Preview

Gangster Rap

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
681 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Gangster Rap
In the mid 1980's, the music industry was shaken up with the birth of gangster rap. Artists such as Schoolly D and N.W.A produced hits such as "PSK What Does It Mean" and "F**k Tha Police." This new music genre portrayed images of gangs, guns, violence, and sexism, yet it was well received and became very popular in the span of just a few years. By the early 1990's, gangster rap had a home at the top of the charts. Some of the artists responsible for this were Dr. Dre and Eazy-E, both former members of N.W.A., Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur, and Ice-T. While each of these rappers showcased a unique style, the lyrics in their work talked about acts of violence, discrimination, and sex in a way that made them appear common and acceptable. The nature …show more content…
In a study done by Stanford University states yes, however they say the real question should be how much. Do they really have as much influence as we're led to believe? Elvis being criticized for "arousing things in teenagers that shouldn't be aroused" to Limp Bizkit convincing everyone it was okay to walk around with a wallet chain in their back pocket. Music has long been seen as an influence, on the youth especially. Early news report's called rapping “self-assertive boasting” and break-dancing “ritual warfare”; and two-decades later, it's continuing to face ill-formed misconceptions, seen as a bad influence on society rather than the direct product of a broken one. But are people's assumptions about hip-hop true? Do people really put on a rap song, go outside, and commit some …show more content…
Using the lyrics, a study by the Lab's Emmanuel Kohdra plotted the mentions of crime in rap music against actual crime rates. And what did he find? A lack of correlation, of course. "After the persistent media coverage about rap lyrics being used as evidence in trials, I decided that it would be beneficial to map crimes mentioned in rap lyrics against crime rates across the country,” his report reads. “The data showed very little correlation between the crimes in the lyrics and their counterparts. For example, a significant crime drop between 1993 and 1995 is easily seen while crimes mentioned in rap lyrics are steadily increasing." In this quote he’s stating that even though violence in rap music is at an all time high, crime rates are steadily decreasing. This shows that at least in the mid 90’s there was little to no correlation between rap and crime/violence.
Overall there should be no way that anyone can say rap makes children/teens violent. Many studies and tests have proven this. While there may be some violent and vulgar lyrics in rap music it wont affect anyone unless they have a predetermined mental illness. In that case it may be a different story. No one is saying the lyrics are okay but there not going to affect your children the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    “By 1980s, Hip Hop had become an influential culture throughout United States. Hip Hop artists became signs of the popular culture after releasing successful songs, appearing in several televisions and radio shows, and winning awards. The main artists in this period included Tupac Shakur, Ice Cube, Tung Twista, Quincy Jones, Ice-T, and Snoop Dogg,” (Persaud, 631). “During this period, Hip Hop experienced censorship after realize of a song that was seen by the FBI to causes violence and disrespect the police,” (Gordon, 369). Many Hip Hop musicians releasing songs during this period faced numerous lawsuits because some institutions thought the songs were controversial. Recording companies started to be strict with the lyrics included in the songs. Realizing a song in the first half of 1990s was very challenging due to censorship. The 2000s marked the fourth decade of Hip Hop. Hip Hop music…

    • 1060 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A different point of view on this situation is that people claim music is a positive influence. Truthfully that is the most popular opinion in today’s time, but some people are on the side of it being negative. A few years ago this topic came to the surface after a radio host named Don Imus went on air [and] called women on a college basketball team, "Nappy Headed Hos". His remarks about the women set off a firestorm with people calling for him to be fired. He in turn countered and claimed that he made the unsavory remarks because he was “influenced by rap music” (Davey). By that statement alone it only seems that music is mainly a negative influence instead of a positive one,…

    • 865 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Wesmeade Characters

    • 1981 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Tales of Wesmeade Characters Index Noble families: Skyworths: Sermond Skyworth A kingsman, sworn to back the royal family in times of need. Married Marybelle Johnson and had three children with her. Easturn Skyworth, 34 years old Left the family a few days before his eighteenth birthday. No one saw him since.…

    • 1981 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    To gaze into the lyrics of both Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur is like living in the ghettos of New York City where violence never stops. Both of these artists grew up seeing and living a life filled with violence. Gunshots and drive-byes, death and murder were a daily occurrence. Although the lyrics of both artists are simply telling their life stories and how hard it was to grow up in their “hoods” they contain vulgar, hateful, and sexual verses that send the wrong message to their listeners. Whether these listeners are teens or adults, white or black, they are continually sending notions of hatred and fear through their lyrics and actions. Ultimately, their lyrics, actions, and creation of the East coast West coast rivalry began promoting violence to whoever hears, listens, or watches them.…

