Crude, Offensive Lyrics in Hip-Hop Music

I don't really care. I'm neutral.
I don't really like lyrics with constant cursing or "naughty" lyrics.
But if that's what you're into, go for it.

 

^This.

I'm not so much offended by these kinds of lyrics, but disturbed. I personally dislike the majority of 'gansta rap' because of the rampant misogyny, so I'm not exactly qualified to comment on it in detail, though.

They do have a right to express themselves how they want, I just hope that no fan is influenced into doing some of the things described in the lyrics.

 

Wrong. Art evokes a reaction. If all art were beautiful, it would be useless. Things which are beautiful for their own sake are pointless. Art must have gut appeal, must reach to the viewer in some way. Beauty is often lofty and distant.

That's not the point of it at all. Please review my posts. The point is not to cherish and express these urgings, but to lay them bare, to confront them and accept that they exist, not only in the minds of criminals but in the minds of every-day average people who, for the most part, succeed in holding them down. It can also be seen as a release. I've stated several times that I highly doubt there's any advocacy therein of the atrocities which Tyler raps about. Even if there are, that is one of many interpretations. An artist loses control of his art the second he puts it forth for the world.

You're falling into the trap which I outlined. In fact, it's almost word-for-word the folly which I sought to address. Tyler's fans are not necessarily rapists, murderers, or kidnappers. They do not necessarily exert prejudice on those of other ethnicities or sexualities.

What's the point of saying this? To pardon people for attempting to communicate feelings of anger, disgust, or repulsion for each other? People who let themselves be dragged down by words are doing a disservice to the human race. People will not learn to cooperate by figuring out and never using which words each and every single one of their neighbors dislike; they will come together by discarding their dislikes and the prejudices that cause them to think ill of their neighbor for saying a simple jumble of letters.

And frankly, language is flawed. It is trying to capture something it never can. The words do not reach the feelings, only push the listener in the direction of them at best. If we wish to communicate, we need words; but that does not make them our gods. Why would we hang on to a meaning that only hurts us? Why would we blacklist a word just because it has at one point been tied to an ugly meaning? It's inefficient and foolhardy.

 

Alright . . . so this is still rap . . . but that doesn't make it good. If you have to turn to using words like this you should just stop trying all together. I mean, there is a line that don't need to be crossed and if you cross it it's your own d*** fault. Lyrics like this make me sick. I rap about people like this, and none of it's any good. Sadly there is a thing called freedom of speech and it's a right i'm glad we have . . . until a**holes like this show up. *sigh* What can you do?

Spoiler

Get a guy like this to hit ya with his greatest shot
guarantee a guy like this is up there smoking p**
he don't give two s***s whether it's cool or not
I got news for him he's bout to f****n rot
I could rap a circle around him twenty times
say so many rhymes it breaks him down and makes him cry
take away the lines he thought he had inside
let him go like go on f****n run and hide
you can try but I won't let ya, guess I lied
i'll take what pride you got left and smash it
take your wallet and your credit cards and cash it
max em out so I can make my way to mexico
now you know just where i'm going so
don't even think i'll leave you here, we gonna go
on a little trip before I show you the end you ho
i'll take you way out back and hold a gat up to yer head
pull the trigger once to let you know you'll soon be dead
I pull it again this time your the one who's sweatin bullets
pretty soon you'll start beggin me to go ahead and pull it
guess what i'm not the kind of guy that you are
i'll knock the s*** out of you and hop back in my car
leave you there all alone to look up at the stars
maybe after this you may just stop breakin par

Told ya . . .

 

Well, I can't relate much to the hip hop side (though I like to think Ghetto's OP enlightened me a bit, haha), but one of my recent addictions has been the band Xiu Xiu. Many of their songs have similar subject matter; rape, violence, murder, & suicide kidnapping, etc. To cite some lyrics (warning for content, of course):

Spoiler

This is the worst vacation ever, I am going to cut open your forehead with a roofing shingle.
-- I Broke Up (SJ)
Should you be ashamed for more than that? The night your daddy raped you silly. Leaning my head on the refrigerator, crying for the stupid world we share.
-- Bishop, CA
I can't wait to die, can't you tell can't you tell can't you tell?
-- Hives Hives
"Do you want to see my panties?" is the last thing I hear you say. "I want to finger every teenager I see" is the last thing I say to you. Don't make fun of my night out.
-- Wig Master
I got away pedophile, I made it to my own little Christian school, flung far thy serial will to kill, I got away I got away I got away.
-- House Sparrow

Perhaps not as gruesome/shocking as the ones in Ghetto's post, but I do urge you all to listen to the songs, much of it is in the way they're delivered. <3
Moving on, though, I love these songs. Why?

I can relate to them. No, I've never killed anyone, or raped anyone, or anything of that sort. I'm not a particularly violent person. But they not only outline real things that people go through, they portray people in a broken and lost state, whether internal or external (and sometimes both). Humanity at a desperate point. They have a terrifying quality to them. And maybe I don't relate to the specific theme of them, but we have all been that emotional and that displaced at some point in our lives. Perhaps some more than others, but nonetheless. And occasionally, they dig up something inside of you that you've repressed or whatever.

As Sforzato said, art evokes emotion. That is exactly what these sorts of songs do. Sometimes they're disturbing just for the sake of being disturbing. If you don't like it, then you don't have to listen.

That being said, parents should most definitely watch what their children are listening to. I understand that some can take this too far, and shelter their kids for some time, but young teens imo should not be exposed to these sorts of songs without being mature enough not only to understand it, but where they are not negatively impacted by it (as in, a teenager listening to a song about violence and going out and committing violence).