Rap Music And Its Effect On Culture

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 the power to influence people in ways such as dictating fashion or wardrobe choices, promote rebellious ways, and can even affect the morals you live by. The youth in America is highly influenced by famous rap and hip hop artist due to the many relatable stories they tell in their music. Many times the stories are speaking of hardships in life and crimes committed. Their lyrics are significantly influential enough to have caused people to commit crimes such as robbery, violence, and even murder.

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.

What comes to mind when you think of hip hop? Is it people speaking over a beat, is it the violent nature of the lyrics, or is it the culture? For me my answer to this question is all the above. For avid listener of hip hop music, I do not think that it should censored nor banned for its content. But, praised for its expression of free speech, it huge impact on the economy, and its impact on American culture.

Music is a mainstream thing in today's society, it can make you feel a certain way, influence

Rap is becoming increasing influential of the American society, a considerable amount of rappers are using their platform to bring light to mental illnesses within the community, donate schools and charities that will help underprivileged families, and speak out against social issues besides having an inspirational message in their songs. Kendrick Lamar sheds light on his battle with overcoming depression through his music. In his song “U” he openly describes his depression including his battle with suicidal thoughts. He says “I'm fucked up, but I'm not as fucked up as you… The world'll know money can't stop a suicidal weakness” Mental illness has always been stigmatized in Black culture because it seen a “white people” problem or that the

However, over the past 10 years Rap music has received more and more of the blame for problems specifically problems with black youth today. These Problems include black on black crimes, violence, Drugs, Gang members, and high school dropout rates all these problems were significantly influenced by rap music and the negative aspects it brings to young black men and women today. Many believe that if it weren't for rap music and rappers, society wouldn't experience as much violence and use drugs, and gang members from the youth especially black youth, as well as such a high rate of dropout percentage mainly among black high schools. Do rappers really have this much of impact over Black youth? Can rappers be role models?

Every day many kids of all ages are listening to a variety of music from rap like Migos to Oldies like Billy Joel. However, most teens predominantly listen to rap artist. Today there are a lot of terms or lingo that come from rap, therefore it also has a major input to how millennials are speaking today. Music today is the fastest growing art form in the world today and has been influencing people in different ways since the beginning of music. Kids today are listening to a lot of rap music and the artist has a big impact on how they see things. Even though some might disagree, rap music and artist are influencing this generation more than you think. While parents are worried that this music is making their kids more violent and rebellious,

Rap is a growing genre of music that continues to impact the new generation . The Hip Hop industry provides a platform for people to showcase their talent. Rappers are able to create a career from their music and financially benefit from their success. Rappers have a huge influence on politics ,fashion, relationships , the economy, drug usage, and violence in the society. Little Wayne is one of the most influential rappers on teenagers as well as young adults.He often uses derogatory language to refer to women and views them as sex object .Influential rappers like Little Wayne have a huge impact on young men and how they refer to women in our society . From older hip hop artist like Slick Rick and Doug E Fresh, to new artist like Lil

Music is typically a part of everybody’s day in some way shape or form. Whether someone is driving a car, eating at a restaurant, or working out in the gym, music is unavoidable. It comes in many creative forms and unique genres. Rap music, however, is currently one of the most popular music genres, and this fact can be proven by simply viewing music charts on iTunes or Spotify.

It no longer matters what part of the world you live in. Rap music can be heard playing from car’s passing in the streets and the hottest night club scene all across the globe. There is no doubt that Rap music has made a name for itself. With hard baselines and incredible word play put together in what is considered a standard sixteen bar versus has brought fame to artists of all styles. A virtual cash cow in the industry from music sells “it now generates over $10 billion per year and has moved beyond its musical roots, transforming into a dominant and increasingly lucrative lifestyle (Watson, Rapper 's Delight: A Billion-Dollar Industry).” The growth of the rap industry from a subcultural movement started

Hip hop music is described as, “a subculture especially of inner-city youths who are typically devotees of rap music”. (Merriam.com) Hip hop music is one of the most listened to genres in history. Hip hop music started in the mid 1900’s, but some say that it started much earlier. Many people today would argue that Hip Hop is disgraceful now a days, and that it has no positive message given. Me personally I would agree since the days have changed. I could argue that music as a whole has changed and wouldn’t always be the same, but that’s not the main point. The main point is to show you (yes you the reader), how Hip hop music is actually positive.

“Turn that off! I don’t like the language in that song!” Music containing explicit lyrics is becoming the new normal for teens these days. Genres of music such as rap and hip-hop have received negative criticism about their music due to its lyrics talking about drugs, sex, violence and alcohol. Along with that, hatred towards women, gays, lesbians, and minorities have also been exposed in various songs. Little do these artists know that their music is affecting the youth in destructive ways. Teens look at artists and idolize them for their “great” work.

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.

confronted racism. In “Zimbabwe” and “Africa Unite” he protests colonialism. Music therefore, does influence a person’s feelings, how they think, and what they perceive as social norms. Rap glorifies drugs, guns and violence thus teens may end up imitating what they see in videos. There have been some instances where rap has directly influenced criminal behavior. A state trooper was shot dead in Texas in 1992 by a car thief who had been listening to gangsta rap at the time of the incident. One of the songs on the album he had been listening to actually described a similar situation (Giovacchini, 1999). The question then arises, is rap the only factor that causes such behavior? Rap cannot be identified as the single source of antisocial behavior. A number of other factors including, gangs, drugs, and unemployment have to be present for such behavior to occur. If rap is considered to be reflecting poor social conditions, then it cannot be cited as the cause of those conditions.