Is not "hip-hop culture" notorious for reveling in violent behavior, including but not limited to guns?
Uh, no. That's a really, really, narrow and offensive view of a culture.
Offensive or not (in the eye of the beholder), it is a fact -- yes a fact -- that "hip-hop" has, for some decades now, surrounded itself with a ..."mystique" of sex, guns and violence. One need not look very far into the hip-hop milieu to find people wearing large gold charm necklaces with Tec-9s hanging from them, etc.
You do not find this kind of attitude/demeanor in, say, pop music, or country music, or classical music. Hell, you don't even find it in heavy metal music.
I did not say that ALL hip-hop does this. I am aware that there are strains of hip-hop that attempt to foment a "stop-the-violence" attitude. But that has not historically been at the core of hip-hop (or "rap," as it has also been called).
Beyond that, don't really think (although I know I used the term) that hip-hop can accurately be called a "culture." We use that term, but we certainly use it
loosely. A culture... that would be like "Native American," or "Eskimo," or "French," or something like that. When some set of an overall population, all with sometimes disparate characteristics, engage in a particular genre of music and/or lifestyle, I dare say that does not make them a discrete "culture." If I started to wear my hair in a peculiar style and wore peculiar jewelry and spoke with an affected, manufactured "dialect," and I get a bunch of friends to adopt these affectations, that does not mean we deserve legitimacy as a new "culture."
I do not believe that calling "hip-hop culture" to task for its history of violence and misogyny is "offending a culture." This is not like I went making fun of the Eubange tribe (sp?) for wearing those discs in their lips. When was the last time you heard of rival
country musicians offing each other in a studio, and then all clamming up even though they all know who did it? By contrast, hip-hop artists seem to drop like flies. Tupac Shakur... ODB... there are more but I just don't remember the names. Hip-hop may be trying to clean up its act, but that doesn't change the fact that its history
does lie in violence; and those people you see around town trying to emanate a "hip-hop" persona ARE often trying to intimidate with the implication of a violence potential.
The problem is that you equate "hip hop culture" with violence and criminal activity. Maybe you should hang out with some black people or something, I don't know, but come on. Do you realize what you're saying? You come off as incredibly, incredibly prejudicial here. Not saying you are, but this is the sort of mindset I take issue with.
Violence is as violence does. If hip-hop culture did not have a well-known history of violence, I wouldn't have cause to equate it with that, now would I?
I haven't said anything demeaning or insulting directed at blacks, nor any racial group. You can take issue with what you perceive as my mindset all you like, but I am just as entitled to view my world by my own terms as you are to use your own terms.
You know nothing of how many black people I know and associate with. Not that I need to defend myself or my open-mindedness here, but I know and like and am friends with numerous black people -- as well as asians and hispanics. So there goes any theory that I am bigoted.
Bigotry is about hate.
Prejudice is about expectations.
If I see a group of black guys with their pants around their asses, standing near a low-rider Caprice on a corner in a bad section of town (How do I know it's a "bad section of town? Because I read the paper every single day, and the articles keep talking about all the murders that have been committed there in the last few months, that's how.), I don't
hate them, but I sure as hell feel I am entitled to make decisions like checking that my car doors are locked, or not making direct (challenging?) eye contact with them... based on what my experience and knowledge tell me about guys who "look that part" and act the way they're acting.
Are you telling me that no matter the "profile" of a person you see, you'll treat everyone the same, as far as defensive preparation on your part is concerned?
-Jeffrey