Issue date: 3/24/05 Section: Aggielife

Rylie Deyoe - The Battalion

Tupac Shakur is to rap what Michael Jordan is to basketball. He embodied everything that rap could be as an art form: drama and meaningful social commentary brought together in lyrical verse. But the days of Shakur are gone. It seems the golden age of rap has passed, and the art has been reduced, much like if dunking were taken out of the NBA. Now, whenever one turns to a hip-hop station, all that's heard is how rich these rap artists are. The repetitive lyrics constantly remind us of how much Cristal is being sipped in the club and how many stars are rollin' on dubs. Eventually, it gets tiring.

Not to say that hot beats and catchy lyrics aren't entertaining, but after a while of listening to people far richer than you brag about all the fun they're having and all the stuff they have, the entertainment fades into mild amusement. Eventually, one finds himself wondering why anyone would care how much Nelly's watch costs. The truth is, people will listen to what is playing on the radio, but if there were some more meaningful, original rap on the air, it is hard to imagine that it would not win out over all the Cash Money records being played. Today's artists must use Shakur's legacy to reinvent the rap world, making it meaningful again.

Another overplayed theme is artists bragging about how good they are at rapping. That would be similar to a columnist writing columns about how good he is at writing columns. Throwing in the occasional line about it would be OK, but it shouldn't be the main theme of every other column.

None of these objections to what is wrong with today's rap is completely absent from the lyrics of good, original rappers such as Shakur. However, Shakur's music was never dominated by any of these things. More importantly, he commented on important issues such as poverty and teen pregnancy in songs such as "Brenda's got a baby." In "Keep ya head up" he condemned the mistreatment of women and gave advice to those in the ghetto about living better.He also dealt with issues of death and imprisonment in "Life goes on." These social commentary issues are rare in today's rap music.

Along with some positive messages, he truly depicted his three-dimensional personality to his fans. He displayed the different aspects of his complex, sometimes contradictory identity, and his audience embraced him for it. Shakur is only one example. There are some other rappers who use originality to diversify the redundant world of rap, such as DMX, Kanye West or Talib Kweli, but for the most part, this powerful medium is being under-utilized.

No other form of music can come close to squeezing more subject matter and content into a three-minute song than rap, and every day, this young music genre increases in popularity. Rap music has the potential to be an extremely powerful tool in shaping the youth of America.

Plato once wrote, "When the mode of the music changes, the walls of the city shake." It is time for the mode of rap music to change. Hopefully it can fit the vision Shakur captured when he said, "My mission is to be more than just a rap musician, the elevation of today's generation if I can make them listen." And, when chromed-out Escalades and chinchilla coats go out of style, people are going to want something good to listen to.

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