Hip Hop vs. Ethics Essay

The preceding genres of rap music are all closely related, but Hip Hop originated from Jamaican reggae music. There are other cultures who have adopted hip hop influence such as Latinos and Asians. Although rap music has been widely accepted by different cultures all over the world, their have not been many studies dedicated to researching if rap music increases violent behavior through the lyrical content of the songs. Out of all of the genres of rap music, Gangsta Rap has been noted by past researchers to promote violent self identification which in term promotes violence through lyrical content. Gangsta Rap became popular in the 1990s. In a study conducted by Herd (2009) that included 340 gangsta rap songs, it was found that violent references dramatically increased and those references were viewed as positive and linked to wealth, prowess, and glamour. In reference to Kubrin (2005), he found that “The St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture categorizes ‘gangsta rap as the most controversial kind of rap genre, because it received global attention for having violent depictions of urban ghetto life’ in America.” (Abrams 2000:198)

When Tricia Rose speaks to the concept of “hip hop wars” in her writing, she is referring to a broad range of different conflicts that are taking place in all areas of hip hop. In the introduction to her book, she begins to explain her multitude of concerns surrounding certain topics in hip hop. She begins by saying that the most financially successful hip hop has become a way of caricaturing “black gangstas, pimps and hoes” (p. 1). She goes on to explain that homophobia, hypersexism, antisocial behavior, and violent tendancies seem to have become defining characteristics of hip hop as a whole. Essentially, Tricia Rose’s definition of hip hop wars can be summarized as: the pushing and pulling between the forces of good and evil within a movement that has begun to develop undesirable qualities. She offers an array of critical analyzations in support and in opposition of hip hop.

1. The measure of a great society is the ability of its citizens to tolerate the viewpoints of those with whom they disagree. As Voltaire once said, “I may disagree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” (Columbia). This right to express one's opinion can be characterized as “freedom of speech.” The concept of “freedom of speech” is a Constitutional right in the United States, guaranteed under the First Amendment to the Constitution:

To begin, in Tricia’s Rose’s Hip Hop Wars, the author goes into great detail about the current state of hip hop. From reading this book, one will see that Rose feels worried about this new generation of hip hop. This can be seen when Rose states, “Hip hop is in a terrible crisis” (Rose, 1). Rose feels concern for this culture because of the messages that are coming from hip hop (Rose, 1). For instance, Rose states “… the most commercially promoted and financially successful hip hop…. has increasingly become a playground for caricatures of black gangstas, pimps, and hoes” (Rose, 1). It becomes increasingly clear that Rose feels that these messages are responsible for the “dumbing’ down of hip hop’s imagery” (Rose, 3). The reason for this being that these messages are so prevalent in hip hop music. Rose states, “relying on an ever-narrowing range of images and themes, this commercial juggernaut has played a central role in the near-depletion of what was once a vibrant, diverse, and complex popular genre” (Rose, 1). In other words, when certain messages are delayed over and over again, it becomes hard to focus on anything else. This is one example of why Rose is concerned about hip hop. Overall though, the author is concerned with the messages being sent from hip hop and how it is affecting what hip hop use to be. Further into her book, it is also clear that Rose is concerned with the negative outlook that people have on hip hop. For example, Rose states “…the increased profitability of the gangsta-pimp-ho trinity has inflamed already rile critics” (Rose, 4). Therefore, not only are these new messages changing hip hop, but they are

Freedom of speech has been a controversial issue throughout the world. Our ability to say whatever we want is very important to us as individuals and communities. Although freedom of speech and expression may sometimes be offensive to other people, it is still everyone’s right to express his/her opinion under the American constitution which states that “congress shall make no law

When you think Hip Hop what do you think? Do you automatically associate it with positive and uplifting words or more along the lines of degrading behavior? Most likely you think the latter of these two choices. The media depicts Hip Hop as such a negative thing when in reality it isn’t. It’s music constantly being blamed for violence and outrage within the community. Rappers themselves accused of being nothing more than ignorant “thugs” not only creating but supporting chaos when that is not the case. In Nasir Jones’ (a.k.a Nas) song “It ain’t hard to tell”, he uses a very selective word choice, tone and speaker to show there is more to a rapper than just the “thuggish or gangster” label they are given.

