ppers, stating that in the current rap and hip-hop culture, rappers have to assert themselves physically to seem powerful and worthy of respect; even he, as a self confessed bookworm, believes that rappers need people to know that they are not weak or docile. (Hurt, 2006)
It might seem odd that rappers would portray such stereotypical and possibly self-degrading image of themselves by continuing to write songs and make videos laced with violent, sexist, egotistical, and hyper-masculine lyrics, visuals, and overtones. However, as it turns out, rappers seems to have less of a choice than one would think. In Hurt’s documentary, young rappers were seen rapping about very violent and sexist topics with the aspirations of one day signing with a major label and becoming famous.
When these young artists were asked why they rap about such deplorable topics with arguably little social meaning, they responded that they would prefer to rap about more “righteous” things as the first rappers had done. (Hurt, 2006) These aspiring rappers insist that the reason for continuing producing “Gangsta Rap” over music with more social and culturally meaningful lyrics is that they firmly believe that the record industry only wants to see the image of tough black males. Marko Fitts, the author of “Drop It Like It’s Hot” laments that hip-hop has so abandoned the original social and political themes that the “historical mantra of ‘keepin’ it real” is only a “fragile prospect.” (Fitts, 224)Continued on Next Page »