Rap and son's attitude

[MixDoDo]

I have considered putting this in AIBU. But then I thought I might be ridiculed, and I'm not sure that it is funny .

I have a 13 year old teenage son who (genuinely) loves rap or grime or whatever - music in that vein anyway.

Recently, his way of speaking from normal to just "dumbdown" street has gone down to a new level. e.g."free" instead of "three", the t consonant has all but disappeared, and so on.

I think one strong influence here is the way they speak in rap/grime/whatever - all dumbed down. I think this is what my son has been copying in everyday speech, though he vehemently denies it.

(On another issue with rap is the violence and negativity and hatred but my brain honesly can't compute that as well at the moment).

I know it sounds trivial, but its all beginning to seriously grate. The whole Kevin teenage thing wiv like downtown Peckham rambling voiceover 'fing going on.

I feel a bit embarrassed posting this, but anyway any words of wisdom please?

He'll grow up eventually and get over it!

The violence and sexism etc is more of a concern IMO.

What is important is knowing how to speak properly not phases of speaking in a silly way I think.

Record him and play it back when he's older.

I'm guessing he'll grow out of it ... I did stupid things as a teenage, just to "belong".

Anyway it hasn't done Tim Westwood any harm!

He'll be mortified in a few years so just ride it out.

'you are not from new York city you're from Rotherham's.

I recommend you start speaking like a gangsta too. Particularly around his friends. Seriously, let him see how daft it is.

You could also send him things like this :D. Ideally post them on his FB.

Start talking to him in teen slang. Call him G, bruh or blod When he begs you to stop then ask him to talk normally to you in return.

I knew I'd get a rollicking, and am more embarrassed than ever. Hopefully it will run its course ... at the moment its fingernails down blackboards for me. At the moment I've told him he's murdering the English language

Who is Tim Westwood?

[out of touch]

"Bruv, why you be chattin' like dat to ya famalam?"

And repeat

The violence is pretty relentless, all about stabbing people - I'm gonna "shank you up" [then throw some stabbing actions in] ... makes 'People Do Nothing' sound like The Carpenters.

My daughter is 12. She's not into rap but some of the slang she's coming out with. It's their age. I do sometimes join in, which she doesn't like. .

Your OP mentions his attitude but you seem to just be complaining about how he speaks.
Either adopt the rap speak yourself and embarrass him or tell him if he is going to try and speak like the artists he likes you will ban the music!
I would worry MUCH more about the violence, misogyny and swearing too.

My 15 year old loves Eminem but listens to it through earphones. In these days of Spotify, YouTube and Internet radio being available for free how can you possibility ban music? I

I have a teenage son who was also into rap and started dropping the T out of words like butter/ better/ little (aka gutteral stops) I would always correct him - in a nice way not a critical way.

Not all rap/hip hop is violent and misogynistic though. Get him to check out Ugly Duckling

Or more political stuff/stuff with meaning rather than senseless gangsta rap (I presumev that's the kind of stuff he's listening to??) - like Talib Kweli, KRS-one, braintax, roots manuva, jurrasic 5, the roots.

Alternatively if you really want him to stop listening to it, just start pretending to get into it yourself and start rapping along

If you're worried about misogynistic lyrics, get him to listen to Your Revolution by DJ Vadim as it's a really powerful piece about misogyny and exploitation in hip hop and might make him think about/challenge those sorts of lyrics?

Oh, thank god it's not just me. If I have to listen to another lecture about Kanye and his status as a revolutionary thinker I may check in to a Travelodge for the day.

Son, if you're reading this, you live in Hove, not Compton.

I posted too early. What I wanted to say was my son is now 16 and still occasionally listens to rap but listens to a whole load of other stuff too. He also speaks perfectly nicely and has dropped all the 'rap' language and accent. He also treats his friends both male and female really well - so the sex violence inherent in some rap lyrics has not trumped the way he's been brought up if that makes sense. One thing we never did was to ridicule the music or say we didn't like it - a lot of rap is actually very clever (some university literature courses study it for style and form) and some rap artists are incredibly talented - we took his interest in it seriously and tried to steer him towards the better stuff.

It's SO irritating when they do that! My DS 16 (so older that your DS) loves rapping all around the house and has started calling me 'bruv' and 'son' which really gets my back up.
The hilarious thing? He's studying A level English Language and is constantly pulling people up on their grammar such as when we say things like, "Well Fairydustandpixies and me...", he's straight there saying, "No!!! It's 'and I'"

My boys are black.
They are not allowed to talk that way in the house.
My OH was never allowed to talk like that as a child.
I may be wrong but I am assuming your boy is white?
He will sound like a twat (sorry to call your beloved boy a twat)

You need to listen to South Korean Billy!!

goo.gl/uOnzmJ

Sorry,this one in particular.

My sister, aged 15, sounded like she came from da streets of Croydon. She wore belly tops and Kappa track suits and thick orange makeup with big hoop earrings.

Watching old family videos of her then is hilarious. She's now in her mid 30s and speaks with the RP acccent we were brought up with, and holds down a prestigious job high up in a multinational.

I really wouldn't give it any headspace.