Does Rap Music Cause Aggressive Or Unorthodox Behavior?

Music and society have always been closely related. For years now music has been apart of people’s everyday lives all around the world. Having so many different genres out there, it makes it easy to be appealing to so many different ethnic backgrounds. However, one type of genre in particular has seemed to grab the attention of a younger generation. Rap music has undoubtedly had its utmost impact on African American youth, since many of the performers themselves are African American. An overtly masculine culture dominates rap music and creates gender stereotypes that become abundantly popular to the youthful audience. Three constant themes that are found within the rap culture are encouragement of violence, the misogynistic representation of women, an extreme hatred of homophobia. Each theme plays a detrimental role in the process of defining black masculinity as well as shaping the values, morals, and beliefs that its younger audience adopts after tuning into this “gangster lifestyle”.

The impact of rap music in today’s society is extremely substantial. Many Americans listen to rap music, even though different rap artist discuss various issues in their songs, it may influences their fans to do the same. A large amount of rap music contains explicit lyrics that describe illegal activities, aggression, and sexual content. Researchers from Iowa State University and the Texas Department of Human Services found that aggressive music lyrics increase aggressive thought and feelings, might perpetuate aggressive behavior and have long term effects (American Psychological Association). Therefore, when Americans listen to rap music with that type of perspective it promotes misogyny, illegal activities and sexual content.

Even though research have proven that music can intrigue kids from the sound that they have never heard or things that they have never seen, some individuals believe that music does not influence children to rebel. People that support heavy rock and rap music believe that even though this style of music might promote anti-social behavior, the evidence that states that it influences is vague. Past generations, baby boomers, grew up listening to music that did contain inappropriate lyrics, such as “Father Knows Best”, they did not end up committing the “biggest crime wave of the century”. (Chapman, S. (1997, Nov 16)). There are a lot of people that read books about crime, but they do not feel the urge to kill or commit other crimes, they are

A problem that Bennett makes clear is how impressionable the younger audiences are when they are exposed to rap and Hip-Hop. There’s many debate on the topic of children listening to the music, but before we can argue over whether children should be able to listen to the music we must go over the pros and cons to the music genre. The positive side is that rap is an accepted form of self-expression, and educators have shown that it has inspired kids to write. Many kids feel they can relate to the songs, and it persuades them to write their own in an attempt to make sense of the world around them. On the other hand Hip-Hop can have some negative effects as well. A large number of artists such as Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Eminem, and others involve the use of profanity, violence, references to sex and

The above article discusses a study conducted that tested whether exposure to rap music increases sexism within males. The study did not give any direct concrete evidence that rap music causes misogyny. Yet it brought up some useful insights that were supported by the study. Initially, they discovered that listening to non-sexist songs still led to some type of sexist behavior. This finding is relevant as it shows that it might not solely be the lyrics that are responsible for sexism within music. People can be instinctively associating rap music with being misogynistic. Another finding was that misogynistic lyrics prime young males to behave sexually aggressive temporarily. This reading is important for this topic as it disregards the popular belief that rap music causes sexism, but it also takes in account that rap music can prime young males to be slightly more aggressive. While this study cannot be used to promote any type of censorship in media, it can still encourage the music industry to reevaluate the material they are launching to public, especially the young generation.

Parents were and still are on the fence of their kids listening to rap music. The explicit types of rap music are poisoning the minds of young teens and can even encourage them to act in the a violent manner or rebel. Although, that is for explicit lyrics, not all rap has explicit lyrics. Altogether, rap music does not encourage teen violence in any way and many individual artists even teach their audience how to act positively. Teenagers seem to click easier to song lyrics, whether it's country, rap, rock, or pop. It can affect teenagers in a positive and negative way, but violence being said in the lyrics does not cause an indication of aggression for the listener. The lyrics may describe their situation perfectly, what they go through and how they feel. That’s why we always have those catchy radio tunes stuck in our heads. Alison Churchill, a fan of rapper Eminem from Newsday feed shares her input on what it can do to younger peers. “But she thinks the song could have a positive impact, ‘if it can hit a nerve with a teenager and prompt them to go talk to someone about it.’ Because, Churchill says, ‘The more we talk about a subject, the easier it is to fix.’” If teens don't usually have anyone to talk to, it can cause an empty feeling of loneliness that can turn into urges of depression, anxiety, mental health issues. When rap music hits home for the younger generation it's telling them to open up to somebody and share what you have to say. Talking about something that is bothersome can be a great solution for those who need or want it.

For many years, the youth have been known for singing along to their favorite song and taking that song as whole and using it as their motto for life. It may seem that sometimes these kids do not know what is being said in the music but this shows that they do know what the lyrics are saying. According to Franklin B. Krohn and Frances L. Suazo in their article “Contemporary Urban Music: Controversial Messages in Hip-Hop and Rap Lyrics,” many teenagers and minority groups view rappers as their spokesmen because of their ability to speak in street language and bluntly express their frustration (Krohn, 1995). Unfortunately, hip hop lyrics usually tend to talk about drugs, sex and violence leading kids to think that everything they hear is okay and that is how they have to live their life. Yet, there are artists out there who take their lyricist skills to give positive lyrics and messages in their music, but these songs are not often played in the mainstream.

