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how rap music influences violence
analysis of Hiphop
analysis of Hiphop
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"Is gangster rap hip-hop? Sure. Does gangster rap involve talent? I think not." When people think of hip-hop music they think of violent rap that's talking about killing and raping. Not all hip-hop is like that though. It's not necessary to use obscenities or to speak of murder or drugs to be a good rapper. For some reason violence, sex, crime, and drugs are associated with rap. Rappers feel that they have to take on this gangster image in order to succeed. Not true!
Violence is the main element of gangster rap. Most hardcore gangster artists such as Eminem, Rza and Ja Rule revolve their music around violence. As portrayed in even the names of some songs like Ja Rule's hit "Murder for Life" and Rza's "Domestic Violence". Don't get me wrong, these lyrical poets do have talent but if they could stray from lyrics about killing, they would receive more respect.
Gangster rappers also seem to always encourage sex or demean women. Some songs are created with the mere purpose of disgracing women. Rapping about sex the way they do brings it down to their level and I find that as an insult. They need not disrespect our women. Who do they think they are?
Drugs are another topic widely spoken by gangster rappers. They know the influence they have on today's youth but they feel it necessary to repeatedly speak of
marijuana, shrooms and so on. As much as they may deny it, some people do try drugs merely because their favorite performer thinks its cool. Eminem's hit song "My Fault" made mushrooms more popular than they had ever been with the public. Mentioning how fun drugs supposedly are in songs is very unnecessary.
The last but probably most common element of gangster rap is crime. Nearly every gangster rap song mentions a robbery or illegitimate act of vandalism. These songs give people ideas and puts the thoughts of committing any particular in the minds of any easily influenced person.
Conversation about hip hop has contributed to its current state of crisis. Rose writes about how over-generalized criticisms in conversations about hip hop lead to ugly stereotypes and disdain for young black people. Hip hop has become a sort of scapegoat for people
In Stanley Crouch's view, the only messages that rappers put in the minds of todays' youth is that they need to have sex, kill people, and do drugs all the time.
Many people do not like rap music because they say that it is too violent or the people that are involved are just very violent. Many people say this because most people who rap or listen to rap music, grew up in the “Ghetto”. The “Ghetto” is a place no one wants to be because it is very violent, hearing gunshots and people screaming and fighting because of the situation they are in. The people in the ghetto are in a bad situation because...
Known also for its explicit and violence lyrics, Rap has a strong influence on the personalities of
Gangster rap is a subgenre of hip hop that often centered on the troubled lifestyles and poor condition of inner-city youths, ghetto boys are artists most regularly known with the founding of gangster rap. It also exposes the illegal activities of street gangs and thug lifestyle. Gangster was criticized left and right from commentators, as well as religious leaders, saying it encourages crime, murder, serial killing, violence, drug dealing etc. the music became one of the best commercial lucrative subgenre of hip hop. The government that is white house administration of George H.W Bush and Bill Clinton was against gangster, gangster artist was not happy that are singled out and that is not fair to them because they are using their song as a means of getting public to know the changes that the community needs and is not been addressed in the public forum. Journalist chuck Philips make it known in a review of the battle between the establishment and defender of a rap music, that white politicians never budge to know anything happening in the devastated community where gangster was given birth to. Gangster that started in a rural area became a means of exposing critical issues that are not solved or discussed in American politics. Sister Souljah told Philip the journalist that the problem is that the white house administration does not want to deal with inner city urban
Notably, hip-hop is the culture from which rap music emerged. According to Keyes, rap music is a musical form that makes use of rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular, which is recited or sung over a musical soundtrack (Rap Music and Street Consciousness, 1). Rap is a combination of MCing and DJing, which are two of hip-hop’s four
Hip hop culture and its creation of rap music has been stereotypically deemed as mere violent depictions as portrayed by its black artists, and is prejudicially more criticized than white genres that also perpetuate violent language within its lyrics. They are subsequently blamed for the massive rates of homicides within the black community, as blackness is given a dangerous face and linked to criminality, as if innately part of a violent culture. However, violence must be defined through the physical utilization of certain words and actions, along with social manipulations of power and hierarchy to confirm one’s own identity (Hernandéz, Weinstein & Munoz-Laboy, 2012, pg. 595). Rap music was created in the 1970s and originated in the South
“America's most recent census reported that African-American youth are the most likely group in the nation to live in poor households and neighborhoods, to be unemployed, to be the victims of homicide or AIDS, or to spend time in prison at some point in their lifetimes.” Cornel West, a professor at Harvard University once stated, “It's no accident that one would see various rap songs and various lyrics that revolve around death.” Gangs and violence may be so prevalent in gangster rap because the feeling of belonging to a gang, or even selling drugs could provide African-Americans living in these communities a sense of social power and economic stability. Owning a gun also gives one living in these communities a sense of power, and some even use them to gain the respect of
