Rap has gone from the hard-core gangsta persona to an enterprise. Rappers went from shotting each other in the streets to being totally consumed with the idea of making money. Mainstream rap has no identity, but it does have an image. When people think of rap, they generally see the baggy pants or the gangs, or the drugs and crime. This image is totally inaccurate.
Rap is a way of expressing the way one truly feels about their world.
Rap artists usually express their feelings about their home, their neighborhood, their childhoods, through their music. Rap may also be a way of directing society's focus to the problems that exist in society. By telling it like it is in the streets and in the projects of America, rap artists are hopefully looking for a change. They are telling their own stories and hoping that someone will listen and make a change. Not all rap is about negativity.