Music Lyrics : The Importance Of Music In Music

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.

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.

Music is important to everybody, we all have that one song that makes us happy or sad just from listening to one line in the song, but what if the song made you violent. Lyrics in music could be the reason for violent tendencies in people’s behavior. There have been studies shown that lyrics in some music promote violence and crimes started because of musical influence. Through all genres of music, if closely inspected, the lyrics show a hint of violence.

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

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

In the article Rap and Moral Character by Wesley Cragg and Christine Koggel, the subject of concern is the consequences of listening to rap music and the effects on moral behaviour. The author suggests that rap and moral character are linked and that due to the natural context of rap, it promotes violence, crass materialism, crime, and is misogynistic and therefore corrupts a person’s moral character. Based on their claims, the authors take the position that rap should be censured – morally. In this paper, I will examine the authors’ claims, their reasoning, and their use of concepts. By doing so, I will be able to demonstrate that their thesis (rap corrupts moral character and deserves moral censure) is unjust

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.

Rap music has been around for around 40 years but became nationally popular in the 1990’s. As the music became more popular within the public, the lyrics of these songs became notorious for being vulgar, derogatory, and a bad influence on the listeners. The new sound consisted of heavier beats and a more intense sound than songs of earlier decades. These heavier beats and lyrics about alcohol, sex, drugs, violence and crime all were thought to be the cause of adolescent misconduct. Almost all of the music portrayed a lifestyle that was not wanted among most of the population, but definitely influenced

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.

The premise of the article, “Changing images of violence in rap music lyrics: 1979-1997” is that from 1979-1997, there has been a drastic increase in the level of violence in rap music that is being viewed in a more progressively positive light. As a result, social conditions must change in order to reduce youth violence. The results indicate that there has been a dramatic and sustained increase in the level of violence in rap music. The percentage of songs mentioning violence increased from 27 per cent during 1979-1984

Researchers have found rap music to show more violence and have more explicit language than other music genres, and this language can directly impact teenagers. In an Emory University study, published in the "American Journal of Public Health," girls between 14 and 18 who viewed violent, suggestive videos for 14 hours a week or more were “three times more likely to hit a teacher, 2.5 times more likely to get arrested, and 1.5 times more likely to get a sexually transmitted disease, use drugs, or drink alcohol” (Ryan). Think about it--all these horrible actions can occur just because of an innocent listen to a song. Lyrics are even impacting the younger spectrum of our generation. A study performed at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine involved a survey of more than 700 freshmen who were exposed to more than 14 hours a week of music with sexual, explicit lyrics.

A lot of the artists were “accused of such things as assault, drug dealing, illegal weapons possession, money laundering, and murder”. Rap music has caused many uproars in the music industry because of the language and sexual content. A lot of the rap records have the “Parental Advisory Explicit Content” sign because of how much sexual images, profanity, violence and drug use there is. But not all rap songs have sexual content. Some make good and healthy relationships. According to researchers in Florida International University, the more adolescents watch sexual images, it’s more likely for them to engage in sexual activity. But some researchers believed that it’s because of the sexual lyrics that make up the attitudes of us young adults.