Typically when we immediately think about modern hip hop and rap, we immediately de-fine it as a creative mode of expression laden with influences from its African-American roots. Of course, generally speaking, that much of it is true; although the true origin of Hip Hop isn't precisely known, according to Dr. Renford Reese and Becky Blanchard, Hip Hop scholars col-lectively hail the South Bronx in 1970's New York as the birthplace of Hip Hop. Over time, Hip Hop became a cultural phenomenon. As abrasive, succinct, and diverse as each form of expres-sion (emceeing, breakdance, graffiti, and more synonymously, rap music) gets, however, Hip Hop emanates such a contemporary appeal amongst the masses. Ultimately, Hip Hop culture embodies the inextinguishable
Specifically, teens are attracted to this music style, because it “appeals to the emotional struggles usually felt in teenage years, and for teens in lower socioeconomic brackets, the financial struggles felt by many rappers mirror their own. An escape from reality is provided for teens in the “better tommorrow” depicted by some rap songs” (Brown, 2016). The enjoyment for Hip Hop/ Rap brings people together and it brings out a creativity on those that write lyrics and produce
Nevertheless, most of what is usually discussed in popular hip hop songs is how harsh the “gangster” life is. Now most middle class youth has no sort of experience when it comes to living a harsh life. That is what makes it so much more intriguing to these teenagers. They now have some sort insight into what that “gangster” life really is. Each hip hop artist has a very different “come up” story. Some may have encountered more hardship than others. For example, a very famous Brooklyn rapper named “Jay-Z” can definitely give insight to what one can face. In a song titled “Drug Dealers Anonymous” made by another rapper named Pusha T, Jay-Z featured on the track. In the song he says “ ‘89 in London pull the Benz up / Type it in, Google’s your friend bruh / 14 year drug dealer and still counting.” Here he is not exactly saying that he still continues to sell drugs, but now he has a different “hustle” which is the rapping. Selling drugs were a bad reality for many of these rappers. Some turned to the urban poetry to express one’s feeling, and that is when rapping comes into the picture. Once these artists are very well known and famous, they have this huge platform set up to allow others to know what they have faced in their life. The audience (middle class youth), now have a huge respect towards that person. This gives the listener an emotional connection between them, and their favorite hip hop artist. In the head of the listener, people now think that the rapper opened up to them to let them know what trials one has faced. Making the interest even stronger than it was before. Listening to their favorite hip hop artist also allows them to really experience the “gangster” life without putting themselves in actual dangers. In many of today’s hip hop hit songs, certain topics are usually discussed throughout the song such as: selling drugs to make money, having
In the culture of Hip, Hop rap began to rap in the streets expressing their thought and opinion through their songs, to get the attention of people. The attention the rappers wanted was to be heard and wanted other people to feel connected. In that time period, rappers became more popular because of what they produce based on their feelings. The rappers used their music to
In the eyes of the general public, all of Hip-Hop is usually categorized in the same way. Labeled as the poison of the Black community because nowadays, most Hip-Hop lyrics all sound the same generic way always talking about money, women, cars, drugs, or some type of beef that all these rappers sooner or later continuously have with one another. But what this new generation doesn’t know about are the positive and creative flows that were spit not so long ago in the 80’s and 90’s. Rappers back in the day like Tupac and Ice Cube both had times when they had to show off their thug sides but they both had reasons or a call-to-arms for that, and indeed were in tune with that era’s problems as well as the society where they were raised. Moreover, even though some new school songs actually look promising, old school songs are still always great classics that anybody in this day and age will most certainly vibe to.
The lyrics in today’s hip hop music are completely pointless. An example of this is 2Chainz “Birthday Song,” in which the rapper says, “She got a big booty so I call her Big Booty,” the song continues with “I’m in the kitchen, yams everywhere.” The majority of hip hop songs on the radio involve three main themes: money, drugs, and women. Rappers brag about the massive amount of money they have, along with their intake of drugs. Hip hop also sexually degrades women by labeling them with offensive words, and overall all being very misogynistic towards women. The message that the new hip hop today is sending is incredibly negative for the audience as well. The negative message that the music is sending poses a large effect on the young listeners. Young listeners are influenced by the antagonistic lyrics in these hip hop songs that they are listening to. Unlike today’s hip hop, old school rap music had meaningful lyrics and when hip hop went to the mainstream media the message was destroyed. Old school rap music has lyrical significance. Rappers wrote lyrics about important subjects such as racial inequality, politics, life struggles, and police brutality. An example of a lyric with actual meaning is N.W.A.’s “Express Yourself,” “I’m expressing with my full capabilities. And now I’m living in correctional facilities.” This lyric explains how the very act communicating their beliefs will cause trouble and could possibly lead to
Rebecca Janoff “Drug use increasingly glamorized in rap music, according to new study of 2-decade trends”http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-04/mba-dui033108.php