How Does Rap Music Affect Society

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”.

Is all rap music promoting and glorifying crime and degrading women? This is a question that is asked often and the general consensus is that, yes, it does. Is there any evidence however to back up these claims and are the rappers intending their music to be seen in a negative aggressive way. I don’t necessarily think that rap music does anything but give the musician an outlet for their talent and use topics like women and crime in their songs for commercialization and to create an image that rappers need in order to succeed in that genre. We will come to an overall conclusion at the end of this essay after we source different arguments on the topic.

Rap music has become one of the most distinctive and controversial music genres of the past few decades. A major part of hip hop culture, rap, discusses the experiences and standards of living of people in different situations ranging from racial stereotyping to struggle for survival in poor, violent conditions. Rap music is a vocal protest for the people oppressed by these things. Most people know that rap is not only music to dance and party to, but a significant form of expression. It is a source of information that describes the rage of people facing growing oppression, declining opportunities for advancement, changing moods on the streets, and everyday survival. Its distinct sound, images, and attitude are notorious to people of all

Rap music was creating a negative influence throughout the music industry for awhile, it’s agreeable that modern day rap today mostly involves drugs, gangs, violence, money, etc. Although, a lot of it also gives inspiration or at least has that goal being set when creating the music. Most

Within History, Rap has been considered the “CNN for black people”; what started as a way to express struggles in the ghettos of New York has transformed into one of the most popular genres of music in America. The popularity of rap has allowed many to have their voices heard, created new fashion trends, and even developed popular modern slang used by people throughout the world. The commercialization of rap has resulted in a significant following of the culture in America but also a large number of people who oppose the music. The culture of rap music has a substantial impact on popular culture in America, and by using an open mind and looking past the violence and language, people can better understand the meaning behind rap and the perception that follows it in America today.

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

People in society tend to feel that rap music has a certain effect on the mind of its audience. Rap music has always been judged based upon its lyrical content because it often includes explicit lyrics that consist of vengeful and violent crimes. Associating violent acts that people commit every day to what they are hearing over the radio is complete nonsense. The reasons that rap music is not responsible for violence in our society is because violence has always been a part of our society, you have to consider the person who listens to rap music's upbringing, and you have to consider the video games and tv shows that are being portrayed and played by the public.

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.

The lyrics that are in rap songs are not only listened to by African Americans but by many other cultures, cultures who know nothing about them. Different cultures listen to rap music to get to know a culture and all the violence and explicit lyrics within rap creates stereotypes. To other cultures they see African Americans as violent pimps, which is not the case at all. Not to mention African American women in rap videos, even the men in the same culture consider them to be b***** not sisters.

The impact music has on the life of people is very powerful. It can easily revamp the way people act and take control of people’s emotions. Rap music is a very common and popular type of music within the world today. Rap music has existed since the mid 1970s, nowadays it is practically everywhere. It is easily a central focus of many young people’s lives. Rap music was essentially intended to create a voicing of one’s frustrations and disappointment with society, it has recently taken a turn and is creating a negative impact on the youth. It is the root that influences and encourages degrading women, violence, and is filled with sexual content.

Many members of society would say rap music is demeaning and objectifying towards women, has no class or is “ghetto”, or even that it should not exist. Yet, pop music liters our stereos, Television, even children’s shows. I feel most of the well produced and meaningful rap songs are overlooked. If we look to a handful of artists, it is clear their music is objectifying. However, humans are complex and unique beings and cannot be put into one category. For instance, Logic has made many meaningless songs, but he has also made so many songs full of amazing, real-life stories. He has rapped about the many demons throughout his life, and then the next year made an entire album prophesying the future of the planet. Other musicians, such as Jessie J and Ariana Grande are highly looked up to by many teenagers, but their music lacks meaning.

One of the genres that originated from these oppressed groups was Rap music, which emerged as a way of expression for the urban youth. It has been symbolized as the poetry of the youth who are usually ignored as result of their race and class

Growing up in a Middle Eastern household is nothing but a huge challenge because, of how strict my life has been. However, rap music allows me to escape a harsh life style that has been passed down for generations. Rap music has allowed me to get a feeling of freedom, and rebellion instead, of always being confined by religion. For instance, when I was 12 years old my mom scolded me for turning up the stereo while an Eminem track was playing. She would always preach to my siblings and I about how rap music is nothing but vulgar words coming from a random person. Rap music to her was nothing more to her than just derogatory slang talking about drugs, money, cars, and girls. On the contrary, rap music is something that many people lean

     Most rap songs that contain violence reflects incidents that occur in today’s society such as the Rodney King incident. “Rap music brings together a tangle of some of the most complex social, cultural, and political issues in contemporary American society.” Rap and hip-hop artists write songs that promote the killing of enemies as well as targeting institutions such as the church, government, and justice system (Ro 145) Most artists relive their own painful experiences over and over again though their music, delaying their own society’s process of recovery . for example, in 1989

Throughout history, music has been used to express the feelings of people or groups whom may have no other outlet to express themselves. The best example of this occurrence would be the lower class of America’s use of rap music. Rap music started out as a fun variation of disco with the purpose to make people dance and enjoy themselves, but it later transformed into one of the best outlets to express the struggles of poverty in the United States. The genre gained popularity when the song “Rapper 's Delight” hit the charts in the early eighties; rap evolved into a plethora of different styles from there, Gangster Rap formed with NWA in the late eighties, and rap really hit it’s zenith in the mid nineties. Modern rap began in the early starts of the twentieth century. Because of the storytelling that rappers do in the music, it gained notice in the inner city where the demographic could relate. Many young teen in the inner city environment built dream to be famous rappers just like their own favorite artists . Rap connects to me by its style, its purpose, and its political incorrectness.