by Michael W.

Created on: December 20, 2008

It was once said that rap music is destroying our future, however, rap music is not, in any form or way, destroying our future, people are. Music, in general, is an art of personal expression. Rap music is a more modern form of musical expression, that allows people, of all types of backgrounds and walks of life, to express themselves verbally through a lyrical format without having to have the talent, or years of training that it takes to be a professional singer.

The true pure idea of rap or hip hop music was, emerged originally and, created in the 70's when a group of people performed an act of spoken word poetry where they recited over instrumental beats. This group of people needed a new way to express themselves and their emotions, they even engaged in cabaret-style duels. Spoken word poetry is an literary art form of expression only tempted by the extremely brave. In order to encourage more people to speak, or join in the duels, a soft rhythmic beat would play in the background in order to help calm the person that was reciting a poem, expressing how they felt to a room full of strangers and people that they did not know.

The birth of rap music actually began on street corners, and stoops, in the Bronx, when a group of friends would get together and want to express themselves lyrically with emotion over a clap, stomp, or bebop sound. Rap music has been looked down upon, by various people, since its conception simply because they don't understand it. They attack its form mainly because of the fact that anyone can do it; it is not something you need to train to do for years and years in school. Music is now, and always will be an art of personal expression. In the history of any genre of music you will find that none of the originators were trained in that style or genre of music, they only did what came naturally and expressed themselves in the best way they could.

Rap music does not encourage violence or destruction at all, especially not the way most people say it does. The blame is, most likely, put on rap music because people need to point the finger at someone or something other than themselves. People have the right to choose their own actions for themselves, listening to any form of music can not make the choice for them.

Talking and acting out against music, in general, is yet another form of discrimination and prejudice against something most people just don't want or care to try to understand. In conclusion, rap music is not now, nor will it ever destroy our future. Unfortunately, what is destroying our future is the continuous bad choices and wrongful decision-making of the youth of today, which is a direct result to bad parenting and a lack of discipline. Who are we, as human beings, to tell other human beings how they can or can not express themselves?

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