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RE: 1991-1999 In Violent Hip-Hop Lyrics: A Rhetorical Analysis
Huge fan of hiphop here. Although I like the music, I must say that inciting violence is dangerous. The anger is understandable, but to fight fire with fire doesn't make you any more humble in my opinion.
What's your take on this?
A universal principle of morality is defined in the Non-Aggression Principle as, "A rejection of the initiation of force." So this is where I am coming from.
In the opening of Tupac's album, The Don Killuminati (1996) Tupac says, "It's not about east or west, it's about niggas and bitches, power and money, riders and punks. Which side are you on?" I believe that this album and line might be one of the most critical compositions in Tupac's discography and to the genre of hip-hop.
What (((people))) don't get about Tupac and the early days of hip-hop is that almost all the genre was produced by black people. It wasn't until hip-hop became supremely commercially successful that the senseless violence and thug-shit became centerpiece to the genre. Yes, rappers talks about throwing down, killing and etc back in the day. However, listen to the black-produced records, and watch the black-produced movies -- violence for the sake of self-defense and the establishment of a black culture -- created for the betterment of black people -- was the message.
So what did Professor Griff, Tupac, Scarface, and Louis Farrakahn, mean when they ask, "Which side are you on?" They ask, are you willing to be a struggling black man who lives to benefit his community and kin? Or do you value the possessions of money, drugs, and women -- in exchange for your fame and reputation being used to promote an agenda? All of these free-thinkers listed above (and many more) have said, the entertainment business holds the agenda of propaganda as high as they do making money. So if an entertainer should come in to the industry, they will need to feed propaganda to their audience, in exchange for more money and fame. In that industry it is a fact that the celebrities that are chosen to rise to the top are tools of propaganda because entertainment leaders use the media as a means of control, take it to the bank.
Lastly, the rise of violent, sex crazed and basically degenerate rap music that has been the mainstream from the late 90's to present is an outgrowth of a degeneracy rising in American culture, propped up by individual entertainers willing to push a propaganda agenda in exchange for the pleasures of money, women and drugs.
Read the works of Marcus Garvey (cultural reasoning), Thomas Sowell (economic reasoning), and - most relevant to this post - Louis Farrakhan (spiritual reasoning.) They have laid out the exact causes for these problem. The bane of these philosopher's works are the modern, "entertainer" (Kardashian-era) sellouts. For more on the topic, check it out from the mouths of rappers, as to whom produces hip-hop, and why.