Westcoast rap has failed.

[Z the laidback Virus]

I find this thread quite funny. Who the hell takes rap music seriously? (ok i know there is at least one guy on this forum who feels like rap music is his religion. It's his parents fault probably. don't blame him).
Well.. rap music is a big lie even though people around the world claim it to be the realest music genre on planet earth. No. Rap music like any other "pop" music is nothing but entertainment. It's not an art. It's a f*cking entertainment.
And all these rappers do whatever they can do to entertain their listeners. Most of the time they lie. Just because these lies are entertaining. Speaking of gangsta west coast rap...real gangsters don't spend their time in the record booth.real gangsters don't speak about their crimes to milinos of listeners around the world. Only entertainers, so called studio gangsters rhyme about their imaginary crimes in public. Same thing goes with their sexuality, sexual conquests and relationships with women.
Of course, there are some exceptions but i guess it would be like 1% of the whole rap scene around the world.

Even in my younger days i knew the west coast rap is just a form of entertainment and it's nothing that should be followed by anybody. When you realize this you will also realize that west coast rap never failed at it.
I know that this form expression is quite brutal, homopohobic, chauvinistic and most of the time real dumb. But sometimes i like to spend time listening to it just like i like to watch gangster movies sometimes or dumb comedies. On the other hand i listen to jazz music very often, i watch psychological dramas very often. Just a different form of entertainment. And it really depends on the mood when it comes to 'what should i watch/listen to today'.

Speaking of Quik... my wife loves his music. She never found his music offensive probably because she knows that this is nothing but easy-listening music with dumb lyrics. She always was like "i would like this music more if the lyrics wasn't that dumb but i like it anyways. These guys are funny".

So in my opinion gangsta rap music was never a problem. The problem are people who take it seriously.

I tell you what... there is no single rapper on planet earth that i would call idol of mine. If you can name one your idol then you should really ask yourself what went wrong in your life.

Peace!    

Thanks, I think that's a good and insightful reply, even if I don't neccessarily agree with everything you say. You see, saying that something 'is what it is' and is 'just entertainment' does feel like a cop-out to me. It doesn't mean it's free from any criticism, nor that it can't aspire to be more. Perhaps you could say that the whole buffoonish culture that leads to the dumbest rap being the most commercially viable is what I dislike. I would never say that anything artistic or in terms of harmless entertainment should be forbidden, yet I find it disturbing that apparently so many people readily gobble up the subject matter in most rap, including westcoast rap. I think it might be overly optimistic to say that no one takes it seriously. What's more, there are many negative cultural assumptions with, say, women but also with black people for example, and I do find it somewhat disturbing that rap in general propagates and reinforces those assumptions. My point in saying 'westcoast rap has failed' (which I certainly agree is an overly dramatic and grandiose statement) is that it could have been so much more but doesn't seem to aspire to that on the whole. The analogy someone made with gospel always being about Jesus doesn't get very far, because in rap you could basically rap about anything you want and you are not neccessarily restricted to sex and violence, but that's still what most rappers choose to rap about.

[Sccit]

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/YEr0oCHHuUk" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/YEr0oCHHuUk</a>

[Z the laidback Virus]

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/YEr0oCHHuUk" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/YEr0oCHHuUk</a>

Yawn.

"Intelligent input, darling, why don't you have another beer then?"
(Kate Nash)

[Sccit]

How u feel about that song tho?

[heyyou]

Respect to Shoo for his post.
I might not agree 100% with it but at least he has argued his point of view constructively.

So of the replies are ironic as they prove the OP' s point about how music and culture surrounding it is helping to enforce certain stereotypes to the point it has become a cliche.

Anyway, it like I've said in an earlier reply, it's not really just west coast rap or rap as  whole, but the whole music and entertainment industry in general.
So with some exceptions, it's become like fast food/ McDonalds, stick to a simply formula, sell as much as you can, the food only satisfies you for a short moment and too much of it will impact the consumer in a negative way.

[Sccit]

Not that I don't have any constructive arguments, just that there's really no reason to stoop down to this guys level. Hes got his nose up in the air and sounds like he speaks with his eyes closed. West coast rap is what it is. It's quite simple.. If you don't like gangsta rap, don't listen. There are many sub-genres of hip-hop in all regions that revolve around positive vibes. It's like a gay priest who goes on a porn forum and says "how can you people like this? It's disgusting and exploits human sexuality"..again, it's simple; If you don't like it, stay away. If you don't like watching people get murdered and bitches getting slapped, don't watch gangster flicks. If you dont like hearing about it, don't listen to gangsta rap. But don't listen to it and then get all pretentious and faggoty about it,  runnin to a rap forum to preach about how you're too sophisticated to listen to that. It just makes you sound like a judgemental douchebag pointin fingers like a bitchass snob and no one likes that.....


In other words, shut the fuck up.