    • 1058 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This paper will discuss the financial statement restatement of J.P. Morgan Chase and Company from 2012. When discussing J.P. Morgan Chase and Company from this point, it will be shorten to Chase. Chase was found to have discrepancies in their first quarter 2012 income statement. The restatement relates to valuations of certain positions in the synthetic credit portfolio of the Firm’s Chief Investment Office (CIO) (JPMorgan Chase & Co. – Current Report July 12, 2012). The adjustment to the net income amount will be reduced by $459 million. Chase overstated the value of a financial activity. "We are no longer confident that the trader marks reflected good faith estimates of fair value at quarter end and we decided to remark the positions utilizing external 'mid-market' benchmarks, adjusted for liquidity considerations," the global investment firm said (JP Morgan forced to re-evaluate Q1 earnings, Moore, Bela. Super Review (Jul 2012)). This restatement was a failure of internal controls.…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Changes Tupac Analysis

    • 1851 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Rap music effectively shows the conditions of the "hood" and helps to open the eyes of the listeners that life for everyone isn't easy and worry-free. In the song "Changes" by Tupac Shakur, the rapper illustrates an image of the common inner-city urban street. In his lyrics, Shakur describes a scene where white and blacks are enemies, and crack sellers are around every corner. Yet, even though these lyrics talk about the violence in the streets, it talks about needing to make a change within the society. Shakur raps "We need to make changes, Learn to see me as a brother instead of two distant strangers. And dats how it's supposed to be. How can the devil take a brother if he's close to me, uh, I love to go back to when we played as kids, but things change, and that's the way it is." In the previous lyrics Tupac is encouraging peace within the community. He is encouraging whites and blacks to see each other more as individuals rather than two different enemies, but in the end he says that is just the way the life is (filled with hatred). The ability that the rap and hip-hop genre has to expose how life really is in the ghetto not only can promote change, but it helps to show people of all socioeconomic backgrounds that life everywhere isn't truly kosher. Many of the rap lyrics composed by various artists focus on the neighborhoods that they live in, not generally depicting masculine views, but talking about how harsh urban life really…

    • 1851 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Though many have protested that “gangsta rap” is to blame for its influence in the violence, female discrimination and violent behavior that take place throughout America, others argue that it is simply the other way around, implying that the artist is influenced by his own personal experience of being a part of and/or bearing witness to violence, drugs and crime that have taken place around him thus influencing him to express himself through lyric and rhyme becoming “gangsta rap”. This leaves us to question does gangsta rap music encourage violence or does violence influence what the artist raps about?…

    • 846 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although some people believe hip hop has a positive influence on young people not ALL hip hop is positive. “Rappers” like Young Thug has literally no purpose. He’s just rapping to be famous and take advantage of girls. People like him make a bad name for hip hop. Most listens to his songs just for the hype. “Prior research has linked levels of exposure to rap music with a range of undesirable health behavior” (Ethnic Identity,Self-Esteem, and Variability in Perceptions of Raps). Hip hop has been found linked to the cause of disrespectful behaviors in this…

    • 748 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dre. In 1985, he collaborated with a multitude of rappers, such as Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Yella, MC Ren, the Arabian Prince, and the D.O.C to form the rap group popularly known as Niggaz With Attitude. Although the NWA was seen as a notorious and dangerous rap group, they produced many controversial songs and lyrics that influenced today’s music, and Dr. Dre had a big part in that (Dr. Dre). The point of their lyrics was to get a message across, whether it was political or social. The point was to break down social barriers that were put up long before the 1980s. The point was to show others that they could express what they wanted to express through music (Ryan). Dr. Dre was one of the main leaders of NWA; he took part in writing lyrics and going through experiences that allowed for the group to write about the issues in society. Because Dr. Dre went through the unfairness of stop-and-frisk and being put behind bars, he could channel those experiences into lyrics for the group, which ultimately became top-selling hits (Ryan). Like Billboard senior editor, Alex Gale, explained, “It’s hard to imagine how hip-hop and pop culture would’ve developed without them really kicking that door down,” (Ryan), and that is an aspect some people may not see when looking at NWA. Although he received the help of his group, Dr. Dre used his experiences to set the stage for future artists and…

    • 1316 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Despite undercurrents of menace, the vast majority of hit rap songs have always concerned the same topics as hit rock or pop songs: dancing, getting wasted and getting laid.” And yet, the violence described in gangsta rap was seen by law enforcement as more dangerous, more in need of policing, not entirely unlike black urban communities in the 1980s themselves. However, if you were to read the lyric sheets to the top ten rock songs vs the top ten rap songs of the 90’s, it would be very difficult to argue that the rap lyrics weren’t substantially more violent and many times, outright instigating violence. Guns and Roses Sweet Child O Mine has yet to be cited as an influence in someone’s murder or…

