why is rap music important essay

Rap As a Music Genre Essay

Emergence and nature of rap music, components of music, qualities of music seen in rap music, rap compared to other types of music, works cited.

Music has had different ways in which it has been defined and understood depending on factors like culture. All the same, music has universally acceptable characteristics. The most important characteristic is the fact that music involves the arrangement of sounds. This is true regardless of whether the sounds are vocal or instrumental sound. The art of arranging these sounds to come up with a nice harmonic, continuous, and unified rhythm is basically what music is all about. The differences heard in music depend on the genre of the piece of art that has been adapted. This research seeks to identify rap as a type of music and to justify why it should be categorized as so.

Rap music was born out of anger and disappointments in the early 70s when African-Americans were struggling for civic and economic inclusion (Tropeano, p. 3).

. While the other entire music genres by then held on to the old moral teachings in lyrical contents, rap was vocal in opposition and addressing the political oppression of the black community. Rappers lacked the traditional band backup and only used turntables in making their music (Kubrin, p. 7). However, the art of arranging sounds remained upheld in this genre just as in other genres of the time. Rap music though has retained the characteristic angry attitude of singers from the 70s to date. That is the nature of rap music as we know it.

Music is a composition of pitch, rhythm, timbre, harmonics, and volumes, sustains, and speeds. All these are components that a change in one of them changes the entire flow of the song. Rap music has been criticized as a style in music because it lacks rhythmic flow. On the contrary, rap music responds in obedience to all of the musical rules above (Tropeano, p. 3). All rap songs are sung in pitch which means either high or low tone. Rap music is characterized by the catchy rhythmic flow that makes the music so attractive to listeners and that is why it has gained so much popularity over the years. The human ear can not listen and approve of unorganized sound as it is registered in the mind as noise. This, therefore, proves that rap music is an organized collection of sounds from vocal sounds to instrumentals and that’s the main definition of music.

There are universally acceptable qualities that make art to be classified as a piece of music. Every piece of music has expressive qualities that make it stand out among the rest and makes it attractive to listen to. Expressive qualities include factors that do not relate to rhythm and tone rather to the performer’s expression (Kubrin, p. 5)

. Music dynamics are the softness and loudness of a song. How a song is played whether soft or loud has particular effects on it. However, the dynamics of music vary according to genre and culture. Rap music for example is played loudly while country music is soft and slow. This simply means that a song can not be classified as to whether it is musical or not by the virtual of its softness or loudness (Tropeano, p. 3).

Rap like any other genre of music falls in line with the definition of music hence should be classified as part and parcel of the term. Similar to all other forms of singing, rap lyrics are arranged in a particular beat timing hence obeying the musical beat timing theory. In addition, rhyming in rap music lyrics is of a notable high level. In music, rhyme is a quality of writing good music (Kubrin, p. 10). In all other genres, coming up with a catchy and an easy to remember chorus is of paramount importance. Rap singers and composers have been shown to have this technique at their fingertips. When listening to rap music, even without paying keen attention to the song one gets the chorus in a matter of seconds.

Today rap music has evolved to a whole new face compared to what it was in the past years especially when it was started (Kubrin, p. 1). Rap music, then, was just a few lines of a chorus and poetic verses in between the song with just a beat. Today’s rap music is characterized by the sounds of various musical instruments and highly rehearsed vocals including a professionally written chorus. The genre has drifted from simply organized beats to full-range musical production (Kubrin, p. 1). In the past, while listening to rap music, one could hardly trace a sound coming from the common musical instruments like the guitar or the keyboard. Rap music was all about a noisy beat without a rhythm but only words to fill in as a poem. That however has changed and today rap has all the rights to be classified as music in regards to the transformation it has undergone.

In my opinion rap music is justified to be classified as music as it has left up to the expectations and requirements for a piece of art to be recognized as music. The argument that rap music is more of poetry rather than music is misguided. Poets do not consider pitch and the musical beat while reciting a poem. The only similarity between poems and rap music is probably the rhyming way of composing the contents of the two pieces of art. In other aspects of rap music, it greatly agrees with the definition of music.

Tropeano, Eliana. “Does Rap or Rock Music Provoke Violent Behavior?” Journal of Undergraduate Psychological Research . (2010): 1-3. 2012.
Kubrin, Charis. “I See Death Around The Corner: Nihilism In Rap Music” . Sociological Perspectives. (2010): 1-14. 2012.
Chicago (A-D)
Chicago (N-B)

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Bibliography

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The beauty of raging: how Rap music has always been a political tool

Image description: Stormzy at Glastonbury festival 2019, wearing a stab-proof vest designed by Banksy

While re-watching the momentous Brit awards performance by South London Grime artist Stormzy, I was asked by a friend “I get what he’s saying, but why does he have to sound so angry ?”

Because he is, and because he has every right to be.

Covering topics surrounding violence, gang culture, misogyny and drug misuse, the one continuous aspect of rap music over the decades has been the media criticism it faces. It has been dubbed a bad influence on the ‘impressionable youth’, as critics overlook the culture that surrounds the lyrics and selectively hear a string of hate and profanity.

Those who castigate modern day rap – be it grime, trap or drill, do so in ignorance of the genre’s bigger picture.

Thought to have been born in 1970’s South Bronx, hip-hop was ‘discovered’ away from its community and birthplace, and branded by the commercial mainstream by the end of the decade, with Sugarhill Gang’s ‘Rapper’s Delight’. Rap music owes its origin partly to this hip-hop culture of working-class African Americans, a genre designed for fighting systematic oppression.

hip-hop was ‘discovered’ away from its community and birthplace, and branded by the commercial mainstream

Preceding hip-hop, African-American rhyming games were used as subtle resistance to the systems of despotism and slavery. Slaves would speak in metaphors, such as the rabbit and its fox master in ‘Bre’r Rabbit tales’.

Today we see a continuation of the valuable influences of rap, with modern artists preserving its function as a form of resistance. In the new millennium, the social significance of rap music isn’t confined by its origins, instead continuously moulded and advanced.

Public Enemy hailed hip-hop “Black CNN”, a means through which people access information. Kilo Ali’s track, known both as ‘America’s Got a Problem’ and ‘Cocaine’, explores the effects of crack cocaine on the community he grew up in, revealing the side of the story not explored by the White House’s so-called ‘war on drugs’.

The relentless pace and triumphant tone of the song were modelled off hits such as those by Salt-N-Pepa, but the lyrics prove that just because certain issues are discussed, this does not mean they are being glorified: “headed for the chair, sixteen years old”. Such music is often blamed for the ills of society that predate it, faults it actively speaks against, hence the correlation that so many mistake as the cause.

The lifestyle they rap about, set to a backdrop of inequality, is criticised by those comfortable enough to not be living it. In the same way that it forced people to acknowledge the realities of inner-city America, it now unveils the harsh realities of Brexit era Britain.

Consistently, Stormzy has proved that he doesn’t just preach or virtue signal, he acts

The most glaring example of a modern-day rap artist who uses his success to educate the masses is Stormzy. Consistently, Stormzy has proved that he doesn’t just preach or virtue signal, he acts, a role model for everyone who sees him.

