WHAT'S RAP GOT TO DO WITH IT?

In broken society Britain, if you ask a kid what they want to be when they grow up, an alarmingly high number of them is going to tell you that they want to be a 'supa-star' or a celebrity and I say alarming because if the ones who have these lofty ambitions were paying attention to preparing themselves to be extraordinary human beings; then I would be at the front of the parade, cheerleading them to go get it. The problem is that they have the ambition without the grit to graft for it. or self discipline to even get or hold down ordinary jobs in the emerging super competitive IT world that they will be the inheritors of.

The problem is that many of them think that all they have to do is want it bad enough and it will somehow magically happen. Wanting it has supplanted working for it. They don’t have any talent to speak of, they don’t have extraordinary intellects. They don’t have tenacity or the endurance ethic but they want all the glory and all the accolades and they want it all now.

You cant talk to them about studying and slowly climbing up the ladder of success. You can’t talk to them about ‘payin’ no dues’ they want their piece of the pie now and they want it without any sense that they must put something in to deserve it. Now this might sound like I’m being down on the youth and being wholly pessimistic about them and their prospects in life but I am not. You see I think it is not too late to turn them around and put a stop to these unrealistic aspirations.

It is ironic that street ethics allows them to admire and role model the drug dealer, because he has plenty of bling, nice car and wads a cash, but not the Dr or lawyer who is making a valuable contribution to their environment. Both examples incidentally, make big-money but the one is street-lore sexy and the other is a job for smart people who paid attention in class. The tragedy is that translated into real life this street ................ says that the local bad boy excluded from school commands far more kudos than the goody goody A grade student who aint playin' the game and won’t join the gang.

How can it be right that a Phd or university degree is worth less than bling and conspicuous consumption?

What does rap and MTV have to do with the skewering of the expectations of young people? I know what I think. What about you?