This was for an application for a certain high-school English society. The prompt was to write about something "overrated." I could think of nothing better than this. Enjoy.
In the present, there is a slew of pop-culture trends that have practically taken hold of everyday life. The world knows them all: Tik-Tok dances and challenges, Marvel movies, and online influencers, to name quite a few of them. But, the one that is the most praised is easily rap music. Ever since its creation in the early 70s, rappers such as Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, and Eminem have made their names as supremely popular icons. Rap music, as it is extremely flooded with approbation, is consequently extremely overrated because it only requires fast speaking as well as lackluster music, and more often than not, corrupt lyrics.
Considering that rap contains nothing more than simple beats, rhymes, and non-varied vocal range, its acclaim is, indeed, misguided. The quality of music has deprecated over the last fifty years or even more. This claim is not specific to rap, because it centers on music as a whole, but rap is essentially the incarnation of this decline of the beauty in song and tune. It is important to note that there seems to be two needed components to producing a rap track, the first being a plain background beat, that only changes tempo or sound a few times per track, if any time, and the second being that it involves one or more people speaking to the beat, not having to do so quickly, yet the tempo usually warrants it and it is the common style. There are normally no instruments used whatsoever for rap and the music is all synthesized: this fact alone proves that a tremendous amount of talent has been made unavailable and discouraged from the rap and hip-hop genres. The purpose of music is to not just express oneself; rather, it is to express ideas, universal experiences, and whole philosophies. Song is vocalized poetry. Poetry is beautiful because it allows for some creative rights to be taken in managing to succinctly fit the writer’s thoughts, in accordance with the aforementioned principles, down on a series of lines that allow for pacing and story to leap out of the syntax. Rap is certainly not as creative as song because of its overwhelming simplicity; the tropes of rap such as the beat and lyrics are very uncomplicated. The beat repeats over and over again; some rappers- more so nowadays- do not feel the responsibility to rhyme and either do not make the attempt at all or opt for random syllables in order for the lyrics to have a chance of sounding like they semi-rhyme. No one would argue that there is not a vast difference between Lil Baby and Frank Sinatra, Kid Cudi and Paul McCartney, Cardi B and Aretha Franklin. This is because those that were the stars of generations ago were true, composed linguistic artists of their time; while some did not compose their own lines, the entire industry was geared toward the artist’s passions and individuality. There seems to be on average far more writers on an individual track currently than there were in the mid-twentieth century, which goes to show the complete shallowness of the language used in song today. Rap is as forced out of the bowels of labels as if the entire candy industry needed to produce enough sweets for Christmas, Easter, and Halloween all in one day. The explanation can be put quite effortlessly: the industry is geared for quantity, rather than quality, which partially explains its shortcomings. The unvaried, dry, yet still widely liked drivel that is rap music makes it deserve to be labeled as overrated in every sense of that word.
