Music: Gangster Rap

1346 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The effect of rap music on youth

Today in America numerous teenagers are listening to Gangster rap, which is a form of music in not just limited to the African-American culture, it seems that it is the music of choice to many of our vulnerable youth’s today, it illustrates the lifestyle of being rich and famous. Youths are influenced by this music while hearing it in their cars, at work, while driving, or by turning on the TV. Many teens turn to MTV, VH1 or BET everyday to watch their favorite rap artist in their latest videos. Gangster rap promotes the luxurious lifestyle black rappers attain after they achieve success as well as their experiences on the streets. Even with all the fame and fortune many gangster rappers portray a negative image on and off the camera by being in the spotlight for the use of drugs and committing crimes. With all the publicity and notoriety, they receive for being thugs our youth today want to be just like them. The "Hot Boys,” is a well-known rap group that likes to show off their expensive fancy cars in their videos. Consequently, because of these videos, teens these days are decking out there cars by tinting the windows and putting chrome rims on them. Another big thing to do is put a huge sound system in the trunk so everyone can hear your cars bass coming down the street. With rap, music also comes urban clothing. Some rap stars even have their own clothing line such as, Roca wear, Sean John, No Limit Wear, and many others. The rap stars convince their fans to show off their clothing. When teens listen to the rap music, they hear the lyrics of gang violence, sex, drugs and parties. Many believe that Gangster rap is being related to youthful crime. With artists like Eminem, singing lyrics like, "But I'm not like you. I didn't... ... middle of paper ... ...low-income school districts, and read or tutor young children who may have lost one or both parents to the streets. Aside from teaching the value of service, these can provide a wealth of information about the realities of the lifestyle promoted by gangster rappers. The bottom line is that if we instill values and truth to our children, they will have the power to stand firm against those who seek to profit from them through the illusion and deceit that is the foundation of gangster rap. You cannot stick your head in the sand and expect your child will only look at good stuff. Parents need to know what their children are being exposed to. Certainly, rap is not the only music that portrays negative stereotypes or can negatively affect behaviors. However, there have been nearly 1,000 studies that have looked at the effects that the media has on children's behavior.

Show More
Related

  • Article Analysis Of Selling To Children By Juliet Schor

    1126 Words  | 3 Pages

    Schor talks about how the street culture has affected marketing to young adults. Rap and hip-hop have become quite popular even in suburban homes. The top charts on any popular radio station have at least four or five rap songs in them. This popularisation of street culture has influenced marketers to subtly include violence, drugs, crime and sex into ads meant for teens, making it just subtle enough not to get called out for it. Edginess in advertising gave it that cool feel that kids were attracted to, the “gangsta” life. Cool being associated with these kind of negative things can influence kids to take part in such activities, wanting to live the cool way. Advertisers also exploit the underlying desire for kids to be more independant, showing rebellion against their parents, who are depicted as lame. When kids see this kind of behaviour on TV, they think that is how it should work for them too. One example Schor gives is a Sprite ad “The parents are in the front seat singing “Polly wolly doodle all the day,”... He is in the back banging his head on the car window in frustration… stuck this these two losers.” (223). The kid is the only one who gets that his parents are lame and he is the only one who is even close to cool in the car. The worst part about the new cool is that it’s not only

    Read More

  • Keeping Their Own Identity in Black Nationalism

    851 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hip-Hop became characterized by an aggressive tone marked by graphic descriptions of the harshness and diversity of inner-city life. Primarily a medium of popular entertainment, hip-hop also conveys the more serious voices of youth in the black community. Though the approaches of rappers became more varied in the latter half of the 1980s, message hip-hop remained a viable form for addressing the problems faced by the black community and means to solve those problems. The voices of "message" hip...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Gangsta, In French

    602 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “Gangsta, in French,” written in the New York Times in 2005, Brooks informs the facts on what American rap is doing to the younger generation which is damaging our youth in France. These young men are inspired by the violence and crimes that these men are portraying in their music. These young men who once were children were not informed on why these horrendous acts are wrong. These young adults need that guidance to understand. As Brooks stated, the difference between young men in America and young men in France is that most rappers go to college ...

