(1) Nathan 2/25/2008 2:54:00 PM
Was this piece about hip-hop?
I find it interesting that this lecture is seemingly entirely about rap and hip-hop. Certainly you'd agree that messages regarding sex and substance abuse are routinely found in all genres of music, from pop to rock to country western. Furthermore, just as some movies are violent and and degrading, some hip-hop music is violent and degrading - but that doesn't mean all movies and all hip-hop is violent and degrading. There are plenty of socially concious and uplifting hip-hop artists out there, including Matisyahu, an Orthodox Jewish rapper.


(2) Dvirah 2/25/2008 2:40:00 PM
Content, Not Style
It's easy to rail at styles of music one doesn't like oneself, but that misses the point. The same message can be sent in any style (try reading the translations of some operas!). So I agree with Rav Salomon that we should know the content - ie words - that our children are absorbing. There are Jewish singers in every style, even rap and hip-hop, who sing about tradditional Jewish themes such as performing Mitzvot & learning Torah. One could gently direct one's child to an appropriate singer in the style that child prefers.


(3) MalkaL 2/14/2008 7:14:00 PM
Music teacher vents!!!!!!!
Its interesting to note that CD's have labels indicating if the music contains explicit language and content. Would you permit rated r movies or music in your home? Forget the parnet-child dialogue! Leave this kind of music out on the street where it belongs. Parents should explain that it hurts them to listen to this kind of music and therefore it cannot be played in their homes. Todays music is more than Elvis' "Blue Suede shoes" Its musical porn, children are exposed to sexuality through music at a very young age! I have been exposed to this kind of music when trying to get an idea of what my music students listen to. I was shocked!!!! The rhythm and music is hypnotising and the words... you could just cry from the vulgarity. None the less that was the last time I'D ever go down to that level. Bring on Elvis or better yet the miami boys choir!!!!

(4) Gayle 2/14/2008 9:30:00 AM
Rap and Hip Hop are not Music...
they are just a bunch of noise with no use at all! The only message it gives our kids is be a criminal,be a druggie, drink and have no respect for women much less other human beings!
Music is a key role in education and can be used for good and bad! Look at all the "stars" today Brittany Spears,Madona, and all the negative messages they send to our kids! They should all be banned from the media!
When will kids have a childhood again if ever? Something to think about!


(5) Leiby Burnham 2/12/2008 10:23:00 PM
What a great piece.!
People today try to defend rap by playing the race card and saying that it is a part of the urban culture, but look what kind of urban culture it promotes! Forty years ago, an African American singer sand "Don't Know Much 'Bout History," the point of which was to show how hard he would work to get A's so that he could win the heart of a girl. Today, rap artist regularly sing about degrading women, treating them like objects, and glorify crime, felonies, and drugs. Looking at the urban landscape it is easy to see just how much those messages are being absorbed by their societies.

Let's hope people start taking more interest into what is being drilled into our children's minds all day, every day!


(6) Anonymous 2/12/2008 8:11:00 PM
to Steve
Good point, but tangentially related. It's important to address the challenges of the neighborhoods producing these lyrics by giving them some tools to help themselves.

However, it seems that video was addressing the rest of us, and how we allow such music to influence our families. The difficulties of the rappers' situations do not excuse us from closing our eyes to the potential such degrading lyrics have on our own lives.

The two concepts are not mutually exclusive- we can help them, while protecting our own sanctity and dignity.


(7) Nechama 2/12/2008 6:39:00 PM
WHat about Shlock Rock???
There are good Jewish rocker and rappers out there. What about Shlock ROck and Etan G? Check them out at www.shlockrock.com


(8) Dorit Polzer 2/12/2008 4:26:00 PM

Thank you very much,Mr Salomon!

And many thanks to the commentors as well - you enriched and encouraged me to be causcious about the children in our vicinity!

Shalom, Shalom!!

Dorit


(9) ruth housman 2/12/2008 3:41:00 PM
rapt about rap
Hi, I am a poet and I have been listening to some of these lyrics as presented by some very talented young poets at venues local to the Boston area like Beyond Words, a place run by "kids" and supported in "kind" by agencies committed to helping young kids get off the streets, gain self-confidence and self-worth. This is a bookstore with a difference.
There is a remarkable spread in this genre as in any genre and I am saying this is a poetic form which deserves its own serious attention. These kids are very good. Their command of language is often awesome, and they are speaking about issues that are not necessarily about the promotion of sex, drugs and illicit behaviors, but rather, out of a culture of pain, a culture of neglect, a culture of discrimination, and a culture of hope for a better future. I am saying it's not exactly what you are writing. Sure, there are those young people who are angry and they are spouting violent words. But they are not the only ones doing rap and I am saying that this is a cultural phenomenon and truly culture, namely an art form that is having its day. It will not go away and it deserves a place in the pantheon of poetry itself. There are poets who speak out and rap is a very, in your face, rhythmic form that is truly, at times deep. Sure, talk to your kids. Dialogue with them. The world is big enough for us all and there is also a reason to have awe and respect for some of these most talented young people.


