but the thing with the clipse is this sense of amorality. yeah youve quoted lines here and there and thats great, the clipse do occasionally do something other than simply offer us a glimpse of this fantastically opulent coke utopia but youre ignoring the vastness of all the other things they talk about in relation to the drug trade which are basically the lavish after effects of doing drug deals.
but it IS a coke fantasy. the clipse, rick ross, jeezy et al, they let you live vicariously through their drug tales. i shdnt really put them all together as they all deal with the subject differently but your thing is that you seem to be saying ALL hip hop artists that cover coke/drug dealing ALL deal with it in this panoramic way, when unfortunately they dont. not every rapper talking about serving fiends on the corner is covering crack selling with poignancy or a three-dimensional worldview. im not saying they should have to either, but you seem to be saying that by default, this is what they are all doing, when IMO that isnt the case. fine, we get some lines here and there scattered about jeezy and clipses albums that hint at some remorse, but we also get a hell of a lot more lines about all the greatness that selling drugs can lead to. and all too often theres not much mention of the downside. which is fine, it can be powerful stuff, i dont expect them to deal with every single aspect, i doubt all dealers have a conscience, but im not going to pretend that these guys do, just to fit the liberal viewpoint of rappers as 'reporting street reality' and all that. that has a place but is that all they can do, report on it, dont they have any other thoughts on it? i was reading some article the other day about poetry and how its meant to make the unreal seem real and convincing - despite the emphasis on 'realness' that there is in hip hop, that applys to rappers too.
some of them really are. clipse dont exactly sound unhappy with gleefully delivered lines like FUCK ZOMBA I SELL NOSE CANDY WILLY WONKA!
well of course. but that seems slightly lame to me. and very convenient. rappers need to stop copping pleas. if you want to rap about dealing drugs and selling coke, then fine, do it. dont blame it on everything else. take some responsibility. the problem with all the ex-dealer rappers is that fine, they came up, they got out the projects, they made some money and did well for themselves, but now what are they doing? just rapping about drugs all day in the most nihilistic, debased, emotionally numb way possible. in a way, maybe this is more realistic, theyre dead in the head coke sellers with no emotions, and when you have these almost dead sounding beats like on jeezys first album, it makes for a pretty sobering, depressing listen. but then the lyrics are basically how hes the biggest dope dealer in town, not how he regrets that life. i mean, the guy still says hes a hustler, a trapper, a dope boy, not a rapper. the message is pretty clear.