Whether you love it or hate it Rap music has come to be one of the most popular, yet arguable, music genres of the past decades. Today’s rap music has changed enormously since the 1970’s. Rap music was about having fun, being able to express what youth were feeling and a way to keep youth out of trouble. Rap songs usually use explicit and demeaning lyrics, which has huge influence on the youth of today. While rappers say that they’re plainly rapping about reality. They often use violence, the use of drugs and Guns as the main tool to tell the story of their lives and show how hard it is growing up in their neighbourhood. This surely does not set any good examples for the young men and women, listening to this trash and singing along with the

Rap music over the years has embraced black talent and lead many people who lived troubled lives into a life of fame and glory. The problem is as rap music has evolved, the lyrical content has been highly focused around depicting negative images of the urban black community. It has turned from being positive to now just describing the life of drugs and riches. Songs range from depicting women as prostitutes, selling drugs such as cocaine and heroine, using drugs to get by in life, and spending excessive amounts of money on expensive cars and jewelry. Washington Informer writer, Rudy Gourdine, brings up a good point when she states, “Can we overlook the targeting of young Black women with mean spirited and derogatory words and images that often prevent them from forming successful relationships(Gourdine) ?” She speaks of how in urban areas it is often overlooked or ignored how degrading the lyrics are and what they are doing. There are many good points as to what rap music could be causing in urban areas but there is no solid proof that rap music causes all to think or act on the music.

Music has an important role in children and adolescent’s life. Mainstream music is heard almost everywhere whether it’s on a laptop, phone, radio, cd, etc. The accessibility allows anyone to hear it at any place and situation, alone or with friends. The lyrics can have a big impact on everyone’s life’s differently. Lyrics have become more explicit in their references to misogyny, drugs and violence particularly in certain genres, like rap. I used to love to listen to rap all the time, never paying attention to what the rapper was saying. According to the dictionary rap means “Words (that) are recited rapidly and rhythmically over a prerecorded, typically electronic instrumental backing” I used to listen to rap because

Rap music has the power to influence people in ways such as dictating fashion or wardrobe choices, promote rebellious ways, and can even affect the morals you live by. The youth in America is highly influenced by famous rap and hip hop artist due to the many relatable stories they tell in their music. Many times the stories are speaking of hardships in life and crimes committed. Their lyrics are significantly influential enough to have caused people to commit crimes such as robbery, violence, and even murder.

Many people argue that rap music and videos have a negative influence on young people and degrade women. First off in the article Degrading Songs Hurt Women, author Elizabeth Ramirez stated about hip-hop “The lyrics portray women as objects of manipulation by men.” Snoop Dogg's song, “Ain’t no fun if homies can’t

Doug E. Fresh, a popular beat-boxer in rap music today, has been quoted saying, “Hip-hop is supposed to uplift and create, to educate people on a larger level and to make a change.” Although this is the original intention of hip-hop music, public opinion currently holds the opposite view. Since the 1970’s musical artists have changed the face of hip-hop and rap and worldwide, people – mostly teens—have been striving to emulate certain artists and their lyrics, which has created negative stereotypes for hip-hop music and also for those who choose to listen to it. With vulgar lyrics referencing drugs, alcohol, sex, and aggression, it’s no wonder these stereotypes exist. However, is music really the direct cause of how teens act,

The article Rap Music and Its Violent Progeny: America’s Culture of Violence in Context, addresses how rap music persuades young individuals toward violence. Jeanita W. Richardson and Kim A. Scott researched to see if rap music stimulates young people to be violent in the society. According to the bureau of justice statistics violent crimes did in fact happen more among teenagers, particularly in African Americans. Conferring to the article rap music was more popular among the African American community in the beginning when rap music first became hip. It was indicated in the article that the ones that related to it was individuals in poverty and African Americans saying they could relate to the music.

The first claim Carl and Virgil make is that adults don’t understand hip hop music’s appeal and why youth listen to it (Taylor and Taylor 210). That claim, however, doesn’t have any substantial, credible, information to back it up. In fact, in a radio broadcast by Talk of the Nation, “A Look at Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes”, they discuss that one man as an adult listened to hip hop music as well, stating it was part of the urban culture and he loved listening to it, until he started learning about the effects it had on youth (“Look”, par. 4). The second claim that the authors’ make is that hip hop is merely just youth living in the moment and expressing their views. It doesn’t effectively discuss that it involves more than just songs, but actual violence, rape, and misogyny. A study by Squires Catherine, Laura P. Kohn-Wood, Tabbye Chavous, and Prudence L. Carter, called “Evaluating Agency and Responsibility in Gendered Violence: African American Youth Talk About Violence and Hip Hop”, they evaluated how young black children reacted to seeing black women abused in hip hop music videos, and results showed that the children thought the woman deserved it because hip hop artists have to be tough (Squires, Kohn-Wood, Chavous, Carter 731). The authors made very opinionated claims, but didn’t reference any studies or articles to provide evidence to their claims. They also did not use their knowledge and credibility to provide insight or support for the claims they made. This