The Negative Impact of Rap on Todays Youth
The Effect of Music on Our Youth
When you listen to music, if you listen to music at all, do you really pay attention to the lyrics of the song? Do you understand the words of the artists? Do you notice the context in which the words are used? Most people don’t. Music is one of the most common forms of self-expression today. However, the downside to this form of communication is that most people don’t even know what they are listening to or the effect that it has on them.
Many individuals put much of their critical focus on forms of music that get a bad reputation, like rap. Many rap artists include curse words or outwardly promote haram (unacceptable) activities. But few in society seem to look carefully at what are considered “appropriate” music genres like rock/pop. Pink, a very well known pop artist, has a song titled “Get This Party Started.” In the first verse she relates:
“Get this party started on a Saturday night Everybody's waiting for me to arrive Sending out the message to all of my friends
We'll be looking flashy in my Mercedes Benz
I got lots of style - check my gold diamond rings I can go for miles if you know what I mean.”
This song along with most of her other recordings promotes ideas like the need for materialism while including many subliminal messages as exemplified in the line “I can go for miles.” This description actually refers to sexual activity as is obvious when watching the video or looking at this line in context to the rest of the song. Often children and teens repeat words of the entertainment artists without thinking about the direct or indirect meanings. Even adults are guilty of uttering expressions that they probably would keep to themselves if they though about what they were saying. How many babies have heard these rather violent words sung by their loving mother? “Rock-a-bye baby on a tree top, when the wind blows, the cradle will rock. When the bow breaks, the cradle will fall, and down will come baby, cradle and
When you listen to music, if you listen to music at all, do you really pay attention to the lyrics of the song? Do you understand the words of the artists? Do you notice the context in which the words are used? Most people don’t. Music is one of the most common forms of self-expression today. However, the downside to this form of communication is that most people don’t even know what they are listening to or the effect that it has on them.
Many individuals put much of their critical focus on forms of music that get a bad reputation, like rap. Many rap artists include curse words or outwardly promote haram (unacceptable) activities. But few in society seem to look carefully at what are considered “appropriate” music genres like rock/pop. Pink, a very well known pop artist, has a song titled “Get This Party Started.” In the first verse she relates:
“Get this party started on a Saturday night Everybody's waiting for me to arrive Sending out the message to all of my friends
We'll be looking flashy in my Mercedes Benz
I got lots of style - check my gold diamond rings I can go for miles if you know what I mean.”
This song along with most of her other recordings promotes ideas like the need for materialism while including many subliminal messages as exemplified in the line “I can go for miles.” This description actually refers to sexual activity as is obvious when watching the video or looking at this line in context to the rest of the song. Often children and teens repeat words of the entertainment artists without thinking about the direct or indirect meanings. Even adults are guilty of uttering expressions that they probably would keep to themselves if they though about what they were saying. How many babies have heard these rather violent words sung by their loving mother? “Rock-a-bye baby on a tree top, when the wind blows, the cradle will rock. When the bow breaks, the cradle will fall, and down will come baby, cradle and