Rap Music

Rap music was once fresh and new. Rap music was powerful. Rap music was the new music of protest. Rap music was the voice of the abandoned. rap music was dangerous music performed by dangerous people. Rap music was an original art form born of desperation. rap music spoke the pain of the inner city youth growing up in a violent and uncaring world. Rap music spoke truth in the face of lies and hatred. rap music exposed a world no one outside of the inner city even wanted to acknowledge much less deal with. Rap music was raw and real. And even for all of its faults, at least rap music didn't flinch. The good. The bad. And the ugly rap music said and did it all because that was the reality in which the performers of rap music lived. Of course, that was then. This is now. that was before rap music was co-opted and robbed of its authenticity and drained of its power.

Rap music is now, by and large, a mass produced, mass marketed commodity. Rap music is a multi-billion dollar industry now. Rap music is main stream and mass media. Rap music has been corporatized and rap music has been bastardized. Just like every other valid form of social protest, rap music has now been bought and sold. Rap music itself has been remixed and repackaged and sold by the mass media.

At first, mainstream culture was shocked by rap music. Then mainstream culture was angry about rap music. As soon as the music industry saw that there was money to be made from rap music, the vultures began to descend. and once the entertainment industry, as a whole realized that, there was even more money to be made from a more mass marketable rap music. so rap music had to be cleaned up. rap music had to be made more presentable. Rap music had to be made more acceptable to the mass culture, not just to the sub-culture like it had been earlier. So a pop culture rap music emerges. Rap music, for the masses. But no rap music just for the downtrodden masses. No, rap music for the middle class consumer masses. Rap music for all the suburban youths with the serious discretionary spending dollars. Rap music that still maintained the aura of danger so you could get all the young wannabes to part with their money. Rap music was now a gold mine. Rap music was commercial and owned. Rap music was bought and sold.

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