Kanye West’s “Graduation” beat out “Curtis”
by 
Roberta on September 11th, 2007
Kanye West and 50 Cent have released their new musical offerings today, in the form of “Graduation” and “Curtis”. Fans of hip hop are all but tired of the gun-toting and women-bashing music that rap today has become. Not saying that Graduation is any sort of masterpiece, because it isn’t.
50 Cent’s violent lyrical content may have already jumped the shark, according to fans:
As much as I try to stay open-minded to different kinds of music, I will never understand — nor do I wish to understand — the appeal of rhymes that glorify gun violence, perpetuate racist stereotypes, and discuss women as nothing more than sex objects.
There are clearly millions of people who buy into 50 Cent’s version of cool, but I am not one of them.
Maybe if the beats were stronger, or the rhymes were more clever, or the songs didn’t all sound the same I would be more generous. But 50 Cent sounds like nothing more than an uninspired brain-fried gangsta whose time in the music business is well past its due date.
Is either album phenomenal? No. I believe that the fans are speaking loud and clear. Down with the violent music and we’re ready for musical empowerment via Graduation.
On a personal note, I do not like Kanye West’s music. He comes across as arrogant. I’d much rather fire up an old 50 Cent tune as opposed to listen to Graduation.
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POSTED IN: 50 Cent, Kanye West
5 opinions for Kanye West’s “Graduation” beat out “Curtis”
Sep 11, 2007 at 11:07 am
Kanye doesn’t “come across” as arrogant, he openly celebrates his arrogance. And 50’s not exactly America’s spokesmodel of humility either.
Sep 11, 2007 at 8:54 pm
A lot of people may say the same thing about metal but 99.9% of rap songs are about the same thing. I’m not trying to defame or “Dis” nobody’s talent but every rap song is the same thing in different words. Gang-bangin, money hustlin’, pimpin, and life on the streets. They say that this is the way they survive on the streets. Is that the life you want for your kids. Your son constantly watching his back cause he stepped foot on another’s street? Or how about your daughter being viewed as a hoe’ destined to be someone’s babies momma waiting for payment from a deadbeat dad. Do we really need to glorify this kind of lifestyle. I’m not saying that the rock star life is anything gracious but they don’t glorify being outlaws. Some live and learn and some don’t learn and stop living. Find something else to rap about cause it all starts to sound the same just like most metal these days, you can’t understand ANYTHING they are saying and you can’t hear the guitar over the constant bang of an over-volumed snare drum. Who cares what they are singing about, you have to read the sleave to translate and then you wonder if they are really singing that or just gargling with a mouth full of rabid hamsters……..im going insane…….
Sep 12, 2007 at 8:53 am
Scott,
I agree that rappers should be more creative in the messages that they are trying to convey. It can’t all be about violence, degradation of women, and guns.
Sep 19, 2007 at 10:32 pm
I agree with some parts of the outlook on rap, but in other areas I disagree, not all raps are the same thing in different words, because not all rappers are from the streets, there are plenty of good artist that get over shadowed by the hulking personas of the mainstream garbage nowadays, so I will not openly blame a person for judging rap because it doesnt have a good rep in this day and age, but I will say that there are many many rap artist today that stand for the positive and try to make a change with their lyrics.
and on another note, for all those people who criticize rap music for sexual and violent content shoul also judge television and movies for the exact same thing, for the fact that it is unfair to shun one genre of entertainment for negative content and then in the next breath enjoy a horror movie…it seems hypocritical….and for the record, this statement was only meant for the people that it applies to.
Sep 20, 2007 at 4:48 am
X, your absolutely right. Perhaps I’m a bit misunderstood. I’m not saying that rap should be all about the good things in life and my music, Metal has got a bad rep over the years too with bands that play and sing about gore, rape and torture among other things and I apologize if it seemed I was labeling the whole rap genre because I know there are rappers out there that do try to make a difference and I know the “Gangsta” thing is just a gimmick a lot of the time just as metal has it’s gimmicks. The rappers that try to make a difference are often shunned as sell-outs and fake-ass’s.
Now lets look at something a different way, television and horror movies are sometimes sexaul and a lot of the time violent, but music is the key to a person’s soul. Unless a person is completely insane they don;t try to mimic Michael Myers, however kids at a very young age are influenced by music and try to emulate their idols thats they listen to and see on BET or MTV. This doesnt only apply to rap it applies to all music, it’s just that a lot of rap glorifies it and then wonder why they have a bad rep.
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