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Yet, I still have faith. As a Violence Preventionist and Rape Crisis Advocate, I can't tell you how many college men and "professional" men I run into that believe being a man means being "hard". Men who believe that being called a girl is the worst insult. Or how many men view rape perpetrators as innocent because "she wanted it".

I see in this in hip hop but I also see it in our everyday media, from movies to magazines, from billboards to music, from advertisement to radio. As a Latina woman, I know the box that society wants to label you as, and I have been told in various ways to stay in my place. I have seen many young girls and women be content with being a sex object and justifying it as their personal choice.

As a mother of a teenage son, my goal is to raise a responsible adult who learns that his identity isn't in anyone's hand but his own. I hope to see more of this awareness for men and women. New York I'm a student from MT.

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MY teacher is a friend of yours, Chad Robinson. I watched your documentary on hip-hop and i really liked it i showed the truth of how hip-hop is dieing every other day and that it isn't anything like it was. So this is what i think about your documentary and i respect you. Thank you and i hope u don't stop on till we can all change hip-hop back to the way it was at one point. For too long we have sat back and let the Hip Hop culture which primarily focus on more money, more hoes sex , drugs and cars influence our youth.

I want you to take a look at www. This brother focuses on hip hop culture and the prison mentality of our youth with the baggy pants, flip flops and socks, and the long hair. As a people, if our youth continue to be persuaded by the hip hop culture, we may end up in slavery again each generation is getting weaker.

We have to understand as people we need to stick together and get as much education as we can, so we can be the ones owning these major corporations. It time to take a stand!! Seeing your documentary has really made me excited because there's other brothers out their that feel the same way I do. It really hurt me to hear some of the up and common rappers say the industry won't accept them if the rap righteously. We need to take it to the radio stations and the newspapers. We can put an end to this!!! They want us to continue to brain wash each other with its ok to take drugs and killing each other.

With AIDS running rapid in our community, black males in prison, homosexuality, and black men with white women. Where will that leave the black race? I am a white woman dating a man of color for over two years. I agree with the difficulty defining his masculinity especially dating me.

I think woman as a whole have been the objects of discrimination and abuse since the beginning of time. Those girls in those videos need to look at the bigger picture of who they are showing themselves to be. I notice my son's attitude about woman as sex objects, black or white. The images are of course, creating a low vibrational sexual stimulus that brings all of us down, men and women. Higher vibration is love and respect, lower is fucking and non-feeling animalistic primitive male domination. I believe that is dark energy. You can rap about many positive things, like a way out of the dark.

Yes that stuff sells cuz it keeps all of us down. To hear my niece of 5 yrs old singing It makes it very hard for my daughter of 16 to get any respect or treated like a person I was expecting this discussion to come up and I will try to make more people watch it and reflect upon these issues. I have the utmost respect for all black, brown, and white women and men who went through enormous sacrifices to bring equality, especially during the Civil Rights movement.

I keep thinking that those who produce and consume hip-hop forget the past, do not understand how much they harm all black community, how much pain and suffering they bring to humanity, and how little respect they show for the sacrifices made by their ancestors. It is very sad. The main hip-hop icons such as: How are people supposed to respect them and see them as more than just a "nigga", when that is exactly how they are portraying themselves. How are people supposed to respect women when they are the first ones to degrade them?

Why is the percentage of black women being raped higher than that of a white woman? Because I don't see white women in those videos "backing that thing up" or shaking "what their mamma gave them".

Women have to respect themselves in order for other people to respcet them. When they stop walking out of their houses in underwear, maybe then, men will not grab them as much. As for the men, they try to portray a facade of being the big macho man who kills and "bangs" women. How sad that in this day and age, they really believe that a thug is a real man. Will Smith is a very well know hip-hop artist. He is not hard core, but he sells records. He keeps his music clean, he has a beautiful wife, beautiful children that I'm sure look up to him and people buy his records.

There is something really wrong with the hip-hop culture. If enough artists get together and take a stand, millions will follow. They just have to decide what's more important. Making the almighty dollar, or setting the record straight about their culture As a concerned parent that listens to today's Hip Hop, I felt it was necessary for my 12 year old daughter to watch this movie and see from whence Hip Hop has come and what it has evolved into.

