Beh...

I'm so tired of rap music getting such a bad rap.

I just was in the lunchroom here at work, and there was some "Hardball" show on with lots of people yelling back and forth "debating" if rap was ruining our culture. There was a lot of noise, and not a lot of exchanging of thoughts, and no one could really get a word in edgewise. Are these shows really worth making?

Anyways, what was really frustrating was what appeared to be a complete lack of understanding from the anti-rap folks. One young woman asked another how she'd like it if some guy came up to her in class and grabbed her butt. Apparently she thought sexual assault was routinely shown in rap videos. Sure, there are house parties and people dancing, and *gasp* touching each other. But I can't think of a mainstream video that glorifies random sexual assults on women.

Another (old) guy wonders how songs about "cop killing" (I think it's safe to assume he's talking about Ice-T's "Cop Killer", 1992) and so forth are considered art, and even brings up Rodney King and so forth. It's stuff like this that really tips me off that they aren't really keeping up with the times or even trying to understand. They just read lyrics (probably out of context), and pick out words or phrases that are offensive.

I would never try to defend all rap music. Clearly there are (as there are in any artform) people that push the limits. Women making statues out of bloody tampons. People smearing feces on pictures of the pope or the flag. That famous guy (who's name eludes me) with his interracial homosexual photography. But, just as clearly, that isn't representitive of all paintings or photographs, and may also be there simply to shock or prove a point.

I guess my point is that it's just frustrating that people berate an entire class of music either based on misconceptions or on a fringe subset. I'm no fan of sexual assault or cop killing either, so if you're going to hate something, at least take the time to understand what you're hating. Otherwise, you just look rediculous.

That's all I have to say about that.

EDIT: s/frusterating/frustrating/g;