Almost habitually, Stormzy publicly shames Boris Johnson, holding accountable the “sinister man with a long record of lying”. His 2019 chart-topper ‘Vossi Bop’ features the lyric: “fuck the government and fuck Boris”, following the named politician’s failure to obtain a Brexit deal and thus keep campaign promises.

Predating this, his 2017 single ‘Cold’ includes the line “So tell Boris Johnson, ‘Suck your mum, we don’t care’”, as well as his favourite lyric: “All my young black kings rise up/ Man this is our year/ And my young black queens right there/ It’s been a long time coming I swear”. Analysing his own track, Stormzy says: “it’s a bubbly, fun, vibrant grime track. But with that one message, it becomes bigger than a song, it becomes bigger than me”.

Performing these lyrics at Glastonbury festival in 2019, the first black British solo artist to headline on the Pyramid stage, triggered the ironic comment from Michael Gove: “he is a far, far better rapper than he is a political analyst”. Gove’s biggest oversight here was assuming the two to be mutually exclusive.

A year earlier, Stormzy performed at the Brit awards, a moment heralded historic by many. His set began on a dark stage, with rain and a spotlight on the microphone. Behind him, a choir in masks sang opening vocals before Stormzy begins a bespoke rap: “Like, “Yo, Teresa May, where’s that money for Grenfell? / What, you thought we just forgot about Grenfell?/ You’re criminals, and you got the cheek to call us savages”.

He used his platform to help gather support for the petition which demanded a panel overseeing the public inquiry into the Grenfell fire tragedy. He opened the Grenfell charity single, a cover of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’, beginning: “I don’t know where to begin, so I start by saying, I refuse to forget you, I refuse to be silent, I refuse to neglect you”.

In 2018 he launched a publishing imprint with Penguin random house, #Merky Books. He talks of the importance of reading and writing, how he wants to make becoming an author a “realistic and achievable goal” for young authors. In the same year, he founded two scholarships for black British students to go to Cambridge University, a scheme since credited with the increasing numbers of BAME students looking into Oxbridge degrees.

More recently, he has pledged £10 million to black British causes over the next 10 years. “Black people have been playing on an uneven field for far too long and this pledge is a continuation in the fight to finally try and even it.”

If the Prime Minister is openly racist, it validates countrywide racism.

He teaches the youth of today to care about politics and be as indignant about change as he is. In numerous interviews, he asserts that Britain is indisputably racist and that this has become worse since Boris Johnson assumed the role of Prime Minister. If the Prime Minister is openly racist, it validates countrywide racism. Yet, explaining to a British person that Britain is a racist country “is the most difficult thing ever”. They see his success, they see the ‘multi-culture’ of London, and their rose-tinted glasses block out the disparity.

In 2020, Dave, the first to make it to British number one with a purely rap song, took to the Brits stage with his 2019 track ‘Black’, another artist calling out our parliament: “it is racist, whether or not it feels racist, the truth is our prime minister is a real racist”. He closes with the line: “Grenfell victims still need accommodation/ and we still need support for the Windrush generation/ reparations for the time our people spent on Plantations”.

Through such artists, rap continues to be a fight against repression, a source of information the government fail to share, and a representation of the lives many are privileged enough to learn about only through song.

Image credit: Stormzy via Instagram

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Hip-Hop Digital Essay: The Evolution of Hip-Hop into the Modern Era- By Matt Scott

Trinity College

Digital Essay: The Evolution of Hip-Hop into the Modern Era (Essay #2)

Matt Scott FYSM 212: Introduction to Hip-Hop Professor Markle Due: 12/15/19

Looking back at the history of hip-hop, and the rich culture surrounding the art form, it’s clear that the roots of the genre have been stripped down to almost nothing over the years. I believe hip-hop is an art form, a mix of breaking, DJing, and MCing all coming together under one roof with emphasis on the sound and rhythm of the music, created in black communities as an outlet. In its early days, hip-hop lyrics weren’t preaching any particular message, but the movement and its impact on communities sent a powerful message. The movement was about bringing together communities, stopping violence, and inspiring a generation of youth – and its impact on black culture was positive and powerful. Today we see the art form being used to promote violence, the disrespect of women, drug abuse, and other negative messages that are at odds with hip-hop’s origins. It is now about making money, selling records, and gaining popularity at all costs. The popularity of hip-hop opened the door for many talented black artists and created new opportunities for a community of people who have been mistreated at every turn throughout history. I think the new era of hip-hop has had a negative impact on the art form itself, and it puts a bad label on the community. Without its core principles, hip-hop loses what made it special. When all the lyrics are just hollow and meaningless words, it leaves you with something that’s not hip-hop at all, but just a way to make money. In this essay I’m going to be looking at five hit songs from top artists from each decade, starting with Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rappers Delight” and ending with Migos’s “Bad and Boujee”. The purpose of this essay is to show the evolution of hip-hop from its roots in the Bronx through the present day by exploring the lyrics and message behind each song.

Hip-hop without the other forms of creative expression tied to it is a way of mixing lyrics and beats to convey a meaningful message about the culture and community from which it emerged. If you take away the powerful message of justice and equality that many true hip-hop songs convey, you’re left with a money hungry industry doing whatever it takes to sell records. When hip-hop is being fueled by money, and not by meaning, we see the most damage being done to the community of people the art form represents. This era of hip-hop is hurting the image and meaning that hip-hop once stood for, but there’s still hope for hip-hop moving forward. If we can go back its roots, to some of those early songs from the 80s, 90s and into the early 2000s that represent the true ideals behind hip-hop, there is a chance for the industry and genre to regrow with its strong roots back in place.

Work Cited “Song Lyrics & Knowledge.” Genius, https://genius.com/. Chang, Jeff, and DJ Kool Herc. Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: a History of the Hip-Hop Generation. St.Martins Press, 2008.

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The influence of rap music in society

Published: April 23, 2020

By Ryan Hill

Music continues to be one of the most recognizable and influential elements of society. For thousands of years, music has brought people together and evoked emotions and feelings. It can bring you back to a certain place in time and transport you to a memory that feels so real you swear you are experiencing it for the first time. No matter where you go in the world, people connect and interact with music, no language needed. You do not need to understand the words in a song or have any words at all to enjoy it. Research shows that music is recognized by infants in the womb, and if that is not a display of the power music has on humans, nothing is.

Looking at the way today’s cultures and societies have changed in recent years, there is one genre of music that seems to exceed the rest in popularity among youth and that is rap music. Whether young or old, black or white, everyone knows someone who has a connection with rap. The various sub-genres and categories that make this music different as well as the wide variety of artists who share this music to the world, have helped make this a staple in society these days. But is it spreading a positive message to those who listen? Are there behavioural changes from those involved in this music? Before those questions are answered or even discussed, learning the history of rap music will allow for a better understanding of what it is today.

