Why do conservative pundits dislike rap so much?

[The Free North]

Watched the Bill O'reilly response to the whole Trayvon situation again, and Bill placed a ton of blame on the entertainment industry that he believes has been corrupting the urban youth of america. Obviously he was talking about rap, even if he didnt explicitly say it.

After the Aaron Hernandez incident, Rush Limbaugh did something similar when he blamed 'rap culture' for the social ills of black and latino communities. I dont have a soundbite, but he went on and on about this for days after the story broke.

It would seem more logical that rap developed out of the struggles of the urban community, rather than forming independently and subsequently corrupting and 'brainwashing' the new generation. In other words, rap is in no way shape or form responsible for the social ills we see to day, rather it developed out of the pre-existing problems.

For your time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUwJ8WcZ6RY

[bedstuy]

It's easy to scapegoat musicians because it's condenses down to a simple argument for talk radio or O'Reilly's dumb show.  And their audience's average age is like 65 and none of them listen to hip-hop. 

The other problem is that the more well-known and popular hip-hop music is pretty much crap.  As is Top 40 pop, country, etc.  Bill O'Reilly needs to get someone like Brother Ali on his show to give the more artistic, nuanced side of hip-hop.

[© tweed]

right-wing media is built on a postmodern rebranding of the old white supremacist ideology, so they take half a step to the side and pull all the classic tricks.

[King]

They're out of touch.  Gangsta rap culture is long dead in the black community--just look at the athletes now, its all about the hipster look. 



The "hardest" rappers out there, if you can even call them that (Wiz Khalifa types), are more about smoking weed than any real crimes.  Of course, squares still think that is a real crime. 



I mean seriously, Kendrick Lamar looks like he comes from the set of the Cosby Show. This is the culture that is killing black youths?



Not even the survivors of that era are anything close to offensive.

[barfbag]

Rap music makes for very good talking points in recruiting people to one side. Democrats seem to have a dislike for God as God prevents people from depending on the Democratic Party. Therefore Democrats say things like "separation of church and state" and "Republicans are ignorant to science." Rap music allows Republicans to paint a picture that's not there about the Democratic Party like "separate of church and state" helps Democrats paint a picture of the Republicans that's not there.

[Rocky Rockefeller]

Because they don't get it.

[Lief 🗽]

Because saying racist things is 60% of their schtick.

[Indy Texas]

Rap music makes for very good talking points in recruiting people to one side. Democrats seem to have a dislike for God as God prevents people from depending on the Democratic Party. Therefore Democrats say things like "separation of church and state" and "Republicans are ignorant to science." Rap music allows Republicans to paint a picture that's not there about the Democratic Party like "separate of church and state" helps Democrats paint a picture of the Republicans that's not there.

So God's the one who makes people rich?

[old timey villain]

Rap music makes for very good talking points in recruiting people to one side. Democrats seem to have a dislike for God as God prevents people from depending on the Democratic Party. Therefore Democrats say things like "separation of church and state" and "Republicans are ignorant to science." Rap music allows Republicans to paint a picture that's not there about the Democratic Party like "separate of church and state" helps Democrats paint a picture of the Republicans that's not there.

oh my GOD words can not describe how ridiculous you are. Nobody takes you seriously so please take your straw man arguments somewhere else.

[old timey villain]

Ignoring the troll....

Republicans shouldn't dislike rap in theory because it's an american success story. Savvy entrepreneurs  took rap music from the streets of the inner city and turned it into a multi billion dollar industry by watering it down and selling its "image" to the masses. Capitalism!!

Early rap was truly subversive and 80s rappers like Grandmaster Flash actually used the genre to bring attention to the plight of inner city minorities whose communities were crumbling under the Reagan administration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjLHrhLVwzs

[barfbag]

Rap music makes for very good talking points in recruiting people to one side. Democrats seem to have a dislike for God as God prevents people from depending on the Democratic Party. Therefore Democrats say things like "separation of church and state" and "Republicans are ignorant to science." Rap music allows Republicans to paint a picture that's not there about the Democratic Party like "separate of church and state" helps Democrats paint a picture of the Republicans that's not there.

