Comm 451 1st blog

Crunkology Week 1 blog
In the first week of class we discussed many of the ground work topics to help define what the "crunk" culture is really about. We were assigned to watch a clip on a congressoinal hearing about hip hop which invovled David Banner and Michael Eric Dyson. The individual attacking hip-hop seemed to not tolerate the complexity of an artform which reflects the reality of the complex society we live in. He seems to want artists such as David Banner to abide to the binaries which we discussed in class. He seems to think if Hip-Hop music is not blatantly and completely positive then it only does harm. It is either negative or positive. Like most have already pointed out other forms of art in media such as movies that depict a story which articulates negative aspects of society which when placed in music are deemed too provocative or too vulgar. In fact movies that encompass such aspects have often been praised and even given Academy Awards for picture of the year such as Silence of the Lambs, The Departed, Godfather I & II, and many others. It seems movies get recognized for their complexity and underlying messages.
Therefore I feel if a movie can include aspects of a harsh reality to depict a story more realistically in order to deliver the theme more strongly then why can’t music? If you have a war movie that wants to depict that environment realistically you are going to have soldiers killing, drinking, smoking, and using heavy profanity because that is a realistic depiction of what that situation is like, if you were to censor that then it would make the art unrealistic and unappealing. People need to also stop thinking music created negativity, a lot of critics point out sex, violence, and drugs advocacy in Hip-Hop music but there are widely accepted mediums where these have been delivered through before rap. Playboy magazines were around before rap, Violent movies like the Godfather or Scarface were around before rap, and Rock N’ Roll stars were known substance users before rap. People need to stop expecting entertainment to raise children, that is what you have parents for.