Parents shouldn’t keep mature children from listening to rap music, but if they are going to listen to rap music they might as well listen to old school because old school is the best school. If parents find that their children are starting to get into rap music they should listen to old school rap music because it’s more genuine than new school. This is because the old school rappers like Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, 2pac, Biggie Smalls, and Busta Rhymes all rapped about their past experiences. The ghettos they grew up in, the gangs they rolled with, what they did for a street profession whether it was selling drugs, setting up drive-by’s, or having gang meetings. Some people might say that old school Rap/Hip-Hop is too old and washed up for any of the kids now to listen to and it might not peek their interest. That, however, is completely untrue. There is no one who has heard Dr. Dre’s “Nuthin’ But a G Thang” and hasn’t hummed the background music for a little while. I think that old school rap sounds better, the lyrics were very genuine, and old school rap was still forming in its time as a genre. West coast rap was a new sound to the main stream listeners, the mixing in the songs were a new sound and style for people to listen to, and the old school rappers had nobody to copy off of so they couldn’t fake their experiences.

When people say that old school rap is washed up thats like kicking the old school rap artist right in the pants because they worked extremely hard to make popular songs. They may not show it on the outside, but inside they must feel hurt when they hear that people don’t like their songs anymore. But what people who like old school rap want to know is if old school rap is so washed up then why do we always hear about it 10 - 15 years after they’ve been made? Because lots of people don’t think that old school rap is washed up because they actually know what the old rappers have been through and how they’re not fake. It’s also not too old for people to listen to and enjoy. That is a true statement because a lot of people like old school rap music.

The mixing in the old school rap industry had a new sound which made it unique and the style of mixing made people actually think about the time and effort that they put into their mixes yet the mixes themselves weren’t complicated at all. The technology was also less elaborate so it was easy to make better mixes that sounded good. It made the lyrics seem to flow more fluently if the mix fit the lyrics. When you heard the combination when a rapper kicked a crazy rhyme and when they combined that with a killer beat it makes you really think about how much effort they put into the song when they make it seem so effortless. The contents of the lyrics also fit into the beat too.

If the new school rappers copied off of the old school guys, who did the old school guys copy off of? NOBODY!! There was no one to copy before the 80’s and 90’s. Not only did the old rappers rap about their lives and past experiences, they also got a chance to express themselves in a non-violent way and that gave white America a good look into the ghettos of america. California and New York City were the two major states that most rappers lived in. Compton CA, Long Beach CA, Brooklyn NY, and the Bronx NY were the most major places that seemed to generate the most successful rappers because that’s where the most gang related violence happened, that’s where the most drug problems have been reported. So that is where their experiences have happened and thats where they remember when they’re in the studio laying out a fresh rhyme. The reason why they had those memories is because that’s they way they grew up. In their neighborhoods killing, sex at young ages, drug and alcohol abuse, and constant cussing was common so they grew up thinking that that was ok to do. They usually had nobody to tell them that what they were doing was wrong so they did what they’ve seen other guys do. These new guys had no experiences like the old guys. Sure they had sex with lots of women and did massive amounts of drugs but they also are now extremely screwed up in the head and they have really screwed their lives up. They also had people that told them what was right from wrong so really it was just disobedience. These older rappers were genuine and they made themselves known for what they’ve done, not what they wish they could have done.

The old school rap music is better than the new school rap music. It’s more genuine, better to listen to if you’re just starting to get into rap music, and its popular to a lot of people. It isn’t washed up, the mixing sounded better and more crisp, and the old school guys had no one to copy off of so they had to make their own experiences. So if you are just starting to get into rap music you might as well listen to the best of the best. Which is old school.