Rap Music And Its Influence On African American Youth

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, also known as hip-hop, is a popular art form. Having risen from humble origins on the streets of New York City during the mid-1970s, hip-hop has since become a multifaceted cultural force. Indeed, observers say, hip-hop is more than just music. The culture that has blossomed around rap music in recent decades has influenced fashion, dance, television, film and—perhaps what has become the most controversially—the attitudes of American youth. For many rappers and rap fans during it’s early time, hip-hop provided an accurate, honest depiction of city life that had been considered conspicuously absent from other media sources, such as television. With a growing number of rap artists within this period, using hip-hop as a platform to call for social progress and impart positive messages to listeners, the genre entered a so-called Golden Age

Hip hop’s recieved a bad reputation within the last decade. It is known to negatively influence the younger generation. In the article, “America’s Hip Hop Double-Standard” Perkins asserts that the real issue is that men, black and white, no longer are able to financially support their families. This could be leading to poor behavior and decisions, and could be cqausing people of all ages to listen to hip-hop. In other words, Perkins believes that “as a genre, it references, violance, poor choices, drug use, and a general disrespect towards authority and towards women. The fact that its popularity at all just says a lot about us” (“Does Hip”). Maybe if hip hop wasn’t around, the degrading of women wouldn’t be so bad, maybe drugs wouldn’t be

The misogynistic treatment of women in commercialized rap has become a widespread phenomenon which as a result has become commonly accepted by majority of the individuals in society. Rappers, in general, nowadays use women in their videos in a way which is both derogatory and exploiting. Black men in today’s society, especially in the entertainment industry, do not see women as their equals; rather they objectify them as being nothing more than sex objects. People in the Hip Hop industry do not believe that sexism and misogyny is as big of a deal as racism, thus they push this issue to the side by simply ignoring it and learning to accept it. This misogynistic portrayal of women is ruining the image if Hip Hop as both an industry and a form of expressive art. However, instead of taking action against this atrocity, many women simply believe that the images of women and their portrayal in rap videos does not represent nor refer to them as an individual and the type of woman they truly are. By being silent these women are allowing themselves to be victimized by the men of not only the Hip Hop industry but also general society. By not having a say in this matter of the false classification and portrayal of women, they are voluntarily allowing men to do whatever they please to do so, in any given time and with any approach they feel is necessary. They do not

After the 1980s blacks had finally made their own identities which were recognized through their talents. While creating black studies and preferring to be called African Americans instead of derogatory names such as a “Nigger” or “Negroes.” However, music symbolizes the younger generations in the 1960s, especially Hip Hop and Rap music. Hip Hop gives blacks authentic music they can relate to with the lyrics and their everyday life struggles. It also conveys attitudes in a specific art form. Rap music defines the artist’s character and allow them to speak from their hearts with passion. This music gives a voice to the poor, oppressed and younger youth against harassment while portraying the image of black people in poverty.

Doug E. Fresh, a popular beat-boxer in rap music today, has been quoted saying, “Hip-hop is supposed to uplift and create, to educate people on a larger level and to make a change.” Although this is the original intention of hip-hop music, public opinion currently holds the opposite view. Since the 1970’s musical artists have changed the face of hip-hop and rap and worldwide, people – mostly teens—have been striving to emulate certain artists and their lyrics, which has created negative stereotypes for hip-hop music and also for those who choose to listen to it. With vulgar lyrics referencing drugs, alcohol, sex, and aggression, it’s no wonder these stereotypes exist. However, is music really the direct cause of how teens act,

Music is an art of arranging sounds that produce effects on how a person may be feeling. Music can be vocal, instrumental or mechanical. There are different types of music to please the listeners of all generations. Some people may listen to Rap, Rhythm and Blues or Gospel. These are just some of the most known Genres that are listened to more often than others.

The Change The world we live in changes every day. Within these daily changes, music is not an exception. According to Kate Conradin in the Controversial Rap Themes..., “Rap music is a genre that was born out of slave spiritual, blues, jazz, and soul as a musical expression of African American traditions” (Conrad, Dixon, and Zhang 135).

