Rappers are the product of guys in business suits. Everybody blames them. What they fail to see is that these "gangstas" are backed by dudes like Jimmy Iovine and the guys who run the Universal Music Group. Do you honestly think Russel Simmons runs anything? Do people really think Dr. Dre runs aftermath? Do people honestly think Jay-Z plays a key role in the decisions made by Def Jam? :rofl . Blame the people who put them there. Not the rappers themselves.
There is something to this idea. Without the 'machinery' of a record company (admin, promotion and distribution) the well known icons you mention would not be as successful or else they'd have to find some way to do themselves what the record company does for them.
But without the producers who actually scout and develop and produce and record and otherwise interact with the artists and who have street cred with the artists and the listening audience, the record company people behind the scenes wouldn't have the same ability to quickly find and present to the public fresh new artists and sounds. They would have to spend more money to realize a return on investment and the return on investment might not be as great as it now is.
So the front guys need the back guys and vice versa.
The word is
PAWNS.
I am amazed at how some people have the nerve to criticize Bush. :mrgreen:
chevydriver1123 said:
Gee I thought the right was always squawking about free speech. I wonder if the same type of language that is used in Hip Hop was used Country (the typical choice of music for your average red state putz) music the Senate would be wasting its time. I just love how our pathetic government knows what its priorities are. So I wonder how long till the next violent video game hearing. Jesus Christ
What you don't realize is that we ALL pick up words and ideas from those around us ALL THE TIME. Always have and always will. In the house where you grew up there were words, phrases, attitudes and behaviors shared and from your exposure to those influences you go out into the world and represent what you were exposed to.
As time goes on you are able to either enhance, minimize or overcome those influences, but the influences DO have some effect on you.
It would be wrong to say we aren't influenced by good things to become better people* but IMHO it's more likely that you are more likely that until you reach the point where you see how your words, phrases, attitudes and behaviors hurt you you'll have no reason to change what you say, what you think, how you feel and what you do.
And so what we have in these hearings are an attempt by the people in our society who understand how harmful these words, phrases, attitudes and behaviors are trying to limit the amount of harm inflicted on society. And on the OTHER side are those who have not yet learned how harmful these words, phrases, attitudes and behaviors are or can be.
We can call it the Right vs the Left. The Haves vs the Have Nots. The Establishment vs the People. The Old vs the Young.
It's more accurate to call it a negotiation between the Enlightened vs the Unenlightened. And the Enlightened will use facts and figures to make their case. The Unenlightened will cite the Constitution, and from a position of possible financial loss, will primarily use emotions to make their case.
The fact of the matter is that with ANY and EVERY popular art form; TV, Film, Music, Literature, Video Games, there IS an effect on the audience.
The greatest insult one can lodge against a work of art is to say, "it left me cold." "I was unmoved." "It was a yawner."
WE
WANT TO BE EMOTIONALLY AFFECTED AND THAT'S WHY WE ENGAGE THAT ART FORM!
So, to say that the lyrics don't have an effect on us is nonsense. To say that the excitement of a video game doesn't have an effect on us is disingenuous. And while we all have our own examples of doing something harmful or potentially harmful without suffering any ill effects, if we are truthful with ourselves we know that we lucked out by taking acid and not ending up like Reverend Jim on Taxi. We know that the drunken fights we were in that we walked away from with only scrapes and bruises could have been deadly. We know that driving 100 miles an hour on a deserted stretch of road was a thrill that wasn't worth the risk but didn't result in death, injury, damage to the car or a speeding ticket.
By the way, unless your tires are rated for high speeds you will lose control due to the sidewalls getting hot from the increased friction and turning into jelly. The mystery crash on an open road with no skid marks where a car is wrapped around a light stanchion or tree is often due to loss of control broght on by high speeds that the tires couldn't handle.
And in those and thousands of other examples of how we didn't personally pay the price of our ignorance not everyone can say the same. I KNOW people who are in prison having been influenced by music and images. Not that the music and images are the sole cause and not that you could easily draw a straight line from the influence to the behaviors that got them incarcerated. But to deny any influence is simply like arguing that your favorite dessert should remain on the dinner menu because YOU like it.
Then the next thing you might say is that almost EVERYBODY likes it.
And that is a persuasive argument when it comes to marketing and business. You find a need and fill it. You give the customers what they want. And that's the hallmark of capitalism. Supply and demand.
However, we all recognize there are certain things that most people want that really aren't good for us.
At one time smoking was pleasurable, fashionable and because it was addictive it was very, very popular. The problem was that it kills people and as obvious as that is there are sometimes reports of 99 year old men or women who have smoked all their adult lives and for whom smoking didn't obviously shorten their lifespans. And as much as the tobacco companies might like those people to be thought of as the norm, we know they aren't. Yet and still, smoking remains legal, though it is heavily taxed and anti-smoking ad campaigns promise to make it less and less popular.
So with a substance as obviously harmful as tobacco to remain legal I don't think the video game or hip hop industries should have any real fears for their livelihoods.
These hearings are just Congress' attempt to do what little they can to address a problem that was hatched from a seed planted in the 1960's by well meaning but unenlightened progressive politicians.
The destruction of the black family.
They have been trying for years to find a way to address all the problems stemming from their progressive policies of the 1960's & '70's and they just can't do it.
*That gives me an idea for a new thread topic. "What influences have made you a better person?"