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Cameron Hopkins

Professor Malcolm Campbell

English 1103

March 22, 2015

Does Hip-Hop Culture Make a More Violent Society

In todays society I am sure that everyone can agree that there is violence. What

isn’t agreed upon is the reason why there is violence and what causes it. Some people

think video games is the reason for violence, some think it’s the news promoting

violence, people also think guns are increasing violence. One thing that gets blamed for

not only influence on violence, but also for the mistreating of women, concert riots, the

glorification of crime, sexism, greed, and Ebonics is hip-hop(Sanneh). Since hip-hop

emerged there has been controversy, which has a prominent place in American media.

Many people have called hip-hop a noise. Patrick Neate claims that no other popular

culture form has had as much constant bad press that hip-hop does. I do not think that

hip-hop is to blame for the violence in the world.

There are four main components of hip-hop, which include DJing, MCing, break

dancing, and graffiti. The disk jockey, which is known as the DJ, is the person that plays

the music. The emcee is the person who raps over the music. These two componetes

make up rap music. Graffiti is art on walls and places where it isn’t suppose to be. Break

dancing is a style of dance. None of these things are violent or negative, but can be when

used the wrong way. Hip-hop music is mainly known for starting up in 1973 in the New

York’s South Bronx. At a Halloween party a DJ born in Jamaica named Kool DJ Herc

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stretched out the drum break of a song using turntables and playing the break portion of

two of the same records consecutively. This is how breakdancing got its name.

Breakdancing is part of hip-hop culture that grew up in the early stages. In the mid 70s

breakdancing and the extending of drum breaks by DJs dominated hip-hop culture. In

1979 Sugarhill Gang produced the first successful commercial hit and it was called

“Rapper’s Delight.” (Blanchard).

“Rapper’s Delight was the song that made me like hip-hop. When I was a small

child my dad would always sing that song to me. Every single night I would always ask

him to sing it to me because I loved the part that said,

I said a hip hop, the hippie to the hippie the hip hip a hop, and you don't stop, a

rock it to the bang bang boogie, say up jump the boogie, to the rhythm of the

boogie, the beat. A Skiddleebebop, we rock, scooby doo, and guess what,

America, we love you 'Cos you rocked and a rolled with so much soul, you could

rock 'til a hundred and one years old. I don't mean to brag, I don't mean to boast,

but we like hot butter on our breakfast toast rock it up, Baby Bubba! Baby Bubba

to the boogie da bang bang da boogie to the beat, beat, it's unique. Come on

everybody and dance to the beat!

Before my dad started to sing this song to me I had only heard country music. “Rapper’s

Delight” made me want dance and move around, it did not make me violent. The song is

literally all about random situations, and random words and sounds, and getting people

up and dancing. It even talks about loving America, which isn’t negative or violent in

anyway, and this song was the birth of rap and couldn’t affect anyone negatively.

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There are potential negative influences of hip-hop music. Research done by Pew

Media in the United States came to the conclusion that over 70% percent of Americans

believe that hip-hop has a negative impact on their lives and society. (Neate) The lyrics in

many hip-hip songs glorify risky behaviors, including violence, gun use and substance

abuse. They also have misogynistic lyrics. For example, X-Raided has an awful song that

says “I know she saw me when she started walking faster, I grabbed the glock and I was

just about to blast her, but then I stopped because I thought it'd be much better, if the

bitch is still alive then the p**** gonna be wetter.” It is songs like this that give rap such

a bad name, but these kinds of lyrics are found in other genres too. Like in the country

song ‘Goodbye Earl’ by the Dixie Chicks they say

Right away Mary Anne flew in from Atlanta on a red eye midnight flight. She held

Wanda's hand as they worked out a plan and it didn't take 'em long to decide that

Earl had to die, goodbye Earl. Those black-eyed peas, they tasted alright to me,

Earl You're feelin' weak? Why don't you lay down and sleep, Earl Ain't it dark

wrapped up in that tarp, Earl

There are also rock songs that are violent and have negative lyrics. Bullet For My

Valentine, whose name is even violent, has a song called ‘Hit the Floor’ and in the song

they talk about rape and killing saying

I creep up from behind, touch your neck, move down your spine, you take a look

and breathe so sharp, just a matter of time “Don’t scream” I ask of you, but then

you let one out and now it’s time to go. I come down on you like a ton of bricks,

all over so it’s time to go

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Adams and Fuller (2006) define misogyny as the “hatred or disdain of women” and “an

ideology that reduces women to objects for men’s ownership, use, or abuse” (939).

