Don’t Get Gassed:

Being Conscious doesn’t mean you’re Good
written by JusHH

I know I spend a lot of time writing about how I dislike artists like Rick Ross and Shawty Lo because of their lack of substance in their rhymes. All the talk about the guns, drugs and sex can just go too far. There’s this growing sentiment that music that glorifies these negative aspects are life are somehow bad music. Well don’t just beat up on all the thugs and gangsters because there’s an equally fallacious statement going around on the other side of town. Don’t get gassed, just because you spit that “conscious” music, it doesn’t mean that it’s good.

This past summer I taught a Hip-Hop class to a group of High School kids. (Another notch on my self-proclaimed resume next to fledgling rap superstar and greatest blogger ever. lol.) We talked about everything from the images of women and the use of the word nigger in people’s lyrics. And coming into the first class, I had the same prejudices about this newer generations view and treatment of Hip-Hop as many of you. I thought they didn’t truly respect the history of the culture, didn’t put any value in lyrics and only cared about the material aspects of Hip-Hop. I was wrong about them. They really did care about Hip-Hop – they all identified with it and said that it helped give them a voice. It wasn’t that they didn’t care about the history, they just didn’t have anyone to teach them (that’s our fault). But when it came to the music, they all had one pre-requisite – it had to be entertaining.

Hmm, entertainment huh? The concept that they presented was so simple that my first reaction was to dismiss it. But I realized that they enjoyed “Superstar” just as much as “Low” even though they are polar opposites in terms of content. They knew that Flo Rida isn’t a talented rapper or that Rick Ross isn’t the best but they made music that was entertaining and fun to listen to. So as I talked to them about the importance of quality lyrics and being more conscious of the messages in the music, they taught me something very valuable. It wasn’t that they chose the negative over the positive as much as they chose the most entertaining music and took it from there. And you know what? Most conscious music sucks because it’s not entertaining.

You know why? Because a text book sucks. Because sitting in class is boring. And that’s what many of these “conscious” songs sound like, a college lecture. Like my man D said, “I don’t put on music to feel like I’m in school.” Seriously, who would want to anyway? No one wants to spend all day at work or in class only to come home and put on a song that reminds them of that. Music is supposed to be fun, entertaining and provide an escape from all the boring crap that we face daily. Conscious rappers will have you believe that it’s your fault why they don’t sell or aren’t popular. But that’s just their defense mechanisms kicking in because they don’t want to see the truth; their music is boring and puts their audience to sleep like 1st period English.

I own the “Let’s Get Free” album by Dead Prez and in the 8 years that I’ve owned the album, I’ve listened to it all the way through less than 5 times. Except for a few songs, the rest of the album is just too hard to listen to. That album makes me feel like I’m at a black militant meeting and frankly, I don’t spend most of my life being that angry - especially while on the train going to work. Immortal Technique might have a lot of great stuff to say but you’ll never know it because his monotone voice and delivery are just terrible. And no, I’m not going to feel bad or guilty about not checking his new album.

Now this is not to say that music can’t teach, be educational and have a deep message. “Nature of the Threat”, “Get By”, “I Can”, “All Falls Down” and the aforementioned “Superstar” all have one thing in common, they are dope as hell thus making them entertaining to listen to. It is important, maybe now more than ever, to help promote better things in our community but we have to keep in mind the fundamental reasons why we listen to music. Say what you want but those Akon-T-Pain-Khaled songs but they are fun and you can listen to them at any time. And there is no reason why rappers can’t take the same beat and melody and rap about getting out of the hood, or promoting fatherhood. But you have to take into account what the Akon’s of the world are doing because what’s the point of being conscious if you can’t get anyone to listen?

These 16 year olds that you think are just mindless knuckleheads, want to learn more and want diversity, they just aren’t willing to add another class onto their schedule to do it.

Entertain first. Then educate.