The black family structure breaking down pre-dates hip-hop, a lot of women will be uncomfortable hearing this this but the feminist movement played a bigger part in combination with the evolution of the welfare state, post Nixon era. Hip-Hop had nothing to do with it, even with all that there are too many factors at work for there to be a direct correlation between hip-hop and the destruction of the family structure.
i never said it was because of hip hop, i simply stated that it has and therefore assuming that a young mind will separate out fiction is unrealistic especially with black youth and rap music, because while other ethnic groups might listen to rap as entertainment, for a lot of black youth rap is an identity
I wouldn't say cursing is fundamental to hip-hop, I'll admit that is generally speaks to a lack of formal education and and an inability to express themselves otherwise as a result of the degradation of the educational system. Furthermore the point of cursing is to convey the message in an everyday parlance, that was spoken in the streets. This was a necessary evolution for expression and we needed an artform that really tested the boundaries of free speech. Yes record companies have taken advantage of that and made it an unspoken prerequisite, but I blame us as fans for having let the INDUSTRY as an entity have so much control.
i blame jay-z and russel simmons et al, their interests and the interests of the black community are different
Of course I can't ask children to look past the cursing, but I was under the assumption that I was talking to an adult, and yes, it is completely reasonable to ask an adult that has a cursory understanding of music to look past the profanity the same way he does reading a book or watching a movie and if he is unable to do that, then I cannot, in turn, respect his opinion for or against the artform.
i was talking about the youth and the impact rap music has, and the person the threadstarter was presumably talking about was referring to the youth
but either way i dont see why i have to look past the cursing whether in rap or a hollywood movie, why is it important to lower standards?
the problem is not the cursing in and of itself, its the fact that cursing has become the definition of a rap song, and even in hollywood movies excessive cursing and violence does take away from the art and you will lose respect and you will be restricted in your audience and subject matter, why would it be any different from rap?
and again by itself there is nothing really wrong if rap music has a lot of cursing and limited subject matter, the crux of the problem is when rap music is or becomes a form of identity for black youth, that is where the problem is and why black people should spurn rap music IMO, because then the limits of rap music become the limits of black culture.
right now the limits of rap music is being a "nikka in paris" there is nothing that a rapper can do that can go beyond being a "nikka in paris" except being a "nikka in london"
http://cdn1.elitedaily.com/elite/wp...izz-beatz-kobe-bryant-carmelo-anthony-nas.jpg
why would the black community limit itself to being "nikkas in paris/london"
so basically rap music is not really in black people's interest, if the rap industry died it would be a good thing for the black community
i thank the rap industry for some good times, but overall we as black people need to move on to the next thing
and if you look around you can see the art of rap is dying, like darth vader told luke skywalker, if you look into your heart you can see the truth, rap is dying
if they white give em the 
....if u gotta explain its not for them....its music its simply a soundtrack for lifestyles people are already livin....I'm still waitin on sumthin to show crime rates have risen with the popularity of gangsta rap....or that that nikkas became more gangsta....communitys make rap music not the other way around.
