'the music of the oppresser..'

[max_tranmere]

As everyone on here seems to be talking about 'race' these days I thought I would start another debate, and that is about whether hip-hop was introduced in order to keep certain people less educated. I doubt this is the case but it is something to chat about.

I recently watched the film 'Crash' which is about 24 hours in the lives of various people in Los Angeles and about racial tenstions between them and communities in general. I thought it was an increidlbe film, very well written, and it explores a lot of interesting issues.

Here is a clip from the film, where Anthony and his friend Peter have just stolen a car and are driving through town late at night. A discussion begins about the origins of hip-hop music and how it was apparently introduced by the FBI to stop black people from becoming wise.

Please excuse the continual use of the 'n' word in this clip but a lot of American movies have this (just look at Quentin Tarintino films). What do people think about Anthony's claims that hip-hip was introduced by the FBI in order to stamp out the message being put forward by smart articulate black people? It's an interesting subject, now that everyone seems to be talking about race issues on this forum!

clip:

[one eyed jack]

That Crash is a good film and what they were talking about was to reflect how ignorant they were, always putting the blame on "the man" keeping them down and talking conspiracy theories

That Ludacris guy knows the real origins of hip hop. It was just a bullshit ruse to move the story along and inject humour is all.

[one eyed jack]

Hes probably saying that because of the way it got out of control with people stealing rhymes and getting shot and the beefs arising from music.

Fact is, black people in that genre of music are fiercely competitive which is why they always look good, rap about how big their dicks are and how many women they fuck

To a rapper this is sport ..Though years later Mobb Deep made a song about it called Blood Sports which is ultimately what happend when the East Coast beefed with the West Coast and 2 Pac and Biggie Smalls were killed within a period of each other

[one eyed jack]

Eastenders was introduced to keep people less educated.


Who by PH? MI5? !laugh!

[spider]

No the BBC.

[Jonone]

I think artists like Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions and others are pro intelligence and articulate with it. To me Hip-Hop has a history and lineage in terms of black American culture.

At what point did the dark arts of the FBI get involved ? Was Gil Scot Heron an FBI plant ?

[one eyed jack]

Well the founder of the FBI used to enjoy dressing up in womens clothes on the quiet.

Go figure...

[max_tranmere]

I always remember Quentin Tarintino defending the constant use of the 'n' word in his films by saying it was a 5 letter word ending in 'a' rather than a 6 letter word ending in 'er'. This apparently makes all the differnce, even though it obviously sounds the same.

He said, and I've heard the director Spike Lee say this too, that in the black community in America that five letter word is a greeting - like saying 'dood' or 'mate' at the end of a sentence.

However, excessive use of the word is apparently still out of order, I remember Spike Lee (who is of course black) calling Tarintino a racist for the huge usage of the word in the movie 'Jackie Brown'.

[one eyed jack]

America is so dman racist that people are desensitised tot he use of various racist words including that one.

Use it here on the wrong person you might get shanked..Oh and dont even use the word "blood" to get pally with those wearing hoodies or you will get robbed if you aint from their neck of the woods