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Originally Posted by HOOT
But before rap and even pretending it wasn't here, do you think that would change the way a 15-25 year old black man from the ghetto would live his life? Do you think things would change at all?
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I think that if you look at your last statement you would answer your own question. "Either ya slingin' crack rock or ya got a wicked jump shot", thats pretty simplified. There are far more choices then that. But to me a lot of the rap lyrics break down to "Money, bling, chicks" = "Thug life mentallity"
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Originally Posted by HOOT
And I came from a family who shows things can change, going from wel-fair when I was born to now having almost anything I want.
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Believe me I'm not denigrating what you and your family have done, but isn't the success of your family based around good decisions, and in a free society those decisions are available to everyone. Rap for the most part dosen't glorify making good choices, it glorifies what to us are bad choices, but it resonates in some of the poorer communities because Rap and Hip Hop equates bad choices with money and woman and all of that other stuff. Or how violence = best possible choice, and a violent lifestyle can lead to power and glory and wealth.
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Originally Posted by HOOT
However I don't think America (goverment, corporations, ect.) gives people an easy chance to change. Its all about profits. Companies want to pay their employee the least amount as possible and the government could change that by raising min. wage but they don't because big business is who pays to get them elected.
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I think thats really simplistic and makes for a easy system of blame. Should the government do more to lend that helping hand? Sure but the government like any other business doesn't have infinite resources. But the government doesn't take away the freedom to make choices. Sure the easy money is in slinging crack, or robbing liquor stores. And its harder to make money at a minimum wage job, but the fact that people make those bad choices to me is more of a fault of the instilled value system then an evil government trying to keep people down. Frankly its in the best interests of the government for people to make the right choices because more success stories = more tax revenues which = more money to spend.
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Originally Posted by HOOT
You would have to work 3-4 full time jobs to survive in some of those states because of their min. wage laws. Going to Florida quite a bit I have met people like bartenders and waitress' who working in a "Tip Based Job" in Florida intitles you not to the min. wage of $6.40 but to $3.88/hr. In Alabama they don't have a min. wage, and some people work for $2.15/hr plus tips. That is just crazy!
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Sure but how is that the governments fault? They have to balance the ability to business to viable so that those jobs are available. If your suddenly paying waitress' $20.00 per hour in salary, then its unlikely that anyone is going to be eating out and those businesses are going to fail. Same with menial labor jobs.
I'm not venting at you or anyone in particular, but it drives me crazy that its become so popular to blame external sources with an inability to improve your lifestyle through choices.
Frankly, for the most part, public schooling is available to everyone, A university, or collge or technical school education can be subsidized, and for the most part, the entrance requirements aren't that hard. It comes down to choices, and the hip hop, rap industry is flooding out garbage about the glorification of bad choices, and frankly, its not up to the government to clean it up, its up to the artists who are taking the easy road by bringing the level of the glorification of a thug life style to a socially acceptable and cliched level.
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Originally Posted by HOOT
Give someone a fair chance to survive and I think you would see a huge change. I think Notorious BIG said it best on how they about their choices - "Either ya slingin' crack rock or ya got a wicked jump shot"
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I think there is a fair chance for everyone, but people fail to grab onto it.