EPISODE 298 "THE YOU IN YOUR MUSIC: ART DEPICTING LIFE"

The trial of Lil Boosie has reminded us that if one thing separates Hip Hop artist from any other genre, its the fact that those artist more than ANY others are held to a separate standard when it comes to their lyrics. What a Hip Hop artist says in their music is scrutinized 100xs more then any other, no matter WHAT they say. If they rap about murder and drugs then most people assume they are "Bout Dat Life" (whatever that means!) If they rap about "positive" things they are expected to be nice people in person. How much of an artist true personality and actual lifestyle is portrayed in their music is SOMETIMES the key to their success. In a genre where keeping it real is damn near a commandment, its shocking how many artist who are successful don't play by this rule. As a hip hop artist you often hear "music is a refection of life" thus if an artist is poor and living a hard life you won't expect them to be making "life is great" the theme of their content. The question is how much of YOU should you put in your music? When you think about it, IF Lil Boosie did commit a crime and raped about it that would seem like a REALLY bad idea, until you consider his fan base is full of people who think "he is the realest rapper alive" because they feel he is "Bout that life". Good or bad the Hip Hop artist is expected to put as much of THEMSELVES as they can in their music, and if their real life isn't that interesting, then they damn well better be able to tell the story of someone else life over a beat and make it believable. Where does this leave us? Who knows..maybe one day the MUSIC will not have to match the PERSON as much as we think in this genre. Or are we already there?