Hip-Hop Music

Growing up I was not supposed to listen to hip-hop music. My mom would tell me the message portrayed in rappers music was not good for me to listen too. At the time my mom was very religious the only music she listened was gospel music. The times she heard me listening to rap music she would come and change the station on the radio or the channel on the tv. My family and I lived with my grandparents and two cousins. The oldest cousin would always have rap music blasting on her radio and didn't care what anyone said to her. My other cousin would always turn the TV on to MTV and we would listen to what ever was on. At times I would feel guilty listening to these songs when my mom wasn't around or watching, but there was always something that kept me coming back to it. Of course when I was younger I was to young to really understand the message rappers where trying to get out but as I got older I began to understand. Also as I got older I had more freedom to what I listened to I eventually got my mom to listen to what I listened to and she realized that hip-hop wasn't at all as bad as she thought is was. She likes more of R&B than rap, but listens to almost anything. I can say she has a more of an open mind than she did a long time ago. I found all three readings to be interesting and found out things I had never known before. One of the biggest things was that Tupac's stepfather and mother were part of the black panther movement. I also found that Tupac started his own version of the black panthers. Then in Toby's article on hip-hop music the part about Destiny's Child was so funny to think about. I remember when that song came out, I immeadiately was like I want the kind of guy they are describing. I want a big strong guy with a tough guy image but still knows how to provide and make me happy (mind you I was probably only between the ages of 14 and 16, so I had no clue what I wanted in a guy). That soldier image of a guy soon left my standards of what I wanted in a guy. All in all I do believe all rappers have bigger picture that they are trying to portray to us as a society but they all to quickly get stereotyped into being a thug or gangster.