Music, one of the many popular entertainment genres has played a significant role in society as a whole. Music has been used for different purposes; it has been used to express ourselves and our past experiences, to get out of a bad situation or simply for entertainment. Violence has always been part of music as a style of popular music consisting over years of improvised rhymes performed to a rhythmic accompaniment. “Rap group N.W.A.’s 1988 album Straight Outta Compton (SOC) constituted a watershed moment in a black popular culture that coincided with the devastating consequences of austerity, surveillance, and scapegoating associated with this period”(B.J. McCann). Rap began not too long ago, meanwhile, over the years, it has become the most powerful and influential type of music.
Rap has become the most popular genre of music for the younger generations.The impact of mass media violence can lead to cause attitudes toward intimate partner violence among teenagers. The media violence is seen as the portrayal of aggressive action that’s all about murder. These media violence entertainments are usually broadcasted through music videos and audio. We can see rappers imitating the sound of a gun by saying “bang, bang” in music produced into Hip-Hop/Rap music industries. “During the 1980s, it was discovered that Hip-Hop music was not just limited to black neighborhoods and was being consumed in white suburbia”(Maurice L. Johnson II). Having Hip-Hop spread towards white suburbia assisted the spread of violence out of a specific confined race.
Rap music is the way of demonstrating the way life is on the streets. Because of the growing white population interested in Rap/Hip-Hop, it is easy to misinterpret the music as bad or violent. “Rap artists’ street credibility, which had previously had been used as an important marketing factor for Gangsta Rap artists during the 1990s, has dwindled in influence and importance because of a growing white youth demographic, unfamiliar with the accurate representations of inner-city African American communities, that favors fabricated movie-like storylines and caricatures as opposed to the truthful experiences of artists.”
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Since low-income neighborhoods have consisted of mostly minorities, it would be hard for the upper-class white youth to conceive the Rap/Hip-Hop music as what they really are; the rappers expressing hard times. There are a lot of people who can tell their life stories because most of them went through things. Also, because the growing white youth that is interested in “movie-like” music, the artists are forced to showcase stereotypical videos about Rap/Hip-Hop which might not be necessarily true. For example in Chief Keef’s music video Text, we can see adolescents with automatic guns, sometimes even pointing it at the camera.
In videos like Text and Minute, which were made after he was rich and successful, we can see him in a Lamborghini, and sometimes multiple. Before he was famous he did not have any guns or expensive things in his video. With this correlation, adolescents that watch his videos can correlate being in a good place and violence together.The rapper Keith Cozart or popularly known as Chief Keef is used as a case study in this paper to examine the cultural and political effects of violence portrayed in Rap/Hip-Hop music. Rap/Hip-Hop can have positive and negative effects on teen’s development of identity. Generally, rappers talk about their lives and ensuing struggles to the audience, therefore the audiences also get motivations to be like the artists.
According to The Outline by David Drake Chief Keef is “the most influential hip-hop artist of his time”. On the other hand, Rap also encourages viewers to go against the law by promoting the use of illegal gun among adolescents. Most Rap artists have been arrested due to use of illegal substances or violence like chief keef. According to Billboard, “a police report stated that the 21-year-old rapper [Chief Keef] had “bloodshot, watery, droopy eyes” and “had a cup filled with a syrupy liquid,’ referencing sizzurp, also known as lean”(Carl Lamarre). Keef, despite the fact he is an influence on a lot of adolescents, is arrested for drugs.
This can cause teens to follow in his not so glorified path. The following paper is dedicated to the relationship between representations of violence in popular entertainment and how it is portrayed by teenagers in America. This paper will review the effect of gun violence portrayed in Rap/Hip-Hop music on adolescents. Furthermore, the songs, Love Sosa and Don’t Like by Chief Keef have a lot of correlation towards gun violence directed towards adolescents. Chief Keef directs his audience towards adolescents because they are susceptible to suggestion and are not fully developed to have self-control.
When the songs Love Sosa and Don’t Like were released, Chief Keef was only seventeen. This made it easier for adolescents to relate and follow Chief Keef because he was a teenager as well. Studies have shown that gun violence showcased in media can have negative effects on adolescents, and make them more violent. “As a result, the content of media consumed by adolescents is driven not by a desire to promote social order and pass on the culture but by the uses adolescents themselves can make of media” (Maria-Jose Masanet). The influence of mass media can easily alter or change a teenager’s opinion. Gun violence has been a problem on different fronts, including both locally and internationally.
