I remember when I initially heard Dre’s and Snoop’s first albums. I was a 10-year-old, middle-class white boy living in small-town Alabama. I had zero clue what they were singing about. I had a couple takeaways: 1) they hated the police, and 2) they used women. The videos on MTV confirmed my suspicions. All my friends were listening, and my older brother had a massive speaker system. But it didn’t sit right with me, bc I was seeing their names (and the names of their peers) in the news surrounded by drug arrests, violent crimes, abuse, etc. Even my 10-year-old brain put together that the lives they portrayed didn’t play out well.
Then again, I didn’t know that life: the poor, black, hood life. Too many kids my age at that time did identify with them, though. And they were galvanized by that music. Instead of growing into young men yearning for Christ, they grew into young men reaching for gangster status.
I hope and pray that our friend's son, whom I mentioned in the comments yesterday, will walk away, turn to Jesus, and do what he can to salvage his family.
I mentor/disciple men who have crashed and are hopeless or homeless. Most have father issues that had "the culture" step in and distort them. I pray for all like them and this son because at times I have little idea if there is a path for them other than what a renewal with Christ can have Him lead them to.
Yes its mad when you see that.... they have left the stage ....i mean Ice T has gone from playing gangsters and gang bangers to secret agents , police officers and a DA investigator....that probably illustrates it!!..
I so wish someone told this to the NFL. I would never watch another game in my life but my husband can’t help himself. Of course we won’t watch the demonic half time show but I sure wish we could just skip football this year.
100%! That genre of music has taken a generation of kids to a very dark place from when it first begin. I advise all parents to encourage their kids to change what’s in their headsets and turn to lyrics that build them up biblically.
My husband and I are 56 years old and grew up listening to hip hop. It’s not the same as it is today. And I can’t imagine playing this around my grand children! Reckless and Destructive to say the least.
I was there. Not quite at the start, but I remember music with intent, character, story and rhythm. I remember celebrating culture, roots and life. I remember silliness, fun and edge. I also remember when it all changed. It was almost overnight. NWA was the switch I remember. One day it was Tribe, De La, Rakim and Brand Nubian, the next it was NWA, Easy, Wu and Big. Definitely noticed the difference. I too fell into performance instead of guidance. The bravado, the slang, the look. When Christ set me free my whole world shifted. Axis tilt. I still listen to Hip Hop but with the knowledge of so much more.
P Diddy, Puff Daddy might be the nail in the coffin of a lifestyle and artistic motive that shows sin has it own inherent self destruction. People in poverty will desperately go for what glitters like gangsta style as a way out. I was in the 80s Chitown house scene serving the early rave DJs with tech and recording. It too had its parallel vitality, but man the drugs flowed as a currency. I sent this article to a young jazz-hop artist to give him a new direction. Thanks! - Bill Mullin, producer
Snoop has correctly characterized bluegrass as "hip hop from a different ghetto". Hip-hop worked as long as it was coming from an actual underclass, but post 2000 it got unmoored from any kind of reality. And then the move away from sharp lyricism and rapid-fire clean enunciation into random mumbling about who knows what removed the rest of why it was interesting. Throw in the stupid "trap" production fad where every song seemingly had the same beat and there was nothing left. I'm surprised it took this long to collapse.
And those things are by no means restricted to hip-hop. Nashville has been just as reality-free for 30+ years now and an AI country song going to #1 says a lot more about the slop the major labels are producing than it does about AI.
My engineer in Nashville says I am not outside the Nashville box, I am not in the same county, state or planet. I am glad. I explore what is beyond the tired formulas. The lifestyles of even a number of Christian artists are questionable and some leave the genre to say it was just an act. Did you watch the Macy's parade? My son and I were laughing at all the tired icons dragged out for yet another movie sequel. We are no longer story telling; we're story selling. No longer music making; but music marketing. - Bill Mullin, Producer
Truth! You hit squarely on the head the very aspects of hip hop that have bothered me for the past 35 years. I am ecstatic to hear of a trend away from perpetual, pretended manhood to seek actual manhood. Praise God!
