Rap music has been around since the 1970’s. People have questioned why it has only recently gotten such bad publicity. Denise Herd did a study on rap and hip hop music to determine if the lyrics in rap music have increasingly gotten worse in promoting sexism and violence. In her study she “examined 130 platinum (rap) albums with 430 songs released from 1992 to 2002 using Anderson’s conceptualization of ‘the street code’ and found that violence was the central theme of the lyrics along with wealth, violent retaliation, nihilism, and objectification of women.” (Herd p395) She also took songs from the 1970’s and discovered “that despite the stereotypes, violence is not the central focus of rap” (Herd p396). Between 1979 and 1984 only 24 per cent of rap songs mentioned violence, between 1985 and 1989 it rose to 32 per cent and between 1994 and 1997 it rose to 60 per cent. Herd’s studies made it evident that rap music has increasingly gotten worse. Nathan McCall who served nearly three years in jail for armed Robbery and now works for The Washington Post stated “We're going to take away the market value of these attacks on our person. Anyone black or white who makes money calling our women bitches or our people niggers will have to face our indignation” (Suggs p3). It’s an indignity that people are making money for putting such negative media out by which today’s youth is being influenced.…
Nowadays, many racist and corrupt words are being used in hip-hop and rap music. Unfortunately, this genre of music is always played on the radio which is the main reason to why kids, in our time, know and use a lot of these inconvenient words. The only sensational conclusion people came up with to stop the use of such lyrics is the banning of corrupt terms from hip-hop and rap music and the prohibition of these inappropriate words is what John H. McWhorter discusses in “Banning Words from Hip-Hop and Rap Music Would Be Beneficial” (2008). McWhorter’s an African American man and the author of many books on languages and on race relations. His previous works show us that he has the capability of writing about the use of language-related topic.…
The author’s final plea for the acceptance of rap as true poetry is to clear the misconception to all rap music revolves around stereotypically “gansta” lyrics, violence, and misogyny. The “gangsta” style is just one niche of music, “and less dominant than it once was. Rap, considered as a literature rather than it’s top selling hits, addresses a wide range of topics, even including science fiction.” (20) McWhorter mentions Jay Z, whose “magesterial volume of this lyrics” proves that rap can have an intelligent, meaningful message.…
Scott's article, "Rap Music and its Violent Progency: America's Culture of Violence in Context” approaches the issue of "rap music as a creative expression and metorphorical offspring of America's well-established culture of violence. Richardson and Scott's point of this article was to answer the question to what the role of rap music is and how it contributes to voilence in society. Richardon and Scott pulled different statistics and data from violence within movies, video games, and music. This artical states, "Violence in music is not by any means limited to rap or gangsta rap. Folk and country music have contained references to murder, killing of police, and domestic violence for decades" (181). The method of the authors was to place rap music in a context that was unusual to the audience, the authors grabbed several different ideas about rap music such as; capitalism and rap, political and judicial scrutiny of rap, rap in the scholorly literature, rap within cultural capital and social reproduction, violence in rap music and overal rap musics effects on the culture. The authors did not exaclty answer their research question, they merely just implemented different ideas about violence and rap in order to increase the audiences knowledge on the given subject. The authors arrived to the conclusion that "[r]ap music has drawn attention to the subjugated life and senseless violence the mainstream culture attempts to…
In Televsion Violence and Aggression by Thom Curtis, family violence is researched. In its measure of violence, there was no “significant relationship between the violence that children witnesses in their parents’ spousal relationship and violence in the children’s own marriages” (p. 341). If this research is proven to be true, it is refuted by the lyrics being portrayed in music. According to many lyrics, the violence witnessed at home affects the cycle of violence being talked about. Therefore there is a discrepancy and question as to what type of population is being represented. Therefore, gangsta rap proves that their voice is not taken into account as is always being stated.…
Cited: Krohn, Franklin and Suazo, Frances. “Contemporary urban music: controversial messages in hip-hop and rap lyrics.” 1995.…
Women always face a strong challenge from hip-pop culture and male rappers. Men’s dominant position is very obvious in rap music in the early time of hip-hop music. In rap music, women always have a negative or derogatory image. Many rap music uses aggressive and abusive words to aim at women. In misogynistic songs, rappers often use “bitch” or “ho” to refer to a woman and describe her as a distrust figure (par. 12). Scholars have provides some reasons for the appearance of misogyny in rap music. For example, some experts have claimed that the surrounding environment has an influence on rap music, which will reflect rap artists’ attitudes towards women and that male rappers are often influenced by their personal prejudices against women. Other…
Hip-Hop lyrics describe extremely violent acts that include guns, beatings, and murder. The songs seem to be condoning this behavior and are mostly performed by African American males. By seeing a black man singing lyrics such as, “I’m just waiting for a fool/ so I can use his blood for my backyard pool” (The Terrorists f/ Point Blank, “Dead Bodies” 1991) or “Crack that jaw, what’s more bring it/ Ill rip your fuckin’ arm out the socket if you swing it” (Apache “A Fight” 1992), endorses the idea that African Americans are prone to violence and killing.…
In discussions of Rap Music, one controversial issue has been whether There Is a link between violent lyrics and violent behavior. On the one hand, Matthew Robinson, a professor at Appalachian State University, argues that there is a link between violent lyrics and violent behavior. On the other hand, Jennifer Copley a writter from the website Suite101.com contends that listening to ap music does not make teens violent. My own view is that it can make people violent and it does not make them violent because it matter what lyrics are in the rap music you are listening to.…