    Read More

  • Gangster Rap vs Hip-Hop

    317 Words  | 1 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Black Culture In American Culture

    806 Words  | 2 Pages

    As hip hop culture became prevalent in pop culture, so did black culture. Hip hop stems from black struggle. Their vernacular, songs, and spiritual ways were different from what whites were used to. Their different lifestyle of “living on the edge” was intriguing yet inaccessible for the whites living among them. Thus, this initiated America’s fascination with the culture. It became about what people assume and perceive about black people rather than what they actually are. In essence, an essential to cool is being on the outside, looking in. In the media and celebrities today,

    Read More

  • Synthesis Essay On Rap Music

    746 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Hip-Hop Culture and Obscene Language

    596 Words  | 2 Pages

    Celebrities have the ability to change the way people think in an instant. Currently in society, it is easy for an individual to get their opinions noticed. With the help of social media and instant news, celebrities can post something and the whole world can have access to it in the blink of an eye. Due to this quick form of communication, it is no wonder celebrities use their access to inform their audience not only about their personal life but also about issues that are affecting their communities, such as poverty and violence. Hip- Hop is the perfect platform for this. It is rare that you will find a teenager following politics. Therefore, through Hip-Hop culture, it is made possible for issues such as gun violence, drugs and high prison rates in cities to be noticed by the youth.

    Read More

  • Hiphop Music In New York's Hip Hop Music

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    The rappers within my core group are all from these inner cities, who know first hand about what the members of these communities are dealing with. Similarly, the very same way Rap music was used as a tool to aid young African Americans in their times of social oppression in the 1970s, is the same way it is now being used to assist the African American youths today, during their difficult times of adversity. Jay­Z, J. Cole, and Kendrick all possess the aura and integrity to create what is considered “conscious” hip hop that provides messages of struggle and liberation. In general, the difference better conscious and commercial rap music is simple; Conscious rap or hip­hop is a lifestyle inspired by culture, togetherness, and social change. Whereas, commercial rap is perceived as music produced for the sole purpose of financial profit that primarily consists of the demeaning of women and popular references to buying expensive cars and

    Read More

  • Hip Hop as an Industry

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    Blair, M Elizabeth. "Commercialization of the Rap Music Youth Subculture." Rpt. in That’s the Joint!: The Hip-Hop Studies Reader. Ed. Murray Forman and Mark Anthony Neal. New York, NY: Routledge, 2004. 497-504. Print.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Selling Down: The Marketing Of The Hip-Hop Nation

    704 Words  | 2 Pages

    Do you like hip-hop? Do you think hip-hop brings people’s attention to an advertisement or commercial? In “Selling Down: The Marketing of the Hip-op Nation” which was adapted from Other People 's Property: A Shadow History of Hip-Hop in White America” (2007), author and senior editor Jason Tanz argues that hip-hip is a useful source to get the attention of the people; therefore, marketers and salesmen should keep using hip-hop in advertisements and commercials no matter what or who opposes. He also argues the idea that youth see themselves as being members of a higher status by wearing brand name clothing that is advertised by hip-hop.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Hip Hop

    1282 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hip Hop a grass movement started in 1974 in the South Bronx in New York City. Created to end gang violence, a voice for the underrepresented minority. Rap music is critical to understanding the hip hop generation’s gender crisis, a crisis between sexes that allows African American males to blatantly disrespect African American women for the sake of the culture. The consistent referencing of African American women as ‘bitches’ and ‘hos’ and the hyper sexualization of their bodies is harmful to the African American community. These images instill that it is alright to represent black women in this nature, and harmful to the young girls who are intaking all these negative images. Harmful to both the perspective of young men and women Hip-Hop is like a pillar in the African American culture. It represents how each generation views themselves in this society and how they internalized these narratives. In this essay I will summarize the main arguments in Chapter 7 of Gender talk , discuss the creation and deconstruction on views

    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

    Rap has been around since 1973, when Kool DJ Herc introduced this new mash of jazz, soul, gospel, and reggae. This culture has been focused around African Americans, and since has served as a voice for the underrepresented, that is spreading violence, alcohol, and drugs. In this genre the most popular and successful boast about who has murdered more foes as breezily as other artists sing about love. Rap music tells stories of drugs, violence, and alcohol. The youth of America is constantly exposed to this kind of music, and our teenagers are being desensitized to the effects of these stories.

    Read More

  • Rap Music's Influence Upon Teenagers

    1389 Words  | 3 Pages

    McWhorter, John. “Rap Music Harms the Black Community.”Popular Culture. Ed. John Woodward. Farmington Hills, MI: Thompson Gale, 2005. 53-59.

    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

More about Music: Gangster Rap

Open Document