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Ubik

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Posts posted by Ubik

  1. That's exactly why people, innocent straight A+ students who can't relate to one bit of the rap culture, who listen to hardcore stuff like gangsta "crap," love it. They just like the hot beatz and if they actually pick up on some of the lyrics, like what they hear even though deep down, they can't relate to one word of what comes out of the subs. Some of rap's target audience is just sad.

    You couldn't be more wrong. Not to mention that your post is incredibly classist and even subconsciously racist.

    I'm about to graduate from college with a BA in English, and I can greatly appreciate the lyrics of many, many rap artists. Hell, my sister's in postgrad law school at University of Chicago, and she will sit down and actually listen to the lyrics of rap songs.

    Many people I know, including some of the whitest living-in-the-country people you'll ever see, not only appreciate the musical aspect of rap but its lyrical aspects as well. If you have an analytical mind that can actually get past a few reiterations of the word "fuck," you can hear that many rap songs are about personal struggle, emotional turmoil and achievement. Just because zykO's lyrics don't read like an after-school special doesn't mean the spirit of camaraderie, struggle and friendship isn't there. Believe it or not, words can have more than one level of perception to them! There's a little something called "subtext" you might want to get to know.

    And if you refuse to believe that people of intelligence and sensitivity can identify with rap, you're simply denying the validity of an art form because of your snotty personal opinion and blatant classism.

  2. I would think that the disclaimer made at the very beginning of this track's review would be enough to deter those who might be offended or have small children. It's not the site's responsibility to filter out material that might offend people - that's up to those who download the music. Considering that the video game industry itself has nearly been the victim of crippling censorship, I would dislike it if a site such as OCR set itself up as censors.

    However, our intent was neither to offend nor cause controversy. We had fun in our own way, and the fact that zyko conveyed his message of camaraderie through such awesome rhymes should be more important than a few blue words. Obscenities don't automatically discount the artistic merit of any particular work; I should think that authors like James Joyce display that clearly enough (Not that either of us are James Joyces or anything). It's your prerogative to dislike something because of its lyrical content, but one cannot say it has no artistic merit because of an obscenity or two. Besides, zyko was writing lyrics both from and in tribute to his particular experiences, and just because one's opinions and experiences differ from his doesn't invalidate them.

    In short: we appreciate all the feedback, positive and negative, but this is not somewhere that I'd consider soccer-mom censorship appropriate. Thanks again to everybody.

  3. There are a lot of songs on this site of high production quality and creativity that were never honored with the phrase: "This is what ocr is about". The fact that this particular piece was pointed out for such rubs a lot of people the wrong way, and a lot of people obviously disagree with the sentiment.

    Wait, so your personal genre preference overrides the right of the reviewers to express an opinion with any hyperbole whatsoever?

    I wouldn't say that the song as a whole is what OCR is all about either, obviously, but quit getting all over people's junk about it.

  4. Thanks to zyko for that post - he said everything that needed to be said.

    This track was all about fun and camaraderie, not trying to offend or cause controversy. Those who mistake the term "nigga" for a racist slur are missing both the context (I'm an English major who's studied linguistics, I can say for a fact that in this context the term "nigga" isn't racist!) and the whole point of the song.

    Thanks to everybody for feedback, positive and negative, and biggest thanks of all to zyko - I couldn't have done this without him.

    Kick back and enjoy, everybody. :)

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