Segway in Rap-Music Video

[Billfred]

There's no such thing as bad publicity.

As to rap music being bad...

Originally Posted by Col. Sherman T. Potter, 4077th MASH

Horse hockey.

Morals are a sticky thing, mainly because man seems to have used the phrase to death to cover everything from whether or not I should swipe my next pack of gum to whether or not two men or two women should be married. Since everyone (in a generic, the whole world sense) seems to back their personal argument by saying it's morally right or wrong, I'm going to create a new phrase: Beneficial to Society.

Helping a lady across the street is BS.
Buying a candy bar is BS (I'll explain later).
Stealing that candy bar is NOT BS, unless it's the only way you'll survive (the reasoning behind that is later).

With those rough guidelines established, consider rap music again. The sweeping majority of rap music, for better or worse, seems to be in favor of displaying items of extreme value (see also: Cadillacs, Mercedes), intoxicants of various types (see also: alcohol, marijuana), and extramarital sex (see also: ....yeah.)

Items of extreme value seem to function like this: You buy a $100,000 automobile. Mechanically, it is pretty darn close to a $30,000 automobile. Your extra $70,000 will eventually get used by multiple people, from the honchos making all the bucks to the average workers who get extra benefits during richer times. That, and chrome is purdy. So items of extreme value, as a rule, are BS. It's also BP (beneficial to the person), since your backside is riding in leather-wrapped comfort.

Consumption of intoxicants is still spending money, which puts food on the table from the producer to the store owner. That's BS. Used in moderation, some yield health benefits for the individual, which is BP and BS, since people will live longer. In excess, you've got short-term BS (you're buying more of the stuff) and short-term BP (you get a buzz), but you'll probably shorten your life, which isn't BP (you're dead), and is only partially BS (you aren't spending money). Intoxicants currently outlawed in the United States of America generally yield the same effect as legal intoxicants in excess.

Finally, extramarital sex. Without getting into any details, it is generally accepted as short-term BP. Done unsafely, you risk health problems that are decidedly not BP, but could be BS since you're having to spend money on healthcare. If it ends up with pregnancy, the birth is BP_n (beneficial to the newborn) but probably not BP_m (beneficial to the mother) due to the physical demands involved and neither BP_m nor BP_f due to the financial strain of eighteen years of clothes, medicine, food, and et cetera. However, that same spending is BS. (Note that this all assumes the baby is cared for properly. If he/she dies of neglect, it's neither BS nor BP_n, but is financially BP_m and BP_f. Throw in the general dislike for it in society, and it isn't BP for either of them in the end.) Done safely, you're still having to get the protection, which has to come from somewhere. BS.

Overall, viewed this way (which, now that I think about it. is the thought process in Brave New World), almost all of the above are BS. Some are BP, some aren't. Man was born with a brain and develops a priority order for things, which allows man to determine if he or she is willing to accept the long-term BP effects for the short-term BP effects (or lack thereof). Since children don't really have this, they get parental guidance. With that guidance, they learn that things are or aren't BP. BP or not, it normally is BS.

Therefore, I believe that rap music is by and large BS and on occasion BP. How you want to judge BS and BP is your own personal thing. Besides, there is good rap music (see also The Fugees' "The Score" or Will Smith's "Big Willie Style" or pretty much anything by Wyclef Jean).