Vulgar Rap Music ‘More Damaging Than a Statue of Robert E. Lee’

Jazz musician Wynton Marsalis is no fan of vulgar rap music.

The nine-time Grammy winner spoke up about the genre of music on the “Cape Up” podcast with host Jonathan Capehart.

“My words are not that powerful,” he said. “I started saying in 1985 I don’t think we should have a music talking about n****** and b****** and h***. It had no impact. I’ve said it. I’ve repeated it. I still repeat it. To me that’s more damaging than a statue of Robert E. Lee.”

The 56-year-old musician added that it’s easy to speak to African-Americans about issues like Confederate statues — but they simply refuse to have conversations about the damage that rap music can cause to the culture.

He said even though he has expertise in music, he finds few people willing to have the conversation with him.

Agree with him or disagree with him — Marsalis does know a thing or two about music.

Aside from his nine Grammy Awards, his “Blood on the Fields” album was the first jazz composition to win the Pulitzer Prize for music.

Rapper Kendrick Lamar recently won a Pulitzer Prize. The fact that he and Marsalis can now even be mentioned in the same sentence is shameful.

To give a wider picture of just how far certain areas of pop culture have fallen, rapper Kendrick Lamar recently won a Pulitzer Prize. The fact that he and Marsalis can now even be mentioned in the same sentence is just shameful.

It’s doubtful many rap musicians or rap fans will listen to Marsalis’ words, but in a just world his experience would be enough to get a conversation started about the state of modern rap music.

PopZette editor Zachary Leeman can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter.

(photo credit, article image: Marsalis, CC BY-SA 4.0, by Rutahanum)