CNN: Is Hip Hip Art or Poison

I went and found the transcript to the special CNN had on Hip Hop. This actually completely changed my opinion and I think I found my answer through this. It actually does not depend on old school or new school completely, or what artist it is. Although they are huge factors, but there is a specific genre of rap which is newer, you could call it new school. Gangter rap is what gives rap its bad name. Gangster rap is all about drugs, alcohol, partying, exploiting women. This is a quote from the CNN special:
~GRANDMASTER CAZ, RAP PIONEER DJ: All these guys were out talking black nationalism and then here comes gangster rap where we're shooting and talking about liquor and drugs and this and that and the whole black movement went out the window.
There are also these quotes that impact my research:
~HURT: What you're seeing mostly, though, is you're seeing repetitive images of women as boy toys, as sex kittens, as sex objects, and I think that's a problem. ZAHN: But hip hop mogul Russell Simmons maintains that rap simply mirrors the problems in the real world. RUSSELL SIMMONS: We're a violent and over-sexed country. That's all sad truth, you know. That was our reflection sometimes, a reflection of our sad truths.
I Guess it is the truth when you say that it mirrors the problems in the real world, but maybe the problems started to get worse with this type of music. There is a DJ that they interview on the show as well. His name is Corey Condrey. He is only of the first Hip hop Dj's to play Hip Hop music mainstream on the radio. So he has a big choice to make. To play the hip hop that could negativly effect our communities or be a positive influence on youths minds:
NGUYEN: You know what I find is really fascinating about you is you've take a stand. You've done it personally. You left the number one show to be on this new show. Tell me why. CONDREY: It needed a change. It got to the point where I wasn't really agreeing with all the things I was doing. NGUYEN: And that's hard because it's your job to play the music. CONDREY: Sure. What happens is the deejay actually has to play what the program director says play. It got to point I was sitting back like should I keep playing this music? Should I keep doing it? I'm not saying that all hip-hop is bad. I watched the segment. Is it art? Is it poison? All hip hop isn't bad. Not all.
He Left his job because the hip hop was sending such bad messages and he did not agree with it. Later in the segment he says the he loves hip hop:
CONDREY: Sure. I don't go to work. I go to life and I think a lot of times, people get up in the morning and they go to work. I got to live. To see a soul get saved is like the greatest thing. Salvation is the biggest miracle that can ever take place. When you can sit back, radio is designed for the community. It was always designed for the people, for the community. And when you can sit back and take what we're doing with the spirit of hip-hop and go into the community and embrace the community, then the hip hop generation can change it. NGUYEN: Should more deejays take on this responsibility do you think? CONDREY: Absolutely. I believe what has happened with hip hop is hip-hop doesn't have father figures. It's a lot of people that have grown up in hip hop and they don't have dads in their life. So what happens is you have now a hip-hop generation raising that little girl, that little boy right now. And so what happens is when hip-hop is raising up and then you see the videos, you said that's it. That's what I'm supposed to be. How can you tell a man to be a man of God when there's no man in the house?
All of the points he is making is helping me figure out what hip hop really is, and what happened to it over the years.