Rock vs. Rap! What Nonsense!

Rap, also known as Emcee-ing, as most people know it, is a big part of  Hip-Hop culture. Its foundations are rooted in Graffiti art. Turntable -ism (DJ-ing) and Break Dancing. During the late 70’s it has received a huge following of people from a broad rage of cultures. The Hip-Hop culture soon seized its vast empire expanding from New York to Toronto, Pans, Seoul, and Manila, and even to the flats of East Anglia.

Corporations acknowledged Hip-Hop as a useful resource to catch people's attention and nurtured its development. However, they manipulated and captivated art form to represent glamour, bravado and antics rather than the talent and ingenuity that true rap music is all about. The masses were fed this misguided generalization, and most modern day Hip-Hop artist are reflections of the devastating effects of the industry.

The likes of 50 Cent and P. Diddy who monopolize the Rap industry are not paragons of Hip-Hop. It is wrong to present all Hip-Hop artist as gun-toting, drug-dealing, lusty simpletons. There are more aspects to this culture than the pimp or gangster. It is the mass media that has the ability to poison minds, not the lyrics of Hip-Hop, or any other musical genre.

All in all, it is up to audiences to decipher the truth behind the images and messages presented to us. It has been said that, if ignorance is bliss, why aren’t we happy. Ignorance will be the end of us all.

I, for one, have nothing against Rock music, in fact, I like some forms of it, such as, “Rage Against the Machine” or “System of a Down”. However, Rock  also has it’s fair share of sex, drugs and violence, as seen in Limp Bizkit, Motley Crue, Transplants, Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson. Much like Hip-Hop, Rock is not as clean cut as it appears. Comparing Rock and Hip-Hop artist who are producing music for two completely different genres is unfair to either. It’s like comparing the work of Michelangelo to that of Van Gogh. 50 Cent in the same way is incomparable to the likes of Marilyn Manson.

However, different Rock music may be from Hip-Hop, there are apparent connections between artists. For example, System of a Down is similar in manner to Sage Francis. Never heard of him? How about Mos Def? Little Brother? MF Doom? Buck 65? Tru-paz? Aesop Rock? If you never heard of any of these artists, then you probably don’t know what Hip-Hop really is.

The devastating effect media manipulation has had on the hip-hop culture is the best reason why media should be treated with skepticism. It is vital, especially in this day and age, that we keep an open mind. So please, avoid inane comments of this sort because we all know that classical music is better then rock.

Seriously, though, it is all a matter of taste.