So God's the one who makes people rich?

No I didn't say anything about being rich. Why does everything have to come down to being rich or poor for Democrats and leftists? When people look to God as their higher power, they're looking at something other than the Democratic Party and that's a threat to liberals. The Democrats want their party to be everyone's higher power because they want control and the belief in God threatens their power. As we speak, the Democrats are trying to change the fundamental foundation of our country which is freedom of religion. Obama himself said "fundamentally transform the United States of America." In order to transform a nation you first have to change it's foundation. In our case that is freedom of religion and this freedom is a huge hurdle for the Democrats in their pursuit of making us all dependent on them.

[barfbag]

Ignoring the troll....

Republicans shouldn't dislike rap in theory because it's an american success story. Savvy entrepreneurs  took rap music from the streets of the inner city and turned it into a multi billion dollar industry by watering it down and selling its "image" to the masses. Capitalism!!

Early rap was truly subversive and 80s rappers like Grandmaster Flash actually used the genre to bring attention to the plight of inner city minorities whose communities were crumbling under the Reagan administration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjLHrhLVwzs

And now that Reagan is out of office, inner cities and minority communities are doing so much better. Rap music makes a lot of money thanks to capitalism.

[barfbag]

right-wing media is built on a postmodern rebranding of the old white supremacist ideology, so they take half a step to the side and pull all the classic tricks.

Of course this isn't bias or misleading. Every single Republican is a white supremacist. Yep ignore all of the horrible lyrics and offensive language in rap music and dumb it down to race just like the Democrats want us to.

[barfbag]

It's easy to scapegoat musicians because it's condenses down to a simple argument for talk radio or O'Reilly's dumb show.  And their audience's average age is like 65 and none of them listen to hip-hop. 

The other problem is that the more well-known and popular hip-hop music is pretty much crap.  As is Top 40 pop, country, etc.  Bill O'Reilly needs to get someone like Brother Ali on his show to give the more artistic, nuanced side of hip-hop.

O'Reilly's audience has an average age of less than 65. You may have a personal opinion that his show is dumb but they have the best ratings out of political talk shows. I don't understand why Democrats are so sensitive when it comes to racial issues. Could it be because if Democrats were to lose the black vote, then they wouldn't win any elections and so they must irrationally stand up for blacks whether right or wrong? I smell politics behind the Democrats' responses on here.

[BluegrassBlueVote]

I'm thoroughly impressed by barfbag's 46-comment-per-day posting average.

[bedstuy]

It's easy to scapegoat musicians because it's condenses down to a simple argument for talk radio or O'Reilly's dumb show.  And their audience's average age is like 65 and none of them listen to hip-hop. 

The other problem is that the more well-known and popular hip-hop music is pretty much crap.  As is Top 40 pop, country, etc.  Bill O'Reilly needs to get someone like Brother Ali on his show to give the more artistic, nuanced side of hip-hop.

O'Reilly's audience has an average age of less than 65. You may have a personal opinion that his show is dumb but they have the best ratings out of political talk shows. I don't understand why Democrats are so sensitive when it comes to racial issues. Could it be because if Democrats were to lose the black vote, then they wouldn't win any elections and so they must irrationally stand up for blacks whether right or wrong? I smell politics behind the Democrats' responses on here.

Maybe you're right, the median age of an O'Reilly view could be more like 62.

[© tweed]

I'm thoroughly impressed by barfbag's 46-comment-per-day posting average.

You can lie about the price of (keeping it inside it's)
Not the greatest gig but (can't you see I'm trying)
Not to bum you out, I feel so sick inside
I'm just trying to hide out lately

[LastVoter]

Wrong, Republicans love rap music  it provides great cannon fodder for their arguments.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Oh, I don't know...