I remember when I initially heard Dre’s and Snoop’s first albums. I was a 10-year-old, middle-class white boy living in small-town Alabama. I had zero clue what they were singing about. I had a couple takeaways: 1) they hated the police, and 2) they used women. The videos on MTV confirmed my suspicions. All my friends were listening, and my older brother had a massive speaker system. But it didn’t sit right with me, bc I was seeing their names (and the names of their peers) in the news surrounded by drug arrests, violent crimes, abuse, etc. Even my 10-year-old brain put together that the lives they portrayed didn’t play out well.
Then again, I didn’t know that life: the poor, black, hood life. Too many kids my age at that time did identify with them, though. And they were galvanized by that music. Instead of growing into young men yearning for Christ, they grew into young men reaching for gangster status.
I hope and pray that our friend's son, whom I mentioned in the comments yesterday, will walk away, turn to Jesus, and do what he can to salvage his family.
I mentor/disciple men who have crashed and are hopeless or homeless. Most have father issues that had "the culture" step in and distort them. I pray for all like them and this son because at times I have little idea if there is a path for them other than what a renewal with Christ can have Him lead them to.
i correct below ...Ice Cube ...always mixed those two up!
I do too!
Yes its mad when you see that.... they have left the stage ....i mean Ice T has gone from playing gangsters and gang bangers to secret agents , police officers and a DA investigator....that probably illustrates it!!..
It's hard to be angry when G-D has been good
I so wish someone told this to the NFL. I would never watch another game in my life but my husband can’t help himself. Of course we won’t watch the demonic half time show but I sure wish we could just skip football this year.
“Tha struggle is real”…
There is no authenticity in complaining about struggling in real life from a million dollar mansion…lol
That’s about as genuine as Michelle Obama complaining about oppression. 🤮
Total frauds…
100%! That genre of music has taken a generation of kids to a very dark place from when it first begin. I advise all parents to encourage their kids to change what’s in their headsets and turn to lyrics that build them up biblically.
My husband and I are 56 years old and grew up listening to hip hop. It’s not the same as it is today. And I can’t imagine playing this around my grand children! Reckless and Destructive to say the least.
If hip hop goes away - my benchpress numbers will be hit hardest.
I was there. Not quite at the start, but I remember music with intent, character, story and rhythm. I remember celebrating culture, roots and life. I remember silliness, fun and edge. I also remember when it all changed. It was almost overnight. NWA was the switch I remember. One day it was Tribe, De La, Rakim and Brand Nubian, the next it was NWA, Easy, Wu and Big. Definitely noticed the difference. I too fell into performance instead of guidance. The bravado, the slang, the look. When Christ set me free my whole world shifted. Axis tilt. I still listen to Hip Hop but with the knowledge of so much more.
P Diddy, Puff Daddy might be the nail in the coffin of a lifestyle and artistic motive that shows sin has it own inherent self destruction. People in poverty will desperately go for what glitters like gangsta style as a way out. I was in the 80s Chitown house scene serving the early rave DJs with tech and recording. It too had its parallel vitality, but man the drugs flowed as a currency. I sent this article to a young jazz-hop artist to give him a new direction. Thanks! - Bill Mullin, producer
Snoop has correctly characterized bluegrass as "hip hop from a different ghetto". Hip-hop worked as long as it was coming from an actual underclass, but post 2000 it got unmoored from any kind of reality. And then the move away from sharp lyricism and rapid-fire clean enunciation into random mumbling about who knows what removed the rest of why it was interesting. Throw in the stupid "trap" production fad where every song seemingly had the same beat and there was nothing left. I'm surprised it took this long to collapse.
And those things are by no means restricted to hip-hop. Nashville has been just as reality-free for 30+ years now and an AI country song going to #1 says a lot more about the slop the major labels are producing than it does about AI.
My engineer in Nashville says I am not outside the Nashville box, I am not in the same county, state or planet. I am glad. I explore what is beyond the tired formulas. The lifestyles of even a number of Christian artists are questionable and some leave the genre to say it was just an act. Did you watch the Macy's parade? My son and I were laughing at all the tired icons dragged out for yet another movie sequel. We are no longer story telling; we're story selling. No longer music making; but music marketing. - Bill Mullin, Producer
I did catch a lot of the parade, and I completely agree.
Truth! You hit squarely on the head the very aspects of hip hop that have bothered me for the past 35 years. I am ecstatic to hear of a trend away from perpetual, pretended manhood to seek actual manhood. Praise God!
Never understood the attraction. Couldn’t dance to it.
Thank you for the work you are doing.