Lupe Fiasco offered the internet some words of wisdom on a lazy Sunday afternoon. In a series of Tweets, the Chicago rapper associates violence in hip-hop as a factor for violence in society. According to Lupe, violent lyrics are a tacit acceptance of using force in everyday life. While appearing to accept that rap is not the sole contributor to society's problem with violence, Lupe suggests that rappers who use their music as a platform to talk about guns and killing need to come clean and take responsibility.
While Fiasco does not call out any rapper by name, he does use a Dr. Dre quote from "Guilty Conscience" to imply that even if someone's reality is rooted in violence, that does not mean they should continue to promote violence or justify the content as an example of "art imitates life." The tweets take a tangent as Lupe has issues identifying what song the quote comes from.
At the end of the rant, Lupe suggested a feeling of desperation, indicating that the rapper feels that this is ultimately a futile attempt at attempting to facilitate change.
He has now gone on to retweet people questioning his sincerity in such a rant, after tweeting about Higi, the company for which he serves as creative director, and about his "brother" Lewis Hamilton, who finished third in the Malaysia Grand Prix. Hamilton is facing a firestorm at the moment for not allowing his teammate Nico Rosberg to finish ahead of him in the race, and is apologizing for this decision in the media. Read the Tweets below.
Q: Does violence in music promote/cause/support/influence violence in the world and society? A: Of course it does.@pro_orangetree
Violent music (and all violent media) effectively says its "ok" to be violent. It provides positive reinforcement for negative actions.
If you rap and make violent music then own up to it. Stop hiding behind "art imitating life" as a way to evade the guilt.
"How the hell you gonna tell this man not 2 be violent?, Cuz he dont need to go the same route that I did"-Eminem & Dr. Dre "Choices"
Sorry..."Bad Meets Evil"...
"Guilty Conscious"...sorry...lol
correct title of the song aside, U know what I meant!The issue stands that violent music puts violence into this world one way or another.
It creates the atmosphere that violence is an acceptable means to an end. Agree or disagree doesnt really matter at this point honestly.
But to not even acknowledge the possibility that violent music has even the most minute effect on violence in the world is frankly bullshit.
"@2kind_by_design I dont think we can honestly, not completely anyway. BUT I do know that you cant address violence with more violence.
Ive made violent music. Done violent things. Most my friends are violent. Lived in violent neighbors. Seen violence first hand.
A certain point you start to get tired of it. You ask why? why is it like this? what is causing this? why is this ok to live like this?
Then you turn on the news and see that a 12 month old got shot in the face by two teenagers in Georgia for no reason at all.
Then you hear a song on the radio talking about "shooting everyone in sight"...bad times man...fuck...
you may not give two shits about the next man and his troubles and thats cool with me...live you life...but I do and most people I know do
but dont sit there and act like high ass inner city murder rates are just falling from the sky for absolutely no reason...
everything plays a part...EVERYTHING. Take responsibility for the part you play. motherfuckers can at least start there.
yeah I got issues. My hood aint been safe in 25 years! At the point now u can die for nothing. just random death and disregard. tired of it
I know you don't hear me. I guess its the LAST desperate act of a desperate man in desperate times. On one...peace...
Oh yeah shout to my brother @lewishamilton for the impressive showing at the Malaysia Grand Prix!!! Well Driven! #GoHam...
Oh yeah shout to my brother @lewishamilton for the impressive showing at the Malaysia Grand Prix!!! Well Driven! #GoHam...
