How Does Today's Music Affect Teenagers?

It may be hard for a kid to understand why his parents didn’t want him or her listening to Pac or Biggie’s lyrics, but as their actions on TV and in music videos displayed the same notions, their fear only increased. For both artists, they had videos displaying women with nearly nothing on, smoking, drinking and carrying weapons, but kids people liked it. That’s why both of these artists are known as the best of all time. What they didn’t see though was the rising amount of disrespect towards women, increase in drug sales and an enormous increase in gun violence during this time. This is proven by Lindsay John, “The endemic of violence in the black community can be directly traced back to the whole irresponsible images of black masculinity which is fed to us through music.” (174) Along with the videos, they had concerts that displayed rash and harsh comments towards not only whites but also law enforcement. Like in this lyric by Tupac:

The violence that permeates rap lyrics should come as no surprise because music is only one of the numerous forms of media, and violence in the media is often described as being too

Thesis:Rap music does not promote violent actions by teens because rap music is a very diverse genre, it is mainly for entertainment purposes only, and part of the music is involved in anti-violence efforts.

One example is from popular rapper 50 Cent. He has been one of the most popular rappers since 2003, selling over 3 million albums in that same year. He describes how he handles someone disrespecting him in the song “What Up Gangsta,” from his album “Get Rich or Die Tryin.” ; “Front on me / I’ll cut ya, gun but ya, or buck [shoot] ya….” 50 Cent goes on to brag about how he is not the type of man to be arrested for nothing “I’m not the type to get knocked for D.W.I. / I’m the type that kill your connect when the coke price rise….” These violent scenes are described in this verse along with many others; glorifying the violence that is associated with the rapper

Rock ‘n’ roll, an era in which started the expansion of music to what we now know today. Music is such an important part of the world that we live in. Music is everywhere, on TV and radio, in the stores in our car. We use music within our educational systems and also used for therapies dealing with disorders. But where did Rock and Roll come from and what is the story of how it began?

"Obviously rap music is too violent. It serves as a musical accompaniment to the entire underclass culture of violence," says the author of "See No Evil", David Klinghoffer, in an article in the National Review. This extremely narrow minded philosophy has neglected to discover what rap music really is and what it means to its millions of buyers, who are mostly of upper-class status. Rap is not only music, it is also a black cultural expression that prioritizes black voices from urban America, and it is a form of rhymed storytelling accompanied by highly rhythmic, electronically based music. Rap music is a form of art or expression like any other type of music. Rap music in itself is not violent. Rap music of today is merely a reflection of

In addition to the actualization of women, rap also promotes extreme violence and abuse towards women. Besides the ?mild? abuse the vast majority of rappers perpetually depict, some rappers display a loathing so deep it can only be classified as misogyny. In the song ??97 Bonnie and Clyde,? by Eminem, he says ?There goes mama, splashing in the water. No more fighting with dad, no more restraining order. Blow her kisses bye-bye, tell mommy you love her? (Bonnie). In a sinister fashion, the song goes on to describe how he murdered and disposed of his ex-wife with the assistance of his three-year-old daughter. Here the violence towards women crosses generations and involves the traumatic use and abuse of a three-year old girl. It promotes that violence, even toward our most vulnerable, is acceptable if they are female. Undeniably, the hip-hop culture?s perverse attitude towards the treatment of women has gradually been accepted by society. It seems society has been desensitized to the violence of rap by

Hip-Hop is the most dominant genre in the U.S. surpassing Rock, Country Music and R&B. Hip-Hop took music to a whole different dynamic, with its catchy beats and rhythmic music accompanied by rhyming. Unfortunately despite all the excellent elements that Hip-Hop has brought to the table, the Hip-Hop industry is known to promote a great deal of gun violence. This day in age rappers take pride in using their guns, bragging about the many guns they have, and have no problem telling the world that their not afraid to use it either. There has been many cases where famous rappers have lost their life due to gun violence. Rappers like Notorious B.I.G, Tupac Shakur, Bankroll Fresh, Big L, Jam Master Jay and the list goes on are all rappers who've been killed by the use of guns. A very famous rapper known as Snoop Dogg wanted to do something that Hip-Hop rarely does and that’s convey a meaningful message to stop gun violence. Snoop Dogg wrote a song called "No Guns Allowed" featuring Cori B and Drake, incorporating a theme where the use of guns should be prohibited because young lives are being taken away daily due to gun use. Not only did Snoop Dogg use his lyrics to get us to hear his message but he also used his music video to help visualize his message. Snoop Dogg uses Ethos, Logos, Kairos and other rhetorical strategies to persuade the audience that gun violence is a serious issue that needs to come to an end.

Boom, boom! Boom, boom! The kind of bass that drains batteries and the kind of lyrics that unload clips, these are the sounds that rap music produces. I chose this topic because I am extremely interested in rap music and I want to explore the violent aspect of the industry. I have never had a chance to look at the violent side of it and I plan to find answers to questions I have in my search. Tupac Shakur is one of my favorite artists and when he was shot and killed I really started to take notice of the violence. People were getting killed because of an image that was being set. What I really want to know, however, is why rappers feel compelled to graphically describe the violence.

Music can be a reflection of our life experiences. Each genre of music invokes different emotions and reactions in its listeners. Rap has become a very popular genre of music. As its popularity has increased, some people have questioned whether it can trigger violence in teens. While some rap songs do have violent lyrics, there is no direct evidence that rap music provokes violence in teenagers.

In the late 1980s rap’s controversial subgenres, gangsta rap raised with debut album Straight Outta Compton. (Encarta) Machlis and Forney states gangsta rap of the 1990s has further disseminated the style through graphic descriptions of inner city realities. The violent shooting deaths of Tupac Shakur in 1996 and Notorious B.I.G in 1997, has highlighted the violence associated with

Many believe that rap music has taken a complete 180 in the industry and has turned their lyrics of inspiration and positivity, to drugs and gang violence. Although several signs can point to this statement being true, rap music does not encourage teens to act violently. In fact, many artists/rappers spread positive messages across, giving solutions, and inspiration to the audience.

The decade of the 1960s can be said to be a subversion of the United States. From the civil rights movements, anti-Vietnam war demonstration, Kennedy’s presidency, to the assassination of the civil rights leader Martin Luther King, the impact of the surging social movements and political turmoils to the American society is extremely far-reaching. There has been a lot of researches on the various social movements in this period. However, people 's attention seems to be limited to another important cultural phenomenon of this period, that is the prosperity of rock & roll. This paper is intended to analyze the

2. Assume that you are the parent of this rebellious white teenager who is learning to play that caterwauling music called rock and roll.  Why are you so angry about that kind of music?  Is it just the noise, or are there other reasons that you are so opposed to having your child “get into” rock and rock culture?

     Most rap songs that contain violence reflects incidents that occur in today’s society such as the Rodney King incident. “Rap music brings together a tangle of some of the most complex social, cultural, and political issues in contemporary American society.” Rap and hip-hop artists write songs that promote the killing of enemies as well as targeting institutions such as the church, government, and justice system (Ro 145) Most artists relive their own painful experiences over and over again though their music, delaying their own society’s process of recovery . for example, in 1989