Dancing to the Beat of Rap Music Controversy
Since rap music made its way to the music scene, it has been a topic of much dispute and argument. Rap music controversy seems to continuously grow parallel to the popularity of the music itself. People have been taking sides on the issue on whether rap music is proper or not — or if it is even to be considered as music in the first place.
It all started smooth at first, the music was whimsical with a little funny scratching sound in the background. Hip-hop music with its rhymes and wonderful low-frequency beat is the music everybody dances to on the dance floor. Some elders say it’s only a trend, just the kids singing (and dancing) their heart out, nothing serious about it. However, music evolves as younger generations create a unique beat from time to time. It’s as if every generation tries to define their identity with the music they create.
Suddenly, The Old Rap, which frolicked more on the rhythm than the lyrics, begins to emerge into a new form. The drumbeats resounded with cramming break beats, crazier scratchings, and the biggest controversy of all — content totally shifted. The lyrics morphed into nasty, violent, and scandalous words; moms and dads listen with contempt and swear not to let their kids get an ear for that kind of music, or noise, as they will probably call it. On the other hand, youngsters found rap appealing and they love jamming to it madly.
Rap music controversy escalated when Gangsta Rap was introduced to the world. The lyrics of so many songs talk about killing with the sounds of gun shots in the background. This level of rap was criticized because of its graphic sexual content and its promotion of violence. Explicit lyrics include talks about drugs and women are referred to with derogatory adjectives.
Rap continues to evoke a clash of ideas and concepts between critics, who say rap music glorifies violence, and artists who are claiming their freedom to express themselves and tell their story. The main criterion for rap music controversy is the explicit lyrics and how they influence young people’s way of life and speech. Rap so often talks about drugs, alcohol, and violence to be norms in life.
Another reason why rap music controversy heated up is with the issue regarding women. Women are degraded in the lyrics, many people view rap as anti-female. Rap music is known to promote racism, violence, and contempt for women. Rap artists talk about rape, assault, and sexual harassment as though they are okay.
Some people, however, argue that rap can provide listeners with valuable information. Not all rap music shows profanity or express contempt. There are some rap artists who do not use hate language on their lyrics. There are many positive messages coming from lyrics of certain rappers like Nas, Mos Def, Black Eyed Peas, The Streets, and many other artists who prefer to keep their music clean and appropriate for everybody’s ears.
Rap music controversy sprouts from content. Hopefully in the coming years, artists will become more thoughtful and use mindful words. If this happens, everyone will be amused and the rap music controversy dispute will eventually end.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
3 responses so far ↓
1 Angela C. // May 4, 2009 at 2:21 pm
I want to first start off by saying I think your article was great and very informative. As of where I stand on the issue, I think that rap music is proper. Rap music is a way for people to express themselves and it’s their first amendment privilege, their freedom of speech. Rappers don’t rap about violence just for the heck of it, some rappers rap about violence or other negative things because it may be part of their culture and it may be because they have been through a negative experience and wish to share it. I have yet to understand why rap music is so controversial, if you don’t like what they rap about then don’t listen. If your fear is that a child is going to listen to rap and become violent then it’s the job of their parents to teach them right from wrong. If the child doesn’t have parental figures in his/her life, then there are always warning labels and censorship to keep the child from getting influenced. On the CDs in stores there are little warning labels that say “profanity used” or “this CD is recommended for people of this age and older”. Also on the radio they used censorship, they blank out profanity. As you mentioned in your article, not all rap is negative. There are a lot of rappers and a lot of songs that send out positive messages to our youth and to society. Overall I think that rap should be given more credit than it has received, because it is a way for people to express themselves, and they should be able to exercise their rights.
2 C-Mac // Jun 8, 2009 at 12:26 am
^ While I, too, believe that every person in America (and of course beyond) deserves to exercise their right to freedom of speech, I think that most rap artists of today aren’t making rap for such a reason.
Walk up to any successful rap artists, take your pick. Then say “It’s your fault that kids today are acting more violent than in the previous years.”
I guarantee you, 90% of those you say it to will answer with something like this: “It’s not my fault that they listen to my music.”
The common-knowledge reason why these rappers talk about sex and drugs and violence is because they’re expressing what they’ve seen and felt in life. But if they had any passion whatsoever on such a topic, they would answer with something like this: “This music is an expression of what I’ve been through; I’ll take all the responsibility you want me to for my listeners’ decisions, but I deserve to express my feelings and memories in the form of music.”
Today, it seems almost as though rap artists are ashamed of the music they make; anyone who cared to interpret what they’ve been through in life into their music would feel a sense of defense if anyone started whining about it. It would be something close to them, because in a sense it was actually them. Saying that it’s toxic to children is like saying that the artist is toxic to children, to which they would take the shot and retaliate, not try and point the bullet elsewhere and continue on merrily.
The fact of the matter is that when one answers with the first presented, they honestly don’t care about their music. They’re not exercising their right to expression, they’re exercising their right to get more money. In which case, the FCC should be on close monitor of what they’re saying in their music since they have no such defense.
I want to see a rap artist who, instead of going for the money in the end, sticks to his or her music because they want to cry out to the world what they’ve felt. I want them to have passion, or a backbone, enough to say that “I’ll take every shot you have for what I do, but in the end I’ll win because I deserve to say that which I need to.”
America entitles you to the freedom of speech to express, not the freedom of simply speech. I can’t say whatever I want; just what matters to me.
~ C-Mac
3 elaine // Jun 8, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Dear C-Mac,
Thank you for a very well and admirably stated response. I could not agree more!
Leave a Comment