FREE ESSAY ON IS RAP MUSIC THE CAUSE OF VIOLENCE?

IS RAP MUSIC THE CAUSE OF VIOLENCE?

Is Rap Music the Cause of Violence? Since the late 1980's rap music has been called the
Anti Christ in our culture, because of it's so-called influence in people's life. People
swear up and down that the music is why people, specially the youth resort to violent
crimes. I think by saying this they are trying to cover up the real truth by giving
simple answers. Rap is defined as a style of popular music consisting of improvised
rhymes performed to a rhythmic accompaniment. The first rap song was made in the late
70's, the songs were seven to eight minutes long and was mostly used in small clubs to
dance to. It didn't really become popular until the early 80's. Over the years it has
become mainstream music, everyone is listening to it. In the last four years rap made up
60% of music bought in stores in the United States. In 1989 a local group called
N.W.A.(Niggaz Wit Attitudes) came from out of L.A. and changed rap, which was the start
of Gangsta Rap. In their lyrics they talked about crime, street violence and killing.
Once they were a huge hit, it caught on, and really that's when all this madness started.
Everyone started rapping Gangsta style. More and more people started rapping about police
brutality and killing people and with that crime rose to high levels. In my opinion it's
not the artists or the record company's fault that crime rose. It's not their
responsibility to look after every person who listens to their music. In all these years
of rap though there are three people who took the most criticism from the public. Dr. Dre
was one, after N.W.A. broke up he went on to do his own thing, and after he released The
Chronic he became a star. He took rap to a higher level where it never been before and I
think that scared a lot of people. He was rapping about drive by's, having sex with
hundreds of women, drinking alcohol all day and so on. By this time the crime rate was
sky high and a lot of people where looking for easy answers. It was mostly those few who
just didn't like rap from the start that spoke out and tried to ban it. Most rappers
loved the style Dr. Dre created, and so they tried to take the style and create something
of their own. Along with Dr. Dre he helped a rising star Snoop Doggy Dog to become a big
star by guest staring on his The Chronic album. Snoop released Doggy Style and it was a
hit. His style similar to Dr. Dre made it a hit. It was his best-selling album to date.
Congress tried every way they could to keep youth from listening to this music because
they felt it was making them commit crimes. Snoop was charged not to long after his
release for murder which he soon was found not guilty. They made a label for CD's and
tapes that said Parental Advisory Explicit Lyrics which actually in my opinion didn't do
too much. This way parents could be aware of the type of music their kids listen to and
could choose if they would like to allow them to listen to it. If you sit down and think
about it, when you buy a CD you by it because you want to listen to it, you don't really
pay attention to that little label. Besides you see little kids no older then 11 walking
around listening to Lil' Kim, Tupac, and all other rap artists cussing up a storm . . .
what's with that? Why didn't the parents say anything about that, they have control over
their children, yet critics and congress blame the rappers. The third man to take the
most heat and who still continues to is Tupac Shakur. They say he was the best rapper
alive and the most successful which I also believe is true. He has been in trouble with
the law and public since his first album to even now after his death. He was arrested for
numerous charges such as battery, attempted murder, and rape. In 1994 two 17-year-olds
shot some police officers and said they did because they heard it in Tupac's music.
Critics blamed him from the start with his to raunchy lyrics. Why blame him he didn't
tell them to go shoot police officers? For the past three years, C. Delores Tucker has
been talking and protesting rap lyrics saying that they are harmful to the spirit of
black youth. She also filed a $10 million dollar lawsuit against the estate of Tupac
Shakur claiming that his songs surrounding her in two songs on the 1996 album All Eyez On
Me make slander remarks. She went into a court and said that the pain she suffered from
those songs has affected her sex life with her husband. What kind of since does that
make? Just another person trying to bad mouth rap music for they're own personal gain.
Congress says they are concerned about children's exposure to music with adult content,
but really can't do too much because they have to respect the first amendment which says
we have Freedom of Speech. In two states they have announced plans to possibly ban minors
from attending concerts or buy things that could contain objectionable materials. I'm not
going to say that some youth won't listen to some rap music and get the wrong idea, but
that also can happen with other types of music such as Alternative music which artists
like Hole, Marilyn Manson, and the group Korn are big stars. If you notice Korn is the
group that the Trench Coat Mafia listened to before they decided to go shoot up a school.
