Hip-Hop Hooray!

During my time at BYU I've noticed a few things about the music genres people generally listen to — or rather, don’t listen to. I find that a large percentage of the people that I come across don't have a high opinion of "hip-hop" or "rap" music. Granted, there are some people at BYU that are an exception to this generalization, but not many. This topic is one that has intrigued and vexed me for quite some time. I feel that hip-hop has a lot to offer and I would like to explain why I think people should give it a fighting chance; I'm not saying that everybody needs to like it, because we all have different tastes, but just give it a chance. I find the bad reputation hip-hop has received is generally unwarranted. However, I can understand how hip-hop may have received such a bad reputation. A lot of the most popular songs of the genre have featured a lot of cursing accompanied with base, materialistic, and derogatory lyrics. I, however, would like to point out that these songs don't represent hip-hop as a whole. Furthermore, I find that many of these songs are often misunderstood because that are taken out of the context of the culture or general mindset that created them; some songs' lyrics may even literally be taken out of context by the listener as they turn off the piece or get out of earshot without listening to the whole message the artist is attempting to portray. I also feel inclined to note that hip-hop is not alone in producing profane material. Almost all genres produce material that lacks a certain candor. A good percentage of hip-hop music has a lot to offer in the way of instrumentals and thought-provoking lyrics that aren't profane in the least. However, these offerings can only be recognized by someone willing to be daring enough to look past the genre’s bad reputation and give the music a chance.