negative aspects of rap music 936

The African American Community:How rap music has made a negative contribution.. It is easy to write or comment about the negative aspects of rap music because controversy and its reputat

The African American Community:

How rap music has made a negative contribution

It is easy to write or comment about the negative aspects of rap music because

controversy and its reputation has proven to be a hot seller in this society Rap music has

to constantly endure a damaging reputation because the negatives in the music are focused on the most in the media, and the negatives sells But, rap artists whose lyrics are positive or about political, social or economic empowerment receive very little attention (Akil, 2003) The negative aspects of rap music is revealed through artists not setting good examples, the disrespectful, explicit and violent lyrics and the battles that

sometimes leads to violence

One of the most acknowledgeable negative aspects of rap music is that most rap

artists are not setting good examples for the African American community Black musicians and artists have a responsibility to be conscious of their world and to let their consciousness be heard in their songs" (Regan, 147) "Keeping it real" or "hardcore" has become the quickest and most likely way to become a star Whether we are aware of it or not, being a rapper perhaps plays the most essential role in shaping the minds and

attitudes of black youths Rappers are one of the most influential figures in the

community Their influence is greater than most of our prominent religious leaders, athletes, teachers, and even parents But, artists sometimes fail to realize that people, especially young kids, try to imitate everything from the different lifestyles to the clothes rappers wear Some rappers lyrics along with their lifestyles are directed toward violence Today people think that if a person is rich and famous then he or she can get away with anything Not all artists have run-ins with the law, but the ones that do are very well

known A good example is Tupac Shakur Tupac was known worldwide for his music and sold millions of albums On the other hand, he glamorized the life of a gangster and lived by the gun Tupac became a victim of his own lyrics and was murdered

Secondly, the majority of today's popular rap music contains disrespectful,

explicit and violent lyrics In the late 70s and early 80s lyrics dealt mainly with the

removal of drugs, violence, poverty or just having a good time It quickly evolved to lyrics promoting gang violence, glorifying drugs, bragging about how you can ruin a party through nonsense (Akil, 2003) Today materialism, the degrading of women, sex, and drugs are consistent themes When many rappers are asked why they refer to women as

"bitches" or "hoes," they usually say the message is not directed towards all women just the ones that fit in those categories If rappers feel this way about women, then many times their children will follow in their footsteps The word "nigger" was practically resurrected to a new status African Americans become so upset when a person of another race uses the word "nigger", but yet there is nothing wrong when the word is used among the African American community The explicit language has become so common, that it is impossible to hear street conversations without hearing those words every five to ten seconds Even though artists say that they are reflecting what really happens on the streets, the rappers that came before them may have been in worse situations and did not have explicit lyrics in their messages Rappers such as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Kurtis Blow, and Afrika Bambaata "described and analyzed the social, economic, and political factors that led to its emergence and development: drug addiction, police brutality, teen pregnancy, and various forms of material deprivation." (Dyson, 152)

A third negative aspect of rap music is the pointless competition among rap

artists "Battling" and "dissing" is nothing new in rap music The early rappers used this

as a way of determining which artist had the best freestyles The battles back then were done in the public and face to face However, most of the battles today are only used to promote album sales Rap artists discuss who has the most females, the most "bling bling" (diamonds in their jewelry) or who owns the most cars and homes Many times, the battling leads to violence The battle of the two most talented rap artist led to both of their deaths The death of rappers Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace were mainly over which coast was better, the east or the west After these incidents, the rap industry began to realize how drastic or deadly a person's lyric could be Yet, we still have artists battling over materialistic things after these two tragedies The African American society also encounter tragedies due to the fact that people are killing each other over jewelry, money, clothes and even over negative words being stated about each other Therefore,

the actions that artists take and say in their lyrics affect the African American society also.

In today's American society, rap music has become more of a form of

entertainment instead of a way of getting positive messages across to others The

negative aspects of rap music gains more attention than the positive aspects The African American community has become comfortable with seeing the negative lifestyles of rappers, hearing the albums with explicit language, accepting actions of degrading women, and also the battling of artists over materialistic things Living in luxury homes, buying multiple luxury cars, jewelry, and clothes have allowed the rap business get to a comfort zone which makes it hard for artists to switch to making albums that are

meaningful