Influences of Rap Music - Term Paper Example

Introduction Baker (2012) defines Rap music as a popular style of music that was developed by disc jockeys from early 1970s. The disc jockey usually mixes small excerpts of already recorded music with scratching sounds that are accompanied by the reciting the rhymed music. Rap music is educational, entertaining and controversial (Borthwick & Moy 2004). Listening to rap songs makes an individual wonder whether such message has a negative or positive effect on the youth. This paper will consider the definition of rap music, the influence of rap music on the youth, the development of rap music and the future of rap music. Thesis statement: listening of rap music will lead to high social evils in the society. History of rap music Rap music is a mixture of certain words that are rhymed in a pattern with a variety of beats, pianos and other components (Hatch 2006). Rap music evolved from the African-American people, the African slaves in America usually mixed with Native American music with beats from Africa. Other historians claim that rap music may have originated from Jamaican folk stories that are usually told in rhymes (Hatch 2006). Rap music mainly originated from Afro Americans and Hispanics in the 1970s. The name ‘rap’ originated from an impoverished, street rhymed poetry that added disco and fun (Hatch 2006). The rap music depicts certain African Americans values, and musical traditions that carry historic messages of slavery and joy of the disc jockey. Some early rap music groups included the Beastie Boys, Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa. Some influential rappers that attained global fame include Public Enemy, Queen Latifah, Run-DMC and NWA. The Old school rap entailed similar songs and involved notable rappers like Jazzy Five, Cold Crush Brothers, and Beasy Bee. In the beginning of 1980s, there was a need for a change due to technological revolutions thus rappers started incorporating complex drum loops without the use of syntactic beats. Some notable rappers of the new school include LL Cool J. New York was the center of the new school rap (Mork 2013). West coast rap music flourished in Los Angeles in the 1980s. The main breakthrough was initiated by Sugar HILL with songs such as ‘rapper’s delight’. The main theme was the poor living conditions of black people in the ghettos and discrimination in the society. Notable rappers of the West Coast include Dr Dre, Ice Cube, Cypress Hill and Young MC. Their music was widely considered as immoral, violent and destructive to the youth (Keeley 2001). Influences of rap music Rap music has certain positive influences in the society. For instance, rap music offers employment to numerous professionals in the industry. Countless number of unemployed people gain income through acting as rap music promoters, bodyguards of the rap musicians, disc jockeys and journalists. Without rap music industry, the rate of unemployment would be high thus leading to more social problems like crime (Mork 2013). Rap music genre offers satisfactory entertainment to its listeners. Millions of rap music fans enjoy listening to the literary and rhythmical part of the music regardless of their cultural background. The popularity of rap music across the world can be evidenced by the number of record sales that some labels have attained since the emergence of new distribution channels such as online downloads and MTV rap videos (Reeves 2008). Rap music acts as a tool of instilling hope among the low class in the society. Many rappers talk about poverty and struggles in the inner-city in their childhood and how to overcome such struggles through hope. For instance, some rap songs portray how one can attain economic success despite his or her income background or despite the social struggles experienced like living with a drug-addicted parent. Another positive influence of rap music is the social awareness part of the music. For instance, some rappers like the Late Tupac Shakur often painted a bleak picture of the American society and the world at large thus creating awareness of the problems affecting the modern society. In rapping, rap musicians often highlight social problems such as violence in the streets, hunger and unemployment in the society, thus enabling the policy makers to institute measures of eradicating these problems (Reeves 2008). However, some people view rap music as a genre of music that has only negative influences in the society. The critics of rap music associate it with decline in moral values among the youth. For instance, some rap music videos contain sexual graphics that promote promiscuity in the society by depicting women as only sexual objects. According to this argument, rap music is responsible fro the increase in rape cases and rate of sexual disease transmission since the youths are likely to have more sexual partners if they reference their identity to the rap music videos. Modern rappers debase women as replaceable objectives in the society. For instance, Nicki Minaj and Britney Spears are primarily focused on fashion and sex in their rap music instead of the literal content. Rap music leads