Gangster Rap and... Christianity?

Believe it or not, this post might just be the most controversial of all because I'm challenging two things that many people hold dear: gangster rap and religion. There's a great deal if inherent satire in this, so please excuse it. I may be totally off the mark here, but I really don't think that I am. It's surprising how religion can really make anything worse than it is...even gangster rap.

If I'd reccomend any rap whatsoever, I'd certainly reccomend Greydon Square and Baba Brinkman for intelligent and thoughtful music. I don't like rap at all, but these artists are very good and give rap music a different name that popualr artists do on the radio.

http://www.babasword.com/ Listen to the Rap Guide to Evolution and the Rap Canterbury Tales!)

http://www.myspace.com/greydonsquare Say and Extian are very good!

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At work today, I heard the fusion of two things that I never thought would be possible: gangster rap and Christianity. I was amazed at the lyrics and how ridiculously terrible they were. Of course musical taste is subjective, but I think you'll have good reason to accept my claims of why Young Jeezy is terrible in both lyrics and music.

I'm against gangster rap because I believe that it portrays African-Americans and other minorities in stereotypical and racist roles, demeans women, uses massive double standards on the word "nigger/nigga/niggah/etc," abuses grammar, makes crime sound like a good thing, I believe it is very repetitive, and I simply just don't like it. I don't like the glorification of the "gangster lifestyle" that is being portrayed at all. Why is this an admirable thing that so many people listen to and love so dearly?

We get lyrics like these: The errors are identified by me as [sic], but I gave up after the first two stanzas because it's just so atrocious.

Hypnotized You Are Hypnotized [x4]
Now I Command U[sic] Niggas [sic]

To Get Money [x4]
Hypnotized You Are Hypnotized [x4]
Now I Command You Niggas

[sic] To Get Money [x4]

They Move To [sic] Slow When I Think To [sic] Quick

Thats Why I Flash Like Gordon Im [sic]

Light Years [sic] Ahead Of U [sic] Niggas

Im So Hot You Know Niggas Aint Cool
The Boi Get New Money Like The First Day Of School
Stay Fresh Like The First Day Of Class
20bricks N Three Choppas Sold In One Stash
It'll Cost Ya 40grand And Ya Gotta Pay Cash
Dem Blunts Burn Slow But That Paper Come Fast
The Garbage Man You Fuck Niggas Soo Trash
Im First Place You Fuck Niggas Soo Last

I walk through the fire, gasoline doors
I dun seen everything nigga, and i dun sold it all
New whips every month, nigga i dun drove it all
Pocket full of bread, nigga bet i blow it all
And then we go to jail, and think about it all
Nuthin else to do, so we ball till' we fall
Baby on the way, I'm just waitn on the call
Told her bring her her friends, we gon run through 'em all
Lets get it, she know what it is...

Sold those squares yeah I cooked them o's
Guilty as charged yeah I rock them shows
I can't even lie yeah i fucked them hoes
Trapped all day spent it all on clothes
Shop all day till the mall is clothed
Come back to the trap get my pockets swoll

Enter Jesus. It's quite odd that Young Jeezy talks about God so much, yet says he is going to Hell and then says that he only has one life to live. He then asks and expects forgiveness. Does God really endorse a person who glorifies criminal culture, stereotypes African-Americans as gangsters who love the lifestyle, and treats women as nothing more than whores?

Life is on the ground got my head to the sky
Smoked all day lord knows I stay high
Stay on top, lord knows I'm gonna try
A mill for the moment lord knows I'm gonna die
And when I get to hell lord knows I'm gonna fry
Woke up this morning so I'm still alive
Thirty six Os I sold them all for Five

Fresh out the block yea the work was hard
Ride with the top down so I'm closer to god
My PO telling me I need a nine to five
But I already got a job and that's stayin alive

Woke up this morning, I ain't see this coming
Should I even bust back, you ain't see me running
I hope heaven got a VIP line
Got some partners in hell that'll sneak me in the back door
You know I hate waitin in line

Expect the worst, but hope for the best
But you know how it is, amen god bless
I can't leave now niggas owe me money
My nigga on the westside owe me bout a dub
And my partner with a few, shit he owe a nigga too

It was some Kanye sh*t tryna touch the sky
jesus walks god testify
I'm a legend like John we're ordinary people
you only get one life there's no sequel
So you can't take nothing for granted
and don't take granted for nothing

So i gotta thank god for waking me up this morning
And giving me this air to breath
Jesus lord forgive me for
every Gram i sold
every glock i popped
every rock that i...

Pour out a little liquor, bury me in some Evisu jeans
A USDA top and a throw-away glock
Bury me a G, nothin more nothin less
When I get where I'm goin, I just gotta be fresh

She Addicted To The High
Im Addicted To The Cash
I Almost Put My Hands On Her
When I Caught Her In My Stash
How Could I Do Her Like That
Lord Knows Im Wrong
Why Would I Do Her Like That
Lord Know She Strong

There's Two Types Of Niggas
Preditor And Prey
Im A Preditor
I Pray 3 Times A Day
Mat Lue Once Said
One Day U'll Have Kids
And How U Gon Explain
All That Stuff U Did