"From the school yards of the South Bronx to the tops of the Billboard charts, rap has emerged as one of the most influential musical and cultural forces of our time" (Yale University Press). Rappers and hip hop culture are often criticized for advocating violence, misogyny, and crime. However, rap is actually a form of self-expression for African Americans that is available and accessible to just about everyone. The music and culture that stem from hip hop, "emerged from a uniquely African American disposition, and like the blues, jazz, and soul before it, give voice to those who tend to occupy the lowest rungs of the American social ladder" (NPR). It is one of the most influential and ubiquitous art forms of the past few decades because of…
Morgan fears that black men and women are in a perpetual state of anger, willing to sacrifice themselves and each other in their despair and feeling fatalistically sure that they will hardly live into responsible adulthood. She is aware that one sign that rap music is not a productive solution— in addition to the misogyny it promotes — is that women participate in the sexism of rap videos and seem all too willing to sacrifice self-esteem to be a part of the rap culture. Thus Morgan’s call to address the problems rap music identifies is really a call for two things: an outlet for black men’s frustration that enables their voices to be heard without requiring black women to be demeaned in the process, and a change in the opportunities available to black men. She also fears the violence in the music and points at this as evidence of despair.…
To start at the roots of hip hop however you can clearly see that the message of the music was not to promote violence, but to help curb crime and show that it’s not glamorous. During the 1980’s you had artists like Grand Master Flash, and Public Enemy who preached black empowerment, and left imparting lessons that didn’t hinder but allow black culture to grow, as well as morale. This leads people to pondering nowadays, what happened to this once positive, intelligent music that defined a race and culture? You have 12 year old children listening to vulgar raps about sex, and prostitution, and for black kids in poor ghetto neighborhoods this fantasy driven music glamorizing crime, is seen as the sole “voice” for these children ultimately view that lifestyle as the true way they should be acting. It is as if hip hop music is still attempting to sell this image of the crime life, even when most of the artists have all the money in the world. Hip hop basically reversed the accomplishments of the black community, disguising itself as pertaining a…
Hip-hop can destroy other citizens. For instance, violence in some songs cause the youth to starts fights and also kill themselves. On the other hand, gangs and street thugs are a few examples. However, teenagers are starting to kills, steals, vandalize. Therefore, hip-hop culture and movement has an negative impact on contemporary African American identities based on how they represent themselves. This is due to the fact it promotes an unhealthy lifestyle towards attitudes and behaviors of American Youth. In addition, it teaches African American youth to use profanity. Furthermore, American youth do not have a role model when listening to hip-hop.…
Hip Hop has had an inundating influence on the black community in America, as well as society holistically. Hip Hop is more than music, Hip Hop is a culture. Over the past three decades, Hip Hop has influenced and uplifted America, verbalizing up for generations and providing a voice to a group of people endeavoring to distribute a message. However Hip Hop does have some major imperfections. The relationship between rap music and women has always been a tricky one to digest. Although misogyny and homophobia has plagued rap culture throughout its existence, hip-hop has changed American’s way of life.…
Scott's article, "Rap Music and its Violent Progency: America's Culture of Violence in Context” approaches the issue of "rap music as a creative expression and metorphorical offspring of America's well-established culture of violence. Richardson and Scott's point of this article was to answer the question to what the role of rap music is and how it contributes to voilence in society. Richardon and Scott pulled different statistics and data from violence within movies, video games, and music. This artical states, "Violence in music is not by any means limited to rap or gangsta rap. Folk and country music have contained references to murder, killing of police, and domestic violence for decades" (181). The method of the authors was to place rap music in a context that was unusual to the audience, the authors grabbed several different ideas about rap music such as; capitalism and rap, political and judicial scrutiny of rap, rap in the scholorly literature, rap within cultural capital and social reproduction, violence in rap music and overal rap musics effects on the culture. The authors did not exaclty answer their research question, they merely just implemented different ideas about violence and rap in order to increase the audiences knowledge on the given subject. The authors arrived to the conclusion that "[r]ap music has drawn attention to the subjugated life and senseless violence the mainstream culture attempts to…
This article elaborates on the negative effects of Rap Music on the minds of young people. In a specific example, Too Short, a rapper well-known for his degrading music, is chastised for promoting sexual assault to woman among middle school aged boys. He profusely apologizes for his behaviour and uses…
As hip-hop culture evolved and entered mainstream American culture its focus shifted greatly; however, regardless of the general trends of the genre, hip-hop – specifically the rap music component - continued to express the concerns of an otherwise overlooked portion of America. Today, rap music stands in the forefront of popular music, and the effect of hip-hop culture on the American public is blaringly evident. Yet, despite its commercialization, hip-hop has maintained its status as a highly valid method of…