While Jadakiss is an artist that I listen to, I was deeply sadden by his and the artist aspiring to breakthrough Hip Hop's doors with then nonchalant or the "it is what it is" attitudes about what is going on in the industry. Jadakiss posed the question "Who sits at the top of the record companies? But does that mean that we as African-Americans cannot aspire to own our own companies? It sounds to me that we've assumed the role that was layed out for us hundreds of years ago, slavery. I challenge every young artist out here to stop the slavery attitude and start the uplifting attitude.

I thank you for the opportunity to comment on your program. I am a 42 year old black man who has three young boys and a lovely wife. I have a strong religious lifestyle and I have seen the hip-hop culture creep its way into the church. We embrace our young people in church and give them room to express themselves in praise toward God, but I feel after seeing your program the hip-hop culture is not what we want our young people to accept as ok nor offer it as a sacrifice of praise to the only living God. Although hip-hop may be expressing real-life situations in song, I feel this society and the American culture has glorified sex and violence to often and to no end.

We take no responsibility for giving ourselves over to depravity. Bravo for this bit of useful media and hats off to you my astute brother and friend. Today the system is the same as it was and more years.

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We as black people are still not giving the respect that we should,especially through the media. I went to a counter, grabbed a bite, and sat near some kids. I say kids, but I know if they heard themselves described like that they would've gotten upset. They were kids trying to front to fit themselves into an imaginary image of manhood. It was the image of manhood that your movie touched upon. I heard these kids call each other n-gg- and it broke my heart. I saw the other adults doing their best not to hear the kids.

I thought about talented brilliant Jaimie Foxx explaining to the mass media earlier in the year why he is a n-gg- and that if you're the wrong color you can't use the word. All of it spun up into a negative ball of everything that isn't a man. I saw a man on the subway on my way home. He was with his wife. His baby girl was crying in her mother's arms. He took the baby girl, whispered something in his wife's ear. She fell asleep, and the baby stopped crying.

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I don't agree with the position that hard core thug music is the only thing that can or does sell. That agreement is expressed with my pocketbook. The major labels cannot be expected to do the right thing anymore than Jaimie Foxx or Dave Chapelle can be deterred from dropping n-gg- in their speech. The only thing that can be done is to bring alternatives to the marketplace. Luckily, we're living in an age of micromedia. It could be all over again, with the next Tribe Called Quest about to emerge from some obscure corner of the Internet.

I just hope that someone reaches those kids and all the others like them I saw at the diner a few weeks ago. Those kids need to know that they aren't n-gg-s, and that their highest aspiration shouldn't be to be a n-gg- but to be a man. Neal is right on with this documentary and spotlighting hip hops concentration on the negative aspects of Black life in America.

I wish he had also highlighted the fact that it all stems from the "Willie Lynch" theories that have lived and prospered in the Black community since his prescriptions for "keeping" Black Americans where White America wanted them was used. It probably, and one day will be recognized as the "wonders of the world".. His theory has worked so very well, that it even made to to national television on a daily basis.

The Thug mentality, distrust of each other, color lines, etc. Look not only at the way Black Women are portrayed, but the long hair, light skin, etc. So so sad and quite possible most irrevocable conditions, that can not be overcome. We talk about it, change, but will it ever happen? What do you think? The best I have ever seen on the topic.

I will only add that the masculinity displayed in hip-hop music which I am a lifelong fan of is a direct reflection of a definition of manhood that was given to us What needs to happen for any of this to change is men of African descent need desperately to re-define themselves by looking at themselves through the lenses of traditional African culture.

We are not European I so miss the hip-hop of the late eighties, early nineties, I say it all the time. I remember listening to MC Lyte saying "I don not touch until the third or fourth date and maybe a kiss on the fifth or sixth Now, we have our young ladies trying to make sprite cans disappear in their mouths. We have set ourselves back so far with this new rap music. Imagine how life for us would have been like right now had Public Enemy, KRS-One, and other type conscious MC's gone mainstream and created more of the same. Imagine a Black America that never knew gangster rap.

I wish you would have interviewed or highlighted some of the new female rappers who present themselves in a misogynistic way. That stat has been bantered about ever since as an indisputable stone cold fact. Adding to this myth was a conversation that took place at the Gavin Convention in San Francisco around the same time when Ice T during a panel discussion stated that anything above his average thousand record sales was attributed to white kids. But is this really true? About the closest one could come was by estimating based upon record stores in a particular area, but that would yield far from accurate results.

