Rap is used to rise-up different kinds of ideas. Many popular rap music promote greed, hedonism and violence. Why is it OK that the most popular rap features young black men, for the most part, celebrating the "thug life" and "keeping it real"? With all the different forms of rap music out there, why is this version so popular. In the song "Still Dre" by Dr. Dre. He says, "Still, puffing my leafs", "Treat my rap like Cali weed, I smoke till I sleep". These kinds of lyrics will build the image of negative life of African-Americans, and it will affect the teenagers who see themselves. What is frightening is that young Africa-Americans imitate those negative role-models and that is why black people are in prisons more than in colleges.
Why is the "thug" way of life appealing to African-American boys more than white people? Let's face it, if a group of white people saw 50 cent and his G-unit gang walking behind them, they will be scared. This is because of the overall image of Black people drawn by rap music, and we call that stereotype.
If popular rappers really want to "keep it real," they need to tell the truth. Nobody parties 24/7 - try talking about real experiences, love, pain, sorrow, happiness. This is exactly what Eminem does when he wrote the lyrics of 8 mile. It is an emotional song that contains more substance than other rap. In this song, Eminem shows his weaknesses, "sit alone and I cry", and he criticize himself to be more successful in life. He also says, "I gotta get out there…the second that I blow", these lyrics show the educated part of Eminem when he sets a positive role-model when explaining he needs to leave the thug streets and the only way to do that is success.
One of the themes that rap artists write about is ethnicity. Ethnicity is the background and home country of a person. It is not presented in Eminem's lyrics because he is already in his home country. However, artists from African roots or immigrants tend to mention it occasionally in their lyrics. Let's take Bob Marley for instance, he always sings about the mother-land Jamaica and speaks with the same accent.
Black men put black women in videos and call them 'bitches and hos,' promote drugs, sex, drinking and high-priced luxury items. "Like some clap on lights in this bitch" and "Young Wayne on them hoes, Make a stripper fall in love, T-Pain on them hoes" – Got Money, Lil Wayne. This insult and discrimination is accepted by black women. The promotion of drugs is also repeated constantly in Dr. Dre's lyrics, " I smoke till I sleep". The same point was also mentioned in the song "Gold Digger" by Kanye West, "You want a dude to smoke, but he can't buy weed".
Spike Lee said at a college: "We buy all this stuff (rap music), not even thinking about what's behind it. ... Think about the power that we have. We can't just sit back and think it doesn't affect us. We have to do something about it. We have to be more choosy about the types of stuff we support." This shows the influence of bad lyrics on teenagers these days. Few rappers speak of peace, education, better future, or political subjects. We can't blame the rappers, because if they change their lyrics they will lose audience. Therefore, we, as listeners need to change our ideas and role-models. We have to choose our music carefully because music plays a big role in personality, character, and believes. We see all these thug life promoters win a Grammy and I don’t know for what. We don’t see the real artists winning trophies. This is what the world is choosing, the bad, negative role-models.