to the formation of an identity thus eroding the valued cultural traditions of an individual. Blanchard (2013) is of the opinion that rap has been instrumental in forming an inner city culture in many cities in the world. Rap music has the potential of leading to increased gun violence, street violence and drug abuse. Youthful listeners of rap music can form a negative identity of the self concept after listening and watching rap music videos that mainly contain hateful language, gun violence and drug abuse. Some rap songs glorify crime as rewarding thus leading to increased chances of the youthful fans engaging in crime (Keyes 2004). Additionally, education policy makers have criticized rap music for the poor development of vocabulary among the teenagers. They assert that explicit language and entire new vocabulary is used in rap music thus leading to poor development of English language and poor educational attainments. Rap music is also addicting and impairs the student learning in the society. Such controversial music contains a parental advisory sticker thus fail in deterring the teenagers from listening, thus attracting more youths to rap music (Lommel 2001). Listeners of rap music Rap music is popular with the youths between the ages of 12 to 25 years. Most of the listeners are members of the minority communities such as African Americans, Black British, Hispanics and other immigrants. Rap music is popular among men than women since it is considered masculine (Krims 2000). Impacts of rap music in the UK Rap music in the UK attained a breakthrough when Kinetic Effect hit the music scene in the 1980s as part of the D-Koy. In the coming years, other notable and uprising rappers included Insane Macbeth who released “Borderin Insanity” in 1993. Some other prominent street rappers were London Rhyme Syndicate, Hijack, Mc Untouchable and Cash Crew. Some of the cities were it is common to locate many rappers in United Kingdom include Sheffield and Leeds cities that are mainly dominated by ethnic minority communities (Reeves 2008). According to UK culture Minister, rap music has led to a culture whereby killing is considered an accessory. Other commentators have asserted that rap music is not misleading and that poor educational attainments coupled with unemployment is the leading cause of youths engaging in a gang lifestyle. The UK culture Minister was of the opinion that rap music glorifies violence and hateful lyrics led to drug abuse in UK youths. The impact of rap music in the UK is negative. Rap music is a contributing factor to drug abuse, street violence and poor academic accomplishments. Rap music leads to negative identity formation among the youth thus leading to more social problems like crime (Reeves 2008). Future developments of rap music I believe in the future, the beat will still go on. Rap music had stood the test of time with its popularity increasing each and every day. Rap music has moved from old school that was mainly based on simple language to new versions that are complex and louder. From Notorious BIG to modern artists such as Jay-Z and Ludacris, rap music will still flourish in the future. Currently, female artists such as Lil’ Kim and Missy Elliot have also attained global recognition by topping the Billboard charts for several months with their music songs. Rap music is expressive and will continue proving the fans with relaxation and joy. Rap music will shift from rapping about social problems to more modern societal issues such as politics, climate change and global peace (Reeves 2008). Conclusion I believe that rap music has negative influences on the youths. Teenagers may form a negative self concept identity after listening to musical lyrics that glorify gun violence, immorality and drug abuse. Unless the content is regulated, rap music will lead to more crime, immorality and street violence. In the future, rap music is likely to move from traditional themes of social problems like poverty, violence to more pertinent issues such politics and global peace. References: Baker, S. (2012) The history of rap and hip-hop. Detroit: Lucent Books. Blanchard, B. (2013). The social significance of rap & hip-hop culture. Available http://www.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/mediarace/socialsignificance.htm (Accessed: 10th January 2013). Borthwick, S & Moy, R. (2004) Popular music genres: an introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Hatch, T. (2006) A history of hip-hop: the roots of rap. Bloomington: Red Brick Learning. Keeley, J. (2001) Rap music. San Diego: Lucent books. Keyes, C.L. (2004) Rap music and street consciousness. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Krims, A. (2000) Rap music and the poetics of identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lommel, C. (2001) The history of rap music. Philadelphia: Chelsea House. Mork, R. (2013) History of rap music. Available at http://www.life123.com/arts- culture/musical-genres/rap/history-of-rap-music.shtml (Accessed: 10th January, 2013). Reeves, M. (2008) Somebody scream!: rap music’s rise to prominence in the aftershock to black power. New York: Faber and Faber. Read More