Essay about Rap And Censorship

Rap is a genre in music that consists of rhyming or being poetic over a certain unique beat. The origin of rap is significantly different from any other form of music. The flow, change, subject of the music, and the instrumentals behind the rapping has all changed with time. Most people would underestimate the complexity of the music and the evolution it has undergone. The real roots of rap music began in the late 1980’s with the “Golden Age.” It was innovative and mostly based around the party scene. Gangsta Rap followed the Golden age and was very impactful on the young culture. After the Gangsta Rap era came the time in rap referred to as Crunk Rap which combined the country sound with the party lifestyle. Conscious

The rap subculture is widely agreed to have been established in the Bronx, New York during the 1970’s. At a time when block parties became popular, especially among African-American youths, hip-hop music was a means of expressing opinions and values and as a new source of communication. At these gatherings, DJs would play percussive breaks from popular songs, often on two turntables to enable them to extend these breaks. This new culture defined itself by four key stylistic elements: MCing/rapping, scratching/DJing, graffiti writing and break dancing. As this style of music became more established, an evolution began, as sampling technology and drum machines became more affordable and widely available.

Rap music is really popular to us, young people, and sometimes adults, too. In my opinion, I think that rap is a way to allow all of the rappers to express themselves, their voices, their experience, and their feeling from their life. And in some other people opinion, they also describe rap music as the story or the voice of the streets. According to a music articles “The birth of Rap: A Look Back” from NPR.org website, rap music was born and began to develop in the middle of year 1970s. They are firstly formed and played by the Black communities, and then slowly spread out to the world. In rap world, at first they are only male rappers who use music to express themselves and their pain towards the world. Then, women also began to rap to be able to express their thoughts more and more. Female and male rapper are sharing the same purpose of express themselves through their song but they are different in the way they use their lyrics, the subject they choose to rap on and the feeling they express to their fans and their songs’ listeners.

Others believe that music should not be censored because it would infringe on the artist’s right to freedom of speech, but music containing explicit lyrics should be criticized for their negative content. Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas delivered a speech to the City Club of Cleveland. In his speech he discusses how music has a major affect on youth, and how crimes among teenagers have increased greatly, since music with explicit lyrics have been out on the market. He also expresses that music should not be censored, because the artist have the right to say what they want in their lyrics, but society also had the right to criticize the explicit lyrics in their music. (1-9) The right to freedom of speech is given to all people under the bill of rights. If people weren’t allowed to speak what they felt this country would not be where it is today.

Rap music officially started in 1978 in the Bronx, New York. According to the author, most Americans

Since gangsta rap was first introduced by the group N.W.A., this type of rap music has sold more albums than any other form of rap. Gangsta rap in some ways glorifies violence, drugs, and easy money. N.W.A. wrote a song about killing cops that created a firestorm of controversy. As a result of several such controversies, the Parental Advisory Explicit Lyrics labeling system was enacted in 1985 (Lommel 68). This system required the music industry to label songs that have explicit language and limit the sale of these albums to adults.

Not one thing in this world is so perfect to the point in which someone would not find something offensive about it. I mean itís really bad when Wal-mart decides that Eminemís cds are so controversial and vulgar that even the censored versions canít be sold there.

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

Rap and Hip-Hop originated in the 1970’s in New York City's South Bronx neighborhood as a street-born cultural movement which is known for DJ-ing (using a turntable as an instrument by manipulating songs and creating sounds while spinning vinyl records on the turntable), MC-ing (Rhyming and lyrics spoken at a fast pace), breakdancing or b-boying (athletic style of street dancing), and graffiti art. By the 1980’s, hip-hop was the primary cultural movement of the African American and Hispanic communities. Rap and Hip Hop has been known to be the voice of the poor youth. Mainstream white consumers quickly accepted hip-hop through movies, music videos, radio, and media coverage. Rap, in particular, found a wide multicultural audience and emerged

Hip-Hop emerged in the 1970’s upon the arrival of a one Kool DJ Herc. Kool DJ Herc migrated to the United States from Kingston, Jamaica and settled in the West Bronx of New York. Kool DJ Herc was a disc jockey that attempted to incorporate his Jamaica style of disc jockeying, which involved reciting improvised rhymes over reggae records. Unfortunately for Kool DJ Herc New York seemed

This labeling of albums is not the first attempt and success at censoring music. For 50 years radio stations have been censoring songs deemed inappropriate. In 1940 NBC banned 147 songs. The Supreme Court upheld the FCC's authority to regulate music in 1978 (Winfield pg. 14). The rock and roll community could only expect some sort of limited censorship. Initially the ban was only in effect from 6 am until midnight but in 1988 president Reagan made the ban all day. The FCC in an attempt to let radio stations know what types of songs were unacceptable sent a list of 22

“Censorship, like charity should begin at home; but unlike charity, it should end there,” is a quote by Clare Boothe Luce (Fitzhenry, 84). Some parents are against the censorship of music. They believe that they should raise their kids, not some politicians who believe one nasty word will change a whole child’s future.

Most popular music today is driven by violence and sex. These musicians put out albums that glorify violence and promote causal sex. When the albums are being produced, the artist does not think of how it will affect the perspective merchant. When

Rap originated within the early Nineteen Seventies within the South borough, where DJs riffs from their favorite dance records at house parties, making new sounds by scratching over them or adding drum synthesizers. A partner, the MC, would add an assonant, spoken vocal (a rap) over the combination, typically victimization clever plays on words. Most rap songs were boasting, the aural equivalent of street gangs' strut and swagger. Self-praise regarding their physical superior skill and coolness, rappers used fight with rival males because the motivation for power. Some early rap songs promoted world and interracial harmony, as well as The Sugar Hill Gang's Rapper's Delight (1980) and Afrika Bambaataa's Planet Rock (1982), that became a crossover

Young people should not have to listen to violent lyrics and vulgar music being produced by musicians and record producers. That modest warning label on the corner of the CD cover is not as effective as one would think. If the musicians would cut those offensive lyrics out of the music, young people would not have the idea of running into a school and shooting random people just to feel better about themselves. They would not get the idea to kill themselves from their favorite band. They would not be bombarded with ideas and mental pictures of raping women. Vulgar lyrics are all around in all types of music genres, from country, to rap, to rock n’ roll, to alternative. Musicians should not have to write music about drugs and alcohol, and sex, and violence to sell their albums. Violent lyrics are a major problem in today’s society. Solving this problem will be very difficult but according to American Academy of Pediatrics there are a few ways to help control the problem: