Messages in Music

1654 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Rap music glorifying drug use

Mixed Messages The music industry is one of the largest stages for individuals to convey messages. Some artists sell millions of records every year and are able to get a point across to their audience through their music. Unfortunately, the artists that sell the most records often are the ones who don’t use music for message sending, but solely as a source of income. On the other hand, there are a handful of talented artists out there who use music as a platform for good, by using their lyrics to send positive messages. Many musicians use the music industry as just as a place to make money, but there are always musicians that use their lyrics to tell stories, send messages, and better the music industry as a whole. Most mainstream music seems to be comprised of songs that sell many albums but have little lyrical significance. Their lyrics are full of empty sayings and rhymes that are catchy to the ear but mean nothing more than their surface value. For example, the artist One Direction, a popular boy band that has been in the public eye for the past few years, came out with a song called “Best Song Ever”. This song has lyrics like: And we danced all night to the best song ever We knew every line. Now I can’t remember. How it goes but I know that I won’t forget her Cause we dance all night to the best song ever (One Direction). This song literally is just a catchy tune about the best song ever. There is no purpose, meaning, or anything important in the lyrics that would make them even a little bit important. Somehow this meaningless song was number two on the Billboard Hot 100 as of July 31 2013. This means that “Best Song Ever”, a song with lyrics no more complex that its title, was the number two most popular so... ... middle of paper ... ...city lyrics are used to that people like a song with no deeper meaning or story behind it. Herd, Denise. "Changes In Drug Use Prevalence In Rap Music Songs, 1979-1997." Addiction Research & Theory 16.2 (2008): 167-180. Academic Search Elite. Web. 18 Oct. 2013. This source discuss the prevalence of drug use in modern music and all the subjects it shows up in. A quote from this essays is used in my paper to list a number of sources where drugs show up in modern music. It emphasizes how common drugs are becoming in the industry Salaam, Mtume ya. "The Aesthetics Of Rap." African American Review 29.2 (1995): 303. Academic Search Elite. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. Krohn, Franklin B., and Frances L. Suazo. "CONTEMPORARY URBAN MUSIC: Controversial Messages In Hip-Hop And Rap Lyrics." ETC: A Review Of General Semantics 52.2 (1995): 139-154. Academic Search Elite. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis of the songs "Waiting on a Woman" by Brad Presley and George Strait´s "A Father´s Love"

    714 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are a lot of songs to choose form when there is songs that break down norms and one that reinforce some. There are songs that mean nothing. Great songs always have a hidden mean behind them even if when listen to them we do not know what they are.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Rap Poetry 101 By Adam Bradley

    1110 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Adam Bradley’s “Rap poetry 101” he shows us how rap is more than just songs being sung, it is poetry; it is something that has an empowering ability to make the familiar unfamiliar.In this chapter Bradley creates a new viewpoint too rap. Bradley shows us how rap and poetry has become a very similar piece of art that should be further appreciated. In the chapter poetry 101 Bradley describes how rap is a form of public art, and how rappers have become our greatest public poets. The importance of rap as poetry is shown throughout Bradley's book as well as the evidence behind the reasons rap is poetry.

    Read More

  • Memphis, Tennessee and Music

    654 Words  | 2 Pages

    and its sexual content. Many people try to argue that the song has a deeper meaning than

    Read More

  • Mr Rager Allusion

    645 Words  | 2 Pages

    Song lyrics have set off a great generation of our leisure time than reading poetic devices, therefore song lyrics are better than poetic devices. Song lyrics have dropped numerous lines that attach to us now a days and make us listen to the line over and over unlike poetic devices. Song Lyrics have so much meaning by word choice and by relations.”Mr. Rager” by Kid Cudi, is about people fed up with society and plan on taking a journey. “Dreams” by Edgar Allen Poe, is about a man who dreams of a greater life. Mr. Rager, the song by Scott Cudi, has a better meaning than Dreaming, the poem by Edgar Allen Poe, by personification, allusion, and symbolism.

    Read More

  • Transcendentalism Essay

    1717 Words  | 4 Pages

    Music is regarded as a method of passing a message. Though some songs do not intend to do that, the message in them is still perceived. The song, “Get up, ...

    Read More

  • REGGAE AND ZYDECO

    3174 Words  | 7 Pages

    Music’s influence is felt everywhere and it brings about a stir of emotions in many people. Whether it is something as simple as relationship trouble or something deeper and more profound, such as one’s cultural history, music serves as a stimulant to the mind and in other ways, a stimulant to the body. Such music as country, rock, reggae and Zydeco all succeed in stimulating the body and convincing it that dancing will only increase the satisfactory feeling that the music tends to give off.

