Rap. The art and controversy!!

By

Umar Ayub

Now I ain't tryna be the greatest
I used to hate hip-hop... yup, because the women degraded

The above verse from a rap by Lupe fiasco shows my love for rap. Rap in my understanding is one of the best, soothing and message convening type or form of art there is. Although the greatness of rap music is handicapped by bad influence and is harassed by those who do not respect the art but it is up to the listener to distinguish what he wants to listen.

Many years ago the Vatican City banned a man and his work from their influence. He was hated so much that the language he based his work on was banned to protect the innocent from his corrupt ideas and influences. This man was none other than Shakespeare himself; and he wrote about love. Today we are taught to respect his art in schools and his words are instilled in our hearts and minds. Rap music is called Poetry of the streets as it is based on poetry as it is the use of words to describe an emotion or tell a story. It is the modern day version of poetry as the rapist talks about his struggle, problems in general, love, describes a fantasy or even narrates a story. Just like the play Macbeth, a man overcomes his ethics and moral values in greed and promise of power, it was a play by Shakespeare .Lupe Fiasco‘s rap “All Black Everything” is a descriptive of a world in which black people were never oppressed and turned slaves and were respected as a nation like every other.

Shakespeare writes

 “Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate”

He compliments someone on her beauty compairing to a summer day which was a rare and pleasant time in England.

J Cole raps

Young nigga with his jeans low

Nice fella just got a mean flow

Never seen rich but he’s seen po(or)

Mr. Dollar and a Dream in case you didn’t know

            J cole explains that a young guy looks dangerous and is troubled and people judge him by his attire although he is a good person by heart and he has potential to conquer his dreams and He will!.......

Rap culture is a well known phenomenon. Today people generally dislike rap music because of two reasons. The first being they consider it offensive and vulgar. The second that it promotes bad behavior and vulgarity. These arguments are well justified and I do support young kids should not listen to rap music as they might not understand it like some of the work done in renaissance Italy.

 Rap has no restrictions and rhyming two sentences can become a rap or can they? The argument is that who do you listen to and Why? Not afraid (song about going forth), Beautiful (rap song about how pretty you are inside), and Words I never said (rap song about oppression in the Middle East). These are the songs what I listen to and basically that is the free media gives. If one can distinguish between good and bad then he can appreciate the art of Rap Music.rap artists like soulja boi and Lil Wayne although have a good fan following but they don’t do justice with the art. Such rappers disgrace rap music and represent it in a very bad manner. These people are not respected and although they commend a fan following and sell record albums but it’s for the same reason wrestling, star plus soaps and NASCAR has a following …….. audience varies in opinion! 

To conclude I say that if one can distinguish between art; he will surely love rap music as it has influenced me and my personality