New paragraph

The lyrics in hip-hop have become more violent over the years and have been

more aggressive and it is believed by author Nathan McCall (1997) that these violent

lyrics and themes featured in hip-hop, and that are represented in the music videos are

influencing negative behaviors. McCall thinks that these themes are shaping the values

and attitudes of this generation. Wade and Gunner (2002) said that negative behavior’s

including rape, sexual assault, verbal abuse, sexual abuse, objectifying and insulting

women found in hip-hip were easily adapted and accepted. Common themes in the

majority of the literature continue to be the relationship between hip-hop culture music,

sexuality, substance abuse and violence(Pinckney). Being exposed to the violence can

lead to aggression in the viewer though disinhibition. Over time people that are exposed

to many different violent things are desensitized and have a more accepting view on

violence (Rosenberry & Vicker).

In the article, “Poetry In Motion,” Patrick Neate responds to the negative

comments about hip-hop. He explains the origin of hip-hop and that the skills involved

with hip-hop, including rapping and breakdancing started to be a peaceful means of

settling gang disputes. Neate claims that over the past thirty years many rappers have

lyrics that contain positive messages about self-respect and development. Neate was

shocked by the statistics of the Pew Media because hip-hop isn’t just a fad; it has been

around and is the only music genre that is usually followed by the word culture. Hip-hop

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has become the world’s best selling music genre. Not long ago MTV wouldn’t allow rap

on their channel, which is shocking to me because now that is almost the only kind of

music that MTV plays. Hip-hop not only dominated the music listened to, but also the

fashion, and hip-hop even has its own movies. Hip-hop also has its own language,

comedy and literature. Hip-hop has made people so successful that Forbes magazine has

a list dedicated to hip-hop called “Hip-Hop Rich List.” Hip-Hop has its own politics and

politicians like Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick who comedian Chris Rock claims to be

”Americas first hip hop Mayor.” Since hip hop is its own culture and not just a

subculture, when 70% of people talk about the impact, they aren’t just talking about the

impact it is having on the generation of their kids, but for the whole society itself (Neate).

Blanchard claims that it is not hip-hop that creates violence in American Society, but that

the disparities in economic and political power cause violence. She also says that the

cutting of programs that provide social services will only make the problem worse. Also

censorship will not keep violence away from American culture.

New paragraph

There are many hip-hop songs that promote peace and are non-violent including

‘Do the Right Thing’ by Ludacris featuring Common and Spike Lee, ‘Where is the love’

by Black Eyed Peas featuring Justin Timberlake, ‘Runaway Love’ by Ludacris, ‘How to

Love’ by Lil Wayne, and ‘Tonz ‘O’ Gunz’ by Gang Starr just to list a few. Also there are

many songs about women getting the respect they deserve, including ‘Run the World’ by

Beyoncé, ‘U.N.I.T.Y’ by Queen Latifah, and ‘Love is Blind’ by eve. In TuPacs song

‘Mama’ he is being respectful to woman by saying “Lady... Don't cha know we love ya?

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Sweet lady. Dear mama, Place no one above ya, sweet lady. You are appreciated. Don't

cha know we love ya?” There are many other hip-hop songs that are non-violent and

promote peace and a good life, and rappers like Drake are even known for being

respectful to women. He has themes of love and heartbreak in many of his songs, like in

‘Fireworks’ he says “I want to witness love, I’ve never seen it close”. Also Lupe Fiasco

has a song that says “Bitch bad, woman good, lady better, they misunderstood.” This

song is all about how the word ‘Bitch’ has taken on a different meaning in some contexts

and is teaching the youth wrong, which he explains in his song saying “First he's relatin'

the word "bitch" with his mama, comma and because she's relatin' to herself, his most

important source of help, and mental health, he may skew respect for dishonor.” In the

early days of hip-hop violent themes were non-existent or had rare occurrences. Groups

like Sugarhill Gang and Grand Master Flash had positive themes and set the foundation

for hip-hop. Profanity and promotion of alcohol and drug use were very rare. Hip-hop has

been an opportunity for many young people to express themselves, be creative, and flex

their intellectual muscles. Also because hip-hop is so popular and widely listened to, it

can be a great way to communicate positive messages including awareness of HIV/AIDS,

substance abuse, teen pregnancy, and violence. Some communities don’t have access to

proper education about these things, but they do listen to hip-hop. (Pinckney 2007) Also

it can communicate religion to people that otherwise wouldn’t be exposed. Artists like

Lecrae send out positive messages about turning to God. He came from the streets so he

can connect with certain listeners of hip-hop more so than others. Like in his song

