The Influence Of Alcohol And Violence In Rap Music

Rap music is one of the most highly controversial genres of music because of its references to drugs, alcohol, gun violence, and misogyny. On March 24, 1998, Mitchell Johnson shot and killed four students, as well as one teacher, and wounded ten others. However, Johnson was not a rap star, he was just an ordinary kid explains Debbie Pelley, his teacher at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He began listening to music by Tupac Shakur and Bone Thugs~N~Harmony just a few months before the tragedy occurred. The music contained countless references to murder and death. For example, in the song “Crept and We Came” by Bone Thugs some of the lyrics read, “Cockin the nine and ready to aim/Pullin the trigger/To blow out your brains/Bone

Listening to rap music means kids hear about alcohol, drugs, and violence constantly. They become more and more curious about drugs and alcohol, and may even want to try it out themselves. The same study conducted by Meng-Jinn Chen, not only asked students about their music listening, but also about their alcohol use, illicit drug use, aggressive behavior, and sensation seeking. The study found students who listen to rap music were more likely to use alcohol and drugs, participate in aggressive behavior, and report sensation seeking (Chen et. al). It is not uncommon for rap songs to promote drug and alcohol use. Alcohol and drugs are extremely dangerous, especially for children, who could easily abuse them. Songs mentioning violence like shooting or fighting may also encourage children to participate in these behaviors. They start to think these behaviors are acceptable, since rap music seems to promote them. Children also have more sensation seeking which means a higher willingness to take risks and do activities they would not normally do. However, this is not always ideal, as many kids could use this as an excuse to break their moral code, or even the law. Children start mimicking and acting violent if the music they listen to promotes this

No, other genres of music mention violence as well. For example, folk and country songs such as Eric Clapton’s “I Shot The Sheriff” (1974), Woodie Guthrie’s “Pretty Boy Floyd” (1987), and Johnny Cash’s “Folson Prison Blues” (1968) all contain instances of violence in their lyrics (Richardson and Scott). Yet, folk and country music are not notorious for causing violent behavior in children like rap music. While it is true other genres of music contain violence, it is much more uncommon than it is in rap music. The results of Meng-Jinn Chen’s study note, “Level of aggressive behavior was significantly and positively associated with often listening to rap music, but negatively with often listening to country music.” Those who listen to rap music acted more aggressively than those who listen to country. Even though both genres might mention violence, rap music still contains more references to alcohol and illicit drugs. Only 13 percent of country-western lyrics mention alcohol. This is extremely low compared to nearly half or 47 percent of rap/hip-hop songs mentioning alcohol. Also, rap significantly and positively predicted frequency of club-drug use, whereas listening to country music significantly and negatively predicted frequency of club-drug use (Chen et. al). This is why rap music is more commonly associated with violence because it contains a significantly