On Wednesday, columnist Erik Skipper ended his asinine ramblings about rap music with a question: “Does that make me out of touch?” This was in reference to his not seeing rap as an art form worthy of respect and denouncing it as one of the great evils of American society (“OMG, the black rapper thugs are poisoning our youth”).
Well, I’m not sure if those beliefs make you out of touch, but they certainly bring into question your ideas concerning race, gender equality and artistic expression that challenge the status quo.
Apparently the source of male patriarchy and misogyny originate with hip-hop, and those thugs are the ones who oppress women and prevent them from achieving true equality.
It’s not at all an American society that has long devalued women as second-class citizens who are worthy only through the constructs of motherhood and sexuality.
Also, promiscuity of the youth should be blamed on rap music, and if this wretched art form would disappear — and I guess the race the music originated from — America could be a great, moral nation again without all this debauchery.
I guess the conservative love of the First Amendment only extends to a certain demographic of people in this nation, and Skipper seems very willing to ignore the precious Constitution to deprive these “pigs” of their speech.
This makes sense, because these rappers hold so much power in society, and the largely white record executives don’t have a role in promoting the messages in music.
Skipper reminds me of the early critics of jazz and rock ’n’ roll who thought this music, which also largely originated from black people, would corrupt the youth with its messages of drugs and sexuality. Jazz and rock were seen as too sensual and youth who listened to it would become sex-crazed and drug-addicted.
Well — as you can see from your apparent worshiping of those like Bob Dylan and Jimmy Page — that opinion didn’t hold up.
I guess, like those in the past, your opinion will just be left in the dustpan of history.
PS: Listen to rap that’s not Top 40 before you take the time to libel a whole genre of music.
Eric Brown is a 19-year-old political science and economics major.