Rap music began in the early 1970s in the United States as a mix of disco and funk at clubs and other music spots. The DJs would generally speak over or after the songs and incorporate the crowd to get a better reaction from the music. Soon the spoken lyrics were rhymed throughout the songs which energized the audience. The music first had a disco and crowd-oriented vibe that allowed all who listened to get involved. The Sugarhill Gang were the founding fathers of rap and really became popular because their style and beat had never been heard before. As the 1980s began, rap became more of a personalized style that strayed from disco and changed to have more of a hip hop feel. Run-DMC was the first rap group to really hit on a mainstream platform in this different style.

In 1986 a new group named NWA came onto the scene and they exploded, achieving platinum album status when they sold over 3.5 million albums of their first release, a cultural staple in society at the time. However, they used an aggressive “thug/gangster” style which generally involved songs about gangs, black social movements, drug wars and police violence which were all relevant issues. NWA became extremely popular with teens at that time because they themselves were involved in those same issues and the group’s rebellious attitude just added to it.

Since then, rap has experienced more changes in sub-genre and has also gained popularity and mainstream attention virtually every year since thanks to the advancements of social media which allowed fans to connect with their favourite artists, such as Kanye West, Drake and Eminem, in a way they never could before.

A few years ago, a new style of rap has taken over called “mumble rap.” This rap has a slower, drowsy beat and the rappers who “sing” basically just talk in a slow, mumble voice. For whatever reason, this sub-genre of rap has spread like wildfire among youth and young adults and is one of the most popular and influential styles of music to date.

“When I was like, 12 or 13, I really started to get into music more and especially rap,” says Issac Campbell, a 23-year-old Conestoga College student and Cambridge resident when explaining his discovery of rap music in the late 2000s. “Eminem was huge then and still is. I would probably say he is my favourite and he opened me up to rap.”

Eminem, along with other megastars in the industry like Jay Z, Lil Wayne and 50 Cent, are still going strong today despite competing with mumble rap which is on their tails.

“I think (rap) used to be more lyrical like any other song and kind of like a poem which is why everyone loved it,” says Campbell. “Now, the more you talk about awful things, the more popular you are. Guys like Lil Uzi Vert and other mumble rappers do not even rhyme anymore. It is weird.”

Campbell understands that music, like everything else in the world, will change over time and he knows he is not going to enjoy all music and all genres. However, no one knows what the future will hold and for Campbell, he just hopes it is time for a change. “I do not know where rap will go but as long as the current style dies out I will be happy. It’s just negative music for everyone and does not need to stick around. All I want is for rap to go back to what it was because that’s what made it blow up.”

Mumble rap focuses on drugs, sex, money and violence, topics you wouldn’t want a young person to listen to. The website, The Conversation, an independent source of news and views from the academic and research community, calls it, “a brainless and lazy reflection of music.” However, it doesn’t matter how much mumble rap is criticized, people still want to engage with whatever is popular. Whether people think it is cool to act like the people leading the charge in mumble rap or just a monkey see, monkey do scenario, one has to wonder what will come of teenagers listening to this type of music for hours on end?

Local rapper Kevin Edworthy, commonly known as KVNE, explains what rap music means to him without all the outside noise and distractions that can sway someone, especially as a rapper himself. Tucked away in the countryside of Hamilton, Ont., away from the distractions, Edworthy sits alone in his simply crafted home music studio with his productions and lyrics constantly playing in the background. The wooden panels that line the walls give the esthetic of a log cabin hidden from the outside world and the smell of oak mixed with the plastics of all the music gear almost give it that “new car smell.”

Edworthy’s nonchalant area of work is erratically different from himself physically. His bright blue eyes and wildly bleached hair make him stand out from everyone else. When frustrated or tired of countless hours in his studio, he will take some time to throw around a football with his four-year-old son or do some other activity with him, as his son is the most important person in his life, the one who inspires and motivates him every day.

“I was about 11 or 12 when I got my first guitar. I never really put it down. I quickly found myself playing in bands in elementary school and continued through high school,” says Edworthy when explaining how he found his love for music. Although starting with the guitar and being influenced by Kurt Cobain, he kind of fell into the hip-hop and rap aspect of the music industry by accident and has never looked back.

“I started actually doing production and engineering – which led to songwriting for other artists then eventually my manager started encouraging me to just put my own voice on some of the material and start releasing it and that’s what I did.”

Edworthy knows the music he and other artists in his genre create is under a microscope in today’s society because of its immense popularity so he is determined to share the correct message.

“I think with hip-hop being the biggest genre in the world right now it is detrimental to youth and teens. That is why myself and my team work so hard to spread a positive message with our work because there are so many negatives in the world right now.”

Edworthy does not believe those negatives can all be attributed to mumble rap as he believes all influences in a person’s life are responsible, musical induced or not.

“I don’t think it’s really better or worse than any other genre. I think truthfully listeners need to start looking at the situation as a whole and less in one aspect. If an artist mumbles lyrics because of the substances he is over-influenced by, obviously no, I don’t think that is beneficial for our youth. But at the end of the day, you, as the listener, are responsible for making the effort and seeing the bigger picture. I know a handful of artists who might have sounds similar to an artist endorsing a lifestyle of drugs and gang violence, but aren’t about that life.”

An example of one of the many misleading rappers in the industry who Edworthy is talking about is Tom MacDonald. With half his head shaved, the other half in long braids featuring a new colour each time you see him, and his neck plastered with tattoos and his face not far behind, along with a silver grill of teeth for a finishing touch, MacDonald looks like a rapper who preaches drugs, crime and everything else the world doesn’t need more of. However, he is the exact opposite. MacDonald is a 28-year-old Canadian rapper who shares his beliefs on how crooked the rap industry has become and how brainwashed millions of young minds are when listening to this music. MacDonald has over a dozen songs that protest these issues including a song in 2017 titled “Dear Rappers” as a plea for these mumble rappers to stop the negative influences on youth because it is becoming detrimental to society. The song includes lyrics like, “Your music feels kinda like you’re tryna write a check. Everything is digital, I mean no disrespect but I’m payin’ even more, and you give me even less.”

MacDonald feels as though these rappers care less about the message and music and more about the money and fame. He says these rappers are exploiting the new style of producing music and taking advantage of people. In his song Dear Rappers, he says, “You taught me to think, you taught me to grow, You taught me the things to survive on my own. But now you teach me to drink, you teach me to smoke you teach me to think, every woman’s a ho.” This is an emotional line for MacDonald as it shows how he was influenced and fell in love with rap music as a kid and now that he is living his dream making this music, he is ashamed and embarrassed about what it has become but doesn’t have the power to change it.

MacDonald is not alone. Another Canadian rapper, Daniel Nwosu Jr., most commonly known as “Dax,” made a song with MacDonald in April 2020 called “Blame the Rappers” where he expresses how important musicians and the message they spread are to the world.

“We are medication straight through voice, some give life, some destroy. And even though this money seems nice it can’t come so we must take that as a hint that there’s other things in life you should enjoy.”

As more people and specifically rappers continue to step up and voice their opinion about what mumble rap is and where it is heading, more recognition is being brought to the sub-genre which may finally get these rebellious rappers’ voices heard, or it could just bring more publicity to the already thriving mumble rap world.