To start in many areas, folks from different ethnic backgrounds would frequent stores that were in sections of a city dominated by one race. For example, if you came to Berkeley in Northern Cali, you found three main record stores up near the UC campus in an area that was statistically majority white. Folks from all over including predominantly Black South Berkeley and majority Black Oakland shopped at those stores. How were statistics based on purchases by race kept?

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The words Hip Hop and Rap are ghetto terms of laziness. It is with the VA, it is with private psychiatrists, and to downplay that I think ignores reality…medication that works oftentimes has very severe side effects…but that is the reality of medicating. A long one really. It is certainly worthy of increased airplay, possibly required watching for high school and college audiences. I walked away from the television saying wow! I love artist of the old school and those with a conscious message.

It is exactly what all of us, black, white, and otherwise need to see and discuss. Please take back your place in educating the world on True Hip Hop. Hip hop, like every other aspect of life has its faults but we cant blame it for all of America's problems. Movies have just as big of an impact on kids as music. If people don't agree with the music simply don't listen to it. And even though I;mm only 19, i understand where people are coming from when they say that true hip hop doesn't exist anymore but that is far from the truth. Hip hop has just evolved dramatically from its roots and a lot of people cant except that.

I recommend to see the documentary about Fabela Rising. It shows how rap music can also be a positive influence in youth. Hip hop is not one of my prefer music type because the message it sends is very negative and trivial. It is now crossing ethnic backgrounds and new artists are developing more of it. I believe that music is powerful tool that can either deceive violence or induce violence.

In a documentary of the fabelas in Brazil, called Fabela Raising, a true leader and artist has used the power of music to encourage fabela residents to choose a better life than drugs and gangs, which has deteriorated for decades the suburbs of Sao Pablo. The messages in this rap-like music are completely positive oriented,and it was said on the documentary that the death tool per year was reduced in the fabelas because of this movement. Chicago,IL I completely agree with all the points that were set forth during the documentary.

My initial perception when Hip-Hop came along was the negativity of the poetry in the majority of it I can't call it music. I know that there are a lot of issues to be angry with, as I am also a member of a minority, but all negatives with no positives is like a ride in a vacuum back in time. I really feel pity for the what is represented by mostly male rappers, because they too are like the appointed black overseers in slavery that assisted in the cruel treatment of their own kind.

And this was for a pittance, purely for their own reward from the slave master. It can only be funny to non-minority members that, as with minstrels, that we cannot possibly do anything else. It's hard to believe that they can genuinely think that they are inspiring, even to their own offspring, to unite for a better future, as evidenced by the violence and misogyny in their "lyrics". It showed that the hyper-masculinity that is displayed in hip-hop music can be reversed.

Many of the young people interviewed throughout the film show that the youth who listens to hip hop is intelligent and understands that much of what is shown throughout the media is sensationalized and for pure entertainment. This was some really powerful stuff The scary thing about that is the greedy corporate world makes billions of dollars off the back of these Africans.

I don't think they will go down without a fight. It actually hurt when I heard one of the rappers say he was just trying to feed his daughter. Nothing personal about the young man but his educational background appears to be limited. He could better help his daughter by making full use of his ability to pay for higher education for himself. I would hope it will be a mind opening tool to afford him true freedom, and success.

To the white woman, I feel you but we don't share the same experience. I could go on, and on but for now thanks for the show. Ac Sedona, AZ Dear Brothers All, I am a 70 year old knowledgeable and wise woman who has also lived in African and participated in most of the contemporary Black struggles. We went through hell and sacrificed much for the benefit of the generations that were to follow. I was so proud when "rap" was introduced by the Watts Poets and other riots of African and U.

Black culture and its role in the mental liberation of all of the peoples of this generation. And I am still proud and welcoming of "rap. I am sure that it will one day, along with blues and jazz be considered classics to future generations. However, like the early blues musicians, most of the contemporary misinformed, desperate-for-recognition and greedy-for-wealth "rap" artists have submitted to being pimped and are selling messages and images that are far from what the courageous, independent Watts Prophets envisioned.

I would like to thank Byron deeply for sharing his and others' insights and introducing critical dialogue that is sure to begin opening the eyes and minds of young misdirected artists and help them see their personal responsibility in demonstrating our true greatness as a people. Black women are mostly longing for the manifestation of the Christ spirit in their sons-to-be-men. This means righteous, disciplined, compassionate, kind, scholarly, respectful loving that is, the qualities of VIRTUE like the Samurai. We cannot BE these people by following the decadent mainstream U.

