It's Bigger Than Hip Hop

I'm 31 years old and I will continue to listen to hip hop when there are artists that I want to hear. But I will not support nor defend anything outside of that. I get so sick of hearing about fights and scuffles between grown ass millionaires and their entourages. I believe that it is irresponsible behavior on a number of levels. These folks won't learn until...you know what? Most of these fools will never learn, I am sad to say.  I like a number of artists when the music feels authentic. When the music is real and the artistry is there. Hip hop was built on saying the most creative rhymes, bragging about how much better you were than everyone else and expressing yourself through fashion. One of the best (if not the best) songs ever is "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. It shed light on their community and what people were dealing with. It referred to the struggles that people in urban America were facing. It was never to be glorified though, only to be given a voice. Well what is considered "given a voice," is up for interpretation. There are many rappers (not to be confused with artists) who claim to be exposing the world to what goes in the inner cities, but they are really trying to make a quick buck exploiting themselves and their community. The talk of drug dealing and killing by young people who make tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of dollars is ridiculous. Most of these rappers are not leading the life that they're promoting and if there are, they're as dumb as they believe us listeners are for buying that garbage. These record executives have the most important role in all of this. They decide what's "hot" or not and whatever they say the forecast is, that's what it is. I will save the conspiracy theories for another time, but if the executives wanted to make catchy songs that promoted eating your vegetables and finishing school, these kids would be creating records about Masters degrees and asparagus. This is a topic that I am clearly incapable of doing justice, however, the part I have addressed is the easy stuff. The conversation will continue although I'm not sure if we'll make much progress.

Ignorance

One of my family members hurt my feelings earlier this week. Not with words directed at me (I'm way past that), but with his words in general. We all say stupid things. If we're fortunate, we won't say things that are offensive in addition to being stupid...ever. But when you say things using social media, it is like saying it over and over and over again, reminding people of your ignorance. Even if it was just a temporary case of ignorance and not full blown, it all looks the same. We are our own brand and every message we post on Facebook or Twitter or any other social media platform, we contribute to how people view us and our brand. Ignorance doesn't discriminate so I won't talk about a person's upbringing, but when I know someone's history, I look at their ignorance in a different light. Jobs need to be applied for, impressions need to be made and reputations need to be preserved. Listen: I think a lot of stupid things are funny and I have many opinions that may appear controversial, but my secret is that I DON'T POST THEM ON FACEBOOK! Genius, right? Kids grow up and become their own people. When it comes to our family, we just have a certain vision of how we'd like that person to be. Truth is, there are more disappointments than anything else. What are you gonna do? The truly ignorant have no care about who they offend and then there are some who grow up and realize  how foolish they were (that would be me!). How will this particular family member end up viewing themselves from 2012? That is yet to be seen.