The Negative Influences of Music

718 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Negative effects of rap music on teens 2015

Teenagers today are negatively impacted by the messages that rap music is sending out through its lyrics, music videos, and through personal statements from the artists. The impacts include perilous things such as drugs, unprotected sex, and murder which will lead to them hurting themselves as well as others. Through censoring music and speaking up, concerned adults can help to diminish these problems although they may never completely disappear.

Speech is one of the most impacting ways of getting across what someone wants to say. Through lyrics rap artist are able to convey the message they want to early to the fans. Often times these lyrics are full of negative messages and have negative effects on the listener. In a study done it was found that "songs with violent lyrics consistently increased aggressive feelings and thoughts, regardless of musical style or the use of humor. Researchers say the violence in the music prompted feelings of hostility without provocation or threat, which could later lead to violent behavior. "Aggressive thoughts can influence perceptions of ongoing social interactions, coloring them with an aggressive tint," says researcher Craig A. Anderson, PhD of Iowa State University." (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology May 2003) Young Adults listening to rap music may take these lyrics seriously and act upon them. Some of the representative lyrics are from a producer named Dr. Dre. His former group N.W.A. (Niggaz with Attitude) has lyrics as follows "This is the bitch that did the whole crew/She did it so much we made bets on who the ho would love to go through.../And she lets you videotape her/And if you got a gang of niggers the bitch'll let you rape her(N.W.A, 1990)." These lyrics are derogat...

... middle of paper ...

...women. The Rap Artists speak about how women are nothing and put men on a pedestal above all. Misogyny is "a hatred of women" (Merriam Webster's Online Dictionary). Many studies are done on the effects of rap music on teenagers in respect to misogyny. The results often come out to show that teenagers are viewing women as nothing, and that they're sole purpose in life is to have sex with men. They get these ideas from Rap Artists who represent women as nothing else but pieces of "meat." They give the idea that it is ok disrespect women and treat them poorly. "And forget about game, I'm a spit the truth! I won't stop till I get em in their birthday suits!! So gimme the rhythm and it'll be off wit their clothes Then "bend over to the front! and touch your toes!!" (Usher's Yeah 2004). In this song he is portraying women ad nothing more than objects of his desire.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Joan Morgan From Fly Girls To Bits And Hos

    945 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the article “ From Fly to Bitches and Hoes” by Joan Morgan, she often speaks about the positive and negative ideas associated with hip-hop music. Black men display their manhood with full on violence, crime, hidden guilt, and secret escapes through drugs and alcohol. Joan Morgan’s article views the root causes of the advantage of misogyny in rap music lyrics. In the beginning of the incitement her desires shift to focus on from rap culture condemnation to a deeper analysis of the root causes. She shows the hidden causes of unpleasant sexism in rap music and argues that we need to look deeper into understanding misogyny. I agree with Joan Morgan with the stance that black men show their emotions in a different way that is seen a different perspective.

    Read More

  • Rap is Crap

    592 Words  | 2 Pages

    “She ain’t nuttin but a hoochie mama…Smackin’ on your lips, put your hands on your hips…She ain’t nuttin but a hoochie mama…Oh I love those big brown eyes and the way you shake your thighs, acting like you’re so damn cute...” Rap music with lyrics like this play on the radio and in home stereos every day. Rap music pounds messages of sex and violence into the minds of young adults leaving behind their sexist and repetitive influential messages. Music has a very powerful influence on our emotions, moods, and behavior. Rap music influences teenagers negatively by increasing violent attitudes and promoting sexual aggression against women.

    Read More

  • Black Women in Rap

    6412 Words  | 13 Pages

    Within the booming business that has become the rap world, certain musical themes and issues are more prevalent than most. In addition to such topics as drugs, alcohol and police brutality, a dominant theme within rap music is the denigration and derision of women. Indeed, as the above lyrics to Akinyele's song “Put It in your Mouth” illustrate, many male rappers use violent and misogynistic lyrics to create an image of women that is both degrading and disgusting. The graphic and shocking nature of this particular type of rap causes it to be widely publicized, and thus it serves as a definition of rap for a majority of people today. However, there are a number of female artists within the rap music genre spreading messages of female empowerment and respect, not denigration. These female artists, often ignored due to the hype surrounding their male counterparts, use their lyrics to create raps which focus on life as women; dealing with issues of love, power, and discrimination. The face of women in rap culture is both multi-faceted and contradictory.

    Read More

  • Racial Stereotypes Associated With Rap and Hip Hop Music

    682 Words  | 2 Pages

    A race issue that occurs within the rap and hip-hop musical genre is the racial stereotypes associated with the musical form. According to Brandt, and Viki rap music and hip- hop music are known for fomenting crime violence, and the continuing formation of negative perceptions revolving around the African-American race (p.362). Many individuals believe that rap and hip-hop music and the culture that forms it is the particular reason for the degradation of the African-American community and the stereotypes that surround that specific ethnic group. An example is a two thousand and seven song produced by artist Nas entitled the N-word. The particular title of the song sparked major debates within not only the African-American community thus the Caucasian communities as well. Debates included topics such as the significance and worth of freedom of speech compared with the need to take a stand against messages that denigrate African-Americans. This specific label turned into an outrage and came to the point where conservative white individuals stood in front of the record label expressing their feelings. These individuals made a point that it is because artists like Nas that there is an increase in gang and street violence within communities. Rap and hip-hop music only depicts a simple-minded image of black men as sex crazed, criminals, or “gangsters”. As said above, community concerns have arisen over time over the use of the N-word, or the fact that many rappers vocalize about white superiority and privilege. Of course rap music did not develop these specific stereotypes, however these stereotypes are being used; and quite successfully in rap and hip-hop which spreads them and keeps the idea that people of color are lazy, all crimin...