The proof is in the pudding. Dozens of the rappers who are labeled as mumble rappers have died recently from overdoses, gun violence and other acts that they seem to promote and gloat about in their music. Any time you see a headline in the news about a musician or singer dying, it is usually a rapper. And these deaths are not just coincidence or bad luck. Mac Miller’s death was one of the most notable ones in recent memory and caused a lot of grief in the rap community. With a history of arrests due to drug possession and driving under the influence, Miller clearly had issues with substances and overdosed on a mix of fentanyl, cocaine and alcohol in September 2018. In 2017, 21-year-old Lil Peep overdosed before a show in Arizona. He had taken a mixture of mushrooms, cannabis and six Xanax pills. Most recently in December 2019, another 21-year-old rising star, Juice Wrld, was travelling in a private jet containing illegal weapons as well as 70 lbs of marijuana among other drugs. While aboard, Juice Wrld had a seizure and died due to an overdose of oxycodone and codeine.

There have been other similar deaths in the past and there will be many more in the future. Obviously there is a difference in the rap industry between those who take substances for pain and suffering and those who glorify drug use in their music, but these themes are always a constant that follow the mumble rap sub-genre. When teens and young adults listen to this music and all their friends listen as well, what are they expected to believe and how are they expected to act?

A study from Emory University in Georgia discovered that teens between the ages of 14-18 who listened to rap music for roughly around 14 hours a week were three times more likely to get in a fight with a teacher, 2.5 times more likely to find themselves getting arrested, and 1.5 times more likely to take part in illegal activities such as underage drinking and experimentation with drugs. Another study conducted by the University of Pittsburgh in 2008 analyzed Billboard magazine’s most popular songs of 2005 and it was found that substance use was referenced in 77 per cent of rap songs, the highest percentage of drug mentions among all genres included in the study. Of the Top 10 rap hits of 2020 on Spotify right now, nine of them discuss either gun violence, drugs or sex. The dominance of these songs and artists in the industry today are not just a sub-genre anymore, it is the genre.

Although it may seem bleak and a bad way for teens to be spending their time, Jackson Gagne, an independent music producer and engineer in the small town of Welland, Ont., wants to believe otherwise, and sways others to look past the negatives of the hip-hop/rap world in recent years to find the beauty that still lies there.

“It is like anything else in life. There is always pros and cons, good and bad. People do drugs without rap, it’s the person’s choice to decide what path they want to live.”

Gagne also knows the messages being spread by these artists aren’t ideal so he believes people need to stay true to themselves and their principles.

“I think there is a lot of lying and false people in not just rap but all music and media. I only produce and make music for a small number of people but even I feel the weight of saying the right things.”

A lot of artists start with good intentions and a goal to spread a message or help people through their music, but sometimes things change. “I think people forget where they started and why they fell in love with music in the first place. Money and fame change people, it’s sad to see,” Gagne says.

There is one true way for people to personally evaluate what rap and mumble rap artists do for young minds as a whole. With sold-out concerts, millions of followers on social media and thousands of songs sold and downloaded monthly, there is no doubt these artists are influencers, but what are they influencing people to do? Are people “under the influence” of an ill mind that will damage their future? Or is it an influence that will allow them to achieve things they could have never thought possible before? When analyzing these rappers as a whole or individually, the only question that has to be definitively answered is, when exposed to these rap influencers, do people walk away better or worse?

Rap Music and the Empowerment of Today’s Youth: Evidence in Everyday Music Listening, Music Therapy, and Commercial Rap Music

Published: 16 November 2012
Volume 30 , pages 139–167, ( 2013 )

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Raphael Travis Jr. 1

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Pioneers of various elements of Hip-Hop culture have been empowered through the ability to voice their reality and find a meaningful identity alongside others who found purpose and function in embracing Hip-Hop culture (Chang, Can’t stop won’t stop: A history of the hip-hop generation, 2005 ). This empowerment persists in various reinventions of the culture within the United States and worldwide. The present study examines whether evidence exists in research to support the value of esteem, resilience, growth, community and change as empowering dimensions outlined in the individual and community empowerment framework. Research questions ask: (1) Does youth self-expression in rap music created within music therapy sessions reflect framework dimensions? (2) Does content in commercially recognizable rap music reflect framework dimensions? (3) How well does the framework align with a model of empowerment-based positive youth development? First, data collected to examine the validity of the framework were reviewed. Next, two peer-reviewed research studies published after articulation of the original framework, were examined to investigate commonality between themes and framework dimensions. One study was in a music therapy context and another explored themes in commercial Hip-Hop recordings. Original framework data supports theorizing that rap music content actually comprises developmental narratives (Travis and Deepak, 2011 ; Travis and Bowman, 2012 ). Data in the present study further suggest that these developmental narratives are relevant for Hip-Hop in every day music engagement, in therapeutic self-expression, and within commercially available musical content. Framework dimensions also aligned with a conceptual model of positive youth development that allows specification of intervention pathways and empirically testable outcomes for Hip-Hop integrated change strategies. Results suggest that rap music is a discourse in lifespan development. Rap music’s developmental narratives may be used by practitioners, parents and researchers. The narratives exist within a framework and model that (a) provides a template for better understanding these narratives and (b) positions this understanding for use as a tool to promote and research positive change strategies for individuals and the communities that they value.

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Travis, R. Rap Music and the Empowerment of Today’s Youth: Evidence in Everyday Music Listening, Music Therapy, and Commercial Rap Music. Child Adolesc Soc Work J 30 , 139–167 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-012-0285-x

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The Influence of Rap Music on Society: Glorification of Drugs, Violence, and Misogyny

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Chapter 5: African American English and the communities it influences

5.4.2 Hip hop’s influence on African American youth (prospectus)

Amiri Austin

English 102, October 2020

For my final research essay, I will be continuing from my topic of essay 2 which was how rap or hip hop has helped influence African American youth. In my essay I will be talking about articles that help support my thesis of “Rap music’s significant impact in various ways in African American communities, whether it be through programs used in schools or independent studies on certain songs.”. Music in general has helped change so many lives for the better and has truly become one of the greatest arts for people to express themselves in. Rap music especially has helped many people in tough situations escape their reality and has helped them progress as a person. Rap or Hip-Hop music has also helped influence generations view on certain topics and has helped create opportunities young black kids otherwise wouldn’t have had the chance to experience.

I will now tell you how I plan to layout my research paper. I will start with an introduction that leads into my thesis statement about rap music and I’ll try to tie in connecting themes to relate to my readers, but like it was stated in the YouTube video Prof. Townsend put out I think it would be easier to start off by writing a paragraph on my main topic or answering a research question rather than taking too long trying to think of an introduction. I believe I will try to divide my paper by answering research questions and then perhaps talk about why I believe it is such an important topic for today’s climate in the United States and show my readers just how much of a difference Rap music has made and will continue to make in impacting African-American youth around the country. I will start off by truly going into depth about the articles I researched and explain the facts about music helping African American people. After this I will answer questions like “How can music help African American communities?” and “How can rap lyrics be used to promote understanding of young people in the African American community?”. I will do this by explaining the various lyrics that certain artists have said while also trying to maintain somewhat relevant with my choice of songs so that they aren’t outdated. I will also answer questions like “How can counselors use rap lyrics to better understand their clients’ struggles.” I will do this by explaining the techniques that a study found were helpful to relate to clients of color.