(10) Chana 2/12/2008 2:30:00 PM
Good parenting
I do agree with Rabbi Salomon; as parents we have to be aware of what our children are infatuated with and guide them, advise them, be there for them and ....hope for the best.
Music changes all the time, like trends in clothing and hairstyles. It was the influence of Madonna when my daughter grew up; we went through all the Madonna clothes and not to forget the Madonna hair. But it passed and we all survived, although we did have some tough times with it.
The lyrics of the rap music disturb me terribly but hopefully we will be able to direct our children in such a way that they understand not to take these words to heart. My experience is the more we critize their choice of music, the more we "rock-the-boat" and stand the chance to have arguments about something that they care about, simply because it is in fashion and because their "best" friend listens to it.



(11) Gary 2/12/2008 1:36:00 PM
Urban Jews too
I just want to say to Steve that not all Jews live in the suburbs. The Jewish population of the U.S. began in New York City (as New Amsterdam) and the largest population of Jews in America live in Brooklyn, NY, part of the inner city, where in fact Salomon practices psyciatry. Conditions in most of the innercities (of New York anyway)are not all that horrific. If they are Jews experience the horrors as much as anyone else. Poverty and violence is a marketing tool sold to suburban children the way the wild west was once sold to a nation already tamed. It's a gimmick.


(12) Marjorie Mazel Hecht 2/12/2008 11:59:00 AM
popular music is ugly
Popular music is intentionally ugly and designed to degrade the humanity of the musician and the listener. This was true of the music of the Baby Boomers, the parents' generation. An active approach to the problem is to expose children at a young age to classical music.


(13) Char 2/12/2008 10:20:00 AM
Children need guidance and protection
Yes, their music needs to be censored. When they live at home, they must be taught to abide by parents' rules. Music is very influencing, otherwise no one would listen to it -- it can be relaxing as well as provocative to do good or do evil. The last thing teenagers need to have on their minds is "sex". Parents need to be much involved in the lives of their children through activity and dialogue -- questioning their viewpoints and bringing in guidance that nurtures and not crushes the spirit of the child. Children are more vulnerable to reach out to those things that hold promise if they don't get their needs met at home. Love, respect, Bible reading and prayer can go a long way, as well as a listening ear and compassion for what they face today -- temptation is far greater than when we were growing up.

Let's help them make this a better world for all our sakes.


(14) Chanan 2/12/2008 10:17:00 AM
what about sexual innuendoes
what about sexual innuendoes ...granted rap and
hip-hop mentions drugs and alcohol over and over again...but what about its sexual inneundoes...and what about the kids who listen to rock music which does talk wayyy more about the girl/guy than it does the mind altering substance...i think that shud be addressed as well


(15) Max 2/12/2008 8:47:00 AM

Every generation dislikes the music of the younger generation. Attempting to censor it never does anything besides further the gap between the generations. Remember when parents furiously tried to ban Elvis? Everyone needs to calm down and put things in perspective. If you don't want your kids to act like the music they hear, then teach them better yourselves.


(16) elaine 2/12/2008 8:39:00 AM
Just Say NO
I t is part of a parents job to say NO. I do not want you listening to this becasue I do not think it is good for you. I do not think this message helps you to be a better person so I do not want it to contaminate your soul. There are good musicians doing Jewish friendly material and that should be encouraged. If their "friends" are listening to junk then encourage new friends. Friends should halp make a person better and all the more so parents.


(17) elizabeth k 2/11/2008 3:52:00 PM
many problems
Drugs and alcohol are the problems? Why is it so hard for people to wake up and listen to the explicitly sexual innuendos made in this "music"? We are living in a world where "loving" another person means just physical attraction, and where women are almost required by these rap artists to flaunt their bodies innapropriately for their own pleasure. The filthy references are very clear, yet even young girls are listening to this materialistic, chauvinist trash. by looking at the lyrics of a rap song from the top 40 charts, it is clear that every lyric gets more vulgar. how do people tolerate, let alone like, this garbage, excusing it as liking the "beat"?


(18) Steve 2/10/2008 11:25:00 PM
Understanding
Few American Jews live in the inner city neighborhoods which Rap and Hip Hop emerged from. This music expresses what life is like in these areas, the music is a form of therapy. If the lyrics are horrifying its because life in these places is horrifying.

There is a reason this type of music did not originate in white middle class Jewish suburbs.

You can't make the symptons go away without addressing the cause.




(19) hershy 2/10/2008 9:33:00 PM

A gantz yur purim!! L"CHAIM


(20) American Sabrah 2/10/2008 8:31:00 AM
The denigration of women contained in the lyrics of rap music.
Most of these lyrics contains innuendo, makes references to cop killings and sexual violence coupled with the most vile profanity against women correlating to the escalation of violence, murder, and assaults against women which also begs us to ask where is the feminist movement on this issue? Why are they suddenly so silent and where is Al Sharpton, the contendor for censorship on hip hop? He had a big mouth to throw Don Imus off the air for his derogatory comments about female Rutger Basketball players but is absolutely nowhere to be seen or heard about these rap star divas.


(21) Rosen 2/10/2008 8:02:00 AM
bad influences
It's important to remember how bad of an influence that these rap stars have to the youth, particularly/especially those who dropped out of school early and went on to make millions of dollars selling lyrics with bad influence - not the right message, since education is more important and influential than profits. Profits are generally earned under the right circumstances of legitimacy, hard work, and honesty.