With over a billion songs in existence today, it is hard to imagine that anyone has never heard a song before and for most people inspired by at least one of them. There is a big controversy stating that rap music has, and is still influencing our younger generation and to certain amplitude I agree. The jails across America are being filled to capacity over violent confrontations in our streets. Many killings are occurring after bar and nightclub shootings from local gang members using drugs and playing rap music. Some of the music being listened to is introducing children to drugs sex and jail could this be all bad? Surly not! Studying the lyrics to some of your most hated rap songs my just provide you with some of the problems our society faces and the solutions that will help us surmount…
"Obviously rap music is too violent. It serves as a musical accompaniment to the entire underclass culture of violence," says the author of "See No Evil", David Klinghoffer, in an article in the National Review. This extremely narrow minded philosophy has neglected to discover what rap music really is and what it means to its millions of buyers, who are mostly of upper-class status. Rap is not only music, it is also a black cultural expression that prioritizes black voices from urban America, and it is a form of rhymed storytelling accompanied by highly rhythmic, electronically based music. Rap music is a form of art or expression like any other type of music. Rap music in itself is not violent. Rap music of today is merely a reflection of the violence that many urban dwellers deal with daily in America. The art of gangsta rap reflects life as the rapper knows it and he or she in no way invites anyone to recreate his or her lives. Condemning gangsta rap music is an empty attempt by politicians and older generation individuals who are unable and unwilling to tackle the true problems that grip urban American cities.…
History Hip hop began in the 1970s. The art form, which originated in New York, provided Black and Latino youth with an outlet to express themselves, often speaking out about the poor conditions that exist within their communities. The development of the hip-hop culture created a movement that influenced the way we dress, speak and socialize. The emergence of "gangsta rap" in the 1980s marked the beginning of some disintegration of the positive images in hip-hop culture Popular rap, as it is today, formed in the 1980s, and has since influenced everything from folk music to heavy metal. It has ties leading back to Africa and Jamaica, where there was an emphasis on lyrical content and drumbeats. Glorifying Violence Gangsta rap is a hip-hop genre that focuses primarily on the negative aspects of inner city life. The lyrics often glorify criminal activity and degrade women. This genre of hip-hop has been a source of tremendous controversy and is often cited as the cause of the increase in violence. This is particularly true amongst black youth. According to federal statistics cited by the "Charlottesville Daily Progress," homicide is the leading cause of death for black men between the ages of 15 and 34. Many gangsta hip-hop artists justify their music by claiming they are only retelling the experiences of their lives on the streets. However, close analysis of the song lyrics often reveals a plethora of curse words and no substance. According to commentators such as those found on Urban Dictionary.com, many artists have been forced to create artificial 'gangsta' images for the sake of a lucrative career. Many young people idolize these artists and imitate their behavior. Trends in using gunshots as rhythmical beats, graphic lyrical content depicting violent scenes and glorifying gang life and records of popular rap stars serving prison sentences make the notion that rap music spreads violence in society a plausible scenario.…
When paying close attention to many song lyrics, you can hear the promotion of violent acts. Weather it be a rap song or a country song, the promotion or violence is being spread to music fans. These songs are promoting violence by speaking of killing people, suicide and flashing their gang "signs" in their music videos.…
In the 1980s, we saw many different genres of music emerge, genres such as Pop, Rock, and R&B. But a new genre emerged that sparked a lot of controversy: “Gangsta Rap” otherwise known as Hip Hop. Rappers/Rap groups such as NWA, Run DMC, Big Daddy Kane, and more changed the industry with catchy tunes and lyrics that talked about hard topics like slavery, violence, and police brutality. These lyrics sometimes caused major conflict, whether between races or with civilians and police. Hip Hop was very controversial in the 80s. “Gangsta rap” has caused a lot of controversy, many people protested this music in the late 80s and 90s due to the message within its lyrics and what those lyrics conveyed. Many accused “Gangsta Rap” for promoting things such as crime, killings, profanity, drugs, sex, racism, and more. But Gangsta rap doesn’t influence this type of lifestyle; it’s telling a story/conveying a message of the individuals who wrote the lyrics.…
IV. Conclusion Rap Music :Misinterpreted art form In a world with mass cultural diversity, it is unfair to blame just one brand of music for all societies of crimes. Nonetheless, rap music is not a menace to society. Rap music as a whole is very motivating and has definite capabilities involved in rap music such as Coolio, Naughty by nature, Queen Latifa, and Will Smith. Still there are many people that feel rap music should be banned from television and the radio. Only if we as a society can comet ether to accept each others culture, will rap music be accepted by everyone. Just like any other type of music there will always be critics, but who are the critics? Is it the parents of today or the media? In every industry there are always problems that exist. Like many Businesses there are always bad people involved, and sometimes they influence other people to follow them. Rap music is one of the nation's top selling music industry and some of the artists are just in it for the money. They have no care for what the art of rap music or poetry represents. In addition, they will do anything to make money, even if it means degrade their own race. But who is to blame for this problem? Social acceptance is my goal and in order for me to reach it , I will have to answer the questions ,what is rap , who…