So apparently Alicia Keys told Blender magazine that “Gangsta rap was a ploy to convince black people to kill each other. Gangsta rap didn’t exist.”
She also goes on to say: "the East Coast-West Coast Beef with Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. was fueled by the government and the media, to stop another great black leader from existing."
Well I don't know if she got turned out by an ex black panther or something recently, but "Gangster" rap was created by rappers who pretended to be gangster's to sell more records. To suggest that the government spent tax payer money on studio time, tour buses and Dre beats is just straight up stupid. Although the thought of Reagan sitting in the oval office listening to "Can I borrow a Dollar" and yelling at his assistants to bring him some gangsta sh-t is hilarious to me.
Before rap there was gangs, drugs, crime, pimps and all of that. Clearly Gangsta rap is the product of the ghetto and not the government. She tried to make it seem like the end goal of Gangsta rap was to kill black people- no the end goal was to make money. All of those dudes in the early 90's took the CB4 Gusto route strictly to make money and gain fame. Unfortunately the masses will always be intrigued by the gangster lifestyle in one way or another which is why labels sign them. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the occasional "I'll put the shotty to your body" esque raps from time to time, but to suggest that N.W.A. was a product of the C.I.A. or something similar is one of the more stupid comments I've heard some one affiliated with hip-hop say. Although it doesn't quite outrank Lupe's "A dope dealer would crush Barack Obama in a conversation" and Prodigy's "George Bush Sr. f-cks little boys to take their youth from them- thats why he's living so long" comments.
She continued to say "If black leaders such as the late Black Panther Huey Newton had the outlets our musicians have today, it'd be global. I have to figure out a way to do it myself".
So I guess we can expect songs such as "You don't know my name...because the white man took us from our native home and stole our names" or a soothing R&B hit like "Karma(an ode to 9/11)". I don't know what she was thinking but I wouldn't be surprised if she got black balled from the industry for these ridiculous statements. The government isn't hip enough to have created gangsta rap, didn't she see when Karl Rove tried to dance? Apparently she dropped out of Columbia to pursue her music career and it shows, Alica I love you- but shut the f-ck up.
4 comments:
LOL this is comedy, but it's true her comments were just stupid..like shes a great singer and all but...ehh.
and she went to columbia? damn.
Whoa whoa whoa... this post does not express the opinion of all 20,000 money making bloggers. Some money making bloggers on this corner respect Alicia Keys' comments and understand they are rooted in an understanding of the history of covert governmental actions aimed at the detriment of a people. In fact, the statement "gangsta rap never existed" literally refers to the media's attempt at categorizing and marketing a particular brand of African American expression to make it more consumable to a nation that percieved these men as barbarians anyway. Neither Ms. Keys nor I can maintain that the artists that participated and reaped the benefits were ignorant and simply pawns in any long winded conspiracy theory, but the actions leading to the murders of Mr. Wallace and Mr. Shakur were not without corporate and bureaucratic components. 'Gangsta rap' is not a product of the ghetto like my fellow money making brother has so calously asserted, it is a caucasian american rolling stone editor's conception, a buzz word, to attempt to sell magazines, records, mtv ad space, what so have you... alicia keys simply understands that although gangsta shit may predate gangsta rap, gangsta rap, the latter was moreso about the exploitation of the the black communities for the benefit of corporate america, which at the time was grossly monochromatic. So before we chastize and attempt to correct Ms. Keys or the black panthers, allow just for the sake of argument the possibility that things are not as they seem; that 2pac and Biggie didn't just murder themselves, crack didn't just cook itself...blacks didn't just enslave themselves.
hahaha at the addendum. who wrote that?
damn, i thought it was you, ike
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