"I love to stab my victims until they're dead /
a knife to the throat, a smashing blow to the head /
I'm judge and jury / my sentence has just been passed/
step into the circle of hell / if you think you can last
fight for what you believe to be right /
crushing with all your might /
I laugh at their pitiful cries /
they run from the fire in my eyes
nothing can save them now /
you've learned a lesson in violence /
get on your knees and bow /
or learn a lesson in violence" - Exodus
I was thinking after class ended today about our discussion of violence in the lyrics of other music besides rap and I brought up an example of a song "Davidian" by Machinehead, that had violent references but they were not directed so much at a person in particular. After we made the comparison that rap was so much more personal about violence I realized that heavy metal can get equally personal. I even gave the example of "Aesthetics of Hate" by the same band, which has a much more personal message. Or take the lyrics above, from Exodus' "A Lesson in Violence", which are extremely violent and direct. If we were to examine punk for directed examples of violence one only need listen to "Beat on the Brat" (Ramones) or "Kill the Poor" (Dead Kennedys). What I noticed, however, is that there is more consistent concern over the violence of the lyrics in Rap music, while heavy metal and punk are just 'those angry genres that always act like that'. So why is this the case? I cannot honestly say I know. More recently, Megadeth just released a song "Headcrusher" which waas about exactly what the title says. They did not catch any criticism. I bet a rapper would have. What do you think?
Despite the strong impact that violent music videos give to the public, I wonder how many people actually care about the lyrics when they listen to a new hip hop song? Are audience more attracted to the rhythm and music part, or the lyric content? What have made hip hop music popular was the content of early rap songs, which express the horrible conditions that many African Americans live in. These songs are all about protesting against violence, discrimination, racism and sexism. However, when the music style caught the attention of the major public, which consist mostly white, the content changed to focus on merely violence and masculine in order to draw larger attention.
ReplyDeleteRacism and misunderstanding/stereotypes definitely play an important role in this almost identical development of the hip hop genre.
I think it has a lot to do with the fact that the rap subculture is known to be dangerous and violent. Rap is correlated with blacks growing up in the ghetto fighting for their lives, and it is almost as if we fear that. While heavy metal may also display a sense of violence, it's almost as if we just brush it off because their "little white boys letting out their agression." They weren't growing up in the city with gun shots and drug dealing, and for that reason they aren't as dangerous.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I personally do not agree with this stereotype, I truly do believe some people think this way.