Does Gangsta Rap Harm Black Americans - Research Paper Example

Debating Hip Hop: Does Gangster Rap Harm Black Americans? Abstract This research paper entails a debate over hip hop as to whether gangster rap harms black Americans. It is quite a controversial topic which allows one to view the positive and negative impacts of the art culture in the blacks’ community. Hip hop is a music genre that emerged in the 70s and is famous for the gangster rap that appeared since the 80s. It was not only a rap that was used for activism, but a struggle for the rights of the black Americans that gave them voice to their sensitive experiences. However, this gangster rap has diverted from that into carriers of filthy and non-positive messages. It has richly been used to connect blacks to their cultural identities and establish credibility to their neighborhoods. The opposing view of it is the despise it generates to the white rival rappers and communities to create racial divisions. The hip hop rap is undoubtedly a form of creativity in linguistics, but is blamed for creation and appropriation of slang and abusive languages highly centered on materialism. Few perceive it as a reflection of the reality in the society, and what has come to appear is its promotion of deviance among the black Americans. Keywords: Black Americans, hip hop, gangster rap, culture, activism, neighborhoods, culture, racial division, deviance, language Rap for Activism Vs Filth Messages Hip hop is an art that has served consistently as a platform for activism among the black Americans from the past. Inarguably, the rise of the black society in the western world came from a dark side of history since the slavery centuries to emanating of blacks’ struggle for equal rights to the white community. For the youths who were born and who lived after the mid-20th century, they witnessed the despair and impoverishment of the society in the post war period. The rapping as introduced by DJ Kool Hercs from Jamaica was well accepted by the youths as a way of expressing themselves and issues pertaining their lives and experiences. It is what black Americans and supportive members of hip hop culture have used, especially in gangster rapping to raise sensitive issues and engage in activism for political and social change processes in the broader community (Clay, 2012). Through rap, hip hop has emerged as a dominant representation for activism and struggle for civil rights among the youths and people of color. It has been uplifting by empowering people to talk about their despair, giving them voice to speak out their struggles. Influenced by past hip hop pioneers, gangster rap artists have similarly picked up the mantle for activism. Hip hop is losing originality though gangster rap. Most of the modern rap artists fall far from raising the voice for the voiceless. It has become a money game, which is based on power dynamics. Most gangster rap messages are focused on filthy messages that persuade black youths on engaging in hyper-sexual, drug use and other illegal activities. Like religion, some spread their lacking positive messages to the target black listeners, who in turn follow into the footsteps of the rappers only to get into greater violations of the cultural values and the laws. Cultural Bind Vs Racial Segregation Hip hop reflects the way of life and cultures of most black Americans. The gangster rap that often attracts numerous controversies depicts more of the people’s lives, their languages, history and neighborhoods, all which are essential in their construction of identity. Through rap, hip hop artists point out their proudly associated origins, exposing to the public the marginalized blacks’ local areas and communities, their lifestyles and differences with the rest of the American world. According to Hess (2010), hip hop artists go on to cite their hoods and streets (place and regions of origin)they come from, fully representing their home towns, marking their identity and connecting them to the neighborhood experiences, lending credibility and revoking the negative stereotypes of the black community projected in the neighborhood. Mentioning of such invisible local areas/neighborhoods in the public is not only inspirational to the upcoming young generation in art and social issues, but brings the marginalized blacks into the American and entire World’s limelight. It shares their cultures (rapping language and the hood’s lifestyle amongst) with the world and allows the supporters to show their deep connection with their origins and people. Although hip hop and gangster rap are produced and have received massive audience across different races, one cannot help but spot the racial divide among rap competitions. Experiences of the tense hip hop competition between black and white student rappers in learning institutions and city streets in the United States is evidence of a dangerous submerged racial division. For this reason, blacks engage in rap battling to prove their respect, discredit the rival white artists for their efforts, which express their level of despise. Creativity Vs Materialism Every music genre comes with specifics. Gangster rap does entail huge creativity in rhyming, which moves to introduce new words and meanings in linguistics used in the society. Today, most black Americans have adopted certain language accents and words influenced by the hip hop culture in the neighborhoods. With gangster rap, it allows the social transformation of the Black Americans in terms of linguistics to create diverging interpretation and shape discursive meanings of words (Terkourafi, 2010). This is an efficient way for the evolution of the language used by the blacks. Hip hop music is a billon dollar industry, which creates employment for youths and young adults from rapping to its production and marketing (Hadley & Yancey, 2012). Through gangster rap, a proportionate number of Black American families and youths can earn an honest living from its production and recording to its sale in the mainstream media. The likes of living gangster rappers as Snoop Dog and 50 Cent are remarkably good examples of wealthy young adults from the industry. Gangster rap and hip hop generally are demonstrations of the hidden potential within the Black Americans, which they can fully tap and engage in creativity to socio-economically leverage from it. Gangster rap has been behind the formation of abusive languages and words used among the black communities. While few words have retained clear meanings, other slang words have come up and blacks use them to address each other. They use words such as ‘nigger’ which not only reminds the Black Americans of their bitter past, but act as an insult to the Black community. Rather than burying the word, hip hop has been re-appropriating it among other coined and abusive slang words. Viewing the accumulation of wealth and its over spending by the hip hop culture, the Black Americans are exhibited as perniciously materialistic people. The gangster rap is viewed as an art that encourages the youths to engage in immoral activities to achieve wealth or squander it. Reality vs Deviance The changes in the behaviors of the people (especially youths) over time acts as inspiration to most art works. Hip hop is no different, but a reflection of the real issues in the society. Gangster rap explores into the unspoken issues such as violence and abuses in the Black community, which most people refrain from addressing. The aggression demonstrated by the gangster rappers and numerous imagery ammunition tools and plot settings for their videos are all everyday realities in the urban life of the Black American communities. The gangster rap is blamed for the moral decay of the Black youths and other children in its exposure to the public (Marvin, 2013). The criminal acts and abusive language the artists use in lyrics is what the listeners get and use in their lives. Some seeking to imitate the rappers engage in crimes such as robbery, or get physically and sexually abusive to others, all in the name of keeping the gangster lifestyles. It is a subversive influence that promotes and motivates deviant behaviors such as sexual exploitation of women and promotion of thug life amongst others through the phases rapped. Reference List Clay, A. (2012). The Hip-Hop Generation Fights Back: Youth, Activism, and Post-Civil Rights Politics. New York: New York University Press. Hadley, S. & Yancey, G. (Eds.) (2012). Therapeutic Uses of Rap and Hip-Hop. London: Routledge. Hess, M. (2010). Hip Hop in America: A Regional Guide. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Press. Jones, D. M. (2013). Fear of a Hip-Hop Planet: America's New Dilemma. Santa Barbara: Praeger. Terkourafi, M. (2010). The Languages of Global Hip-Hop. London: Continuum. Read More