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So much more than Random Thoughts


_Laurie_

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Last night hubby and I were on an important phone call (we're taking some financial management classes) and I had told my 10 year old we'd be on the phone for a while. Hubby had told this person as well. Who comes down after 20 minutes to complain about something????

The funny thing is, she asked my daughter where we were and my daughter said "Don't bother them, they're on a phone call". The 10 year old gets it, and she doesn't!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Due to Mick Jagger's girlfriend's suicide, the concert has been cancelled at Perth.

I've heard...I offer my sincere prayers & condolences for Mick & the surviving family.Suicides like this (presumably without warning) are the most difficult to deal with.I speak from past experience. :(

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  • 1 month later...

Random happening:

My son (almost 21 years old) listens to rap/hip-hop. The rap/hip-hop that he listens to typically has supremely bad lyrics. X-rated, awful, bad words, stuff that the rapper (-ist?) wants to do to women, etc. I'm having a very very rough time with it because I'm a words person and so all I hear is the words and it's disturbing that he's listening to this stuff.

Random question:

Do rap/hip-hop-lovers even pay attention to the words in these songs?

I just can't imagine that anyone who listens to this stuff likes the words. :crazy:

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I'm all about the lyrics as well, Shawna. I hope the kid realises it's foolish talk with a thumping back-beat & nothing more. It's not a way to get rich quick or a manner in which street cred is gained. Simplest solution: talk to the kid about what attraction there is to the music. My mom did the same when I listened to AC/DC as a kid & I explained I liked the guitar. No more worries for mom

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Don't sweat the lyrics Shawna. They're just there to support the beat. Back in the day, you could loop a Chic sample for 6-minutes or so and tell a real story in a rap song, but now the beats are so dense that it's all about shouting inane words on top of them.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Random happening:

My son (almost 21 years old) listens to rap/hip-hop. The rap/hip-hop that he listens to typically has supremely bad lyrics. X-rated, awful, bad words, stuff that the rapper (-ist?) wants to do to women, etc. I'm having a very very rough time with it because I'm a words person and so all I hear is the words and it's disturbing that he's listening to this stuff.

Random question:

Do rap/hip-hop-lovers even pay attention to the words in these songs?

I just can't imagine that anyone who listens to this stuff likes the words. :crazy:

Of course the lyrics matter, but it's the context that matters too.

I'll give the example of Eminem. His album, "The Marshall Mathers LP" I find to be an incredible work. His double persona of Slim Shady and Marshall Mathers is at full force. The album is incredibly disturbing, I mean, really disturbing, and after listening to it, I was affected by it, I was blown away. And even though I was disturbed by it, I recognized how powerful it was. Anyone can write lyrics that are vulgar and you can roll your eyes at them without even a second thought, but to be able to craft words that evoke such a strong emotional reaction as I had, that's powerful, that requires skill, and that's why I see that album as such a great album.

There's also a trend in hip-hop to use a "woman" as a metaphor, or rather a stand-in, for the genre of hip-hop itself. Not everyone does that, but some do.

Sure, there are rappers out there who put out junk for junk's sake, and of course that's meaningless, but that doesn't mean rap is worthless, never judge the whole by only a few parts. There's a lot of rap out there that is meaningful, that's introspective and powerful, a lot of it has been released within the past ten years, you just have to find it.

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This is another one of those really wicked weird things (coincidences which, like ROUS's, I don't believe exist). Never before has my kid ever talked to me about the words in the rap music he listens to.

Just tonight, not three hours ago, he came up to me and asked me my thoughts on Eminem. Turns out he's just "discovered" Eminem's music in the last couple of days and has been looking up the words on RapGenius, and he is totally and completely engulfed in the words, just like you said you were.

It's just so random that he mentions that tonight - after never having listened to Eminem before - and then I see your post in answer to my query. :shocked2: :shocked2:

Edit: Also good to know that the "women" in these rap lyrics are a metaphor. I shudder to think they're talking about what they want to do to real human women. :crazy:

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This is another one of those really wicked weird things (coincidences which, like ROUS's, I don't believe exist). Never before has my kid ever talked to me about the words in the rap music he listens to.

Just tonight, not three hours ago, he came up to me and asked me my thoughts on Eminem. Turns out he's just "discovered" Eminem's music in the last couple of days and has been looking up the words on RapGenius, and he is totally and completely engulfed in the words, just like you said you were.

It's just so random that he mentions that tonight - after never having listened to Eminem before - and then I see your post in answer to my query. :shocked2: :shocked2:

Edit: Also good to know that the "women" in these rap lyrics are a metaphor. I shudder to think they're talking about what they want to do to real human women. :crazy:

I will emphasize that the women are not always metaphors, it's just something that's done often.

Rap, in it's most basic form (rather in it's initial form) reflected life from the perspective of these artists. That's where gangsta rap comes from, it details life, for better or worse, from the perspective of people who often lived it. Despite the fact that it popularized a certain culture that's often misogynistic, hyper-masculine and hyper-violent, it also brought a lot of awareness to the realities of life in the projects (in some cases).

In the end, the person listening to it has to be able to discern the value from the music. Obviously when you listen Eminem, you shouldn't then think "Oh hey, I should totes go murder some people". But there's value in the music, there's art. Rap gets a bad reputation amongst some other people because currently, party music is popular, and thus, many find that music to be representative of the whole genre, which it isn't.

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Not all rap/hip-hop music is full of lyrics detailing drug use, violence against women, and more f-bombs than a George Carlin HBO special. Common, Beastie Boys, The Roots, and a lot of 80s rap artists/groups are the antithesis of the gangsta rap genre. You can't judge the whole by some of the parts.

I think the only two MCs that don't fit in what I described, yet I still really enjoy, are Jay-Z and Nas. I don't always agree with their lyrics, but I can't deny they're supremely talented.

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I will emphasize that the women are not always metaphors, it's just something that's done often.

Rap, in it's most basic form (rather in it's initial form) reflected life from the perspective of these artists. That's where gangsta rap comes from, it details life, for better or worse, from the perspective of people who often lived it. Despite the fact that it popularized a certain culture that's often misogynistic, hyper-masculine and hyper-violent, it also brought a lot of awareness to the realities of life in the projects (in some cases).

In the end, the person listening to it has to be able to discern the value from the music. Obviously when you listen Eminem, you shouldn't then think "Oh hey, I should totes go murder some people". But there's value in the music, there's art. Rap gets a bad reputation amongst some other people because currently, party music is popular, and thus, many find that music to be representative of the whole genre, which it isn't.

The rap thing is waay bigger than I thought it ever would be..

...didja hear about Dr. Dre's deal.?

http://money.cnn.com/2014/05/09/technology/dre-video/index.html?iid=HP_MPM

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So driving through town we drove past this ambulance that was made into a company vehicle. On the side it said "Call Dave The Weed Doctor" for all your landscaping needs..and the phone number..LOL..So I said to hubby "I wonder if I call and ask for Dave, someone will say "Dave's not here, man".... :beatnik: :laughing:

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