Parental Advisory: Explicit Content

This week in class, we listened to a medley of lovely, extremely creepy, mostly explicit music.  Now, many people would consider this rather unpleasant to listen to, yet in my opinion, it is none other than just another excellent way to express ones' self.  A few groups are absolutly amazing at doing this, including none other than everyone's favorite Gangsta rap group: N.W.A., two other extremely important and influential rap groups: Public Enemy and The Beastie Boys, and two rock groups: Nine Inch Nails and Nirvana.  

Lets start with the rap:

Both the Beastie Boys and N.W.A. relied heavily on samples (especially on Paul's Boutique...it really is quite cool though) and most evident, vulgarity.  N.W.A.'s most famous hit "Straight Outta Compton," is probably one of the most explicit songs I know, yet that's the beauty of it, it grabs your attention and almost forces you to listen to what the song is trying to say.

Although not on the album Paul's Boutique, my favorite Beastie Boys song is, not surprisingly "No Sleep 'Till Brooklyn."  Not sure really what it is about it but one of my favorite aspects about it is the whole point of the music video is to make fun of the 1980's hair metal scene.

Another song of theirs that I can somewhat stand is the 12 minute medley: "B-Boy Bouillabaisse."

Although Public Enemy wasn't as vulgar in their lyrics, Chuck D is still one of the most talented rappers of that time, if not all time.  They were much more political minded in my opinion than other groups like N.W.A. for example. One of my favorite songs of theirs is "Bring Tha Noise."

Although the rock bands of the late 80's and early 90's didn't rely on explicit language as much to get attention and listeners, they had their own creepy way of bringing in audiences, just as Kurt Cobain did with Nirvana and Trent Reznor did with Nine Inch Nails did in their tenured careers.

So besides feeling like I was just hypnotized, I also realized that it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be before listening.

All in all, the use of the explicit language and disturbing lyrics and in some cases videos, all of these artists have one thing in common.  All are trying to receive some sort of attention so they can explain their thoughts to everyone, even if no one wants to hear.

-Brooks Gonzales