English T/TR 7am
27 Febuarany 2013
Essay 1
Rap's Opposing views
When it comes to defining rap music, some define it as poetry in the form of music. Even though rap music is thought of as a form of art, it is highly debated as a controversial social issue. Author Sid Kirchheimer from " Does rap put teens at risk" makes a claim that rap music is a detriment to our youth. He believes that negative behaviors is the outcome of people watching and listening to rap music. Author Curtis Aron from "Rap Music: Is It As Bad As Some People Think?" Thinks otherwise and claims that rap music is looked at as a whole and is greatly misunderstood. Aron explains that the genre of rap music is blanketed by its popular view of being a negative influence and is being greatly misunderstood. Using the Toulmin model of argument, both arguments offer very good reasons why their arguments provide persuasive evidence about the different perspectives of rap music. Kirchheimer's warrant is, that initially rap music automatically leaves a bad tastes in peoples mouth. Kirchheimer's view on rap is that because teens watch so much television they are exposed to what he calls "reel life of a gangsta." By watching these rap videos, they are more likely to practice the behaviors they see off their favorite rap artists or rap music video. He claims that because of long hours of exposure to rap music teenagers are starting to behave like what they see on television. His grounds offer truths because his claim of watching rap videos is backed with statistically data. He says, "Researchers found that compared to those who never or rarely watched these videos, the girls who viewed these gangsta videos for at least 14 hours per week were far more likely to practice numerous destructive behaviors. Over the course of the one-year study, they were three times more likely to hit a teacher, over 2.5 times more likely to get arrested, twice as likely to have multiple sexual partners and