Hip hop identity in a township reality. - Poppunt

youths to imitate their idols, but as time passes, they will discover their own
character and find what distinguishes them from other people; this is just part of
growing up.
Bad Luck listens to a lot of American hip hop for the same reason as El Nino does,
accessibility. When we asked if he thought that gangsta rap had a bad influence on
hip hop culture in general, he disagreed totally for two reasons. Firstly, rap music is
about expressing yourself, and secondly, when gangsta rappers threaten to kill
someone, that is creativity. It is not because they say such things that they are
actually planning to do it, it is just a way of expressing a certain feeling; it is just
music.
“Like in hip hop you express yourself / so those cats expressing themselves /
if they say I will shoot you or whatever / that’s just they show their creativity
by that / obviously they not gonna shoot you / it’s music it’s just music.”
He stresses the responsibility of the listener in this situation. The possible negative
influence depends on the way the listener interprets certain lyrics and from which
angle they approach them. He refers to the case of the Bible, which is for him an
ambiguous book: how people read it depends on their interpretation of the stories.
Most hip hop CDs have stickers on them with warnings such as ‘Parental Advisory -
Explicit Lyrics’. Children are thus not supposed to listen to them, so it is also a
responsibility of the parents as to whether their children have the opportunity to
listen or not.
On the subject of American rap music, Shaun is interested more in the
underground rap artists than he is in the commercial ones. He only listens to
rappers like 50 Cent when he goes to a party or to relax. He is not interested in the
content of the commercial rap songs, since they are only showing off about girls,
cars and houses and boast about how many they have of all these. He is living in
Gugulethu, so he does not have any of these things, which means he can not relate
to the life they are living and it is not relevant to him.
“But to me 50 Cent ain’t giving me messages / like some commercial hip hop
there they all about chicks like wine houses big cars / that thing doesn’t relate
to me.”
He thinks that gangsta rap is really promoting the gangsta life, and is thus not only
portraying it. That is the reason why people are so negative about gangsta rap,
because it is portrayed as something acceptable, as if there is nothing
fundamentally wrong with it. Young people might want to live that kind of life,