Since, in fact, Blacks are the true spiritual and social trend leaders of the U. Thank you again and may God direct and bless us all. I told myself it deserved a chance to be heard past the introduction and turned it back to watch to the end. I like what this movie has to say. Hip Hop is the latest money maker for the music industry. The industry has been this way for as long as I've been listening to and buying music.

If something new comes out and sells, all the other labels want to duplicate it and to get played, you have to fit the money making mold of that time. I see my students doing the same thing the artist and fans in this movie were doing and that's to redirect the blame for their actions.

If they put it on the cd's then there must not be anything wrong with it The funny thing is, I see a lot of teachers at my school with much the same attitude. This is a great film and I the film maker did a great job with the subject and in keeping his cool in making the film. By the way, I teach film making at my school and the videos my students put together reflect what they see as normal from the music they listen to. I want to see more of this kind of investigative work into the diverse culture we enjoy. There is too much acceptance of violence imposed on us from the top levels of this society, and I think we all need to make our voices heard in this respect some how through music and the arts to bring true healing to the world.

The film is terrific. This is an example of the kind of conversations we should be having between and among the sexes, between and among the races. Men and women, Take back you power. Men and women, Take back your creativity. Make your own music. The corporations are just playing you now. Remember the line, it's all white buyers after copies sold. I recall reading Alan Lomax's The Land Where The Blues Began in the early 90's and feeling strongly then that the lyrical content of early blues --and in fact West African and Caribbean folk music-- could have been lifted directly out of their time, set to a hip hop beat and performed with no one the wiser.

The recurrent themes, metaphors, and topics have not changed in a century and a half. When Robert Johnson sings of a woman "squeezing [his] lemon till the juice runs down [his] legs is he really that far apart from Nelly? I thank you for this intelligent and brave look at the culture. It raised question about what we as people are willing to systematically accept.

Where is the diversity and individuality in the lyrics amongst these rappers who claim to be artist? Today's genre of rap music devalues women and the videos promote stereotypical images of blacks to other ethnicities near and far. The hip-hop culture embraces creativity, promotes awareness, and challenges the norms of society. I love the hip-hop culture, but I'm disturbed by the new generation of wanna be artist who are complying with industry to taint what the pioneers of hip-hop started.

Thanks for taking a stand. Hip-hop personifies what is the simplest and lowest form of human behavior; that might is right. If you want to succeed, you need to be the biggest and baddest MF'er on the block. The scariest thing is knowing that a whole generation of kids are buying into this ideal and foregoing the much harder and more socially productive path of education and critical thinking.

It is hard to imagine that society's negative problems wont escalate when one listens to what is being preached in these songs. The most memorable shot in the film for me, was the black executive from BET walking away from a question which asked him to defend the indefensible. How ironic that he just ignored the question, just as our society ignores the damage this music is doing to the next generation. I have traveled to many countries and can't help but compare them to the USA.

These countries actually have the courage to not allow this "freedom" to make money at the cost of poisoning minds and wasting young lives. America is an interesting experiment in freedoms, but the early results, while not conclusive are pretty frightening. But that's ok, because someone is making a lot of money, right? We sacrifice the many for the benefit of the few and call it freedom. It's the American way. Well, I guess a man is entitled to make a fool of himself if he is ready to pay the cost.

I am a white high school teacher for at-risk teenagers in Pleasant Hill, CA. Most of my students are white who listen to hip-hop and wear the baggy clothes, grillz, and the bling. What advice would you give to a teacher who wants to teach positive, non violence lessons, whose student population eats and drinks hip hop continuously from the headphones of an iPod?

Watching the women accept it was heart-breaking. My love affair with hip-hop died in the late '90s once the music lost it's diversity of voices and became singularly focused on a lifestyle I could not understand or relate to.

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Fortunately for me, other genres of music eventually filled the void and communicated the emotions and experiences that were closer to my own. Rap music is definitely a reflection of the culture. And increasingly the culture is becoming a reflection of the music. At some point someone must accept the responsibility and commit to change.

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When will mothers refuse to let their sons think, speak, and behave in such a callous and destructive manor. While Jadakiss and other rap artists hide behind the prevalence of violence in movies and popular culture, he fails to acknowledge that the average movie patron does not emulate the destructive behaviors witnessed in fictitious violence. The problem is that many rappers and their fans blur the lines between fiction and reality. The real loser is the community. It takes NO talent to recite bad street poetry to the annoying beat of a computer.