With things, such as explicit lyrics and depiction of women, drugs, and violence an assumption can be made that gangster rap represents a masculinity that rappers portray themselves as in their songs. Dating back to its origins, African Americans had always been the face of gangster rap, with such names like Tupac, Biggie, Jay-Z, DMX, and much more, as covers of rap magazines. Gangster rap had always been seen as what people interpret it to be and that is a raw rhythmic and explicit version of poetry in motion, but gangster rap depicts more than what people interpret it to be. Gangster rap depicts the image of how a strong African American male should look like, a bold, angry, rebellious, and fierce man. Strong African American males are subjective to gangster rap, mainly because of how gangster rap portrays masculinity. In “Brotherly Love: Homosociality and Black Masculinity in Gangsta Rap Muscic” Oware argues that although gangster rap music portrays the masculinity of African American males through the use of hyper masculinity, misogyny, and violence in lyrics, gangster rap music also provides a way for rappers to express themselves to commemorate their fellow friends through lyrics that depict family/friend relationships, success by association, and have a tribute for lost friends.

In Joan Morgan’s article “Fly-Girls, Bitches and Hoes: Notes of a Hip Hop Feminist”, she shows the way rap music has changed through it popularity. The widespread appreciation of rap had negative impacts upon the black community. Morgan talks about this through her Feminist point of view. She focuses the topic on what rap music says about the African American culture in Hip Hop. Rap music and Hip Hop were invented through the pain of African Americans. Hip Hop and the Rap industry use sexism and machoism to express the long years of oppressive pain they went through by the hands of the white people. Especially for the black brothers who continue that oppression by using provocative words that degrade the black sisters. Morgan states that blame isn’t only on the brothers

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

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.

Rap music is not the only type of American music associated with sex and violence. The history of Rock’s Roll for example, is a good example. The same arrangements, with white people at the top, uplifted an entire American generation on sex and violence in other types of music. Now they are doing the same with rap music (Roberts, 1994). Rappers have thus been forced to abandon the stated goal of their humble beginning to conform to the marketable aspects of their crafts. (Rebollo-Gil & Moras, 2012). Rappers have adopted all elements of hip-hop as a part of their daily practices claiming that hip-hop artists influence music, fashion, and speech. The portrayal of black men and black women in Hip Hop videos and lyrics serve the interests of white supremacist producers involved in rap music. Adams & Fuller (2006) describe racialized misogyny as a part of America’s awareness. The authors suggest that this belief has a profound significance on the inner spirit of African Americans as it feeds off not only animosity of women but loathing toward Blackness, which serves as a dual-purpose. Whether is the depiction of black female by black males in rap videos or the representation of black female sexuality by white racist, the sexual interaction between black men and black women takes on a compulsory heterosexual tone that explicates traditional heterosexism and entrenched racism (Rebollo-Gil & Moras, 2012).

I think Andre's voice was extremely monotone so it was really hard to listen because he just sounded really uninterested about his topic. When Andre interviewed Josh Scheer and then he filmed the rap concert he switched cameras. I would have liked to see every camera shot consistently the same. I like how Andre used difference types of music to say that it has an effect on culture like how he said bubblegum pop lets young teenagers become more image conscious and how rap is believed to create aggressive and violent behavior among it's consumers. I just wish he used more of that because there are so many genres of music. I really didn't enjoy the quality of a video because it was kind of fuzzy and just turned me off because I couldn't

Quebec’s hip-hop community of rapper’s rap in French “Bill 101” is the bedrock primary responsible for French as the preferred language spoken (Sarkar, Allen, 119). However, Haitians forming Quebec’s largest black community and a rap group Muzion doesn’t rap in French, but prefers to rap the way they speak Haitian Creole “keeping it real” (Sarkar, Allen, 123) and rather mix in some other semantics meanwhile they’re enlightening the listener on their culture and inviting them to partake in learning about it as well. The success of the groups two albums have been a breakthrough in Quebec. Allowing the people to become aware of the diverse cultures that surround them daily and creating a crack in Quebec’s unilingual system is positioning hybridity