This article will discuss why rap music is overrated. But before I start, I think it’s important to get my point of view across.
I don’t hate rap music; in fact, I was even a fan of MC Hammer’s early hits. However, these days rap music does not get the respect it deserves, at least not from me.
I call it overrated because rap music isn’t really about music as much as it’s about lyrics. Besides, the popularity of rap music is decreasing.
In an opinion piece by CBS MoneyWatch entitled “Is Rap Music Doomed?”, I read that hip-hop used to be the only form of music that actually made money. This argument might sound absurd at first, but the reason why it might be true is that now, most of the new generation want to listen to music that will keep them in their state of mind, as opposed to music that will make them move their bodies.
Rap isn’t valued enough
I also believe rap music isn’t valued enough because, for years, artists such as The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur died in police custody or murders. There was no outcry or even any investigations as to why their deaths were deemed unrelated to their music careers.
In fact, Michael Jackson’s tragic death didn’t even warrant a national news station to pay homage to him for over seven years after his death. This is just one example of how rap music doesn’t get the respect that it deserves.
I don’t have to go much further into the hate rap music plays on television because the viewers will know it already. The mass media, in general, tends to show music from the past decade poorly.
In the series “Breaking Bad,” the characters get angry at one another by arguing about hip-hop and hip-hop music. I watched the show just last month, and they were really getting into hip-hop, referring to artists such as Snoop Dogg and Eminem.
I’d argue that it’s bad that we, as a society, are still discussing rap music in the context of a program about a meth-making drug dealer. Music, in general, has never been an issue of interest for mass media and still isn’t.
Why is it so hard to talk about art, especially when making time and space for artists such as music?
The rap is totally overrated
I believe rap music is overrated because we, as a society, are listening to it to form our own opinions. If we were actually listening to it to become better, more educated people, I would probably be on the opposite side of the argument.
But as it stands, we are in the age of ignorance. People tend to decide what they believe in and what they don’t base on other people’s opinions rather than real facts.
For example, people will know all the lyrics to a song by Eminem’s “Love the Way You Lie” but won’t know the lyrics to a Rihanna song. Or they might even hate Rihanna’s music because they’ve heard it all the time on the radio and think it sounds cheesy.
Even if Rihanna were to release a song that I might personally enjoy, I don’t believe people would want to listen to it over Eminem. It’s the same thing with rap music.
The more people hear it, the more they know about it, and the more they think it’s the best music in the world.
Rap is overly creative
I believe that the arts should reflect reality, and I believe that rap is overly creative. When I hear a rapper like Adele or T-Pain sing, I do not get the feeling that they are telling a story, that they are telling a new truth, that they are creative.
This is because Adele and T-Pain are selling themselves as an artist. The mainstream and its artists are only allowed to present themselves as the most creative and original.
But in reality, most artists are just reflecting reality entertainingly and artistically.
Rap music is also overly creative because it seems as if rappers are continuously trying to reinvent the wheel. If they were trying to capture reality as it is, why would they make songs like “So Fly”?
If they were trying to reflect the truth, why would they make songs about cars and money? If rappers are trying to sell their lyrics as they are, why would they talk about smoking weed on a tour bus in the middle of the desert?
The truth is that if you ask any rapper, they will tell you they love money and cars. No one likes to smoke weed, especially in the middle of a desert.
There is no depth
I believe that rap is overrated because I believe that it lacks depth and is too simple. For instance, indeed, rappers are often rapping about guns.
Indeed, rappers are often rapping about cars. But there is also a straightforward explanation for why they do this.
If rappers were trying to express something deep and meaningful about reality, then wouldn’t they be saying something deep and meaningful? Instead, they make simple, cheesy songs about cars and money and sex just because it sells.
If they were trying to say something deep and meaningful about reality, then the best they could come up with is “So Fly.” This type of rap makes no sense; it makes no artistic impact, making no impact on society.
The average person can understand that a guy is selling weed because most people are not as sophisticated as the bourgeoisie. But no matter how hard the bourgeoisie try, they can never be hip.
So the solution to this is not to find new ways to put meaning into rap but to leave the music behind and buy real records. The bourgeoisie would say that rap is now “underappreciated” if they did not buy the music and listen to the radio.
When you buy a real record, then you are supporting actual music and not stupid rap.
