There is no set time limit to when you can reference an event, steve irwins manager is being over judgemental

Ras Kass Responds to Steve Irwin Manager


In an open letter to Australian newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald, Ras Kass responded to John Stainton, the manager of Australia's slain "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin.

"Every person should be treated with an equal brush stroke, or no one should, and everything must be considered in context. I am a hip hop artist. Hip hop is like any other art form; nothing is sacred, nothing is off limits. As such, I have used historical events and current events as metaphors to express a greater perspective to certain ideas and points. At other times, I myself, have been referenced- be it in a positive or negative light. That is part of the creative process and the nature of what rap music is. I in no way have, or have had any ill will towards the late Steve Irwin. Sadly, I think this has been unreasonably blown out of proportion.



Steve Irwin who loved nature and had a pioneering spirit, knowing the dangers of nature, put himself in harms way consistently, understanding the risks involved in his passion/ job. He even requested that in the event of his demise that the show being recorded be aired in its entirety.



What strikes me as hypocritical is that in a six minute song (that literally starts out with gun shots) the only thing that stood out in Mr. Stainton's mind was a one-bar reference to a current event. Actually, a reference where there is no trace of malediction; I specifically used the metaphor neither making a positive or negative judgment or connotation about the late Mr. Irwin. Mr. Stainton doesn't seem to be the least bit concerned with other references that one could (mis)construe as homophobic or misogynistic, let alone is he concerned with the potential violence in hip hop or black-on-black violence. He only seems to be bothered by one line. I am just saying that consistency would be nice.



If you aren't from the hip hop culture and are not familiar with it then you are not qualified to judge it. Whether American or Australian, every human life is valuable; otherwise it makes it appear that Mr. Stainton thinks that only one man's is.

Sincerely,
Ras Kass"

Hip hop? An art form? I wish these talentless ****s would get their heads out of their own backsides.



Apparently not to someone with such a distinct lack of grey matter.



I'd call that a puerile public slanging match but if some idiots choose to call it rap and, far worse, music then let them continue in their delusion.



What strikes me as ludicrous is that this man is under the impression that there is anything about the rest of the track, or the rest of his material for that matter, worth listening to.




Maybe that's because the lyrics of the rest of the track don't affect him or his directly, but then it would take someone with more common sense than the average rapper to realise that obvious little point.



Admitting to violence in hip hop. What a clever move! Nice one, smart boy

And why should anyone on earth care if they want to all shoot each other one by one? All I want to know is why they don't just get on with it.



Sanctimonious little t0$$er.



Ignorant little t0$$er.




Like he knows the meaning of the word

Oh, I love rap music- it's so classy!

You Brits should be happy you don't have to live in the US because all they play here is that trashy rap music. Let's face it- most of it are just songs with violent, trashy, explicit lyrics.

Hmm yep I agree with everything you've said. Idiots.

I thought there was only two kinds of music in the US - Country & Western.

Absolutely pathetic, as all these "rap feuds" are.

Notice how he also deliberately misspells "Game" as "Gayme", reinforcing the one of the foundations of modern rap music - homophobia.

Artists like him who encourage homophobia and gang violence should be banned from making music, certainly from releasing it.

The Steve Irwin line was in bad taste, but there are better reasons why this fool (and many other rappers) should be barred from the industry.

The response was a lot of crap, quite obviously written entirely by a publicist.
Last edited by The Chief : 24-10-2006 at 22:30

And see, this is the kind of crap they play on American radio- that's why I quit listening to radio years ago. It's just a bunch of garbage that promotes violence, homophobia, etc. How it's considered 'music' I'll never know. That's why all of the music I listen to comes from the UK.