Rap just shows how musically ignorant the general public is. These are the same people that believe Simon Cowell is qualified to judge a singing competition. It's about catchy hooks and choruses that suck you in and the song topic doesn't even seem to matter.. It's all production and most of it is garbage. I hope you produce more documentaries on similar topics; Keep up the good work and good luck. A true hiphop head is someone who is one with these elements of hiphop. Byron big up on your film too! Rap music has hurt the black people and the way people perceive them.

The few people who have tried to change things they were put down and bashed. He tried and the black community turned on him. Like I tell people when nigger becomes a bad word that comes out of everybody's mouth and not just whites. And,there is showed more positives out of the black community than bad, then the stereo types will more and likely fall. I actually forwarded the email to a few of my boys. I believe that I'm an educated man but I must say, as a black man, I've been conflicted too. This mostly came about due to my upbringing and speech. Some may judge me but, more of us need this info.

That it is there seems to be actualized in always moving with a 'crew, posse, or my boys'. They ought to think on that very seriously and what that screams about their 'manhood'. The woman-hating and all other 'haterations' speak to a dissolution of self, and the corporate suits who CONTROL every aspect of the business although the relatively few Black folk hat make millions THINK they are in control would not allow Nelly's "Tip Drill" video or any video of that ilk to fly with White women in them.

Kincaid sums it up for me in these words" Aside from the, valid ,issues discussed in the film: Like any male creature, the flashier the feathers , the larger the roar, the bigger in stature,the stronger, more agile or the more power you possess it becomes more likely for one to woo the female, become the dominant member of a herd, tribe,troop, pod etc. I think that with the rise of hip hop's popularity West coast, borough vs.

The flashier, more violent and provoking the lyric the more it asserted ones dominance and manhood. Like any competition it is the winner who gets the the prize Those who get submitted are losers, until they can re-assert themselves and gain "respect". It is an ancient and primal part of male nature.

This is not to say that we cannot act otherwise, or that competition is not healthy, but social conditions foster the extreme competitive instinct, many times for the wrong reasons. Self confidence and self respect have alot to do with calming the ego enough to know that you can be dominant without making it obvious. To be able to surpass the limitations of competition and gain true freedom.

It is like martial arts philosophy It is certainly worthy of increased airplay, possibly required watching for high school and college audiences. Although it would never happen, BET should air it at least once a week in prime time!

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Hurt puts up to a generation that views life, and their role in it, through the distorted lens of gratuitous sex, violence, and wealth-at-all-costs is the by far the best statement I have yet seen regarding these societal issues. And it is not, as the film pointed out, simply a "black thing". Mega entertainment corporations run by white men and suburban wannabe white kids also contribute to this severely damaging continuation of the degradation of black achievement and possibilities.

Yet the clueless entertainers innocently proclaim that they simply provide what the people want - entertainment. They are victims as well. As long as music, movies, and video games aim for the lowest common denominators of taste, we shall see more of this stuff, unfortunately.

Where are the Last Poets when we need them?! One thing that I really wanted to comment on though was the portion about women being objectified and the footage you showed of them being pawed at while walking around in bikinis and such. I wanted to point out that it doesn't take a bikini to provoke a man to make inappropriate comments to passing women. I live in NY and regularly get harassed by men as I walk to work whether i'm dressed nicely and i don't mean provocatively or in sweats, sneakers and a t-shirt.

I understand that the footage was showing an exceptionally extreme situation of how men respond to women based on what they're taught, but it also suggested to some extent that the women were provoking the response by dressing as the women in music videos do. I guess what I would have liked to see in that segment was an example of how misogynist behavior exists in everyday situations as well, and quite frankly how upsetting it can be for women to have to keep their heads down and try to ignore it, as reacting can put you in a potentially dangerous situation.

I've had men follow me calling me 'bitch' in the past just for showing on my face that their comments were unwelcome. Keep up the good work, I look forward to another opportunity to watch this piece. It is awesome how GOD used you to expose things about the Hip Hop culture that are so true, it cannot be denied. I have been studying the hip hop culture as of late so that I can better convey the message of Christ to the youth. Our youth has been blinded by so many of the images that this culture presents, it is hard for them when they go into their early 20's to adjust to reality.