    • 1504 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Gangsta Rap Thesis

    • 1513 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In the 1980s, we saw many different genres of music emerge, genres such as Pop, Rock, and R&B. But a new genre emerged that sparked a lot of controversy: “Gangsta Rap” otherwise known as Hip Hop. Rappers/Rap groups such as NWA, Run DMC, Big Daddy Kane, and more changed the industry with catchy tunes and lyrics that talked about hard topics like slavery, violence, and police brutality. These lyrics sometimes caused major conflict, whether between races or with civilians and police. Hip Hop was very controversial in the 80s. “Gangsta rap” has caused a lot of controversy, many people protested this music in the late 80s and 90s due to the message within its lyrics and what those lyrics conveyed. Many accused “Gangsta Rap” for promoting things such as crime, killings, profanity, drugs, sex, racism, and more. But Gangsta rap doesn’t influence this type of lifestyle; it’s telling a story/conveying a message of the individuals who wrote the lyrics.…

    • 1513 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Gun Laws Must Be Enforced

    • 1811 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Herd, D. (2009, Spring). Changing images of Violence in Rap music. Journal of Public Health, 30(4), 395-406 12p. EBSCOhost.…

    • 1811 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    New School Hip Hop

    • 954 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Major record companies wanted to sign up hip hop group to their label, but they didn’t want to sign the disc jockey of the group. The record companies felt that they should not have to pay someone that was not performing on the record. A lot times, a producer from the record company would strike a deal with the MCs, by telling them that they are doing all the work, and the fans are screaming their names, not the disc jockey. So MCs would get the contract and the Disc Jockey was cut loose, making this the end of Disc Jockies or MCs, and the birth of the rapper. New school rappers these were making from $100,000,000 to $200,000,000 an album. Now the rapper was headlining show and filling football stadium seats. The rapper that used to be the MCs for the disc jockey, began paying the disc jockey to spin or play music for him or her at a concert. Hip hop is now known all over the world, sung in many different languages. The lyrics of today’s hip hop rappers are not like the MCs of yesterday, Rappers now talk about how much money they are making and disrespecting women in their songs. Some rappers like tell how they made it from the drug game to the rap game, while rappers talk about the use of drugs and types drugs they prefer to use. A rapper’s lyrics often reflect the violent lifestyle of American inner cities afflicted with poverty. The “N” word is used a lot in today rapper’s…

    • 954 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Music Lyrics being NON-VIOLENT Rap music can be considered a style of art, and a way for the artists to express feelings through their words on paper. However, there are quite a few rap artists that get criticized for their lyrics. In my essay, I want to discuss why rappers use certain lyrics in their music and why people shouldn’t believe that it causes violence among the younger generations. People shouldn’t censor the music just because of violent, vulgar and abusive messages it promotes to the world. I believe in my own mind, that there is a reason for these types of lyrics that rap artists use and I will simply explain those reasons in this essay. Rap has been called one of the most important music forces to emerge in two decades. It’s pounding beats and staccato rhymes exploded on the streets of the urban America in the early 1980s and since have become the theme music and lyrical heart of the vibrant youth culture called hip-hop ( SIRS 1993). There are many different types of rap artist. There are some that talk about money, some talk about righteousness, and the list goes on and on. Every rap artist had their own way of expressing themselves. There are those that talk about sex, drugs, and violence who receive the negative attention( SIRS 1993). People, think this so- called gangster rap is a bad influence on children in the world and that it promotes violence and that it also is abusive to women. Delores Tucker, head of national congress of black women has been among those pressuring different record companies to stop distributing gangster rap music. There were other significant names that participated in this action. Names like Senate Majority leader Bob dole, and former education Secretary William J. Bennett(Surveys, pg. 1). There are some rap artists that have been openly criticized for their lyrics. Rappers like Lil Kim, Too Short, Snoop Doggy Dogg, and a member from “Too Live Crew,” named Luke Skywalker. These rap artists in the past have been…

    • 1708 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Evolution Of Rap Music stated that “Rap was something to be heard and seen,” (Cho). Rap was a strong subject and still is. Rap was a way for any black person that had the talent to spit rhymes on a beat to speak their mind and talk about their struggle. Some talk about their childhoods and whatever they felt like rapping about. Rappers like LL Cool J, Eazy E, Slick Rick, and Schoolly D paved a way for the new school rappers. The made rap a hot topic back then. LL Cool J made the song Mama Said Knock You Out that became very popular really fast. Eazy E who unfortunately passed away made hit songs like Creep N’ Crawl. Eazy E was one who lived a street life and he loved the women. He actually died of AIDS at a early age. During this age rappers did interact with a lot of women and they loved money just like the new age rappers did. That kind of stuff was passed down to different rappers. Migos, YFN Lucci, Nicki Minaj, and Drake also love the same thing and they talk about it in their music videos but old school rappers did more interaction with the audience. Most of the old school rappers would rap on street corners such as freestyle…

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays