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In groups of four make a research work , referring to: what you like/dislike about rap; which rappers you know; what you know about them. Don't forget to include a few images and all your sources in your work. I've listed some web sites that will help you, but first read this text: THE CHANGING FACE OF RAP Rap has a history of violence, murder, controversy, sexism and high drama. Rap was popular the minute it came out. People liked the cross between poetry, singing and speaking. The words were honest, simple and angry. Rappers were a welcome alternative to all the romantic “I just called to say I love you” singers who had been in the charts for so long. Rappers had huge amounts of “attitude”. They talked about being black and living in the ghetto. They boasted about how clever they were and how women adored them when they wore too much gold jewellery. Can you imagine if Bryan Adams had appeared on stage in a pair of jeans that were so big they were falling down? People would have died laughing. If he'd worn his boxers so high up that they were almost up to his chest, he'd never have sold another record ever again. When rappers did it, people copied them. People loved them. Nobody even laughed at rappers for the ridiculous names they were choosing. Rap songs became more forceful, not only did they refer to women in an insulting way but they also sent another message to their listeners. Many songs contained the word “nigger” (an extremely racist name for black people). Rappers found an ideal way to rhyme with it- trigger. It was loud and clear; society and the police had been unfair to them and their ancestors and it was time to take revenge. Rap was now “officially bad”. Many rappers started their own record companies. Their aim was to be shocking. New rap heroes emerged. They had fought the system, broken the law and were scared of no one. The notorious B.I.G. (known also as Biggie) had experience of crack deals before record deals. After he left prison, he started rapping on street corners with his friends until someone made a tape and B.I.G. became big. For the first time in his life he had the money to do it. He often said the only way out of the ghetto was rap. Tupac had had a similar life to Biggie. They should have been friends. Instead they became bitter rivals. They belonged to different gangs. Tupac was shot in his limousine after a Mike Tyson fight. The most popular theory was that Biggie had killed him. Biggie might have guessed revenge was on the way when he wrote “I don't want to live no more. Sometimes I hear death knocking at my front door!”. Biggie was at a record party when the inside was sprayed with bullets from a machine gun. Biggie was dead at the age of 24. Tupac was 25. After these deaths, people's attitude towards rap have changed. Coolio, who had recently changed his image, mentioned in interviews that “he does the vacuuming at home and he is thinking of writing a recipe book”. He wouldn't have mentioned that two years before! In www.cegep-lanaudiere.qc.ca |
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