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It goes against every moral foundation that was established by the generation before us. It truly has caused countless deaths, teen pregnancy, and degradation in our society. I believe that it is time for the true rappers ones who truly know Jesus , to take back, and reestablish the foundation of the hip hop culture, and bring back godliness to it. I look forward to seeing more from you in this area. I pray that GOD gives you the boldness and the wisdom to continue to manifest the truth of about Hip Hop. I saw it on PBS last night and was proud that something like this was put out.

I did want to see more of the conscious rap that's out there. There was Mos Def, Twalib, and Jada; but what about the southern side of things, the Dungeon Family has a number of artist above the mainstream. Anyway the film said a lot of things that the masses should hear. I date a graduate from Spelman and she gave me new eyes on this same subject, so we would debate a lot. Without getting into a long discussion males should realize they can let go of old ideals and still be a man.

Women should realize the rule the world and without them a man struggles. Blacks should realize their worth and know they can be successful by learning more. I thought I was alone in my thoughts about the downward spiral of rap. I remember back in the day, when there was an empowering message through the spoken word. Now it has become a "spitting" contest. I feel sorry for the young people today. They don't realize how they are being used and the fact that instead of being men, they are merely puppets. Not only are they puppets for the record execs. How many of those rap artist and I use the term loosely , have stock in Timberland or Nike?

Yet, they have made millions for their "masters". On the issue of the B's and H's - how in the world do those young ladies think that they are not the objects of those vile terms? Seriously, the girls at the Spring Bling had the nerve to think that they wouldn't be touched, grabbed and raped. They had no clothes on!

Again, perpetuating the sexual images of slavery when we were paraded around at auction. I could go on and on - please show this film in schools. I am an older woman with teenage sons, and I feel it is of the utmost importance for any who cares about our youth especially our young men to see this documentary. Our future is indeed our men, if they are lost or destroyed what does that say for the women and children. Hurt has done a good job of handling the relevant issues involved, and said a lot of what needed to be said.

It would seem that after nearly 20 years of gangster rap, that the youth would have created a new music by now to replace it, as our generation created rap music itself in the late 70s as a reaction to the saccharine Black music of the time. Surely there is a new creative youth scene out there somewhere that has not yet gained mainstream exposure that could replace gangster rap.

One minor correction on your time line though, the first commercial rap record was not the Sugar hill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" as commonly believed. Those of us who were teenagers at the time and historians today will tell you that the Fatback Band's "King Tim III" actually came out a few months earlier around August Canton, Michigan I'd like to thank the film maker and all involved in producing and airing this program. It helped open my suburban eyes why my two sons are angry in verbalizing their feelings and one's extremely negative attitude towards females and anyone he doesn't like.

However, I question the references of older rappers such as Chuck D to a time when rap was more socially responsible. Some of the "political" hip-hop was itself known for its use of anti-semitic and paranoid themes particularly the work of Public Enemy. Sums up many of the opinions I've had for a while now. I only wish that films like these wouldn't limit thier scope to simply shining light on the negativity in hip hop. Yes, today's mainstream music leaves a lot to be desired but for every ignorant stereotype of a rapper on Top 40 and BET, there are plenty of talented an well-meaning emcees making music on the fringes.

I feel sorry for people like the above poster who says he abandoned hip hop after the golden years of the early nineties -- he's missing out on a lot of good music. I know many people like that. Friends I grew up with in the hip hop trenches will now look at me with shock if I tell them De La Soul has a new record out. We took good hip hop for granted 15 years ago because the music was much more diverse on the airwaves and easier to access. Not you have to dig a little deeper. The question was asked, "What can be done to make room for more diverse types of music? Don't give up on hip hop.

Don't allow huge media outlets to be your only reference point for music. Get on the internet and find the kind of hip hop you want to listen to. Visit websites and artist's Myspace pages. Go to record stores and listen to artists you've never heard of before. If you find out an artist you used to like back in the day is doing a show in your town, buy a ticket and support. Buy and don't illegally download albums from independent labels. All these things send the message that the audience for alternative styles of hip hop is still out there and encourages artists to keep creating. A ground like Little Brother may never get the kind of rotation as Young Jeezy but as long as they're able to make a living doing music, hip hop will be all the richer for it.

Also, it's important to realize that hip hop has been around for a while now and we're seeing the first serious examples of generational divide. Those of us in our 30s really shouldn't expect to relate to the kind of stuff being marketed to kids today. That's probably the way it's going to be from now on. Don't have an account? Update your profile Let us wish you a happy birthday! Make sure to buy your groceries and daily needs Buy Now. Let us wish you a happy birthday!

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