My main point I think will be centered around explaining struggles of young people of color and how music has helped and could help find their identities if they’re struggling in school or at home. After all, music has brought many of the top rappers today from rags to riches and I think just understanding someone’s story and seeing where they came from would be inspiring to a lot of people today. Whether it be the prejudice that some of them have faced or just lack of a feeling of fitting in a school environment. In my second essay I explained a little of the background of rap music as well but I think for this one I’ll just stick to studies involving youth and their experience with rap music whether it be from school and a program like Foundation of Music or an experience in their household. I want to be able to paint a picture in my readers minds of just how powerful a 3 minute song can be in someone’s life, whether it be the meaningful lyrics said in the song or the beat and the chorus making someone feel as if they’re on top of the world. I want people to understand that music really is an escape for some people and that it really helps people get through big events in their life. Hip-hop has encouraged many to increase their efforts and maximize their ability in all aspects of life. I’d also like to answer questions like “How rap has helped built a strong culture around the black community.” In one of my new scholarly articles I get another look at how rap music has been used in schools and it leads me to ask questions like “How effective are these literacy practices involving rap music” and “How do African-Americans benefit as a whole from literacy teaching practices involving rap or hip-hop music.” I’ll do this by explaining the studies used in the article titled Literacy development among urban youth. This article will help me provide another example similar to the foundations of music example in which there was a program implemented in a school in an urban community that involved music and bettering kids experience in school. I will than try using one of the paragraph writing techniques like the spatial concept perhaps used to describe an artist tattoos on his body and how they relate to his struggles used in a song. I think the most important part of my research essay will be the explanation of studies used in finding out how rap music is used to help out African American youth and I think I will use paragraph techniques like specific to general or general to specific to answer research questions and just explain the topic to my readers. I will conclude my paper with how I think studies on this topic could be continued and my overall thought on literacy and communication used in rap music and how it impacts African American youth.

Academic fields interested in my topic I think would be primarily those of education, performing arts, and possibly to some extent a healthcare field with the clinical counseling of students of color. Communication and literacy are used in multiple ways in music obviously, but I don’t think people realize how big of an impact they are as to influencing the youth. This year especially there hasn’t been a generation of kids persuaded or convinced more to vote than this group. Voter turnout has long been a bad mark within the African American community whether kids don’t believe that their vote will matter or possibly they just don’t know how to vote. Young adults have been pushed more than ever to make their voice heard this year and to go vote for the change they want to see in the world. I believe that ties in with rap music in African American communities because as you look into studies dissecting lyrics you see artists continually talking about struggles and poverty and these things can change with who’s in office not just as president but especially local elections and I believe the youth in poverty stricken areas don’t know that local elections can really change the way you live and be a huge help to a better upbringing for future youth. Besides voting I believe there are other side topics that could be discussed like how some artists choose to use their platforms to talk about racial injustice or other serious political topics and how some artists just choose to talk about drugs or violence and how different fanbases interact with one another. I’m really interested in finishing out this semester strong with this research paper and I hope my readers will enjoy my topic just as much as I do.

Annotated Bibliography

Brooks, Michael. “Using Rap Music to Better Understand African American Experiences.”  Taylor & Francis , 26 Feb. 2020, www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15401383.2020.1732251.

Brooks’ article was used to help counselors better understand their clients of color. He explained various techniques and conclusions after studying the lyrics of 10 popular rap songs. He found that the lyrics expressed microaggressions towards fighting social inequality and overall oppression of people of color. This advancement of understanding the lyrics and usage of certain verbiage in songs helped counselors become more culturally competent and helped them institute encouraging activities and helped bring out locked up stories from clients of color and helped them understand their social identity more and made them feel more wanted even in a world of privilege and oppression.

D’Amico, Francesca. “Welcome to the Terrordome: Race, Power and the Rise of American Rap Music, 1979-1995.”  YorkSpace Home , 11 May 2020, yorkspace.library.yorku.ca/xmlui/handle/10315/37409.

This article is more on the progression of rap and how rap is used in multiple settings and how it has changed African American lives, even though it is briefly discussed. The point of this article is to discuss how rap was and is used as a cry out for help among black artists and how they spread their messages and struggles through their music. This article also shows how rap is everchanging with Black Culture and how it rapidly urbanized and became popular with its audience.

Evans, Jabari. “Connecting Black Youth to Critical Media Literacy through Hip Hop Making in the Music Classroom.”  Latest TOC RSS , Intellect, 1 July 2020, www.ingentaconnect.com/content/intellect/jpme/pre-prints/content-intellect_jpme_00020.

This article was about an organization called Foundation of Music. The Foundations of Music non-profit organization goes to low-income communities to teach their curriculum to students in elementary and middle school. Foundation of Music’s program introduces students to both the process of writing lyrics of a rap song and the technology used to produce rap songs in a classroom setting. Evans recorded things such as different concepts the kids learned each day, reactions from student-to-student and student-to-teacher, along with informal conversations between the students.

Morrell, Ernest. “Toward a Critical Pedagogy of Popular Culture: Literacy Development among Urban Youth.”  Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy , vol. 46, no. 1, 2002, pp. 72–77.  JSTOR , www.jstor.org/stable/40017507. Accessed 4 Nov. 2020.

The main point of this article is to explain new approaches and new strategies for teaching literacy to the urban youth. They did this by teaching certain portions of literature by involving the urban culture of hip-hop music and television shows. They also connected some popular artists to important figures in history. This article is relevant to my main point because there were multiple examples in this article about rap and hip-hop helping communities and increasing not only the ability to read and write, but also to assess texts in order to understand the relationships between power and domination that underlie those texts.

Richardson, Elaine. “`She Was Workin like Foreal’: Critical Literacy and Discourse Practices of African American Females in the Age of Hip Hop.” Discourse & Society, vol. 18, no. 6, Nov. 2007, pp. 789–809, doi:10.1177/0957926507082197.

The main point of this article is to discuss what teenage African American male and females think about stereotypical representations of black men and women in rap videos. It’s also to point out literature discourse between black women and demonstrate the complex language that exists among youth hip-hop culture. This is a scholarly article and it is relevant to my argument because it will just help me further my topic of the impact rap or hip-hop has on African American youth and their literacy and discourse.

Powell, Catherine Tabb. “Rap Music: An Education with a Beat from the Street.”  The Journal of Negro Education , vol. 60, no. 3, 1991, pp. 245–259.  JSTOR , www.jstor.org/stable/2295480. Accessed 4 Nov. 2020 .