Hip-hop culture began to develop in the south Bronx area of New York City during the 1970s. It had a significant influence in the music industry. Hip-hop music generally includes rapping, but other elements such as sampling and beatboxing also play important roles. Rapping, as a key part in the hip-hop music, takes different forms, which including signifying, dozen, toast and jazz poetry. Initially, hip-hop music was a voice of people living in low-income areas, reflecting social, economic and political phenomenon in their life [1]. As time moves on, hip-hop music reached its “golden age”, where it became a mainstream music, featuring diversity, quality, innovation and influence [2]. Gangsta rap, one of the most significant innovations in

“Hip hop has the potential to transform justice in the United States.” (Butler 123) Albeit the popularity of hip hop music and how it is “disgraceful” to black people, it has also become the voice of the voiceless (Kitwana xiii). This is quite positive because it brings youth from all walks of life to and help exchange ideas between themselves. (Kitwana xvi) Hip hop has a way of doing that. White kids are fascinated by the world of hip hop because most of them have never encountered or lived that lifestyle. It shows them them that everything in life isn’t peaches and cream. That these lack men and women were able to face the worst of the worst and still survived. I think white kids kind of admire the strength and the positivity that black people

Hip Hop culture has come from a inner city expression of life to a multi-billion dollar business. At the beginning of the new millennium it was the top selling genre in the pop charts. It had influences not only on music, but on fashion, film, television, and print. In 2004 Hip Hop celebrated its 30th year anniversary. It wasn’t big for the fact that it was still kicking. It was big because the once Black/Brown inner city culture had grown into a multi-billion dollar global phenomenon (Reeves). Hip Hop culture has provided a platform for all walks of life to speak their mind. Over the past 36 years it has provided us with both entertainment and controversy alike and had a huge impact on our nation’s history. `

Neal Boortz once said, “Free speech is meant to protect unpopular speech. Popular speech, by definition, needs no protection.”

It is known that society upholds both moral and political rights. These can contradict themselves or come into conflict depending on the society and the people in it. Moral rights depend on the culture and general thought of a certain type of society. On the other hand, political rights depend on the government’s decision of making a moral right a political right in itself. While moral rights are decided by culture or religion, political rights are national and non-changing throughout a certain country. Free speech in the U.S. is a political right that has its own limitations. Someone may be able to express their feeling and opinions as long as they do not inflict or suggest harm to the other people in the society. Whereas free speech

Have you ever heard someone say, "I hate all music."? Lately though music has been criticized for corrupting teen's minds. Hip Hop is being blamed for all the crimes and murders in cities all over America and heavy metal is being blamed for giving teens only dark images and thoughts in their minds.

One incredibly famous example is Lil Jon’s “Real Nigga Roll Call” featuring Ice Cube where it still holds the Guinness World Record for most number of swear words in a song with 295 swear words in just over five minutes. N.W.A.’s “Gangsta Gangsta” contained 63 occurrences, showing us the major discrepancy between the two types of music. In fact, on a linear scale, the amount of swearing in each song has been generally increasing in the graph below, which could indicate that the record executives attempt at making money off of gangsta rap was quite

Music can have many different effects on people. For example, it can have an impact on your brain, mood, and what you do in life. There are many genres of music in today’s age. We have rap, hip hop, rock, and many more. The most popular genre of music in the United States in 2017 was hip hop. Almost every year before 2017 rock was the most popular genre.

Kubrin and Nelson 190, 195, 197). That kind of marketing strategy by taking advantage of gang culture is such a two-edged sword: On the one hand, gangsta rap has turned out to be a profound commercial success and made hip-hop by far a multibillion dollar industry ; the mainstream success has enlarged hip-hop’s popularity far beyond the underground scene and transformed it into a popular culture in the world (191). On the other hand, the global popularity of hip-hop with the appropriated images of rappers as violent men on the street gang makes the music genre, instead of being the community’s expression as originally, nowadays “muffled and suppressed for things that sell” by such as CEOs of alcohol companies, clothing companies, sneaker companies and major record labels which are mostly white-based (Salmons