Rap Music: Is the Backlash Here?

NEW YORK, March 1, 2007 -- Was Nas right, when he titled his album "Hip-Hop Is Dead"?

Music sales overall are down, but rap sales in particular have dropped 21 percent from 2005 to 2006. For the first time in 12 years, the top ten best-selling albums of the year did not include a rap album. A poll of black Americans by The Associated Press and AOL-Black Voices last year revealed 50 percent of respondents said hip-hop was a negative force in American society.

David Banner dismisses the criticisms, saying rappers discussing such negative things that they encounter in their lives bring certain things to light. Banner says even when he does positive songs, fans go for songs such as "Like A Pimp" instead.

As he puts it, "I wish America would just be honest. America is sick....America loves violence and sex."

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