I am drawing the line because we need to evolve. This is a hip hop intervention.
Hip hop, I want you know I brought you here because I care about you. You have done so many great things for me and I appreciate our friendship but I can't let you continue to hurt me so I am offering you this chance to get some help.
Today, every rap music news source announced that the "cash me outside girl" signed a deal with Atlantic Records. I understand why. Metrics have changed. It use to be that sales were the metric that music was judged by and people bought music because they like the style. Now, the metric for success is "impressions" because that is what Twitter judges. So, all of the hip hop media sources have been using her for "impressions," and Atlantic bit the bait. Even though every comment on these posts is negative, she is getting positive feedback for promoting the most ignorant lifestyle.
I can't say I am surprised. Rap music has been devolving since it's inception. I grew up to intelligent rappers like Rakim, Brand Nubian, Tribe. These rappers were about black empowerment and positivity. I loved those days and I wish more people would promote this type of music in the new era and style. Rappers like Lecrae are not given any media attention by established hip hop platforms, whether it is radio, magazines or online and it is a shame. In fact, he was given more attention for saying that he didn't want to be known as a christian rapper than he was given for his many AMAZING rap songs, cristian themed or not.
I'll save the hip hop history lesson for another time but it seems that rap music today glorifies everything that makes it harder to succeed in society: drug use, violence, shit-talking, anger, face tattoos, misogyny, dressing like women, and now disrespecting parents. Listening to it makes me sick to my stomach and it has nothing to do with the new style and everything to do with the content.
I won't make a difference. I'm just an old white guy. If I was black, they would call me an old coon, which is why successful black people don't come back to help their communities. Either way, they won't listen to reason and they will keep promoting ignorance and destroying their own community.
I really just want the black community to know that I want them to succeed and I cannot promote this anymore. The last thing I want to do is turn my back on the oppressed people of America but I have been enabling this for too long just because I love hip hop.
Please, get some help. Look inside yourself and make a change.
Your friend,
Dakota