The Rape Over: Mainstream’s Assault on the Black Noise

“Listen
All white men is runnin this rap shit
Corporate force's runnin this rap shit
Some tall Israeli is runnin this rap shit
We poke out our asses for a chance to cash in
Cocaine, is runnin this rap shit
'Dro, 'yac and E-pills is runnin this rap shit

The rape over, turn your face over nigga
No god in disguise it's me, game over”-“The Rape Over”-Mos Def

Throughout history the mainstream has been known to pursue Black Music as a corporate cash cow and in the quest for money have had the tendency to disregard the roots and essence of the music in order to capitalize off the sort. First it was Gospel then Blues followed by Jazz, Rock n Roll, Motown, Disco, Funk and Soul. All those genres were created within the Black/Inner city community and were later exploited into the mainstream by money hungry Corporate America. Many prove to say that making “Black music,” formally known as race music, commercial would break down many racial barriers and bring tolerance. But at what cost? In the case of Hip Hop, a culture based on the four elements of Break dancing, Djing, Graffiti and Rap, commercialism broke down racial barriers within the youth; Yes, but only due to the White youth’s gravitational interest to a misrepresented “rebel without a cause” image of Black and Latino Culture that was created and pushed by the Media and lucrative businesses.

As Mainstream involvement increased, creativity, individuality, purpose and skill took a back seat to sales and meeting demographics. The new image required of the artists by the corporate labels consisted of negativity and the confirmation and even creation of derogatory stereotypes of Black and Latino Culture. Today, the Rap music industry is disastrous and has even been coined the “present day slave plantation” for the way labels and the media force artists to fit a dreadful mold of a top seller and withhold some of the artists’ revenue for themselves. Such a great and drastic change causes an immense need for reformation by the few mainstream artists who have chosen to sacrifice the fame and fortune of the big labels to stay true to the essence of their culture.

Many are quick to blame the artists for being careless, ignorant or greedy, however that is far from the truth. It is not the fault of the artists but the fault of Corporate America and the Media for enforcing negative requirements for their art which in turn degraded Hip Hop and Black/Latino culture creating a derogatory, false representation and great need for reformation.


yea so this was the intro from my thesis from my junior yr of...hs...wish i had kept it some where because I only found bits and pieces from my old email account but the point still stands..amerika is retarded.


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