The Effects Of Rap Music On Social Behavior Essay

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”.

Southern hip hop also referred to as southern rap originated from the southern cities like New Orleans, Houston, Atlanta, Miami, Memphis, and Virginia Beach, just like the names implies. Rap music has transformed modern music greatly during the decade of 1997 and 2007 (Dyson 61). The decade has seen the southern artists rise to both national and international prominence. The southern cities have churned up modern rap artists like Dwayne Michael (Lil Wayne), Clifford Joseph (T.I) and many others .This papers aims to examine various artists, music and scholarly articles in analyzing rap music in southern cities and its effects on modern music industry.

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.

Even though research have proven that music can intrigue kids from the sound that they have never heard or things that they have never seen, some individuals believe that music does not influence children to rebel. People that support heavy rock and rap music believe that even though this style of music might promote anti-social behavior, the evidence that states that it influences is vague. Past generations, baby boomers, grew up listening to music that did contain inappropriate lyrics, such as “Father Knows Best”, they did not end up committing the “biggest crime wave of the century”. (Chapman, S. (1997, Nov 16)). There are a lot of people that read books about crime, but they do not feel the urge to kill or commit other crimes, they are

People in society tend to feel that rap music has a certain effect on the mind of its audience. Rap music has always been judged based upon its lyrical content because it often includes explicit lyrics that consist of vengeful and violent crimes. Associating violent acts that people commit every day to what they are hearing over the radio is complete nonsense. The reasons that rap music is not responsible for violence in our society is because violence has always been a part of our society, you have to consider the person who listens to rap music's upbringing, and you have to consider the video games and tv shows that are being portrayed and played by the public.

The urban youth of today are highly influenced by the lyrics of the music they listen to. This music can be narrowed down to today’s version of hip-hop, or more commonly called rap. The youth are influenced by the lyrics and want to be like the rappers and live their lifestyle. What do these artists specifically talk about that want the youth to act this way? Most rap artists today produce the images of drug abuse, prostitution, money, and other topics such as drug dealing. What can be done by parents to stop this widespread urge in youth to become an idol to others? The fact is that with the United States constitution, not much can be done due to our freedom of

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.

Hip-Hop is an extensive and a broad conglomerate of various artistic forms that ultimately originated in the South Bronx and then quickly spread throughout the rest of New York City among African-Americans and other African-American youth mainly from the Caribbean and from Jamaica during the 1970’s. Over the course of decades and recent years, controversy surrounding Hip-Hop and rap music has been the vanguard of the media. From the over hype of the East and West Coast rivalry to the deaths of Tupac, Biggie, and even Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin, it seems that political and broadcasting groups have been injudicious to place essentially the blame on rap and Hip-Hop music for a superficial trend in youth violence.

Today’s society is one in which the idea of male superiority dominates, one that Edwards et al. says fosters the idea that “rape ideologies emanate from a patriarchal system” (qtd. in Franiuk). The influences on modern American culture, what it idolizes and produces, are often times truly sickening. Popular television programs and other media present depictions of women that promote a society of rape culture. The rapper Eminem, just one of the famous rap artists who has a bad reputation, refers to women in very derogatory ways. His song “Kim” was released in 2000, and is believed to have been written about his then-wife, Kim Mathers. In it, the rapper says, “Sit down bitch/If you move again I'll beat the shit out of you,” among other things, and even goes on to describe other types of violence that he wants to commit against her (Bass). When taking into consideration Eminem’s subject matter, his popularity is alarming. His music, and thousands of other songs like his, is filling the ears of impressionable youth and naïve adults, permeating their minds with horrible ideas.

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

     Imagine an inner city kid having grown u in an environment where real life street violence is a way of life. His body, having survived personal experiences of violence, endured barely life sustained conditions, and many sleepless nights caused by the constant yet unpredictable call of death. His mind doubtful over where his next meal will come from, lost in search of some higher guidance, struggling through a world, not of innocent childish fantasies, but trapped in a forced reality. His only outlet is the loud blaring music coddling his already pent-up rage, an escape from these harsh realities, seducing him to a life of violence. In him is created a “me against the world” mentality that is manifested in

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.

What percent of children in the United States do you think listen to Hip-hop/Rap music? There is no exact number but according to the most recent Recording Industry Association of America poll, Hip-hop/rap has moved into the number one spot when it comes to most popular genre. This means that the contents and lyrics are being blasted into children’s ears more than ever. Our brains are taught to learn through repetition, so by listening to music the lyrics will be stored in our memory for a long time. We usually see that parents influence their children’s lives, but we are starting to see that music now has a big impact on how they live. These songs are also easily accessible especially with how much time kids spend on their phones. With more and more songs being related to topics that are not appropriate for most children, they start doing the wrong things instead of the right. This is when we see that Hip-hop/rap music has a bad influence on young children today.

“ When words fail, music speaks”-Shakespeare- Music is something we hear every day. It can soothe us or it can make us very emotional. We hear music in our cars, at home, on our phones, at school, even at the gym. Music is a part of our culture, it makes us who we are. Music can either have a positive or negative impact on your life. One of the more popular forms of music that has been made much more recently is Rap/Hip Hop. There are many components of rythmes strung together over musical beats. There are extra loud bass and various drum beats that are commonly incorporated. In the early stages of hip hop, raps were performed by DJs. The beats, drums, and sounds were comprised from turntables and mic checks have been incorporated into many rap songs. “The majority of early raps were live, performed at parties instead of concerts which is why, Hip-hop is a form of popular music that is comprised mainly of emceeing and deejaying,”(Bambaata 2002). DJing has continued to play a large role in interpreting the sounds of rap. As for the lyrical portion of hip hop; songs are extremely varied in content. Although the lyrics displayed in songs have become more displayed as rap advanced, many early artists performed songs that were about both poverty and violence. Drug references have often been made, even in the twenty-first century, adding to hip hop’s explicit implications. Most lyrics reflect the humble beginnings of hip hop, but lyrics have come to border a wide spectrum with