Gangs and the Music industry - Essay Example

Today’s youths are like sponges soaking anything up which is given to them. The music industry has the greatest impact to today’s youth which gives it the most influential power, but sad to say the message being put out is not uplifting or promoting growth so that young people can better themselves. Instead, it puts out a message that it is okay to have multiple sex partners, to be part of a gang, and even use drugs every now and then. Music for a long time has been used to relay messages regarding sex and it is important to note that with time the sexual content and extent of explicitness has been getting worse decade after another.

In the early to mid 20th century and before, music was quite conservative and sexual contents were rather to be deduced rather than explicitly expressed as the case is today. Today’s music is apparently changing the fundamental nature of sex to something that is causal and a form of expressing someone’s freedom rather than something with commitment for a relationship that is monogamous by nature. Today’s music and in this case rap and hip hop is bringing to the fore the idea that society is now liberal and all are free to act as they please.

This kind of music has lyrics as well as videos that are clearly showing sex as an act of freedom and maturity. Martino, et al. (2006) says that there is increasing explicit use of sex on the songs’ lyrics and their music videos as an expression of pleasure, empowerment, and freedom. The youth with their peer pressure attitudes take these messages as literally as possible ending up having sexual relations quite early in their life. “Fifty-one percent of teens who listened to music laced with sexual debauchery ended up engaging in sexual activity, compared to just 29 percent of those who listened to little or none of the same types of music” (Wallace, 2010, p. 2). A study reveals that 15% of music videos illustrate or feature violent