In the beginning the president, and all other high profile people said they should put a
stop to all this music referring to Korn and Marilyn Manson. This was last year how many
times have you heard about that now. Sen. Joe Liebermann, and Raymond Kuntz, a
Burlington, N.D., man said his 15-year-old son killed himself after listening to the
controversial rock group Marilyn Manson. Bands like that are noted for explicit lyrics
and concerts, how many times have you heard about stopping them. They don't put that much
power in trying to ban Rock or Alternative music, but will use all their energy to stop a
form of music that sells more then half of the United States music. John Woods,
co-founder of a grassroots anti-censorship organization said in a statement that most
attacks on the music industry are fueled by politicians and groups such as the Christian
Coalition and the American Family Association. Later he also said Quite simply, the
federal government, state governments and local governments are very skillfully using the
controversy created by religious organizations in an effort to completely render the
First Amendment of the United States Constitution to be a relic from the past in the
interest of gaining greater control over society as a whole. I for one agree with that
statement. Dave Marvin, a spokesman for state Sen. Dale Shugars, said the Michigan
Republican is working on a bill to be sent to the state Legislature in July. The bill
would fine site owners who permit minors unless accompanied by an adult to attend
concerts or buy music that has offensive acts or speech. The manager of Pearl Jam, L-7,
Rage Against the Machine, and rappers like JayZ, Ice Cube, Master P, and Russell Simons
recently said that they will boycott any state that passes a law such as that. It's up to
the artists to provide a much-needed spine for the industry by using their celebrities'
status to effectively draw the line in the sand to tell the would-be censors to stuff it
if they are offended because we have a First Amendment guaranteeing our freedom of
expression, Woods said. One man they asked off the street said Why do I hate rap? Well I
guess the number 1 reason I hate rap is the lack of talent that a rapper needs. All the
music is synthetic, made on machines. Another thing I don't get about rap is that many
rappers use the Gangsta rap theme. Then when a rapper gets killed, it's a shock! They
only rap about what they know! Yes, have someone murdered is horrible, but if they rap
about it and they say how they were brought up in it, is it really a shock? Lately a lot
of questions have been asked to anyone trying to take up for rap music. Does rap music
promote violence? The most common answer was yes, and the murder of Tupac Shakur and
Notoruis B.I.G. proves it. Those were some sad deaths but you can't blame just rap alone
for that happening. Tupac didn't kill Biggie, and Biggie didn't kill Tupac some dumb
people who had nothing else to do did. When you think about it, doesn't radio, movies,
and television promote violence also, so you can't try to ban one thing of violence and
not another. There was another question that was Should rap music be censored? Some
answers were yes, but most were no. They couldn't do it anyway it would be against the
first amendment. Another was Does rap music make a positive contribution to society? No
one answered that question but I think I will. Yes it does, rap isn't just a money making
thing to me it not only helps us relate to people who have gone through things we have,
but it shows people who don't know the things that really goes on. Also rap artists don't
just make albums and stay in there own worlds they also give lots of money to charities
and sponsor programs that help inner city youth so violence can stop between young
people. Does rap promote violence, gangs and drug use? Yes it does, but there was
violence, gangs, and drug use before rap even came along, so you can't pin that on rap,
it's something that has always been around and don't see it going anywhere. Is rap music
degrading to women? In a way yes it is, I don't think any rapper would call there own
mothers bitches, and hoes but out of know where women rappers are coming out of their
shell and they are doing the same thing, So really everyone is degrading each other so it
balances out. You can't blame rap for everything that goes on, I'm thinking if they could
find a way to blame rap for every death they would. Even though they swear up and down
that rap is like the worst thing, it has done a lot for the music industry and youth in
general. Before rap all kids knew was that you had to know how to sing to become a big
music star, but now for those who actually have talent for rapping they can dream of
becoming a rapper. You would be surprised at how much more violence would be going on if
rap wasn't here. Youth would be out in the street selling drugs and killing people all
the time, now half of them are working on demo tapes and their talent so they can have a
career of there own. Also rap helps out inner city youth so they can get off the street
and play sports and go to camp, it's like for every bad thing you say about how rap is
bad and how it should be banned, there is another positive thing that can get thrown
right back into your face that would blow your mind and actually make you want to say hey
rap is doing more for us then what the public really tells us. It would be the truth. You
don't ever hear about how LL COOL J started a camp for youth in Brooklyn, or how Puff
Daddy donated 10 million dollars to Biggie's children. No you hear about how someone got
shot and the killer was listening to Tupac right before he did it. People it's time to
wake up, even though I can't force you to change your mind on any subject I'm hoping I
gave you some type of information that will make you just think before you speak about
rap music. 
Bibliography 
References The New Grove Dictionary of American Music REF ML 101.U6 N48 1986 Encyclopedia
of African American Culture and History REF E 185 .E54 1996 v.4 New Rolling Stone
Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll REF ML 102 .R6 R64 1995 Sex, Violence and the Media
November 17, 1995 p. 1028-1029 Current Controversies: Violence in the Media p. 149ff.
Opposing Viewpoints: Culture Wars p. 143-154 Opposing Viewpoints: Censorship p. 33-35 The
Web Courier: Rap & Hip Hop Comment:
http://www.cs.fsu.edu:/80/projects/sp95sug/group1.4/russ.html Censorship of Music by
Politicians: http://sac.uky.edu/~ywkho0/politics.html