A content analysis of gun and gun violence references in fifty-cent lyrics

Screenings of the films have also caused controversy not because of the protests but because of a shooting, which took place outside a theatre near Pittsburgh, in which one man was killed. Why is hip hop culture seemingly stalked by gun culture? Harold M. Clemens of allhiphop.com states, "violence, criminality, and delinquency too often take place in our neighbourhoods, since the perpetrators themselves are on record telling the public." Fifty cent has taken a lot of criticism for allegedly glorifying guns, but is this because he a big star who people don't get, or is there something behind the accusations? Accurate gun crime statistics are hard to come by because almost all who print them have an underlying motive to do so, however most sources will say the problem is getting worse.

This study will help or answer that question or find out if 50 cent is partially responsible for rises in gun crime or if it is just concentrated areas of poverty that have lead to massive crime culture (Currie,1998) and an increases in gun crime.

HYPOTHESIS

I predict that by reading the lyrics from all eighteen tracks on 50 cent's breakthrough album 'Get rich or die trying' I will find a lot of gun and gun violence references proving that he is, in a way, glorifying gun violence to a massive audience, including children.

METHODOLOGY

I will go through the lyrics of fifty cent's 'Get rich or die trying' album and note down every time there is a gun or gun violence reference on a track. Obviously this is just one album, and eighteen tracks, which in some ways may restrict the data collected, however it is his mainstream breakthrough album, which is why I am interested in it, and it's effects. By working out how many references there are I should be able to see how much fifty cent really does seem to glamorise guns, or if it's all just exaggerated.

Although gun references could be open for interpretation I have a set way of deciding whether it counts or not. The lyrics will have to be quite literal and obviously referring to gun violence. Words like gun, popper, nina, clip, shooter, shot, sprayed, bullets, etc will help define that reference is literal enough to be counted.

To make the definition of gun violence 'references' unambiguous, I will be counting each reference line by line in the song. For example if a line has two references in it, to avoid the confusion of when it's two separate references and when it's really just one with two of the words from the above criteria, it will always be counted as just one reference. Therefore a line cannot have more than one reference in it. Also, choruses and hooks that are repeated will only be counted the first time they are heard, every subsequent chorus or hook will be considered as the original reference.

The sample size is eighteen tracks. This should be a good amount to see if guns are a recurrent theme or if they are only referred to once or twice in eighteen songs. After I have focused on 'get rich or die trying' I will look at another hip hop star who broke through into the mainstream the year after. In 2004 Kanye West released "the college dropout" which was a huge mainstream success. By making this comparison I will be able to define if indeed fifty seems to be glorifying guns, if it is a characteristic across all hip-hop. I will be using the same method as above on the twenty one tracks on 'the college dropout'.

RESULTS

Table 1 - 50 Cent "Get rich or die trying"

Track no.

Number of gun violence references

Track no.

Number of gun violence references

2

0

0

2

3

1

2

3

6

2

4

3

5

3

4

8

6

4

5

6

7

8

6

8

8

7

7

6

9

4

8

4

Table 2 - 50 Cent "Get rich or die trying"

% tracks w/one or more references

% tracks w/two or more references

% tracks w/five or more references

95

78

45

Table 3 - Kanye West "the college dropout"

Track no.

Number of gun violence references

Track no.

Number of gun violence references

0

1

0

2

0

2

0

3

0

3

0

4

0

4

0

5

0

5

0

6

0

6

0

7

0

7

0

8

0

8

9

0

9

0

0

0

20

21 0

Table 4 - Kanye West "the college dropout"

% tracks w/one or more references

% tracks w/two or more references

% tracks w/five or more references

0

0

0

As the above tables show it is clear that fifty cent does rap about guns a lot. Over eighteen tracks he made a total of 84 gun, or gun violence references. Infact, table 1 shows there is only one track on the album that doesn't contain any references. Table 1 also shows how the references are spread out among the album. Table 2 goes on to prove that almost half the songs contain five or more references. This is certainly a lot of gun talk from a man who is clearly very influential. Is it just fifty being irresponsible or is it just the hip-hop world?

Tables 3 and 4 show that on Kanye West's album there are next to no references. Two in twenty one tracks. In fact both of these references suggested guns were a negative thing, however the fact that he made a reference to guns meant they had to be counted. The results prove what many people and protestor's have said. It appears that fifty cent glorifies guns and gun culture. Any one who has listened to this album have heard him talk about guns 84 times.

DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION

It seems fair to conclude that fifty cent does not only mention guns but could be said to be glorifying them. It could be seen as his unique selling point; he's a gangster and has to live up to a macho image. Many of the references are almost bragging about the guns that he has. Kanye West's album had only two references to guns and both times they were about the negative effects of guns. This seems to back up the conception that fifty cent is being irresponsible and this has lead to a rise in gun crime as young people can look up to guns as being cool. The Brady campaign states that in 2002, 82% of murder victims between the ages of 13-19 were killed with a firearm. But perhaps 50 Cent's participation in this world of drugs and guns and violence is what Taylor(1998) calls the culture of entrepreneurship in which young black men have to go into illegal business to make money, and this simply is his story and he is telling it, not promoting it.

50 Cent has jumped to his own defence saying he is just singing about his life and that he does not try to makes guns seem 'cool'. However, his gun-toting and numerous references state that he very much likes guns and does try to glamorise them. But it is unfair to put all the blame on 50 cent obviously. He is simply one of the latest in a long line of mainstream rappers to sing about guns. NWA in 1988 were the first to start what many see as a very violent and inappropriate trend.

Analysis of 50's lyrics also had numerous other violent references not specifically to do with guns. The amount of violence is quite overwhelming and for impressionable children, not healthy. For teenagers it is perhaps even more dangerous as they try to emulate the stars they look up to. In conclusion I would say the content analysis very much supports my hypothesis; I predict that by reading the lyrics from all eighteen tracks on 50 cent's breakthrough album 'Get rich or die trying' I will find a lot of gun and gun violence references proving that he is, in a way, glorifying gun violence to a massive audience, including children.

FURTHER RESEARCH

Other recommended research carrying on from this point could continue down a number of avenues. More quantitative research could include counting violent references on fifty cent's other albums, or the number of visual references to guns on his website and his movie website, which in my research for this content analysis, I found out was a lot. Counting the hits on his website could also be helpful. These would help to back up this research as well finding out how many people come into contact with fifty cent's gun-toting.

A qualitative approach could include interviews with people in the hip hop scene and see what they think of 50 cent's persona and lyrics. Some more complicated research could be to see if there is any correlation to owning a 50 cent album and being involved in gun crime, by interviewing convicted gun criminals. These pieces of research would be able to draw conclusions that this one couldn't. For example they could possibly give us an insight into why fifty cent's influence may have this effect.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

www.azlyrics.com

www.bbc.co.uk

Brady (2002) 'Brady campaign against guns'

Currie, E(1998) 'Crime and market society: lessons from the united states' in Walton and Young (1998)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Cent(2005)

Messerschmidt, J.M(1993) 'Masculinities and crime; critique and reconceptualisation of theory, Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, Md.

Norlinger, J(2005) 'National review'

Rashbaum, A(2005) 'Vibe magazine'

Taylor, I(1998) 'Free markets and the cost of crime' in Walton and Young (1998)