The main point of this article is to explain the uprising of rap and how far it’s come and how it’s changing by the decade along with the issues it combats. This article singles out certain artists and their contributions to rap and also talks about groups of people in rap like women in rap. This is a scholarly article and is relevant to my argument as it discusses the different times of rap and how what it did for certain generations varies, it also brings up a negative side with violence in rap and talks about the different types of rappers.

Wilson, Natalie, “Rap Music as a Positive Influence on Black Youth and American Politics” (2018).  Pop Culture Intersections . 21. https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/engl_176/21

The main point of this article is to examine the impact of rap music on Black American youth as well as American politics with an emphasis on police brutality. This is an article that would probably be considered a scholarly article. This article is relevant to my topic because it brings up a different topic on how police brutality affects the African American youth and how it is spoken about in multiple rap songs.

McWhorter, John H., et al. “How Hip-Hop Holds Blacks Back.”  City Journal , City Journal, 18 June 2019, www.city-journal.org/html/how-hip-hop-holds-blacks-back-12442.html.

The main point of this article is a counter argument to the good influences rap and hip-hop have had on African American youth and this article does this by writing about an anecdote of a situation that the author witnessed and then relating other points to this anecdote. This is an excerpt from a magazine, and it is by John McWhorter. This article is relevant to my topic because it gives negative side of rap and hip-hop music and how it can influence some teenagers to make bad decisions or have incorrect morals.

Lewis, Steven. “Musical Crossroads: African American Influence on American Music.”  Smithsonian Music , Smithsonian, 15 Dec. 2018, music.si.edu/story/musical-crossroads.

The main point of this article is to give a historical insight on the influence that rap and hip-hop genre has had on African American youth. In this article the Smithsonian does a good job linking sounds and artists to certain times throughout history along with the effect they left on African Americans during this time. This article is relevant to my research paper because it provides another spoke to the wheel in that it will help supplement additional information about rap and hip-hop in my paper.

Crooke Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Music Therapy, Alexander, and Raphael Travis Jr. Associate Professor of Social Work. “The Healing Power of Hip Hop.”  The Conversation , 18 May 2019, theconversation.com/the-healing-power-of-hip-hop-81556.

The main point of this article is to show the many positive impacts rap and hip-hop music have on the African American youth. The true healing powers that music has on a young teen’s mind are described in this article and help with my argument of how rap and hip-hop have positively influenced African American youth. This is just an article found on a website called the conversation, I don’t think I would consider it a scholarly article.

“Positive Impacts.”  Impacts of Rap Music on Youths , impactofrapmusiconyouths.weebly.com/positive-impacts.html.

The main point of this article is to explain how rap music has been somewhat wrongly interpreted by some as negatively influencing and how some artists focus on certain undesirable

Topics like drugs or violence. This article is not a scholarly article but has quite a lot of information on effects or the Rap and Hip-Hop genre. This article is relevant to my topic because it talks about rap music in general and explains why it’s so prominent in African American communities and their youth.

Morgan, Marcyliena, and Dionne Bennett. “Hip-Hop & the Global Imprint of a Black Cultural Form.”  Daedalus , vol. 140, no. 2, 2011, pp. 176–196.  JSTOR , www.jstor.org/stable/23047460. Accessed 5 Nov. 2020.

The main point of this article is to talk about the global imprint of Hip-Hop which is slightly off topic from my thesis, but I really enjoyed this scholarly article and I do believe it will benefit my research paper. This article states that hip-hop is one of the most popular genres’ in America and that it is really becoming the lingua franca for popular and political youth culture around the world. I’m not sure how much I’ll use this article in my research paper but I do think it has some good information that will help get my point across.

Understanding Literacy in Our Lives by Amiri Austin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Experts debate hip-hop’s influence on American culture, youth, for better or for worse

By CHRIS KILLION

Rap music is very influential and can have positive or negative effects, according to some experts.

?To say there is no influence and no effect is na?ve,? said Murray Forman, professor of media studies at Northeastern University in Boston.

Today, rap has become a popular genre. It originated in the 1970s in South Bronx and is part of hip-hop culture.

Hip-hop encompasses everything from dance and fashion to music. Forman said rap is the vocal and lyrical aspect of hip-hop.

Hip-hop has become increasingly popular over the years and its influence is felt throughout society.

?It is a known fact that hip-hop has taken over, in a sense, the mainstream youth culture,? said Emmett Price, a professor at Northeastern University in Boston, who teaches hip-hop culture. ?So, the young kids from the age of being able to speak to going on to high school are influenced by hip-hop culture whether they listen to music or not.?

There has been a long, ongoing debate whether hip-hop, especially rap, the musical aspect of hip-hop, has a negative or positive influence.

There have been studies done that show a correlation between rap music and increased criminal behavior, sexual activity and drug use.

Ralph DiClemente and his colleagues at Emory University in Atlanta studied 522 randomly selected African-American females from the same area between the ages of 14 and 18. The researchers were interested in how exposure to rap music videos affected the subjects? health.

The researchers placed the young women into two categories: high exposure or average to low exposure. Average exposure was about 20 hours per week.

The researchers found that after a year the subjects? viewing habits did not change. Those in the high exposure group were more likely to take sexual risks and were less apt to use a condom. The high exposure group was less likely to disagree with their boyfriends about sexual behavior.

The high exposure group was also more likely to have sexually-transmitted diseases, be being drinkers and use more drugs.

DiClemente said this does not mean that rap videos cause such behavior, but there is a strong association.

Other experts have also seen an association.

Price said he thinks it is ?horrible? how the lyrics speak as though women are not equivalent to men. Also, the presence of derogatory remarks about race and the concept of love of money as well as the image portrayed in rap music that drugs and sex are common, all have negative impacts on those listening.

?A lot of these notions are not notions that we want to pass down to the young kids without the proper contextualization,? he said.

Price said talking about sex in the music is not bad, but it becomes bad if the rappers do not put the notion in the right context.

Susan Weber, a music therapist at MMB Music, Inc., in St. Louis said if someone is rapping over and over again about killing cops, someone is more likely to kill cops because people are susceptible to suggestions.

Many experts have agreed that rap?s greatest effects are on children, where its influence can be particularly strong.

?A lot of young people listen to their [rappers?] lyrics and take their word as law,? said Salome Thomas El, a principal of an elementary and middle school in inner city Philadelphia, who has been interviewed on ?The O?Reilly Factor? on Fox News about the issue of rap and its effects on children.

He said children ?live what they learn and learn what they live? and many of these children coming from broken homes look up to the rapper.

?A lot of times he [the rapper] becomes the teacher,? Thomas El said. ?He becomes the role model to these young people.?

He said he has seen rap music and videos influence his school children negatively. He said the school children are using profanity and wearing baggy pants. Girls dress like the women in the videos, who are oftentimes inappropriately dressed.

Forman said he is skeptical of reports that say rap and hip-hop are negative. He said there are other factors that play a role as well, such as a broken home, psychological problems or economic depression.

Some experts have seen that there is potential for rap to have a positive influence.

Thomas El said he knows all rappers are not negative because some are doing positive things. His issue is they do not rap about those positive things.

?Some of these guys are very astute businessmen, I mean, Jay-Z owns his own record label,? he said.