It wasnt written be a publicist, ras kass is one of the most intellectual rappers in the rap game, i suggest you listen to his work such as the 'evil that men do', 'h2o proof', 'interview with a vampire' and 'nature of the threat' and you will certainly see ras kass isnt ignorant or stupid

The track towards the game was a diss track, and in these circumstances you have to talk down and battle the oppenent with aggressive lyrics, which ras kass is famous for

If Robbie Williams or Girls Aloud or U2 wrote a homophobic song or a song which encouraged gang violence, can you imagine the outcry??

Why should it be accepted just because it's rap music?

I couldnt have put it better myself, your spot on

Of course it is - that is, to anyone who sees it as more than being just lazy stereotyping of braggadocio, misogyny and violence.

Probably because most people know that 9 times out of 10, rap 'music' is just trash where that kind of stuff is expected.

It's as much of an art form as useless Tracy Emin's bed covered in rubbish, or a tent she's written on.

"All the people I have had sex with...

1) This tent

The end"


Does this mean you approve of rap music's incessant and wholehearted endorsement of violence and gang shootings, as long as it's in the form of a "diss track"?
Last edited by The Chief : 24-10-2006 at 23:17

Tracy Emin? Nice.

And people lobby against homophobia and violent lyrics in hip-hop tracks all the time. Eminem's not far off being pop music and he's had various allegations and complaints all his career. There are fans that will see the imagery and lyrics and accept it, but violent homophobes are far from exclusive to rap fans.


Here's the lazy stereotype problem again; how does this and other instances represent rap music as a whole? It doesn't.
Last edited by spankyplugs : 24-10-2006 at 23:19

Very well said. You summed it up brilliantly. Art form my a**e!

Not liking something is all well and good; attempting to discredit it is another thing altogether. You couldn't be more wrong.

Well perhaps not all rap music, but a hell of a lot of it.
If you look again at what I quoted, the poster does seem to be defending a specific track which does endorse these things.

You like Tracy Emin??

Fair enough with regards to the quote

I thought I did like Tracy Emin, but then I remembered who she was. Urgh. And I don't remember the artist I do like. That might bug me now. Arse.


A lot of the mainstream radio stuff admittedly is the type of thing you mention, but I count myself a hip-hop fan yet despise the machismo and abusive content, so that must tell you it leaves a fair amount of good amongst the bad.

If you don't like it you understandably wouldn't have any real interest in finding out, but you'd have to trust me that it's not all bad.

It started out as social commentary in its earliest form after all. I think it's making somewhat of a comeback. It's just the bling bling 'n' 'beef' that makes it hard to see past, sadly.

No s***. Why do they feel the need to put stuff like that in when everybody knows and it's just wasting their time writing that and the readers time reading it. They do that with a lot of things like "5 years ago today 2 planes crashed into the twin towers, 1 crashed in pennsa.." and goes on like that. I'm sorry but there's no point.

It's a staple of journalism. Include all the facts, lead with the relevant.

Plus it's pretty much necessary in order to explain the lyric quoted.

I do like quite a bit of hip-hop music and most of it I can bear, even if I don't like it. I just don't feel there's any need to encourage those kind of things, especially to people who are obviously so impressionable.

Re: the artist, did you mean Tacita Dean? Out of all the Britart lot, she's got some quite nice works.

I do like a few of her films actually, yeah. I think one of her exhibitions was on when I saw the Tate about 5 years ago.



It's a vicious circle with impressionable kids; the junk is what the go for, and then that's what gets marketed hardest towards them. The question is whether it'll last or whether they'll start moving towards something with more substance. We can but dream, I guess.

I remember Rass Kass very well for the tune Miami Life on the album Soul On Ice that did get some hard airplay in 1996.

All black people are filthy criminals and that rap stuff is just a bunch of darkies talkin' about their genitals over James Brown samples!!!!!!!!!!

The only good song Ras Kass ever did was the Diamond D remix of Soul On Ice with the killer David Axelrod sample. The actual album Soul On Ice, which is the only thing he's ever released even worth hearing, is mediocre as the beats are boring. The fella can't pick good production for toffee.