Hip Hop has always been controversial, and for good reason. When you watch a children's show and they've got a Muppet rapping about the alphabet, its cool, but its not really hip hop. The music is meant to be provocative- which doesn't necessarily mean obnoxious, but it is (mostly) confrontational, and more than that, dense with multiple meanings. Great rap should have all kinds of unresolved layers that you don't necessarily figure out the first time you hear it. Instead it places a dissonance in your head. You can enjoy a song that bumps in the club or has witty punchlines. But great rap retains mystery. It leaves shit rattling in your head that won't make sense till the 5th or 6th time through. It challenges you!Which is the other reason hip hip is controversial: People don't bother trying to Get it. The problem isn't the rap or the rapper or the culture. The problem is that so many people don't even know how to listen to the music!
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