[hopper]

I am a Moderate Republican but rap has gotten stupid the 7 years. Soulja Boy and Lil Wayne are crap. The late 80's/early 90's had good rap. Eric B. and Rakim, Arrested Development, A Tribe Called Quest, LL Cool J, Das EFX, MC Lyte, and Heavy D. had some good music back in the day. Post old school 1993-mid 2005 was ok. Mid 2005+ rap I don't like it.

As for rap its a generational thing most baby boomers don't think rap is actually music.

[All Along The Watchtower]

They likely thought MC Hammer was too edgy.

Conservative pundits=tragically un-hip.

[hopper]

They likely thought MC Hammer was too edgy.

Conservative pundits=tragically un-hip.

No gangsta rappers had a dislike for MC Hammer. LL Cool J and even a white rap group "3rd Bass" dissed Hammer back in the day in their songs.

 Fox News wasn't around in the early 90's when MC Hammer was huge. White people really did not like rap in the late 80's/early 90's(Hammer was an exception.)  Actually Fox News first appeared in 1996 right before Rap became really commercial after 2Pac's Death(Sept 1996) and Biggie's death(March of 1997.) Puff Daddy and Mase really propelled Hip-Hop to its mainstream popularity in 1997-1998. after Biggie's death.

[Stranger in a strange land]

They likely thought MC Hammer was too edgy.

Conservative pundits=tragically un-hip.

No gangsta rappers had a dislike for MC Hammer. LL Cool J and even a white rap group "3rd Bass" dissed Hammer back in the day in their songs.

 Fox News wasn't around in the early 90's when MC Hammer was huge. White people really did not like rap in the late 80's/early 90's(Hammer was an exception.)  Actually Fox News first appeared in 1996 right before Rap became really commercial after 2Pac's Death(Sept 1996) and Biggie's death(March of 1997.) Puff Daddy and Mase really propelled Hip-Hop to its mainstream popularity in 1997-1998. after Biggie's death.

They probably still think Hammer is too edgy.

[memphis]

Old people do seem stuck in a time warp. I have an aunt (a conservative suburbanite, fwiw), who just yesterday asked her facebook friends where would be a good place in Memphis to take her sister who is visiting for a few days. And of course one of her aging friends made a non-sensical comment about avoiding downtown to stay away from crime. But, in the real world, downtown is one of the safest parts of town. The police make damn sure the visiting tourists (and their money) are well protected. Maybe things were different decades ago. I guess if you grow up watching blacks loot and burn downtown in the 60s and then saw crime rates explode in the 80s, the meme is permanent. Most old people, like those who watch Mr O'Reilley's crustfest, cannot adapt to today's realities. The brain doesn't work that way after a certain age. My parents have trouble using even newer versions of items that they grew up with, like telephones and televisions. It's a very sad thing, and I have no illusions that I shall escape the same fate. We're all imprisoned by our brain chemistry.

[old timey villain]

Old people do seem stuck in a time warp. I have an aunt (a conservative suburbanite, fwiw), who just yesterday asked her facebook friends where would be a good place in Memphis to take her sister who is visiting for a few days. And of course one of her aging friends made a non-sensical comment about avoiding downtown to stay away from crime. But, in the real world, downtown is one of the safest parts of town. The police make damn sure the visiting tourists (and their money) are well protected. Maybe things were different decades ago. I guess if you grow up watching blacks loot and burn downtown in the 60s and then saw crime rates explode in the 80s, the meme is permanent. Most old people, like those who watch Mr O'Reilley's crustfest, cannot adapt to today's realities. The brain doesn't work that way after a certain age. My parents have trouble using even newer versions of items that they grew up with, like telephones and televisions. It's a very sad thing, and I have no illusions that I shall escape the same fate. We're all imprisoned by our brain chemistry.

I don't think that's a valid excuse. If you're not growing and evolving then you might as well be dead.  People use that rationale way too often to excuse the racist and and outdated attitudes of older people. My grandmother is 82 years old and she grew up before television even existed, yet today she emails, facebooks like a champ and texts on her phone. But she still says racist things about black people. If she can adapt to new technology then she can also adapt to new values- especially a value that is as simple as being decent to people of a different skin color.