    Read More

  • Negative Effects Of Hip Hop And Country Music

    542 Words  | 2 Pages

    In a article “Rap Music's Psychological Effects”, written by Suite 101, studies were conducted to assess how listening to hip hop effected teenagers and young adults, and found that overall, that listening to rap music does not cause aggressive or deviant behavior. Instead hip-hop music did cause violent actions, particularly abuse against women. Additionally, those who watched either violent or non-violent hip-hop videos were more inclined to express materialistic attitudes and favors, potentially acquiring possessions through crime. Studies also found th...

    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

  • Music Censorship is Not Needed

    776 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...or what it is - entertainment, and not be taken so seriously as people try to make it. Music, be it rap, alternative, country, or bubble gum pop, is merely another form of expression. If you don't like what you hear, don't want your children exposed to it, or are offended by it, just turn it off. Thousands of people have attended concerts by the most hated artists in America. Millions watch Marilyn Manson prance about in music videos. Yet, the general majority of the population is not inspired to murder innocent people. Teens that are depressed, troubled, or rejected and taunted by their peers need to get help before they let their warped sense of fantasy and reality mix too far. Don't deprive more mature listeners all because it's something that frightens you. Music may be a huge influence, but it cannot be blamed for all of society's problems.

    Read More

  • Rap Music And Hip-Hop Music

    922 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the late 1970’s hip-hop/rap music emerged as one of the most popular musical genres, and it remains as one to this day. However, there is a big difference in the content of a song like Sugar Hill Gang’s 1978 single “Rappers Delight” and a modern day rap song. When hip-hop music first began it served as a type of party music that was made primarily from African American men. The music quickly gained popularity, and before long, members of all races were enjoying it. However, in the early 1980’s hip-hop music became more of a mirror into ghetto culture rather than just upbeat enjoyable music. Rappers began to write edgy lyrics celebrating street warfare, drugs, and promiscuity. Unfortunately this style of hip-hop never died off, and now it

    Read More

  • Drug Use In Rap Music

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    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”

    Read More

  • The Rise Of Hip Hop

    1042 Words  | 3 Pages

    Across the world teens feel like they’re losing their voice. In an Independent article, a magazine I found online, Geraldine says “Rates of depression and anxiety among teenagers have increased by 70 percent in the past 25 years” With such a high percentage teens feel like no one can help them and that they have no one to talk to about their problems so they tend to start breaking away from their families and depend more on music. Hip Hop gives teens a chance to feel like they have someone to talk to or someone who understands what they’re going through because a lot of what the artists rap about are life situations that they’ve gone through throughout their lives. Not everyone will understand the message of Hip Hop. “Over the years the instruments change, but the message is the same… They’re telling us something. Our children can hear it” (Mcbride 11) Rappers all have different skills, but it’s all based on telling a story. As long as Rappers tell a story all they need is the right people to listen to those stories, in this case, teens are the people that really understand the message. Hip Hop does sometimes talk about violence but it’s not always about violence, it’s what people make it seem like and if the older generations don’t listen to rap or Hip Hop then they will associate rap with gangs but what they won’t know is that it’s also about

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay About Rap Music

    1040 Words  | 3 Pages

    Rap is becoming more popular than ever, soon most of the world will have some type of knowledge of rap music. Rachel Sullivan from the University of Connecticut stated “White respondents in this survey had difficulty naming three rap artists, which indicated that they did not have a high level of commitment to the music.” This statement was produced in 2003, also seemed to be very one dimensional. Recently, rap music has been surging through the masses no matter the race. Furthermore, rap is becoming very prevalent especially in the youth of this era. Many trends, commercials, social media, etc. are revolving around rap music.

    Read More

  • Rap Music's Influence Upon Teenagers

    1389 Words  | 3 Pages

    The lyrics of many rap songs encourage violent and aggressive thoughts in teenagers. Many teens don’t realize that the music they are listening to affects the way they think. According to Morrison, a columnist whose writings focus on the impact of the choices people face every day, “Words do have meanings, meanings suggest thoughts, and thoughts lead to action” (Morrison). Even if the person isn’t affected right away by the violent lyrics of most today’s rap songs, eventually they will become more prone to certain thoughts. As Morrison stated, “In experiments on over 500 college students . . . subjects were found to experience an increase in aggressive thoughts after listening to songs with violent lyrics. Those subjected to the mean music were more apt to connect hostile meanings to words deemed to be violence neutral by the researchers” (Morrison). In time, words that aren’t intended to cause malicious thoughts, suddenly take on new meanings. Travis L. Dixon, who studies Communication at the University of ...

    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

  • Why Do Violent Lyrics Cause Teen Violence?

    540 Words  | 2 Pages

    Teens and the human populous have been draw to music, and the relief it gives off. As recent as the 1990’s, we’ve seen an increase in explicit and violent lyrics and deviant behavior in the music industry surrounding such genres as heavy metal, rock, rap, and gangster rap. During this past decade, lyrics are becoming more violent and sexually explicit. It is approximated that teens listen to an average of 40 hours of music a week, and somewhere along the way, a child will hear something derogatory, or cruel. Along with this, teens don’t necessarily interpret what is said through lyrics in the right manner.

    Read More

  • The Effects of Music

    2204 Words  | 5 Pages

    Music is one of the few things that has remained constant through the centuries this world has existed. Not only does music provide entertainment, it also has several effects linked to it. Music allows emotions of happiness and sadness to arise. From those emotions, physical effects, negative or positive, can occur. Music has a profound effect on the emotional, social, intellectual, and physical aspects of a person.

    Read More

More about The Negative Influences of Music

Open Document