It's what's around us

“What influenced my raps? Stick ups and killings
Kidnappings, project buildings, drug dealings
Criticize that, why is that?
Cuz Nas rap is compared to legitimized crap
Cuz we love to talk on ass we gettin'
Most intellectuals will only half listen”

These are the words of a man who is being criticized for his lyrics

And the critics don’t wanna hear it

They cherry pick his lyrics

And claim he’s sadistic

This past Thursday Virginia Tech had a Free Concert to honor those who died from the tragic shooting at Virginia Tech. One of the entertainers who had been chosen to be in the line up was Nas, a conscientious MC who raps on reality and can relate to the unpleasant incident this school went through. Recently he has been getting a lot of criticism for rapping about guns and killing and still being aloud to perform at a school where 32 students where shot dead. A huge critic who voiced his opinion was Bill O’Reilly calling Nas a “gangster rapper” who’s’ lyrics are “as violent as they come,” then points the finger at the President of Virginia Tech and calling him a “villain” for letting him perform. On the O’Reilly show Bill only picked songs that of course were the worst of the worst and out dated by about 10 years. He failed to mention his up lifting songs such as “I can,” “Heaven” or other inspirational songs that are far from the image he painted. If he is going to tell a story he needs to speak the whole story. Nas should not be criticized for being raised in a community that endured such violent acts, shuch as the one VT went through. He can relay the message better than anyone else, he comes from that side of the tracks.

It is stories such as these that make me shake my head on how judgmental and critical this society is. It hurts to see conscientious rappers such as Nas generalized with the rest of the rappers who are out there rapping about killing, but the difference with Nas is he wants to help pull away from that image and the other rappers accept it. There is a “social stigma attached to the hip-hop culture” and it seems as though any one who raps is considered to be apart of it. Society blames the culture of hip-hop for a lot of things that blacks do wrong, but they fail to realize that it was society who put them there; it was society that accepted guns, and let drugs roam free in areas they call the projects where predominately black minorities live.

Rappers/MCs rap about the reality they come from they do not dramatize, they paint “the real” for virgin eyes that are not exposed to this part of the world; they represent the struggle. As a fan of music I respect all elements of the lyrics and try to understand them instead of criticize them. Like they say the truth hurts, and some times “it aint for everybody.”

“Hip-hop has become the most visible voice for black culture, and it’s definitely changing the broader social culture,” says a sociology professor from UT. I find this quote to be true, society is scared that “hip-hop” has affected its societal image. They are scared, because they cannot control it. So in order to have people see what they want they “just blame hip-hop and act like that’s the big problem” (Chamillionaire).