Boy I get into everything, don't I?

RADICAL IDEA and maybe I'm wrong. My son, who is now 22 and beautiful and intelligent has always enjoyed the rap hip-hop music of today. I've taught him to think for himself, not to be a sheep. (sometime I'm sorry for that ;-) At first, the obscenity, and unclear lyrics in the song were not too appealing to me. He took me in hand and made me listen tellin me that these songs told stories about a people in pain. I listened to the singing and began to understand his point of view. When I told him I couldn't always understand the words, he wrote them out for me. Talk about a bad 'rap'. The song called 'Cop Killer' is not about killing cops. It's the story of growing up in a culture of fear. Having to have a gun when you're a child just to survive. About seeing you brother killed in front of you, seeing your friends die from drugs. Not being able to walk down the street. About perpetuation of this pain. What happens to a person when he kills a cop. He's dead. One way or another he's dead. This is the way too many people end up in this culture.

Again, RADICAL IDEA- Maybe this is "folk music'. Just different folk. Some of the kids see this. Maybe it's hard for them to go back to the gentle way we handled telling stories after they've seen this pain.

It's not music..it's poetry to a beat. And sometimes a very creative use of the english language.

I'm sorry if I've offended anyone. I'm just an old rather liberal beatnic. I also remember my parents reaction to Elvis.

Can I have a response to this? I've come to respect the opinions I hear here. I like to know if I'm wrong and why.

Anna

PS. We don't have rap at our jam sessions. My honey's not as liberal as I am.