According to a Tara Parker-Pope of The New York Times, teenagers in the U.S. listen to approximately 2.5 hours of music a day. With this staggering statistic, it appears young fans of hip-hop will spend an enormous time of their formative years exposed to topics such as violence and drugs within music lyrics.
Much of America’s society has adopted many terms from mainstream songs into everyday vocabulary. A great deal of today’s youth find themselves using the word “YOLO” standing for “You only live once”. The term was made popular by mainstream artist Drake in his song, “The Motto”. Its influence escalated to an extent that nowadays we even hear people who speak languages other than English using the term. The song describes an ideal life as one with a lot of sex, drugs, and money. Tyga and Lil Wayne who are featured in the song further emphasize, “Ignorance is bliss”. It is overwhelming that so many people can misinterpret this one term “You only live once”. While it is undeniable that our time here on earth will come to end at some point, it does not imply that we should live a careless life as described in “The Motto”. It is apparent that when teens are faced with peer pressure situations they often give in with the “YOLO” train of thought.
It is no wonder why parents do not appreciate their children listening to these types of music. While the focus of modern Hip-hop is about living “Young, wild, and free”, in the past hip-hop focused on Rappers lives and their struggles on the streets. The best selling Rap albums in the 1990’s all included graphic descriptions of rape, murder, and torture. 2pac, debatably hip-hop’s all time greatest rapper and ranked number one on IMBd’s list of 20 best rappers, describes his thug life in his song, “Changes” through lyrics such as “I see no changes, I wake up in the morning and I ask myself, is life worth living or should I blast myself?” “Cops give a damn bout a ni**ero, pull a trigger, kill a ni**ero he’s a hero” “give em guns, step back watch them kill each other”. While 2pac’s message in the song is to make changes in the “thug life”, American society often misinterprets his message of wanting to make positive change in gang related communities for promoting gang related issues.
Hip-hop further influences school performances, extracurricular activities, social background, clothing, and other elements of personal style. Rappers, for instance, are notorious for sagging their pants and as hip-hop has obtained a larger audience, rappers are now known to promote designer brands such as Gucci, Louis Vitton, Yves Saint Laurent, and others. The song “Beamer, Benz or Bentley” is a signature example of the promotion of luxury goods. When stating, “My pockets never empty (wealthy) and if it ain’t the Louie (Louis Vitton), then its Gucci, or its Polo (Ralph Lauren), or its Rugby”.
Furthermore, people often view hip-hop listeners as irresponsible and ignorant. This proves how adolescent’s music affiliations say much about the their social affiliations.
In a study conducted by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 2005 it was determined that 77 percent of rap songs had references of drugs or alcohol. The study further concluded that adolescents listening to rap are exposed to about 84 explicit references a day. That amounts to a staggering 30,732 brainwashing references a year. Constant exposure to explicit lyrics often result in increased crime rates among youths. It was studied by Sid Kirchheimer of WebMD, that teens who are exposed to “gangsta life” rap music videos are 2.5 times more likely to get arrested, 2 times more likely to have multiple sex partners, and 1.5 times more likely to be involved in drugs and alcohol.
With these statistics it is undeniable that music has the power to change people. It is because of this that hip-hop has become so controversial. Additionally, hip-hop has all to do with the power of words and how words can fit together to explain a greater meaning that hip-hop is one of the most listened to and influential genres. Sometimes, to make a statement clear in hip-hop, rappers use strong suggestive language and it is for this reason that parents often prohibit their children to listen Rap and not country or classical music. The beauty of music is that it has different genres that use diverse forms of language which influence unique identities in cultures and societies. This allows people to choose the genres with the type of lyrics that fit and influence their personal identity. “Music is well-known to connect deeply with adolescents and to influence identity development, perhaps more than any other entertainment medium” as stated by the authors of the study conducted by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
(2pac “Thug life” tattoo)
by
edandre10 (student)
