How Rap Affects 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”.

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

Many Americans today embrace the culture of hip-hop. Since hip-hop became mainstream its influence has surrounded most Americans. People engage in social issues from the hip-hop culture In his recent work, How Hip-Hop Holds Blacks Back, John H. McWhorter have offered harsh critiques of hip-hop for delaying and marring the success of black people. McWhorter asserts hip-hop music “celebrates a ghetto life of unending violence and criminality(10).” He believes hip-hop contributes to the stereotype nearly all Americans maintain in regard to black people. Reflecting on harsh song lyrics McWhorter attempts to strengthen his argument. McWhorter acknowledges not all hip-hop promotes violence in people. He concedes “not all hip-hop is belligerent

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.

     The Parents Music Resource Center and other censorship groups became a thorn in the side of free speech when many parents (like Tipper Gore) were outraged and disgusted by this new music known as “rap.” Censorship organizations demand that these new performers like Ice-T and NWA become banned from the radio and their music be labeled as indecent and explicit in order to protect America’s Youth from listening to this so-called “filth.” Rap has since been the biggest target for censorship, with groups going as far as saying that, “there has been a marked increase in explicit violence and misogyny in popular music, and it stands to reason that exposure to such hate filled lyrics has had a effect on kids’ attitudes, assumptions, decisions, and behavior” (Senate subcommittee…). This is a crazy assumption with no facts to back it up. According to Vincent Shiraldi, the executive director of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, “There has been a 30

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

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.

The corruptness of music today seems to be linked to the crude language and aggression found particularly in hip-hop and rap music. Some rap artists use vulgar language in their lyrics that are easily adoptable by teens (Holden). Not only have certain lyrics influenced the way teens speak but also their actions. An article on Headliners.org stated that “lyrics in the music are too violent and are to blame for many problems.” The problems range anywhere from suicide and aggression towards women to underage drinking and drug use. Lyrics are not only to blame, but also what people see in artists’ music videos can affect what they do (Doaks). The urge to emulate these rap musicians has escalated quickly causing a spike in rebellious tendencies among teens.

Music is subjective which means people will often voice their opinions on it, and undoubtedly one of the most controversial genres that has sparked a barrage of disapproval is rap. It is believed and further encouraged by the media that rap music promotes a bad lifestyle. With corruption being apparent around the world it is easy for the media to put the blame on a genre of music that is filled with explicit lyrics about violence, drugs, and rebellious subject matters. However, further investigation will reveal that because of its accurate depiction of reality, and wide variety of categories, rap music does not encourage an unhealthy lifestyle.

In society today, it is highly noticed that the role of rap music messages and video images of violence causes an increase in negative emotions, thoughts and behaviors which could lead to violence amongst youth. Rap music has been at the center of concern in regards to the potential harmful effect of violent media on social behavior amongst youth. This potential behavior could be seen in the music video titled “Kim” by Eminem. In this music video, the storyline, language and sound encourages hostile thoughts and feelings amongst its audience. In the music video, Kim husband catches her cheating on him in their home with another man, while he is away. However, when Marshall gets home and finds out that his wife is cheating on him, he gets upset, angry, and abusive and becomes violent towards his wife Kim. He screams at her saying that, if she moves again, he will “beat the shit out of her” (Line 11). Violence in rap music has increased in response to the complex interplay of changing social conditions such as the elevated levels of youth violence in the changing commercial practices within the music industry. Hence, the media influences violence in four negative ways, which contributes immensely to anger amongst youth which leads to aggressive behavior such as social violence, substance abuse, domestic violence, and negative perceptions of women.

We need to impose law and sanction authority upon rap music that is verbally racist, demoralizing and abusive. Rap music has played a huge role in this generation for kids, ages 13 to 18 and has powerfully influenced their thoughts as rock music influenced teenagers in the past. The difference is that a lot of rock music talks about love, political activeness, or sometimes the telling of a simple story. All in all rock music for the most part was not as derogatory as rap music is today. Sometimes rock music could contain subjects such as violence, and the use of mind altering drugs as lyrical subject matter. Conversely Rap music lends itself to subject matter promoting violence, gangs, drug use, racist lyrics, and an overall negative

It has been 30 years since Hip-Hop was first “introduced” to the world. Whether it be fashion or politics, this musical genre/culture plays a huge role in everyday life and has generated billions of dollars across the globe. In this paper I will be discussing when, where, and how Hip-Hop was created, “old school Hip-Hop, “Hip-Hop’s Golden Age”, “Hardcore rap” “Gangsta rap”, “G-Funk”, 21st century Hip-Hop, and how Hip-Hop affects society.

“I said a hip hop,The hippie, the hippie,To the hip, hip hop, and you don't stop, a rock it To the bang bang boogie, say, up jump the boogie,To the rhythm of the boogie, the beat. Now, what you hear is not a test I'm rappin' to the beat,”(The Sugar Hill Gang0 Rap has been around for a long time, approximate 37 years and it has different effects on society. Some of the effects have the potential to be negative and some have the potential to be positive. If the effect is positive then the people who are listening to the rap music are really paying attention to the message behind the song.

In addition to the actualization of women, rap also promotes extreme violence and abuse towards women. Besides the ?mild? abuse the vast majority of rappers perpetually depict, some rappers display a loathing so deep it can only be classified as misogyny. In the song ??97 Bonnie and Clyde,? by Eminem, he says ?There goes mama, splashing in the water. No more fighting with dad, no more restraining order. Blow her kisses bye-bye, tell mommy you love her? (Bonnie). In a sinister fashion, the song goes on to describe how he murdered and disposed of his ex-wife with the assistance of his three-year-old daughter. Here the violence towards women crosses generations and involves the traumatic use and abuse of a three-year old girl. It promotes that violence, even toward our most vulnerable, is acceptable if they are female. Undeniably, the hip-hop culture?s perverse attitude towards the treatment of women has gradually been accepted by society. It seems society has been desensitized to the violence of rap by

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.