Taurus Dabney
Reading Hip-hop
December 12
Final Paper
Violence in hip-hop has been going on since the begging. Hip-hop was created to get away from the killing and to kill each other with words which would be better for the community. The youth is very gullible and the lyrics they are reciting without any knowledge of what it means has an impact. It could be changed if allthe big artist came together like the older rappers did and have a big talk with the community but sadly there is no respect in rap and is the only genre that has a age limit weird enough.
Hip Hop was and some of it still is the African-American voice being told through the music from the start till now. The violence in hip hop music came from the experiences from police brutality, the crack cocaine epidemic, and being locked up. Music videos and certain songs gave a dangerous place and voice for the artist anger. Gangsta rap/Hardcore rap once said they speak for the people in the hood without a voice but the songs do promote a lot of violence. Music videos play a big part in the advocating violence in hip-hop. Music videos of every genre. Hip hop is the most influential genre in the music culture. Hip-hop forefathers Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five got the ideas about responding to drugs, poverty, police brutality, and other race problems.
One of the greatest artist ever Tupac Shakur was shot multiple times and it changed him from a positive artist to one that rapped about the total opposite. Why do rappers feel the need to put a face to the violence? Unlike him, N.W.A. focused on the evils and violence in the community and put hip-hop in a different light. Their videos showed off police brutality racism, drugs, and sex, and this made it seem acceptable and the world saw rap as only this not the positive side. The police and world didn’t like what N.W.A was rapping about but everything was true life for them. Since the start of rap, the genre has been seen in a such horrible light for its violence, drug references, and the degrading of women. Rap music has been accused of tainting the youth. Rap music has been blamed for increased violence in America. Rap music is a reflection of what is going on in America today. Rap music is not to blame for society’s problems. You can’t blame rap or artist music for violence in America. Hip-hop is sick because America is sick. Violence, drug use, and cursing are used throughout everybody day it isn’t uncommon.
Parents have been blaming the music for their children behavior which they have every right to but all the blame shouldn’t be towards the music. Parents aren’t stupid they know what the kids are doing or listening to, but don’t think their kid is capable of doing wrong. When things happen, parents blame it on the music or the artist or the kid’s friends. A study shown that a high percentage of kids could recite the words songs on the radio, didn’t know what certain things meant. Rap music have always been criticized for the use of cursing and telling violent stories. The problem is that it should focus on problems with the communities. People are held accountable too not just the artist making the music. Violence is hip-hop top verses and its selective choice. The lyrics that kids and adults listen to make them do the things that they never through they would do. Teens that are watching the sex and violence seen in the music video are likely to practice this behavior action in real life.
Hip hop culture has a negative reputation, it is important to show kids a positive direction in life. This is because isn’t the same as it once was. Hip hop was supposed to give hope to the community. Give them a reason to pursue their dreams and give them a positive outlook on life. Hip-hop is bigger than what was intended for the genre as it is global now. The lyrics talk about drugs, sex and violence leading kids to think that everything they hear is ok and that is how they have to live their life. Although artists out there who take their lyricist skills to give positive lyrics and messages in their music, but these songs are not often played on the radio.
“Violence, particularly among youth, has long been recognized as a serious health problem. Youth violence is a leading cause of death and injuries; costly and damaging to the health of families and communities exposure to violence in the media is associated with aggressive behavior in readers, viewers, and listeners.” Herd, D. (2009)
African-American kid’s experiences come from seeing and experiencing police brutality, drugs, and prison. Its millions of dollars in the rap music industry and the hip hop clothing industry does very little to support things aimed at lifting up African-Americans within America. Many rap artists proudly admit that they only care about sex and money in their music. They don’t like speaking on serious topic they feel like its not their job too.
For rappers, "keepin it real" means being true to the rich legacy of rap. For me, "keepin it real" means being true to the rich legacy from which rap music emanates. It is a legacy that goes beyond the verbal volleys of Muhammad Ali, the pulsating poems of The Last Poets, and the Caribbean tradition of toasting. It is a legacy that may go as far back as the griots of West Africa and the ancient societies of Egypt. Rap music belongs to a rich Black tradition of reverence for rhetoric in its written and spoken form. Thus, discussions surrounding rap music must see this art form as part of the Black rhetorical continuum, both borrowing from and expanding this tradition in its creative use of language and rhetorical styles and strategies. Most specifically, rap was created and continues to exist primarily as a young, African American (predominantly male) rhetoric of resistance primarily to issues of race. Though rap artists' approaches differ to these issues, as an art form rap music uniformly draws on and expands the Black rhetorical tradition. Kopano, B. N. (2002)
Raps obsession with money, fascination with crime, and degrading women all go hand and hand. Also, rap artists themselves, have become victims of the stereotypical media which shows them very negative. Gang music is seen and of course they want to shut it down. The hip-hop community receives much criticism for its use of vulgar and offensive language. Music is a form of art that allows artist to express themselves and through their personal feelings with words. Feelings that can come from anywhere whether it be a loss of a family member or friend to the famous my teacher said I wasn’t going to be nothing line Have you ever listened to song and thought about how inappropriate it was and wonder how something like that ever made it to the public? Since the late 1980's rap music has been seen as negative, because of the influence in people's life. Music is why people, especially the youth resort to violent crimes.
