It feels like FIRST or whomever it is that comprise “the powers that be” are trying to continue including ‘rap’ so as to seem to progressive and in tune with students, but are doing so without consideration for the history and purpose of the music.
All drug references are not bad drug references. It’s all a matter of context. Likewise with all the other taboo things that are so often saddled upon rap and hip-hop as the cause of their negative message.
These genres are borne from the stories and lives of some of those who have been most underserved by our education system and it seems disingenuous to try to sanitize them by ignoring that and playing only music which ignores their reality.
Of course, that said, I understand that nobody is going to listen to me. I just wanted to make mention of how weird this seems.
Ok, I am not going to lie. I went through my entire playlist which is 99% rap and I could find very few rap songs that had no cussing. Maybe that is just due to therap music selections that I listen to. I am just going to say this. It will be very hard to find any new rap music that isn’t radio edited that is appropriate to play at a FIRST event.
If you are fine with radio edits, just let me know and I can get you a HUGE playlist of new music that is pretty clean. Just PM me I suppose.
Not trying to be mysterious. The “powers that be” would definitely include the contracted event management vendor-ShowReady Events and a few others.
So what is the solution? I was at an off-season a couple of weeks ago, walking by the field and there was a song playing and the only lyrics I could make out were “crystal meth.” This event was webcast by NASA.
I believe I understand your point. One of the mottos I try to live by is “pick your battles carefully.” Another is “changing the culture is hard work.”
So I was thinking rap with “clean” lyrics was middle ground. But maybe not.
These days I’m really into techno and techno/rock and stuff like that – try searching for these songs:
Thomas Falke “Revolution On The Dance Floor”
Groove Cutter “My Shooter”
Control One “Just A Little Bit”
Ian Carey “Redlight”
Kevin Weg “Dead Radio”
:ahh:
I don’t usually go for techno but these are sort of like a wierd crossover between rock and techno/trance.
has a reference to illegal drugs in the chorus of that song though. I know there are songs out there that don’t have any issues, but it will be VERY hard to find them.
I don’t think it is hard to find rap that doesn’t have reference to drugs, sex, or violence. Finding them on the radio, is difficult. The problem is those songs and artists usually don’t have the same amount of energy or ‘sound’ that are good for FIRST events. I’m currently go through the almost 20 gigs of rap that I have, and it is a challenge to find songs that are clean AND good for competitions.