Herd, D. (2009, Spring). Changing images of Violence in Rap music. Journal of Public Health, 30(4), 395-406 12p. EBSCOhost.…
Media often paints a different picture than as seen by the eye. Often heard on the headlines are the bad and the ugly never the good. One picture that is often skewed by the media is that of hip hop. It is often heard that this genre is a negative influence on children, as the message put out by these rappers is not appropriate for today’s youth. The lifestyle is too violent and the lyrics are too harsh. All this is skewed in the wrong direction. As the hip hop genre is impactful and helpful for the youth of the world.…
In James McBride article “Hip Hop Planet”, he introduces the reader to many issues that are affecting society, including violence, social class, and racism. McBride ensures that he includes hip-hop’s history, in order to explain that the musical genre began as an attempt to avoid or prevent teen gang involvement. Additionally, social class is present in hip hop culture because many of the artist's success determined by the resources that they have when beginning their career as a DJ. Lastly, race is revealed to play a large role in hip hop culture due to the fact that many rappers include lyrics about racial injustices, as well as tension between people of different cultures. Although McBride introduces different arguments throughout his essay,…
The association of violence with alcohol also increased, but the relationship was not as pronounced as that with drugs, Explanations for the rise of gangster rap and violence in rap music have tended to focus on two basic themes. Representatives from the music and other media industries have argued that media violence is a reflection of actual social trends. Echoing this perspective, some scholars have focused on the structural conditions – oppressive economic and social conditions, the crack cocaine drug trade and ensuing drug war, and high levels of police brutality – within urban ghettos that promote violent themes in rap music. Within this framework, other writers have focused on the violent lifestyles of major rap artists as an explanation for the rising tide of violence in the…
Hip hop is one of the most controversial and beloved genres of music amongst the youth and working class culture of the 20th century (Aldridge et al. 2016). Even though it is popularized as just a form of music, some would argue that it is a lifestyle that transcends borders. It is an art form that has been driven through the social, economic, and cultural realities that individuals face on a daily basis while sampling jazz, rock, blues, and soul to compose a breed of its own (Aldridge et al. 2016, Rice 2003). The imbedded realities within hip hop create a social consciousness that reflect the ideologies of the Civil Rights Movement and serves as a positive outlet that lets the youth express their frustrations while pushing towards a solution…
Music Lyrics being NON-VIOLENT Rap music can be considered a style of art, and a way for the artists to express feelings through their words on paper. However, there are quite a few rap artists that get criticized for their lyrics. In my essay, I want to discuss why rappers use certain lyrics in their music and why people shouldn’t believe that it causes violence among the younger generations. People shouldn’t censor the music just because of violent, vulgar and abusive messages it promotes to the world. I believe in my own mind, that there is a reason for these types of lyrics that rap artists use and I will simply explain those reasons in this essay. Rap has been called one of the most important music forces to emerge in two decades. It’s pounding beats and staccato rhymes exploded on the streets of the urban America in the early 1980s and since have become the theme music and lyrical heart of the vibrant youth culture called hip-hop ( SIRS 1993). There are many different types of rap artist. There are some that talk about money, some talk about righteousness, and the list goes on and on. Every rap artist had their own way of expressing themselves. There are those that talk about sex, drugs, and violence who receive the negative attention( SIRS 1993). People, think this so- called gangster rap is a bad influence on children in the world and that it promotes violence and that it also is abusive to women. Delores Tucker, head of national congress of black women has been among those pressuring different record companies to stop distributing gangster rap music. There were other significant names that participated in this action. Names like Senate Majority leader Bob dole, and former education Secretary William J. Bennett(Surveys, pg. 1). There are some rap artists that have been openly criticized for their lyrics. Rappers like Lil Kim, Too Short, Snoop Doggy Dogg, and a member from “Too Live Crew,” named Luke Skywalker. These rap artists in the past have been…
In the 1980s, we saw many different genres of music emerge, genres such as Pop, Rock, and R&B. But a new genre emerged that sparked a lot of controversy: “Gangsta Rap” otherwise known as Hip Hop. Rappers/Rap groups such as NWA, Run DMC, Big Daddy Kane, and more changed the industry with catchy tunes and lyrics that talked about hard topics like slavery, violence, and police brutality. These lyrics sometimes caused major conflict, whether between races or with civilians and police. Hip Hop was very controversial in the 80s. “Gangsta rap” has caused a lot of controversy, many people protested this music in the late 80s and 90s due to the message within its lyrics and what those lyrics conveyed. Many accused “Gangsta Rap” for promoting things such as crime, killings, profanity, drugs, sex, racism, and more. But Gangsta rap doesn’t influence this type of lifestyle; it’s telling a story/conveying a message of the individuals who wrote the lyrics.…