Get a Widget for this title
RSS FeedIs today's rap music just too outrageous?
Results so far:
| Yes | 76% | 26 votes | Total: 34 votes | |
| No | 24% | 8 votes |
Yes
Write now
Print
Invite a writer™
Add to FavoritesYes, I would certainly say it is. They (both artists and record producers) deliberately made it that way to rake in more profits. When rap started out, it wasn't about violence, profanity, the n word, the degradation of women or the selling and abuse of drugs. It did not endorse the degrading stereotypical imagery of urban African Americans so blatantly promoted by rap today. It started going downhill when the gangster image became cool in rap. Hip hop was co-opted by the criminal element of society and it brought the unsavory lifestyle with it.
Most of rap music nowadays promotes a hedonistic mentality based on drugs, sex, money, and violence peppered with profanity and misogynistic epithets. To be fair, most of the rest of entertainment in America is intellectually stunted as well. The most unfortunate side effect of brain cell-killing thug noise ( I don't think music is an appropriate term for such cacaphony) is the detrimental impact it's had on youth, specifically those from low income backgrounds.
If you're constantly bombarded by songs and videos glorifying self destructive behavior from an early age, you grow up thinking it's normal. Not only that, but you learn that education is unimportant and that the only way to succeed in life is to steal, murder, sell drugs, curse, and demean women. It makes me wonder how much of the youths who've entered the criminal justice system have been primarily influenced by the glorification of criminality from the entertainment they've been exposed to.
The myth of the cool gangster lifestyle is perpetuated by the few artists who've risen to the top. What about the countless others who've made rapping their life goal? Often, they wind up in the trap of the revolving door of the criminal life, along with it's negative side effects. Most don't have a decent education to fall back on, so they stay in the criminal element to support themselves. In addition, even the successful rappers are not immune to the hazards of involvement with criminal activity, as the tragic cases of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls demonstrate.
Rap needs to either change it's overall message or be thrown out like last week's garbage. No one likes literal garbage reeking up their house, but many will tolerate and even enjoy the verbal garbage coming from their cd players. There the best solution to combating such noise pollution is boycotting it. When people learn they can't make a decent living by degrading themselves, others, and society in general, they will change their tune (pun entirely intended).
Learn more about this author, Net-surfer Dude.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.
No
Rap music of today is very opinionated. Some people, open-minded to the subject, may realize that this genre varies to an extreme extent of different styles. Others, close-minded to the subject, might have only had to hear one song that turned them away from this kind of music forever.
Teenagers of the 21st century will be more accepting to the obscenity and vulgarity of the music, as the generation prior, typically their parents, might even be offended to listen to rap music. This is because these different generations of people were brought up with different moral standards and acceptance to "vudu".
If people were to be open-minded enough to examine the field of rap music, there we be a completely different outlook on it from the general population. If examined and sought out, an average rap song will contain a level of unnecesary swear words and obscenity, but out of that the artist will tie in metaphors and similies that might not even be found in the most beautiful poetry ever written.
Some people believe that rap artists have taken poetry to a higher, more respectable level with there music. To be able to write lyrics, express them verbally, and use the beauty of the English language all in one manner is outstanding. Talented artists have put extreme efforts into their music throughout their entire lives, just to be nagged on and criticized. These artists are frowned upon by a parent who is scared for their child, who, they don't realize this music might actually help them in life. These artists are primarily judged before their message is even heard.
Besides rap being an amazing talent, and a way to set your spiritual side free, most people who listen to the music have already personally experienced the obscene events described through the artist's lyrics. Most people don't act on these events just because they heard of them in a song, these actions are usually adapted by themselves.
Overall, rap music may seem outrageuos at first glance, but after pursuing a deeper look into the meaning and experience of this unique music we should commonly realize that this genre of rap is only a way for humans to express ourselves in a matter that the general population is going to take a while to adapt to.
There is no acceptable reason to judge rap music as a bad influence on any individual because as far as the open-minded see it, more good will come of this music than bad.
Learn more about this author, Casey Nippe.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
Difference of opinion? Debate now.
- Morals, Values & Norms (Other)
- Do ordinary people need survival skills?
- Should the food industry be more socially responsible in advertising to young children?
- Should our children be used as door to door sales people for schools?
- Has the idea of personal morals been eliminated in today's society?
- Are we products of our environment?
