> Jeru really disapointed me. The man is a hypocrisy personified.
and Gen said:
> I'm glad I chose to pass on this concert. De La bores me and Jeru sounds
> positively abhorrent. "Da b!tches!" ??? I give no respect to a man who
> raps about that kind of stuff.
Woah, there seem to be some major bad vibes flying around here, partly
due to some misunderstanding. First off, I'm not reacting to the fact
that you didn't enjoy the show - that's totally cool and up to you. I
must say that if Jeru was throwing attitude out like that, I would be
pretty pissed. As it was he was pretty chill in la. I also can't
pretend to defend the use of old raps as "freestyle". If you heard it
before, you heard it before. Wish it weren't true though.
Instead I would like to focus on the man's lyrics. We can probably
agree that a lot of rap focusses on puerile materialism, womanising
and violence. But I think it is a mistake to find jeru guilty on
all the above counts. I prefer to hear his work as an essay not a
series of quotes. I don't think of him as a hypocrite (very
few of us, not I at least, could claim to be free of all hypocrisy in
our actions). Instead, his rhymes consistently mock the rap
scene in clever ways (Re: One day ... on wrath of math where he tells
the story of how puffy combs held hip-hop to ransom, or "the bullshit"
where has a dream that he is a stereotypical tough talking rapper but
suddenly wakes up and pronounces "I don't ever want anymore of that
bullshit").
Da bi***es is a clear example of a person misunderstood. He even has
a follow-up on wrath of math that tries to explain his psoition. I
personally have no problem criticising a group of people that will
pimp themselves for fame and money, regardless of their gender,
race, or religion. They might even deserve a little disrespect.
We can quibble over the political acceptability of using the word, but
that's not really the point. He's abusing the people, after all.
I guess I like the guy. He has a sharp sense of humour, great beats,
and a fine voice. More power to him. It makes a change to hear some
intelligence in rap.
peace
bijan