Hip Hop: More than Bitches and Hoes.

In class today, we briefly discussed hip hop and how the lyrics include a lot of profanity and dirty lyrics. I've noticed that a lot of people use that for their reason for not listening to hip hop music. Hold up though, has anyone listened to "The Bad Touch" by the Bloodhound Gang? That song is blatantly about sex. One of the lines from the song is, "So put your hands down my pants and I'll bet you'll feel nuts."

It bothers me that hip hop is criticized for being about sex and for being dirty when rock, country, and pop do the same thing. So why is this? Someone told me that they think rap is more blatant about it, but I've definitely heard some rock songs that have described sex in graphic detail. I don't understand why hip hop is the only one that's been singled out. Is it because of where it comes from? People fail to recognize that there's a ton of different rappers that address a variety of issues. It's unfair to let rappers like Soulja Boy define hip hop as a whole. Do your research, look at people who aren't on the radio all the time.

Lupe Fiasco constantly tells a story with his lyrics and delivers a meaningful message. In his song "Hip Hop Saved My Life," he raps about how hip hop has been an outlet for him. His songs have a good beat, and have a deeper meaning. Why don't people give enough recognition to artists like that? Because that's not what makes money. Lupe Fiasco even talks about that in "Dumb it Down." One of the verses talks about how dumbing a song down will sell more records.

"You goin' over niggas' heads Lu (Dumb it down)
They tellin' me that they don't feel you (Dumb it down)
We ain't graduate from school nigga (Dumb it down)
Them big words ain't cool nigga (Dumb it down)
Yeah I heard Mean And Vicious nigga (Dumb it down)
Make a song for the bitches nigga (Dumb it down)
We don't care about the weather nigga (Dumb it down)
You'll sell more records if you (Dumb it down)"