Soul music was grafted into the political movements during the civil rights era and hip-hop is capable in some of the same ways to be ?grafted onto some of the new power politics in the early 21st century,? Forman said.

Many people have seen rap have positive effects on society. It is an artistic form and allows people to express themselves in a positive way.

Forman said rap helps young artists get out of economic depression. The young artists help their family, friends and neighbors overcome economic depression as well. Rap opens doors for young artists to express themselves.

Rap also allows for young blacks to articulate a certain cultural perspective and help others understand what is going on in the minds of young black people in the urban environment, he said.

Price said the music was about expression.

?At a certain level we need to listen to what these folks [rap artists] are saying because they are in a sense telling us perhaps what?s wrong in society or they may be telling us what?s good in society,? he said. ?So, in a sense, I think it?s all important.?

He also said the innovation involved in rap is ?fantastic.? He also said the use of a turntable as an instrument by scratching it and the adoption of the new dance styles mixed with the old styles is ?phenomenal.”

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The Impact of Rap and Hip-Hop Music On American Youth

“I’m from where the guns love to introduce theyself. Reduce your health little bulletproofs get felt. The street’s a trip; either you deep or you sleep with the fish” (Thandi 19). It is from Big Pun’s “Brave In the Heart” lyrics that affect the minds of young Americans by telling them that they must use violence in order to win or survive. Imagine American youth all over the country being exposed to this explicit kind of language. There is no need to imagine however, 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 American youth. In a recent experiment, 700 fifteen- year- olds were exposed to rap music. One third listened to sexually explicit lyrics, and two thirds listened to degrading lyrics about sex. After the experiment, each fifteen year old was asked about their sexual thoughts. Almost all of their responses had something to do with sex (Degrading). The results of this experiment are very alarming because they show how much rap and hip-hop music is affecting American youth. In another experiment, twenty teenagers who all disliked spicy foods were exposed to rap music. Ten out of the twenty listened to lyrics containing violent content. After listening to the music, each was asked how much hot sauce they would give to the other teenagers around them. The ten who listened to the violent lyrics said that they would give four times more hot sauce than the ones who listened to lyrics not containing violence. The results of this experiment shows that violent lyrics in rap and hip-hop music make youth four times more aggressive (What). Also, studies show that ever since these genres of music became popular, youth who listened to them were more likely to get involved with drugs (Thandi 21). The reason why is because in some rap and hip-hop songs, the musicians refer to drugs that youth have not heard of. This sparks their curiosity to learn and try the new drugs. Also, many major rappers have some sort of a relationship with an alcohol advertiser. Out of this relationship, they become familiar with alcohol, making it easier to write about it. A study shows that twelve to twenty year old African-American youth are exposed to sixty-six percent more beer advertising than any other youth (Thandi 22). If you add that with all the rap songs about alcohol and drug references, you can see that they are being affected tremendously. Why are youth being affected by these genres of music, and why is it only them? American youth are a target towards the marketers of rap and hip-hop. They are always influenced by the media and still trying to find their identity. The marketers find it easy to market towards them because they are not so sure of who they are yet, which makes it easier to influence them. Rap and hip-hop music also provide teens with a sense of belonging. For example, teenagers see the Mercedes, models, and jewelry in rap and hip-hop music videos. They feel that if they spend their money to buy that stuff, they can be famous and get all the girls just like the people in the videos. In some low-income areas, some youth, particularly African-American males, are growing up with limited opportunities. Some of them have no important male role model in their lives, so they look up to a rap or hip-hop artist. Some may call this fantasizing, some may not. When a person looks up to or is influenced by a role model, they tend to do the things that person does. The teenagers who look up to rap and hip-hop artists are likely to do what they do. This includes their actions, ideas, the way they live, dress and act towards others. It is like a maze. The marketers are the maze, plastering an identity onto teenagers as they go through the maze. By the time they exit, they are nothing but a street thug influenced by music. In some ways, this could have a negative impact of youth. Equally important, the effects of rap and hip-hop music on American youth can be positive, yet can be very destructive. On the positive side, they can make a person feel good about who they are. They may not live a good life, but they can relate to the lyrics in the song. “Got my worried, stressin’, my vision’s blurried. The question is will I live. No one in the world loves me. I’m headed for danger, don’t trust strangers. Put one in the chamber, whenever I’m feeling this anger. Don’t wanna make excuses cause this is how it is. What’s the use unless we’re shootin? No one notices the youth. It’s just me against the world baby” (Shakur 16). In this rap song, rapper Tupac Shakur expresses his anger and frustration to the world. Rap and hip-hop lyrics also make youth feel free and powerful. They are free to express what they want to express. In a Wall Street Journal article, it describes rap and hip-hop music as “a religion for troubled youth” (The). It provides them with something to believe in. They may use this power to help others, or they may use it to destroy others. One big example of the negative effect of rap and hip-hop music is violence. Violent lyrics in songs can be a trigger for some teenagers to start fights, even kill others for what they have. Some possessions could be cars, clothes, jewelry, and money. Gangs and street thugs are also examples of negative effects. They rob, steal, vandalize, kill, and destroy others. The quote, “Either you deep, or you sleep with the fish” (Thandi 19), tells youth that they must use violence as a protection, or they die. Rap and hip-hop music can also have a negative impact on language and speech. In many rap and hip-hop songs, the “N” word is used several times. Slang and ungrammatical sentences are also used. For example, “Imma be, we go party it up, in da hood, wattup, swaggin, ain’t, etc.” The more youth listen to these slang words and ungrammatical sentences, the more they will use it in their daily speech. Furthermore, fashion among youth also comes from rap and hip-hop music. Some males who listen to rap and hip-hop music will tend to wear baggy jeans, called sagging, oversized t-shirts, and a cap. Some will even go as far as getting grills. Grills are like jewelry for your teeth. They come in gold and silver, so when a person smiles, their teeth are all shiny. Tattoos are not a bad thing, but males will also get tattoos on their body. Youth are being affected by rap and hip-hop, but what about the masterminds creating the music? Are they having an impact too? One obvious example of a musician who has influenced millions of American youth is Lady Gaga. Some people see Lady Gaga as two people, one good side, and one bad side. She has inspired youth to be who they are, from her unique and outrageous outfits, to her style of music. At the 2010 VMA Awards, Lady Gaga surprised America when she wore a dress made out of raw meat. She once also dressed up in gauze and fake blood. The answer to why she dresses up in these outrageous “costumes”, no one knows. Perhaps she wants to let others know that it is okay to be who you are. Although she is inspirational and unique, she sends negative messages in her songs and videos. In her song, “Poker Face”, her lyrics say, “When it’s love, if it’s not rough, it isn’t fun.” No wonder she has been popular among youth. In her music video for “Bad Romance”, Lady Gaga hides a rape-like message. In the video, two women are holding her down while pouring a white fluid into her mouth. This is kind of like a metaphor for rape. The notoriety she receives is probably the reason why she is so rich. After only producing music for two years, some are already calling Lady Gaga the “Queen of Pop Music.” Others call her a goddess. In 2009, Lady Gaga came out and admitted to being bisexual. Soon after her coming out, many teenagers who were gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered came out as well. Another musician who is similar to Lady Gaga in influencing others but different in music is Katy Perry. With chart-topping hits, Katy Perry’s songs are about boys, feeling good, and nonsense. More youth can relate to Katy Perry’s songs than Lady Gaga’s because they are about everyday topics. Her songs vary from being a lesbian, to girls in California. When youth, particularly females, listen to her songs, they feel almost high because her creative lyrics are mainly about having fun. Like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry has some wild music videos. In the “California Gurls” music video, she uses bright colors, candy, and cheesy dance moves to attract people to watch her video. Katy Perry’s videos are very proactive, from her blue hair to the amount of clothes she has on. One twenty-one year old said that she once skipped a very important college lecture to go see Katy Perry’s concert. She got her hair cut just like Katy Perry’s and dressed just like her. At the concert, the twenty-one year old did not even get near to meeting Katy Perry, but just being in her presence made it worth it to skip school (I). These musicians are very creative and unique writers, but there is a line that should not get crossed. The target audience is the youth. Musicians need to be careful when writing their lyrics because it can brainwash the inevitable minds of American youth. And that is what society is witnessing. In addition, not all musicians are notorious, they can be highly virtuous. Snoop Dogg has a saying, “Keep it real.” What does it mean? The answer is right in the text. Although Snoop Dogg has millions of fans, he wants each and every one of them to know that everything he raps about is real. And that he himself is real, just like any ordinary person. He may own a mansion, amazing cars, and live a luxurious life, but he wants youth to know that he can relate to them. It may seem like the musicians are the enemies in our society, but they are not always. For national public service announcements, celebrities are usually used to influence others watching the commercial. This ties back to teenagers looking up to rap and hip-hop musicians and doing everything they do. When a musician is talking about stopping bullying or drugs, the youth who are watching it will most likely do what they hear since they want to be like that musician they are seeing on their television screen. Another example of a positive impact is Tupac Shakur. He was a famous rapper and poet in the nineties. Tupac Shakur was a troubled teenager. He got into fights, stole from people, and even killed. After his murder, his mother set up a non-profit foundation to help youth pursue their dreams and to stay off the streets. The foundation was a success. This shows that good can come from another’s mistakes. It is clear that rap and hip-hop music can tremendously influence American youth in positive and negative ways. But the negative effects far outrun the positive effects. From the way they act, behave towards them self and others, dress, and live. These effects are destroying them very quickly. Will rap and hop-hop’s impact on American youth eventually die out? If not, what does this mean for our future? “I’m from where the guns love to introduce theyself. Reduce your health little bulletproofs get felt. The street’s a trip; either you deep or you sleep with the fish” (Thandi 19).

