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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.
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.
Music reflects the times. In the 60's and 70's, musicians preached peace and empathy towards the human race. In the 80's music was a form of rebellion. Today, music has manifested itself into many different forms, one being "hip hop" more commonly known as "rap". In the early 80's, rap was about break-dancing and graffiti. Now, as we approach the year 2000, hip hop has become the most listened-to form of music nation-wide and many rap artists have adopted the new title of "pop-artists", pop. meaning "popular culture". A hip hop single recently took the number 1 spot on the Billboard charts for most sales recorded. The problem here is the message many rappers are telling the world. From the beginning, rappers have flaunted their money with the expensive cars seen in their videos and the thick gold chains they wear in public, not to mention the numerous references made to wealth in their lyrics. However, many rappers are telling tales of violence and wealth as one. In fact, there are more than 10 hip hop songs actually entitled "Crime Pays". In the chart topping single, "Money, Power, Respect", Yonkers based rapper DMX raps "hit him up/ split him up/ shut him up/ then watch him come/ get him up…CLICK, step back like I did work", portraying a beating, then murder, the "CLICK" being the sound made by the trigger of a gun. The chorus then goes on to proclaim "Money, Power, Respect,...
Many rappers write songs about gang violence and struggling in areas of poverty. In some cases this is a way for the artist to vent or use music as a way to express their own emotions and experiences. Rap has also been known to be a method of preaching and educating youth. Music is a powerful tool and those who use it in a positive way can affect people in a positive way.
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...
Music can be reflection of our life experience. Each genre of music invokes different emotions and reactions in it's listeners. Rap has become a very popular genre in today's society. Is today “Gangster rap” and rappers exploiting society, introducing drugs and instigating violence? In the mid-1980s Gangster rap came to be portray images of violence, guns, gangs, drugs, and sexism. By the 1990s rap music became a major part of the industry and topped the charts. As people begin to operate different things; different music was engendered and that contributed to the variety of music that we have today. This is one of the many things that makes America different but is astringently under looked by everyone. There are many types of different raps
Jay-Z is known for being one for not only being one of the best rappers in hip-hop but also having a successful career in and outside of hip-hop. Recently he has been protesting some of the newer hip-hop. His songs “D.O.A” (Death Of Auto-Tune) & “Run This Town” he takes a rebel approach to all of the recent fads in hip-hop. Even though, the fads were embraced by pop culture, Jay-Z saw them as stale and unprogressive. In “D.O.A.” he talks about hip-hop becoming ringtone rap and has lost its edge. “This is anti autotune/ death of the ringtone/ this ain’t for I-Tunes/ This ain’t for sing-a-longs/…This is practically assault with a deadly weapon/ I made this just for flexin’/ Basically I want people to feel threatened. (Blueprint 3) ” Jay-Z is not promoting violence, he is merely stating that hip-hop is losing its status. The reason behind the slow transformation from hip-hop to commercial hip-hop can date back to the birth of the genre. The first rappers were often teens that were a part of the lower classes, and were subjected to the thoughts and images of success, wealth, and happiness that were projected through the media and advertising. These teenagers hoping to change their current living arrangement started chasing money and, the easiest way to make money in the late 80’s, due to the crack epidemic was to sell drugs. That is until they saw rappers such as Big Daddy Kane and Run DMC with their heavy gold ropes; they quickly turned their attention to rapping. The only problem was, most rappers had to soften up their lyrics to be accepted into pop culture. So the easiest solution was to talk about clothing and jewelry. In the book, Hip Hop: A Short History, the author describes how they used consumerism to appeal to pop culture...
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
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
The lyrics in many songs contain violent and explicit lyrics that usually talk about killing someone along with sounds of gunshots in the background. Gangsta rap also talks about drug use and portrays negative attitudes toward women, especially black women. The artists refer to women as, “bitches,” “whores” and sex dispensing “hoes.” On the contrary there is a nice side effect to controversy; you can use it. to get a message across and most importantly sales records, just like NWA, Ice-T, Public Enemy, and the 2 live crew soon discovered early on in their time.
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
These are the kinds of music that often use violent lyrics and violent beats, depicting urban street gangs. Typical themes and ideas deal with street life including pimping, and hustling as well as killing and shooting (Malek 108). “I’m bout to bust some some shots off. I’m ‘bout to dust some cops off” (Ice-T). The lyrics of Ice-T’s Cop Killer evoked a loud outcry about whether ideas about killing police officers should be expressed publicly. It is not only the violent ideas expressed within the lyrics, but the context of which they are expressed. Rap is criticized because rappers are known to “sing of guns with almost lascivious glee”. They talk about their “pieces” or “glocks”, “ninas” or pistols as the “object of their affections”
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.
Like I mentioned before, you can just say that hip-hop is just a form of music where someone is rapping and that it is all the same. I say that if you say that, you are pretty ignorant to see what the truth about what it really is. You can compare the music aspect of hip-hop to vehicles on the road; there are many types such as coupes, sedans, SUVs, convertibles, etc. Hip-hop music is exactly the same; there are genres within the genre. Most rap artists consider their type of rap and compare to their ego and where they’re from. Many examples include “gangsta” rap, West-coast rap, underground rap, etc. The point is, is that what is looked at as simplicity, is really complexity.
Of course this wasn’t the road everyone took, but this was the way rappers acted in order to get a record deal, embracing the exciting stigma of doing whatever necessary to survive the concrete jungle. It’s no coincidence that in the 90’s, when rap music embraced these ideas about drugs and violence, the genre rapidly popularized in suburbs throughout the country. The brutal environment where many rappers grew up is a major factor of the content of the