Yes. You read that right. And no, it’s not like how you’re thinking.
Hip hop music has been feared and labeled as the source of at least a dozen and a half of society’s ills: wanton hypersexuality, materialism and the ugliness of American consumptionism, senseless street violence, steering kids off of the path of legitimate careers, and the list goes on and on.
I’m not here to defend hip hop. I can name dozens of lyrics that I personally do not agree with. On the other hand, I can recite lyrics that made me feel proud of who I am and where I’m from and to believe in the fruition of unrealized dreams.
I was a kid who came to age in the late 1990s. You know, before hip hop became more mainstream. Hip hop culture informed the backdrop of my adolescence and young adulthood. I grew up alongside a broad cross-section of super smart and successful people – who’d go on to Ivy Leagues or become MDs or industry leaders – who have very catchy, yet problematic rap lyrics of our youth solidly burned into our brains. At the same time, other contemporaries have ended up in not-so-savory life situations, and the music of our formative years is laid to blame. …