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Rap music owes its origin partly to this hip-hop culture of working-class African Americans, a genre designed for fighting systematic oppression. ... He talks of the importance of reading and writing, how he wants to make becoming an author a "realistic and achievable goal" for young authors. In the same year, he founded two scholarships ...
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Lamar. Some of the first notable instances of political activism in rap music occurred in NWA's. 1988 track "Fuck tha Police," and Ice-T's 1987 track "Squeeze the Trigger". These songs. address police brutality in their lyrics which we will see become a common theme in rap songs. throughout the past three decades.
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The influence of rap music in society. Music continues to be one of the most recognizable and influential elements of society. For thousands of years, music has brought people together and evoked emotions and feelings. It can bring you back to a certain place in time and transport you to a memory that feels so real you swear you are ...
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Pioneers of various elements of Hip-Hop culture have been empowered through the ability to voice their reality and find a meaningful identity alongside others who found purpose and function in embracing Hip-Hop culture (Chang, Can't stop won't stop: A history of the hip-hop generation, 2005). This empowerment persists in various reinventions of the culture within the United States and ...
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It is understandable why rappers choose to rap about and reference drugs, violence and women in their music, as they often rap about their life and experiences. However, there is a difference between rapping about these topics to tell a story or share an experience with the listeners and rapping about these topics to become famous, earn money ...
5.4.3 The way rap and hip-hop have influenced today's African American
5.4.3 The way rap and hip-hop have influenced today's African American youth (research essay) Amiri Austin. English 102, November 2020. Today I believe young people not just limited to African American's find themselves being in a situation in which they have turned to their favorite rapper for motivation, a voice to listen to, or even just background music.
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The Importance Of Rap Music. 952 Words4 Pages. Rap emerged into the mainstream of the music world in late 1979 but seems to be fueling up more of a flame in today's society. "Although rap is frequently criticized for its violent lyrics, this reputation primarily emerged from a subgenre called 'gangsta rap,' which became popular with ...
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For my final research essay, I will be continuing from my topic of essay 2 which was how rap or hip hop has helped influence African American youth. In my essay I will be talking about articles that help support my thesis of "Rap music's significant impact in various ways in African American communities, whether it be through programs used ...
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Understanding Rap as Rhetorical Folk-Poetry. The popularity of Rap music has elicited a variety of critical responses, but very little focus on the poetry itself This essay discusses Rap's ties to. earlier forms of African- American folk-poetry and analyzes the conven-. tional structures of rhetoric, rhythm, and rhyme within which Rap.
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Hip-hop encompasses everything from dance and fashion to music. Forman said rap is the vocal and lyrical aspect of hip-hop. Hip-hop has become increasingly popular over the years and its influence ...
The Impact of Rap and Hip-Hop Music On American Youth
Equally important, the effects of rap and hip-hop music on American youth can be positive, yet can be very destructive. On the positive side, they can make a person feel good about who they are ...
Analysis Of The Evolution Of Rap Music
Rapping is a form of music that incorporates rhyme and street vernacular over a backing beat or musical instruments. Rap is a very old word but undeniably one of the most popular genres to date. Initially, especially in the 15th and 16th century in Britain, the word meant to strike or hit but over the centuries a slight variation of the word ...
Influences of Religion in Rap Music
saying. Popular rappers that use religion frequently in their music relate more to their audience. and are extremely successful because of their radical claims, influential lyrics and their. truthfulness and relevance to the current situations in society. This is significant because the.
Music's power over our brains
Music even shows promise in preventing injury: A study by Annapolis, Maryland-based neurologic music therapist Kerry Devlin and colleagues showed that music therapy can help older adults with Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders improve their gait and reduce falls ( Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports, Vol. 19, No. 11, 2019).
The Importance Of Rap Music
Rap music has enjoyed popularity in American culture. It is a musical art form that tells a story in a fast, shortened word fashion while providing a heavy background beat. The content of rap music covers a wide range. Rap has changed America not only with the message it sends, but with clothing, language, and all the culture it comes with.
Music And Its Importance Essay
Music And Its Importance Essay: Music is an integral part of our everyday lives and our society. One gets happy when they listen to music. Music defines cultures, breaks boundaries and reflects the society and the individual within it. ... There are various types or genres of music, like pop, classical, lofi, hip hop, rock, alternate, etc. Some ...