads with the
kind of lavish and superficial rap conservatives
point to in their wholesale rejection of the
genre.
Where what is frequently depicted as without
consequence and sheerly ecstatic, Kanye offers
us a much starker, serious glimpse into that
world.
One that ends in utter despair, peppered with
contemplations of suicide, which he ultimately
surrenders to.
The chorus goes: “The clock’s ticking,
I just count the hours Stop tripping, I’m
tripping off the power”, which morphs in
the latter act of the song into “I’m tripping
off the powder.”
Powder is, of course, cocaine.
The parallel he’s drawing is a fitting one:
power produces an illusory and short-lived
ecstasy, and an ultimately self-destructive
one at that.
In a way more mature than conservatives would
expect, the artist isn’t celebrating vapid
money-making or influence or drugs, but recognizing
its inherently toxic and fleeting nature.
In a later verse, Kanye raps:
At the end of the day, god damn it I’m killing
this shit
I know damn well y’all feeling this shit
I don’t need your pussy, bitch, I’m on
my own dick
I ain’t gotta power trip, who you going
home with?
How 'Ye doing?
I’m surviving
I was drinking earlier, now I’m driving
Where the bad bitches, huh?
Where you hiding?
I got the power to make your life so exciting
So excit-, (suicide-, so excit-, (suicide)-”
(suicide)
The first couple lines might seem characteristic
of the bravado of stereotypical rap, but it
transitions into something much more self-aware.
The highs of fame and yes, power, are rife
with pitfalls, and Kanye manages to express
its folly through the medium of rap.
Kanye goes from being “on his own dick”
to merely “surviving.”
He then engages in one of the most reckless
acts imaginable, drunk driving, culminating
in a crash--where the word “exciting”
morphs into “suicide.”
Is this not possibly at the heart of what
drives so much of the exaggerated peacocking
in rap?
This, of course, is just one example of how
and where rap is not just music, but incredibly
meaningful music if you take the time to appreciate
and understand what its artists are saying.
Which isn’t to say that they’re perfect,
and they frequently make utterly foolish blunders.
The reality is that it’s incredibly meaningful
for more than purely indulgent reasons, which
must also be seen.
A central criticism of Shapiro’s is that,
as a classically trained musician, rap isn’t
music.
He makes this case on what can be generously
described as faulty grounds.
In the track just cited, after all, Kanye
draws upon a wide array of musical traditions
and genres.
From rock to, yes, C Minor, this song serves
as a case study that rap is a legitimate form
of music.
The reservation of C Minor to depict a turbulent,
heroic struggle, for instance, is a classical
tradition originating with Beethoven's Symphony
#5.
This tradition has been adhered to by many
classical composers ranging from Dmitri Shostakovich
String Quartet No. 8. to Gustav Mahler’s
Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection.”
Beyond that, his stirring mixture of rap,
rock, and 70s classics in such a harmonious
fusion can hardly be described as anything
but music.
The fact that the artist reworked one of his
largest hits, Stronger, 75 times with 8 different
engineers and eleven different mix engineers
from around the world reflects the kind of
devotion and consideration that often goes
into this kind of, yes, music.
Sneering elitism of this sort only serves
to cripple conservatives’ ability to penetrate
the broader culture.
Defiantly blinding yourself to the virtues
and complexity of something like rap does
that mission a disservice, and hopefully skeptics
may be able to take a more thoughtful look
at all forms of legitimate art beyond slogans
such as “Rap is Crap.”
