Glamorized lifestyles of booty, sex, drugs and big P-I-M-P-I-N-G in today's rap music take a turn for the worst. According to recent statistics, revealed by the Associated Press, rap music sales dropped a whopping 21 percent from 2005 to 2006, and for the first time in its 12 year history on the Billboard charts not one rap album was among the top 10 albums of the year. The report also stated that a recent study by the Black Youth Project showed a majority of youth "think rap has too many violent images". In a poll of black Americans by The Associated Press and AOL-Black Voices last year, 50 percent of respondents said hip-hop was a negative force in American society.
Rap insider Chuck Creekmur, who runs the leading Web site Allhiphop.com, says he got a message from a friend recently "asking me to hook her up with some Red Hot Chili Peppers because she said she's through with rap. A lot of people are sick of rap ... the negativity is just over the top now."
The article is indeed chilling and amusing in parts as hip-hop star David Banner expresses that his music is what he feels most Americans want to hear and is a depiction of society; reflecting the problems in urban communities. But let it be said that most rap consumers are white also and they may not be buying the material as much because they now see the consequences of the negatively-portrayed genre.
Many people are calling rap music the new "disco". Even though disco music never really died, the popular fad of it did and has now been replaced with other sub-genres including dance, techno and house music. Many predict this could also take place in the realm of rap music. And with popular rapper NaS scoring a hit with his controversial album "Hip-Hop Is Dead" - many may label him a modern prophet. It's not dead now...but according to sales, he apparently can predict the future. If this is the case, we probably won't have to worry about Oprah embracing rap in the future.
Thanks Aima for the story.
