Rap Music Influence

Music. Music is something that every person has had experiences with throughout their life, whether they seek it out or not. I always thought of music to be one of the most comforting things, for when I was sad, angry, anxious, or any negative feeling, I would listen to “Moonlight Sonata” and it would immediately send me back to the years of Baby Einstein discs that my mom played excessively when I was younger (thinking it would make me somewhat intelligent, I can imagine), or even to my favorite childhood movie: Fantasia. Music had such great power, and it was up until a seemingly normal day in middle school that I thought that to be a positive thing.

I was going about my day, listening to god-knows-what, and I saw a headline that caught

my eye about a young girl (roughly my age, it seemed) that had committed suicide. The parents, grasping for reasons why she would do such a thing, stated that she listened to “angry music” and, not that it urged her to do what she did, but that it definitely worsened the situation. I immediately paused my music, thinking, “if she was negatively affected by music, what could it be doing to me?” As dumb as I thought myself for thinking this, it lingered every time I would have my earbuds in, working on homework, or when I was driving down the road with the radio listening to the radio. What is music doing to us without us even realizing it? I thought.
Upon further research, I found that I was not the only person with these pressing questions.

Many have found correlations between those that listen to rap music and those that live under the severe influence of drugs and alcohol, most at a young age. As a letter from Brown University states, “Subjects with greater exposure were 3 times more likely to have hit a teacher; more than 2.5 times as likely to have been arrested; twice as likely to have had multiple sexual partners, and more than 1.5 times as likely to have contracted a new STD, or used drugs and/or alcohol at follow-up”("New Research Explores Effects of Rap Music on Adolescents."). These statistics are staggering, but I was also curious as to how they came to be. Was this about the music at all, or merely just a societal accompaniment of those that rap music attracts? For me, personally, I always liked to listen to music to which I could relate to; hear my own world through the words of another. Maybe the controversial issues that are being dealt with in these songs are attractive to those that are living the words that are being spoken. Although this thought wasn’t all that comforting, it certainly made me feel better than just thinking that the music was what was instigating this negativity amongst

teens.
Inquiring further, I found another source with information regarding the same information as previously stated. Investigators found that, after receiving reports back from college students in California, 94% of them noted that rap music was definitely the most popular of all music types and that “the frequency of any alcohol use was positively and significantly associated with frequent listening to heavy metal, alternative music, punk, rap, R&B, reggae, rock and techno” (Chen 1). This impacted me the same as before, and I felt urged to research from another point of view. I found another reputable article that was saying the opposite. It stated that music can act as an escape similar to alcohol, as it offers the same benefits (relief of stress, mind occupation, life satisfaction, etc), just without the dangerous consequences (Jonker 1).
All in all, I think that we can learn a lot from this. While music can possibly be an accompaniment to bad behaviors, it is constantly being proven on the positive outcomes that come with increased music exposure. According to scientists, “there is evidence of a beneficial impact of music therapy on mood, stress, self-esteem, motivation, emotional expression, and social cohesion” (Hohmann 1). It is important to be conscientious of the influence of music in our everyday lives. For now, I think I’ll keep it around.