    Read More

  • Anti-Drugs Policies in the 1960s

    1002 Words  | 3 Pages

    Drugs have been influencing the ideas, culture, and music of America for ages. Illicit narcotics have left the Union in a state of immense debt. Anti-drug policies have been dumping billions upon billions of dollars in prevention, punishment, and rehabilitation. From the roaring twenties, to the prohibition, drugs have always been fought (Bailey). Most times, the drugs start off as medicines and end up being harmful (Morris). Perhaps, the most prominent and influential eras of drug use in America are the two decades of the 60’s and twenty years later, the 80’s. It may very well be that these two decades molded America into what it is now.

    Read More

  • Hip-Hop as a Cultural Movement

    1580 Words  | 4 Pages

    Rhodes, Henry A. “The Evolution of Rap Music in the United States.” Yale New Haven

    Read More

  • Hip Hop as an Industry

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    Light, Alan. "About a Salary or Reality? – Rap’s Recurrent Conflict." Rpt. in That’s the Joint!: The Hip-Hop Studies Reader. Ed. Murray Forman and Mark Anthony Neal. New York, NY: Routledge, 2004. 137-146. Print.

    Read More

  • Raps Controversy

    947 Words  | 2 Pages

    The most popular new music to emerge from the ‘80’s was rap music. It first developed in the mid ‘70’s in New York City, and soon in other urban areas, primarily amongst African-American teen-agers. It became very popular with the urban public that it soon began to spread throughout the United States and much of the world. It replaced rock music as the creative force in music of the ‘80’s and ‘90’s. However, as popular as it was then and it is now, the lyrics of many rap songs have caused controversy. Many believe and have charged that these lyrics promote racism and violence and show contempt for women.

    Read More

  • Hip Hop's Effect on American Culture

    3349 Words  | 7 Pages

    Hip hop has permeated popular culture in an unprecedented fashion. Because of its crossover appeal, it is a great unifier of diverse populations. Although created by black youth on the streets, hip hop's influence has become well received by a number of different races in this country. A large number of the rap and hip hop audience is non-black. It has gone from the fringes, to the suburbs, and into the corporate boardrooms. Because it has become the fastest growing music genre in the U.S., companies and corporate giants have used its appeal to capitalize on it. Although critics of rap music and hip hop seem to be fixated on the messages of sex, violence, and harsh language, this genre offers a new paradigm of what can be (Lewis, 1998.) The potential of this art form to mend ethnic relations is substantial. Hip hop has challenged the system in ways that have unified individuals across a rich ethnic spectrum. This art form was once considered a fad has kept going strong for more than three decades. Generations consisting of Blacks, Whites, Latinos, and Asians have grown up immersed in hip-hop. Hip hop represents a realignment of America?s cultural aesthetics. Rap songs deliver a message, again and again, to keep it real. It has influenced young people of all races to search for excitement, artistic fulfillment, and a sense of identity by exploring the black underclass (Foreman, 2002). Though it is music, many people do not realize that it is much more than that. Hip hop is a form of art and culture, style, and language, and extension of commerce, and for many, a natural means of living. The purpose of this paper is to examine hip hop and its effect on American culture. Different aspects of hip hop will also be examined to shed some light that helps readers to what hip hop actually is. In order to see hip hop as a cultural influence we need to take a look at its history.

    Read More

  • Drug Use In Rap Music

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    References to illegal drugs use in rap music jumped sixfold in the two decades since 1979. Previously, rap music was more likely to depict dangers

    Read More

  • Rap Music's Influence Upon Teenagers

    1389 Words  | 3 Pages

    Dixon, Travis L., TaKeshia Brooks. “Rap Music and Rap Audiences: Controversial Themes, Psychological Effects and Political Resistance.” Perspectives. 7 April 2009. .

    Read More

  • Bad Influence of Hip Hop on Youth

    1022 Words  | 3 Pages

    Imagine our youth all over the country being exposed to this explicit kind of language. There is no need to imagine, because it is already happening. Ever since the rise of Rap and Hip Hop music, teens have been turning to them to help solve their problems. However these kinds of music can be very destructive to teens. It is not the youth’s fault; it is the content that the music contains. Although Rap and Hip Hop music can be a force for good, they can also have an extremely negative impact on the attitudes and behaviors of our youth.

    Read More

  • The Effects of Hip Hop on Today's Youth

    1578 Words  | 4 Pages

    15 March 2014 Springer.com. Riley. Springer:’’ Rap and Hip-Hop Genre Today’’. April 2004 15 March 2014 Springer.com Ruiz, Jonathan. Cross-Cultural Rhetoric.

    Read More

More about Messages in Music

Open Document