‘Church Clothes’ he says “If God gon take me as I am I guess I already got on my church

clothes.” This is such a positive message for kids on the street, because Lecrae talks

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about all the bad things he has done, but says that God still accepts him. Most kids might

think it is too late for them, but this teaches them that they are still good enough. All

Lecraes songs are positive messages, along with many other Christian rappers. Other

artists send out positive messages in ways other than just through their music. Nicki

Minaj, a very successful woman hip-hop artist, tells her fans to “Stay in school! Put your

books first, and your music second.” She also has told her fans at concerts to stay in

school. She has also replied to a tweet that saying “No u will NOT ma'am! >” when a fan

tweeted her and said “That means ima skip or be late to 1st period” talking about getting

her new album.

I personally know a woman who I shared a class with. She has a son who is a rap

artist, and she would always mention how his lyrics are negative and violent. She says he

isn’t a negative or violent person, because whenever he gets upset he expresses his

emotions through writing lyrics, rather than expressing them physically. This is how

many artists are. Also for some people, that aren’t artists, when they get angry, they can

listen to that kind of music and they can feel like they can connect their emotions through

that, rather than physical violence.

I must be in the under 30% that don’t believe hat hip-hop culture has a negative

impact. I have never behaved negatively because of a song I listened to, nor do I know

anyone that listened to music and behaved negatively. I believe that blaming hip-hop for

violence would be like blaming Food Network for obesity. Throughout all of history

there has been violence and other negative behaviors. Wars happened, murder happened,

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people drank and did drugs. People still blame hip-hop culture for this, and the artists

even though bad things happened long before there was such thing as hip-hop. Becky

Blanchard says “By pointing to rap as the cause of violence, politicians attempt to erase

from the consciousness of their constituents the history of oppression that has given birth

to hip-hop culture.” Which I completely agree with, if there wasn’t violence out there to

begin with, then there would be no violent themes in hip hop. Though negative things and

violence are glorified in hip-hop, many times they are not glorified. Many artists grew up

in bad situations and violence and abuse is what they know, but it isn’t what they liked.

They got away from that lifestyle and in many lyrics talk about how they are grateful to

be where they are now. If an artist sings or raps about negative things, they always get

heat for it, but just because that is what they are singing about, does not mean that’s what

they are doing. It is just a job for them, and they are doing what it takes to make money,

and the things they rap about are not the lives they live, or want others to live. I

personally believe that rap is not to blame to people being violent or anything else that

people do bad. If someone listens to a song about people getting killed and then decide to

go kill someone means that that person is mentally unstable and needs to go get some

kind of help. That is a personality disorder and isn’t a norm in the society. Though hip-

hop culture is not to blame, it is not doing anything to help either. I believe that is why it

gets as much hate as it does and why people believe that it influences the behaviors of

people on the society. If people say that hip-hop influences bad things, they have to also

agree that it influences good things as well, and if there was no more hip-hop culture,

there would still be violence, drugs, mistreating of women, and any other negative themes

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that hip-hop talks about. I think there would be more negative behaviors because people

wouldn’t have hip-hop as an outlet.

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Works Cited

Adams, T.M. & Fuller, D.B. “The words have changed but the ideology remains the

same: Misogynistic lyrics in rap music.” Journal of Black Studies, 36, (2006)

938–957. Web. 20 Mar. 2015

Blanchard, Becky. "The Social Significance of Rap & Hip-Hop Culture.” The Social

Significance of Rap & Hip-Hop Culture. 26 July 1999. Web. 10 Mar. 2015.

McCall, Nathan. What’s going on: New York: Vintage Books. 1997. Web. 20 Mar. 2015

Neate, Patrick. "Poetry In Motion." RSA Journal 154.5534 (2008): 24-29. Web. 20 Mar.

2015

Pinckney, Charles. "The Influence of Hip-Hop Culture on the Perceptions, Attitudes,

Values, And Lifestyles of African-American College Students." (2007). ProQuest

Dissertations & Theses. Web. 9 Mar. 2015.

Rosenberry, J. & Vicker, L. Applied Mass Communication Theory. A Guide for Media

Practitioners. 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2015

Sanneh, Kelefa. "Don’t Blame Hip-Hop." The New York Times. The New York Times,

24 Apr. 2007. Web. 9 Mar. 2015.

Wade, B., & Gunner, C.T. Explicit rap music lyrics and attitudes towards rape: The

perceived efforts on African-American college student’s attitudes Challenge. A

Journal on African-American Men, 58. 1993. Web. 20 Mar. 2015

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