Analysing the relationship between Rap/Hip-Hop lyrical content and with a specific artist. It is predominantly known that there are a growing debate and gun violence in mass media today. These entertainments mainly impact adolescents, particularly men, living in urban, low-income communities who are exposed to violence more often than any other demographic groups in a negative way. According to Citylab “Gun deaths to be higher in states with higher levels of poverty and lower incomes…poverty is a substantial factor in gun deaths by metro…The percentage of a metro’s population below the poverty line is significantly associated with all three types of gun death — homicide (.45), suicide (.35), and the overall rate (.49)”. As the statics show that gun violence is concentrated in a remarkably large number of low-income minority neighborhoods.
However, upon analyzing the message of the video, an argument can be made that the gun violence depicted in Chief Keef’s music have positive connotations. Such as teaching teens about the consequences of Illegal gun use. Kids might see Keef getting arrested and see how these bad actions taken by him have consequences. There are two main reasons why people are attracted to violent music. First, some violent Rap lyrics speak to teens from the lower-income community about their current reality, which creates connections among other teens that have the same living style creating a community.
According to the Editors of TheFamousPeople.com stated that “ Chief Keef’s mother gave birth to him when she was 16 and the information regarding his father is still not known. Keef spent early days of his childhood in a black neighborhood in city’s Southside. Second, Rap music is becoming more and more popular among teens causing certain adolescents to feel like they are obligated to listen to it. We can see, that in just 2017, there was a very significant rise in demand for Hip-Hop. Year after year we are being exposed to more and more violent Rap music videos on most media outlets, which makes it impossible for it to not to affect teen behavior. Very influential for viewers to realize that gun violence in the American society is highly known especially to the individuals exposed to the mass media.
But, the rapper is trying to show how it is like being raised in the area that exposed to violence. According to Nielsen “The popularity of R&B/Hip-Hop was powered by a 72% increase in on-demand audio streaming.” The degree of influence that music has is astounding. Mass media still has great influence on our lives, radio and television are still very influential in our daily lives. We might not notice it but music is perhaps one of the most influential forms of entertainments; we listen to music, on car rides, while working out, or simply doing daily chores. The internet and technology today gives us the ability to access music more freely.
Adolescents who are exposed to the internet more likely have greater changes in their socializing skills. Through times and social connection, teenagers adapt certain attributes that are influential from videos and languages that they exposed too. “Celebrity creates a source of common experience around which society can build a nationwide, perhaps even global, community”.The music industry has rapidly grown over the past few years, generating billions of dollars. According to ABC news reporter Julie Watson, “Hip-hop has grown well beyond the urban market since the genre’s first hit, ‘Rapper’s Delight,’ was released in 1979. SLMG says its customer base is the 45 million hip-hop consumers between the ages of 13 and 34, 80 percent of whom are white. According to SLMG’s research, this group has $1 trillion in spending power”.
The reason why Hip-Hop is becoming more and more popular is that it is a lot more accessible now then it was before. With modern technology, we are able to listen and view music anywhere we want.What makes rappers remarkable compared to others genre artist is their strength and choice of words, and their flow, or the melody of their rhymes. When we think of Rap/ Hip-Hop music, we generally think of guns, drugs, and sex with most of the lyrics containing curse words. This can affect kids behavior because, if they are listening to this often then they can perceive this as being good or the norm. However, that does not mean that if your kid is listening to Rap music they will automatically be killers, it just means that they can be influenced by the negative aspects of Rap/Hip-Hop.
The industries of Rap music have become record deal for the past ten years. According to AAP News & Journals Gateway, “A study was conducted by Smith and Boyson in 2002 that analyzed 1,962 videos that were drawn randomly from three channels, namely BET, MTV, and VH1. The results showed that only 15 percent of the videos featured physical aggression. However, rap (29 percent) and heavy metal (27 percent) were more likely than other genres (rock, 12 percent; rhythm and blues, 9 percent; adult contemporary, 7 percent) to contain violence.” We can state from this fact that, Rap/Hip-Hop is usually more violent than other music genres. Music plays such a role in today’s society, and for the most part, rappers carry an image of wealthiness and toughness, although their lyrics might lack meaning and authenticity. Rap isn’t just a type of music, its a culture. It’s a culture full of original elements, and it’s also a place where people can show others what they’ve got and who they are.
