How Does Hip Hop Music Affect American Culture

Hip-hop music has been an integral part of the American culture since the 1970s. Hip-hop music, which encompasses rapping, disc jockeying, break dancing, and graffiti writing, has become so popular that American culture has adopted the music in mainstream fashion and modern language. The conflict on whether hip-hop music is “art or poison” has been continuous. Some Americans support hip-hop as an essential art form, while others dispute that hip-hop has harmful effects on the American culture. The culture associated with the music has drastically changed. The marketing executives frequently seek out the hip-hop artists for promotional purposes because of their widespread audience. In today’s culture, hip-hop music affects the youth population
Statistically, most young people purchase the music, and adopt the lifestyle portrayed in the lyrics. Through television, music videos, and other visual media forms, hip-hop artists are portraying negative stereotypes and acting in a manner that promotes corruption. These negative messages condone the illegal use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. Hip-hop artists such as Cash Money and most recently Rick Ross promotes usage and the sale of illegal substances. Subsequently, the American youth imitates these artists because the wealth, status, and lifestyle lure them in like a hypnotism spell. Acquiring the flashy lifestyle sometimes pays a price not only to the individuals seeking it, but the American society as well. For example, a popular urban television show called “The Wire” mainly depicts the youth as drug dealers. In the television show, these young people get led toward more dangerous lifestyle starting with selling drugs on the corner. On a larger scale these drug activities continue to cater to the high percentage of drug addicts in America, consequently resulting in children entering foster care, and financial
When hip-hop music emerged in the 1970s, the American people did not foresee the growth and influence the music would gain. First, during the popularization of Hip-Hop in the late1980s, music artists such as Ice-T and Public Enemy used this “art” form to express their frustration with the American political system. Thus, this artist quickly turned the music into “poison” for the American culture resulting in rise in violence. Ice-T wanted to take a stance against the corrupt in American society, but ended up negatively adding to the situation, and driving the youth to murder white police officers. Secondly, NWA (Niggas With Attitude), another popular hip-hop group, comes to mind when examining violence in American hip-hop culture. NWA’s controversial lyrics consist of topics such as gang banging, drive-by shootings, and police confrontations. For instance, two of the most admired hip-hop artists, Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace were killed in drive-by shootings, which influenced gang activity, the source of a large percentage of violence in America. The Bloods and Crips, two large gang groups, were linked to the murders of these music artists. The American youth were negatively effected by the violent behaviors that hip-hop music promotes. Violent connotation shown through hip-hop music is popular in the media, but the attention quickly shifts to the