My wife and I watched “Straight outta Compton” last night. The movie is a depiction of the development and popularization of gansta rap focusing on the key founding members ( Ice Cube, Dr Dre and Easy-E), their initial success with the group NWA (Niggas With Attitude) and finally to the solo branching off of their careers ending with the death of Easy-E (he contracted AIDS along the way and died from related illnesses).
Seen If Before
I was really intrigued by the contrast between the career path of these rappers and predecessor youth focused musicians who challenged social boundaries. For example groups like the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Marylin Manson to name just a few.
The similarities lie in the behaviors, song lyrics and controversial statements that are directly focused on questioning the establishment.
For example the Beatles were condemned for comparing themselves to Jesus Christ (challenging religion), the Rolling Stones for their allusion to drugs had songs banned from airplay (Satisfaction), the original version of the music video sAINT by Marilyn Manson was banned from commercial play because of it’s controversial depictions. NWA was publicly derided, sent a desist and resist letter by the FBI and even arrested in Detroit for playing the song Fuck tha Police.
Ice Cube made the comment in the movie that “all publicity is good publicity”. Not original, nor necessarily true, but certainly on target for gansta rap.
Youth Music
There has long been an element of rebellion associated with youth music. Watching this movie was very cool for me as it highlighted the continuous cycle of youth rebellion through their musical heroes. While my own rebellion started in the sixties, centering around what is now called classic rock, it stemmed from listening to loud music played by artists pushing the establishment standards.
As I watched the story unfold it occurred to me it was hard to distinguish the difference between the forces of opposition between youth and the establishment, the disillusionment developing among the artists as their careers took off and their hard partying lifestyles ( for example little different from those of NWA and Led Zeppelin as far as I could see).
Generational Differences
On the whole each generation, baby boomers, gen X and the millennials definitely have clear distinguishing behavioral characteristics, that being said some things remain the same.