Furthermore, the quarrel to be made with rap is not only in its music and complexion of its lyrics, but the content of the lyrics too deserves ire. As it was stated before, music has declined astronomically within the last half-century. Why? Well, as with much of modern messaging, rap’s principles are wrong. There is nothing inherently wrong with creating a malicious character or showing an evil figure on screen. The best books, poems, and stories ever concocted great and unbelievably corrupt antagonists, that are not only in the story, but also casted into the main role: Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment, Michael Corleone in The Godfather, and the Joker in the Batman franchise serve as necessary obstacles for the hero and can operate as their own force within their works, so that their psychology and motive may be examined in depth by the writer. However, the problem with rap is that it clearly encourages- and yes- glorifies drug abuse, sexual depravity, and violence through excessively vulgar means. Let an example be presented; on the day this was written, What Happened To Virgil by Lil Durk and Gunna was the most popular rap song worldwide on Apple Music, one of the most used music streaming platforms. These were some of the lyrics, without the extremely inappropriate parts, which is to say the actual repeating of these lyrics could be a lot worse in terms of cursing and the number of coarse references to say the least: “Learned to survive, I carry my choppa,” and the song continues after graphically referencing lewd acts, “Don’t mention my name if you mention the bodies/ “Stop taking drugs after sending a song”/ How you goin’ blame me?.../ Called you a b****, I’m sorry I lost you.” It is amazing how the average Joe can get his daily dose of gang violence, graphic sex, and misogyny all in three minutes, right? Now, compare this absolute garbage to a part of one of the more famous songs by the country-rock artist Johnny Cash, a song that he performed for convicts in Folsom Prison in 1968, aptly titled Folsom Prison Blues: “When I was just a baby/ My momma told me, “Son/ Always be a good boy/ Don’t ever play with guns”/ But I shot a man in Reno/ Just to watch him die/ When I hear that whistle blowin’ I hang my head and cry.” That is the way to do it; one can explore evil without intentionally glorifying it, like in John Milton’s Paradise Lost or C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, the former told from the perspective of the Master of Lies and the latter told from a demon writing letters to his nephew. Cash’s song makes the listener feel as though the subject is human and possibly sympathetic, while Lil Durk’s inspires the question “why do parents let their children listen to this?” Today, it is as though the title of Cole Porter’s Broadway musical has become reality: anything goes. It really is no surprise that the verse in rap is so ugly, considering that many rappers have had or have ongoing trouble with the law: Eminem was caught carrying a concealed weapon, which bought him two free years’ worth of probation in 2006 (ABC News); Snoop Dogg has plead guilty several times to crimes such as marijuana, cocaine, and gun possession, and has also been involved in a gang-related murder, although he never experienced any criminal penalties for his connections (Biography.com Editors); and perhaps to top them both off, Biggie Smalls began his life as a drug dealer at the age of twelve and was arrested for drug possession (obviously), illegally possessing weapons, and assault (Bertram). And even if the rappers disapproved of their past lifestyle or the environment around them and wished to share their experience, it is still a more artistically effective way to do so by drawing in the listener through complexion, important detail, and emotion. The typical nasty, unnecessary, and perverted lyrics of rap music make one wonder why and how it ever gained not just the attention of the general public, but also its eager and unopposed ears.
The overrated rap genre has regressed music to a degree never seen before through its terrible, uncreative lyrics and music and more severely, through the actual meaning and message of the lyrics themselves. A fact that has been recognized many times before still is relevant today; the truth is that music before the inception of rap was simply better: it was formed with a defined purpose in mind, meant to convey feeling and experience. And considering that it is one of the most popular genres of music in the world- if not the most- and has been for at least for the last three decades, youth and adults alike should turn away from the vulgarity and dirtiness present in rap and gain some class, properly oriented perspective, and correct grammar from the talent of Ol’ Blue Eyes, Motown, The Beatles.
Works Cited
ABC News. “Eminem Sentenced to Two Years of Probation.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 6 Jan. 2006, https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=107023&page=1. Accessed 6 Apr. 2022.
Banks, Durk. “What Happened to Virgil.” 7220, Alamo Records, 2022, https://music.apple.com/us/album/what-happened-to-virgil-feat-gunna/1611055823?i=1611056166. Accessed 7 Apr. 2022.
Bertram, Colin. “How Biggie Smalls' Early Life Defined His Rap Career.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 26 Feb. 2021, https://www.biography.com/news/biggie-smalls-early-life-career. Accessed 7 Apr. 2022.
Biography.com Editors. “Snoop Dogg.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 24 Oct. 2019, https://www.biography.com/musician/snoop-dogg. Accessed 6 Apr. 2022.
Cash, Johnny. “Folsom Prison Blues.” At Folsom Prison (Live), Sony Music Entertainment, 1968, https://music.apple.com/us/album/folsom-prison-blues-live/825516828?i=825516880. Accessed 7 Apr. 2022.
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