The Pros And Cons Of Rap Music

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

This qualitative study takes a look at the relationship between gangsta rap music and violent behavior because there is little research devoted to this area.

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 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.

Rap music was creating a negative influence throughout the music industry for awhile, it’s agreeable that modern day rap today mostly involves drugs, gangs, violence, money, etc. Although, a lot of it also gives inspiration or at least has that goal being set when creating the music. Most

Within History, Rap has been considered the “CNN for black people”; what started as a way to express struggles in the ghettos of New York has transformed into one of the most popular genres of music in America. The popularity of rap has allowed many to have their voices heard, created new fashion trends, and even developed popular modern slang used by people throughout the world. The commercialization of rap has resulted in a significant following of the culture in America but also a large number of people who oppose the music. The culture of rap music has a substantial impact on popular culture in America, and by using an open mind and looking past the violence and language, people can better understand the meaning behind rap and the perception that follows it in America today.

It was twenty years ago that the rap group N.W.A with Ice Cube as its most vital lyricist released its album “Straight Outta Compton”. They called their music reality rap, everyone else called it gangsta and music history was made. Hip hop music came from the clubs and sidewalks of New York City as party music made with turntables and rhymes by performers who usually couldn’t afford music instruments. It was party music and then it came west and got a beat down by a swaggering collective that called itself N.W.A. They took the genre to the dangerous side of the street (Boucher,2008).

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.

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.

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.

Music is an ever-changing art form that has varied over the many centuries of time. As new eras arise so do the new sounds and types of music that become popular within the public eye. As new music appears, sometimes these new sounds and melodies can bring about controversy. One of the biggest new forms of music to bring about controversy was Hip-Hop/Rap. When the first songs of this new style first appeared in the early 1970’s in New York City it was relatively unknown, but as time progressed, it brought about much controversy and has continued to bring about much attention and criticism throughout the years.

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.

The most popular and influential form of African-American pop music of the 1980's and 1990's, rap is also one of the most controversial styles of the rock era. And not just among the guardians of cultural taste and purity that have always been counted among rock 'n' roll's chief enemies--Black, White, rock and soul audiences continue to fiercely debate the musical and social merits of rap, whose most radical innovations subverted many of the musical and cultural tenets upon which rock was built. Antecedents of rap are easy to find in rock with other kinds of music. Music is often used to tell a story, often with spoken rhymes over instruments and rhythms. Talking blues, spoken passages of sanctified prose in gospel,

     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

First, the uniqueness behind rap music cannot be found in any other music. Because rap is lyric driven music, the speed and the pronunciation a rapper uses affects the outcome of the sound greatly. Also rap contains a lot of wordplay and figurative language that makes it complex and meaningful. The difficulty behind making a rap adds a competitive nature that most other genres do not