Just like all of the other music genres. The culture’s relationship with the media, focusing on the well documented moral panics associated with the culture; I will make particular reference to Chief Keef, who is known by many teens but also known as a rapper as a negative role model. A specific record would be his song called Love Sosa which contains heavy gun violence and use of drugs. We can see in most of his videos, he either has a gun or is imitating one with his hands at some point in the video. According to Hot New Hip-Hop Chief Keef remains one of hip-hop’s most divisive figures. “Some swear that he’s one of modern rap’s most influential emcees, while others remain unconvinced. Regardless of where you stand, there’s no denying that Sosa has been synonymous with Chicago violence” (Mitch Findlay).
Individuals assume that Rap music influenced teenagers in a negative way that would lead to violence. However it’s not something that parents should be blamed on, it all depends on the person’s reaction toward the music. Some see Rap music as an entertainment and others see it as a lifestyle.Gun violence is a serious issue in America today. There are numerous amount of cases of death and injuries by gun violence.
The suspect Nikolas Cruz, “The man suspected of opening fire inside a Florida high school on Wednesday, killing at least 17 people, is a former student who had been expelled for disciplinary reasons, the authorities said”(Matthew Haag and Serge F. Kovaleski). However, the causes of outbreaks of violence come in different standards, for example within the environment where kids have been exposed to, like poor communities and bad parenting. Gun violence has the propensity for adolescents to understand hardships of violence by other youths.
This report, risk factors increase the probability that a young person will become violent. “Groups have attempted to set up musical rating systems, parental advisory warnings, and outright censorship of albums that contain lyrics or images that could be harmful to young people,”(Becky Blanchard). Not only is there a problem with gun violence, but there are people flat out stating that the reason for their violence is the violent music they listen to. One of the most significant positive influences of Hip-Hop music is that an entire segment of the population developed a way to relate their experience artistically to the world. Much of the style and the language used was determined by the lives and cultures of the artists.
Since most Hip-Hop artists were African American, much white Americans saw the music as a threat. “ More to the point, anyone who claims that rap isn’t black music will need to reconcile that claim with the widespread wariness among blacks of white rappers like Eminem, accused of “stealing our music and giving it back to us”(John H. McWhorter).They heard the explicit lyrics and the violence that some of the music talked about. Rap/Hip-Hop can be used to give people a voice to express themselves. One of the most significant negatives is the stereotyping that Rap music perpetrates about black culture in America today. Because the clothing style and language are so different, those differences can cause fear in others. That fear can lead to a violent backlash, and when that backlash comes from the police and authority figures then violence is often the result.
Also, there are generally negative themes against women and other groups that are generally negative and harmful. These words tend to perpetuate stereotypical behavior toward relationships and to other people, making life more painful for others. The stereotypes and rhetoric of the Rap culture might also prevent any real dialogue from happening between different sides. When inner conflicts are expressed to others, often times that expression allows others to relate to them.
Even though the lyrics are violent, they may actually give an outlet to aggression and stop the actual violence. In my opinion, the lyrics are not only the main factor, but it also depends on how the lyrics are interpreted by the adolescents.There is also the financial reward that a great Hip-Hop artist can make. This gives people, rappers to be specific, a reason to attempt to do better.According to Chicago Tribune reporter William Lee, “Chief Keef’s use of social media to generate buzz for his music has made him a role model for young artists.
Young listeners are also attracted to his gang ties — a sign of authenticity in the perception-conscious Rap world. They aren’t put off by the fact that Chief Keef has been criticized by law enforcement, elected officials” Even though Keef was arrested, it did not cause any red flags on some followers, this could be alarming because even though he is in part a wrong influence, he is still seen as a role to some.In conclusion, the arguments put forward are evident of the fact that the media adversely affect in shaping a teenager’s life and character. The few positive effects of it are so much influenced in one another way to eventually have a negative impact on a teenager. As stated earlier, media majorly influence teenager’s character building; so it is necessary to deal with the negative effects of media which it has on teenagers while keeping the positive intact.