In Kendrick Lamar song “Cartoon and Cereal” he explains how violence is a part of everyday living where he grew up at.
“Now I was raised in a sandbox, next to you and her You was holding the handgun, she was giving birth To a baby boy to be just like you, I-I wonder what's that worth I-I wonder if you ever knew that you was a role model to me first The next day I-I woke up in the morning, seen you on the news Looked in the mirror, then realized that I-I-I had something to prove You told me "Don't be like me, just finish watching cartoons" Which is funny now cause all I see is Wile E. Coyotes in the room”
He broke these lines down that as a child he seen violence in his neighborhood and it changed his childhood from being normal. Kids enviorments play a big part on how they grow up and what they view as wrong and right the rest of their lives.
Another song which proves some people are born into violence and have no other life is The Game “True Colors/It’s On” he was born in the gang life his mother was a blood and his father was a crip he had to way of selecting anything for himself but a life of violence at first which is wrong in so many ways.
‘My daddy was from Nutty Blocc, my uncle was from Nutty Blocc My mama was from Hoover, how she end up here cuttin' rock? Four year old on her lap, that was my older sister Photos of Tookie and my father, now you get the picture Cutlass outside on D's, you think it wasn't 15 inches, had Computer Love, subbin' My parents 'bout to see Rocky at the Compton Drive-In Halfway through the movie, her stomach start throbbin' My pops start panickin', moms in the passenger seat Scared of contractions so she's stiff as a mannequin Pops put the car in reverse and then skrt'd out "Drive motherfucker" them the words my mom blurted out 80 down Wilmington, pull up at Killer King Rush my mama to her room and let the doctor do his thing Was a whole lotta blood, yeah I was born in it Gang bangin' my family got torn in it, all over”
When he grew up he remembered everything
Jordan got drafted to the Bulls, '85 here My Uncle Greg sniffin' cocaine off my high chair Mama in the kitchen cookin', pops on the couch baggin' Cousin's loadin' Louis Vuitton duffles in the Station Wagon Fiends walkin' in and out my house in old Nikes Pops used to tell me: "Son, don't you ever be like me The Bloods want to kill me, the cops'll never catch me And when you gang bangin', life's shorter than Joe Pesci"' Then one night my pops came home off heroin Shit changed, I'm glad my mama didn't marry him Molested my sister that night 'cause she was scared I was too young to help her and my brothers wasn't there It was late night, 2AM, my mother at work My sister came back up the stairs and it was blood on her shirt Blood on her face, blood on her hands, blood on her legs Turned on the light and everything was red I'm surrounded by
Growing up later he remembered mire
“Seven years passed, now a lil nigga seein' things
Playin' with them birds like Magic, we was the dream team
Posted up on the block, I had that Hakeem lean
Watchin' '64s hop my nigga, no green screen
Walkin' from the Tanas to the Cedars with my eyes closed
Red bandana in my pocket, how you hide those?
Larry Nickel's crack spot, my brother got me servin'
Couldn't cook, burnin' holes in my Dennis Rodman jersey
Then a nigga turned Pippen on these niggas, 40 sippin' on these niggas
If you Crippin', we was trippin' on you nigga
But the Crips would never lay down, they thought that it was they town
We thought it was ours so we would empty out the trey pounds
Ditched school especially since it was an all Crip school
I'm lucky I'm alive, but would you be if bullets hit you?
26 dead homies and 2 dead brothers
Compton is a cold motherfucker, niggas dyin' over
In concusion Violence in hip-hop has been going on since the begging. Hip-hop was created to get away from the killing and to kill each other with words which would be better for the community. The youth is very gullible and the lyrics they are reciting without any knowledge of what it means has an impact. It could be changed if allthe big artist came together like the older rappers did and have a big talk with the community but sadly there is no respect in rap and is the only genre that has a age limit weird enough.
Herd, D. (2009). Changing images of violence in rap music lyrics: 1979-1997.Journal of Public Health Policy, 30(4), 395-406. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/jphp.2009.36
Kopano, B. N. (2002). Rap music as an extension of the black rhetorical tradition: "keepin' it real". Western Journal of Black Studies, 26(4), 204-214. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/200341788?accountid=12793