Why entrepreneurs should love rap music | Hacker News Reader

Why entrepreneurs should love rap music

areallybadidea.com

28 pointsrandall21 comments

I have to say, I'm more a metal-head than anything... about 90% of the time, I want Metallica, Iron Maiden, In Flames, Children of Bodom, Testament, Slayer, Mötley Crüe, Queensryche, Dimmu Borgir, Cinderella, Exodus, Incantation, Nuclear Assault, Overkill, Megadeth, Finntroll, Gamma Ray, Kamelot, Stratovarius, etc. playing...

But the other part of the time, I freely admit to having a soft-spot for gangsta rap, especially Dr. Dre, Eminem, 50 Cent, Tupac, Obie Trice, Snoop Dogg, N.W.A., etc. There is definitely an attitude present in that music that is very motivational in it's way. Like the article says... there's a lot of focus on hard-work, on success, on achievement, etc. Something like "Till I Collapse"[1] by Eminem gets me as fired up as anything.

Then again, that's not to take anything away from a song like "Keep Your Eye on the Money" [2] by Mötley Crüe, either. \m/

[1]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUwXJODauxs

[2]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kGOCcjPqnY

Not to mention that even the most gangsta of gangsta rappers still have songs on their albums that are focused on telling stories in a poetic way. Even 50 Cent, who's one of the most anti-intellectual of mainstream rappers, writes lyrics like "God's the seamstress that tailor fitted my pain."

People write off hip hop, and it's really unfair. Sure, there's a lot of crap out there, but if I wrote off rock music because of Fallout Boy and Creed, I'd be seriously missing out.

Wow, these "why entrepreneurs should..." articles weren't very to good to begin with. Now, they are just outright silly.

Agree. Post is mostly just authors personal opinions, marketed as the truth.

Example:

>> or redneck issues (country).

Country music has a lot of texts about hard work too.

I think the author has a good point though that rap is the only genre that really embraces commercialism/capitalism/enrichment in the lyrics themselves (albeit usually mixed in with a criminal fantasy element).

This was more my tongue-in-cheek personal opinion than a recipe to startup success. Please feel free to like other types of music.

I'm just gonna drop this here, because I think it will appeal to the geeks here.

Last Emporor's "Secret Wars", which is a fantastical tale about a battle between his favorite emcees and his favorite Marvel comic book characters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SPjPGeYlMU

What if I had the power to gather all of my favorite emcees With the illest comic book characters and they became arch enemies? Inconcievable? Unbelievable? Yet as wild as it seems The Emperor and Stan Lee would coach the two opposing teams

You might like this, storytelling rap EP about apocalyptic human-AI war (from the robot perspective...)

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=240817

Somewhat ironically, the best rapper ever (IMO) is a staunch Marxist. Although I guess he's also an entrepreneur. I'm taking about Boots Riley - completely disagree with his politics but can't deny the unparalleled quality of his two masterpieces:

Me and Jesus The Pimp in a 79 Grenada Last Night

Fat Cats, Bigga Fish

I don't get quite the same sense from most hip-hop, though I agree it does have some of the elements he lists. But there's a vague anticapitalist current buried in even the bling-rapping, where capitalism is seen as a rigged game that you have to figure out how to beat, whether by legal means or otherwise.

It all makes sense now! "Move bitch, get out the way" must be about surpassing your competition!

I listen to so many podcasts that it's hard for me to fit music in. I've started listening to "This Developers Life" which mixes in some nice music though.

http://thisdeveloperslife.com/

He's making a good point. However, he's overlooking the crystal clear fact that psytrance, a subgenre of electronic, is about transcendence almost above and beyond everything imaginable in this particular universe.

This is on heavy rotation over here

http://listen.grooveshark.com/s/Hustle+Hard+remix+noshout+/3...

Here's a rap song I'm sure everyone of us here will like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdS3WVYr834

No one should "love" the kind of rap music that the author is talking about. The love and worship of "gangsta rap" has the black community in shambles.

> The love and worship of "gangsta rap" has the black community in shambles.

Do you seriously think "gangsta rap" is the cause of ills among blacks? Do you similarly blame violent video games for teen/young adult violence?

I'm not entirely sure the comparison is valid. Music tends to have a greater cultural influence than video games. Not to mention having real-life idols that proscribe to the 'gangsta' way of life. In fact, I think its people rather than the music that causes the deeper cultural influence.

Admittedly, gangsta rap that describes the ways of inner-city life is an artistic statement. I suspect the parent was talking about the certain sub-genre of gangsta rap that eulogizes and encourages a violent life.

To answer your first question (even thought you asked the parent), I can't believe that music of any form can possibly be the cause of ills among the black community.

"I can't believe that music of any form can possibly be the cause of ills among the black community."

That's because you aren't black, and you wouldn't know. It's not just music, it's the mainstream media as a whole, and how they depict a successful black.

The black youth don't get to see the successful black businessman, lawyer, doctor or politician. The ghetto drug dealer who became a rapper and now has millions, athlete, etc. are the only success stories we are fed with, on a daily basis.

I KNOW for a fact that it's a major cause, if not THE major cause. The glorification of thug life, drug-dealing, fast-money has mis-guided youth following the wrong foot-steps. I know because I was one of those, and I see them everyday. They don't just listen to the music as a preppy white kid would, they LIVE by the music, and get thrown in jail or murdered.

The thing is, everybody takes something different from it. I mean, as a white boy / cracker like myself, I listen to gangsta rap, and I don't feel much - if any - compulsion to try to literally live out most elements of the lifestyle portrayed. But the attitude, the energy, the mentality, the aggression, those things - in the abstract - do connect with me, which is why my white arse has no problem saying I'm a big fan of Tupac, Dre, Eminem, Snoop, etc.

Same thing with metal, in a way... a lot of the metal I listen to glorifies violence, satanism, drug use, and all manners of excess related to sex, alcohol, etc. But while I like sex, alcohol and rock & roll as much as anybody, just listening to metal doesn't mean I'm going to start worshiping satan and go burn down a church.

That said, I don't disagree with your overall point, to the extent that I can understand it as a white person. It reminds me of what Richard Pryor said about how black youths screw themselves by refusing to speak proper English, study hard in school, etc. Unfortunately when a black man says something like that, he gets labeled "Uncle Tom" and what-not. :-(

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