A way of life? No, it’s a group of young kids that are being raised to become criminals.”
He continued, “And the music business is based on making millions and millions of dollars a year in one generation. And the reason why hip hop is where it’s at today, it’s because of the drugs, the violence, everything. Because of it. And now it’s a movement that started from no drugs, no no no no no. But it’s been taken over by these gangs. So that’s a movement that went from no drugs to a lot of drugs into a lot of violence, and a lot of black families are being cut from their family. Because people can get all they want because of the rap music, that’s what a lot of people are going through today. It’s not only the young kids, the older kids are not doing well financially either.”
Kanye West, who co-produced his former protégé Kanye West’s 2008 magnum opus The College Dropout with Q-Tip and produced the rapper’s recent album Late Registration with Kid Cudi and Kendrick Lamar, also believes that the music industry has “disastrous consequences for the country” and “tend to cause real life problems” for young people. He added that while some musicians are “lazy,” music is something everyone, everywhere should want to have, because “music is the human language.” But while some will seek to get money out of it, “the other side is the ones that make it, the ones that love music,” he claimed.
“You see a lot of hip hop is like an advertisement for drugs,” he insisted.
In an interview with Billboard, West elaborated on his criticisms of the music industry — specifically a discussion he had with Jay Z about Kanye West’s “Barry Bonds” line during the 2009 Grammys: “I said, ‘He’s got this shit going for him. All these artists like his track record, the track record that is out there and that’s an advertisement.’ And he is such an asshole, and then he turned around and he said his record is a great advertisement. If you’re a rapper that’s got some great lyrics, you should be able to sell some records.”
West was more direct in the Billboard interview, where he argued that the song is essentially preaching violence and has been exploited in the media: “I don’t want to be an asshole, but at the end of the day if I’m going to
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